Local Motive @ SOLAR was as fly as could be...we had vendors from various economic and green justice groups like Co-op Denver, who talked about cooperatives, how to start them & permaculture community gardens. The Mile High Business Alliance spoke on local sustainable business and how buying GREEN & LOCAL first will help our local economies. Tranistion Denver talked to folks about transitioning into sustainable cities, and what Denver is doing around greening the city. Redirect Guide came to support as our local green pages and we ATE vegetarian treats galore...
Akwe Starnes, an elder in our community schooled us on the various reasons to move toward a raw plant based diet, its affects on the earth, its value nutritionally and within this economic climate.
Ona, a walking example of how to live sustainably did a presentation on backyard herbalism.
Art Way from the Colorado Progressive Coalition talked about the anti-affirmative action initiatrive that is on the ballot in the coming weeks and its effects on the green collar job movement. He got us all riled up and ready to vote NO on 46!
Magnet Mafia & SlamNuba did art & spoken word with the little people on the bus out front and Mike Wird & Ietef Vita ran a bboy/bbgrl workshop inside.
Throughout the day we encouraged folks to sign the green jobs petition...of course people were hype to sign the petition and see our work in action!
We set up a microcinema in the back of our gutted space made of fabric and pulled seats out of a 1961 ford wayne school bus and watched three great food justice films.
The kids created “I'm Ready for Green Jobs Now!” signs and explained the importance of green jobs to passers by.
Local Band Denver Avengers ended the night with futuristic funk stylings and rocked the house.
Denver is quickly becoming a leader as a green city, but still not green enough. Thanks to the folks at Green Jobs Now for supporting us in hosting Local Motive at SOLAR.
We hosted our 1st Annual "Local Motive" Food & Media Justice event in Denver's Historical Black community of Five Points as part of the National Day of Action with Green Jobs Now and it was off the chain! Some of our arts activist partner orgs included; Argus Human Rights Film Fest/Jason Bosch, the Pan African Arts Society/BluBlak Media, Magnet Mafia, SlamNuba, DJs S.D. & CaveM (Ietef Vita), Omi Gallery, and the Get On the Bus Project/Urban Bricks Design! BigUps go also go to Lady Speech, Lalania, Maurice Ka & Mani for extra special love and support throughout the day + Obama campaign crew for doing Voter registration too!
What I especially loved about our "urban goes green" event was the authentic interest community folks in the hood' had in what it meant to live "sustainably" and what steps they could take immediately to increase their green-activity. I decided to donate my backyard as a women's Goddess Garden where sistas can come and sew and reap and plan and plant and share the harvest and be in womyn's space. There were people who decided to join the OG Lunchbox Group where we get affordable, local fruits and veggies each Monday from the Solar Project (Faatma is amazing!) and lots of youth engaged artsy social change activities such as writing and performing "green & bling" poetry pieces (written with the help of the "Cafe Nuba" Slam Team) and creating mobile graffiti with Matt & Harrison of Magnet Mafia and decorating the Urban Bricks "Get on the Bus" Bus! Creativity Abounds!
We had presentations, workshops and performances as well as a load of information disseminated by groups on solar energy, recycling, composting, forestry and going raw - overall, just one of the coolest events in the history of contemporary cultural work in Denver. Thanks for inspiring us to Get Ready for Green Jobs NOW!
Here are some groovy pics from Solar's "Local Motive" Food & Media Justice Fest in Denver's Five Points. photo credits: Ashara Ekundayo/BluBlak Media
MORE "Local Motive" Denver shots! yes, we wanted to document the beginning of this urban movement in CO!
LAST Batch I promise! "LOCAL MOTIVE" FOOD & MEDIA JUSTICE @ SOLAR! Pix fr Denver!
VAN'S NEW BOOK
Van Jones has released his first book, The Green Collar Economy. Check out Van's plan for solving our economic and environmental problems -- at the same time.
