Green Image Day

April 22 (which is tomorrow for me and today for some of you) is Earth Day. Not just in Santa Barbara, but globally. On Sunday, the city celebrated Earth Day with a fair of eco-friendly companies and citizen groups around the old courthouse. The place is wonderfully picturesque and a fine location for revoking some long-lost hippie spirit (pay attention to the kids in tie-dye wear and the woman with the hula hoop to the left).

It was a little disappointing though, for the professional environmentalist that I am. I’m suspicious of single days dedicated to tasks that require continuous attention (mother’s day is a prime example). The day probably helped the promotion of eco-friendly ideas and gave companies with green solution to common problems an opportunity to present themselves to potential customers. For example, I think there’s a number of house owners with cash to spend on things like efficient heating and cooling, water reuse technology and the like.

Unfortunately the exhibitors seemed too carelessly selected. What’s a henna tattooing business doing at the Earth Day fair? How about a group that advocates immigration control in order to reduce environmental problems in California due to overpopulation? It gets better: Right next to them was the booth of the Volunteer Ministers, some Red Cross lookalike turned Scientology.

Apart from these obscure groups there was some shiny technology on display, e.g. hybrid cars. One exhibitor claimed to achieve a mileage of more than 100 MPG (miles per gallon, that’s how they measure vehicle efficiency over here). Having taken a look at their homepage I have to say that this is close to a fraud. Yes, it can run many times as far as a common car on each gallon of gasoline, but the energy gap is filled with electricity from the grid – wow.

Sorry guys, I liked the event for the nice atmosphere and there certainly were some interesting booths, but I think you can do better than this contentwise. I might be a little too cynical about the topic, though. Comments and descriptions of your local Earth Day celebrations are welcome.