The Rocky Mountain Sustainable Living Fair in Fort Collins, Colorado is in its 12th year and is going strong. The Fair is a showcase of all things sustainable, or, as it is more commonly called in the press, green. ‘Green’ is a catchphrase, and while the use of it is just fine, 'sustainable' is more accurate. The idea is that we can continue to do all the things we always have done, like drive our cars, heat our homes, use disposable plates and cups, but with education we find that there are more Earth friendly ways to do all of them. This is the proposition; if you could achieve the same end with more sustainable means, would you?

The media has been abuzz over global warming and potentially cataclysmic natural disasters for over a decade now, and the battle between those on either side of the debate rages on. That debate, in my opinion, should be reframed. What if we simply act more sustainably because the Earth is such a wonderful place to live? Instead of reacting

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because of fear, why not treat the Earth with the utmost respect out of love? Rather than saying, “I’m doing something sustainable to combat global warming,” why not say “I’m doing something sustainable because I’m just so lucky to have two feet on this beautiful, amazing planet Earth”?

If you share any of these sentiments, the Rocky Mountain Sustainable Living Fair is definitely for you. If you don’t agree with these sentiments, then the Rocky Mountain Sustainable Living Fair is even better for you, because you’ll find that so many of these self-contained contraptions and money and energy saving ideas are just plain old cool in their simplicity and design. There are more ideas at the Fair that encourage independence than militant hippie-ism. They encourage education instead of judgment and hands on activities rather than speeches from soapboxes.

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Plus, the location is superb. Since the Fair has moved to Legacy Park, right on the Poudre River, it has successfully captured an ‘urban harmony’ type of feel. The area where the wild and scenic Poudre River meets the city of Fort Collins is the perfect place to demonstrate that we can do all the things that we have always enjoyed, and we can do them in sustainable ways.

Ray Aberle, Fair Director, joined me for a chat about this years' fair and related how the location at Legacy Park is a great spot because;

...folks are starting to integrate [sustainable living ideas] into their urban settings as well, and this is a perfect location for that because you stand on the banks of the Poudre River, you've got a natural area on either side of the fairgrounds...you look and you can see the towers in Downtown Old Town Fort Collins, and you look and you can see the foothills extending off...so its that perfect coming together as a metaphor almost for what happens within the fairgrounds. Our location is just sublime, it's wonderful!

Enjoy this interview with Ray, a little preview of the Sustainable Living Fair 2011.

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