ODU to Co-Host Second Annual Sustainable Living Fair, Feb. 26-27
Old Dominion University's Center for Service and Civic Engagement, along with Five Points Community Farm Market and Green Alternatives, will host a Sustainable Living Fair at Webb Center, Feb. 26 and 27.
The event, conceived a few years ago by Five Points director Bev Sell and Green Alternatives owner Amelia Baker, is designed to educate the community about sustainable living practices.
It's the second annual Sustainable Living Fair, and the first to be co-hosted by ODU. The inaugural event was held at Waterside in downtown Norfolk.
"It's a great event for us to get involved in," said Tami Park Farinholt, coordinator of the Center for Service and Civic Engagement, a division of ODU's Office of Student Activities and Leadership. "Five Points has already been in partnership with ARAMARK on a Community Supported Agriculture program this winter. This Sustainable Living Fair is just an extension of that way of thinking to other aspects of people's lives."
The fair features guest speakers, eco-friendly vendors, homesteading workshops, environmentally minded films and local food. It is designed to demonstrate that sustainable living can be achieved by anyone: young to old, single to family, poor to wealthy.
Two nationally known guest speakers will appear at the event: Will Allen, director of the Milwaukee-based national nonprofit Growing Power, a land trust that supports people from diverse backgrounds and environments by helping provide high-quality, safe, affordable food; and Tony Geraci, a renowned chef who is director of food and nutrition for Baltimore City Public Schools.
Allen, named one of the 2010 Time 100 people who have most affected the world, operates a two-acre urban farm known as the Community Food Center. Although no larger than a small supermarket, it has 20,000 plants and vegetables, thousands of fish, plus chickens, goats, ducks, rabbits and bees. Allen's keynote address will be at 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26.
Since his arrival in Baltimore, Geraci has increased breakfast participation in the schools from 8,500 meals per day to more than 30,000 meals. His department took over a city-owned (but abandoned) 33-acre farm that is now being used for vocational training and organic food production for Baltimore City Public Schools. Geraci will run a cooking workshop at noon Sunday, Feb. 27, followed by his keynote address at 2 p.m.
The Sustainable Living Fair will also feature workshops by the Old Dominion University/Hampton University Solar Decathlon team on net zero living, soap making, pickling and other sustainable lifestyle activities.
The fair is free and open to the public. For more information visit the Sustainable Living Fair website: http://www.slfhr.com/.