Santa Rosa Park was alive with the sounds of funk-rock music, children’s laughter and sizzling meats from local vendors during San Luis Obispo’s annual EarthFest celebration on Saturday. Families twirled and danced barefoot on the grass to live music, while local climate organizations and educational groups presented to community members who wandered among the booths.
This was the city’s second annual EarthFest, a free community festival organized by the SLO Climate Coalition to refurbish the city’s traditional Earth Day celebrations, according to Eric Veium, board chair of the SLO Climate Coalition.
Veium said the new festival is still a space where families and community members can gather, but more focused on how they can take action for climate solutions.
“The goal was to keep the same soul and to reinject energy and activation,” Veium said.
Veium emphasized that “activation,” through encouraging the community to partake in local climate initiatives and organizations, is the driving force behind EarthFest’s mission.
SLO Climate Coalition, active since 2017, helped steward the transition process into the newly renovated festival last year. Veium said the coalition was well-positioned to help usher in these changes.
“We’re really your friendly neighborhood climate coalition, helping at every level to educate, engage and to have the community take action on climate, because the work is local,” Veium said.
The event featured live music from local bands, an educational “kids’ zone,” a “wellness zone,” a beer garden, an Electric Vehicle showcase, a sustainable maker’s market, a community stage discussing climate solutions, onsite restoration projects and community art.
Across the grass from Veium was Aidric Black, a Cal Poly microbiology freshman and member of College Corps, who was making “solar s’mores” — s’mores baked in a solar-powered oven — while children watched eagerly.
“We’re here promoting community resiliency,” Black said.
Black’s volunteer work with the Climate Coalition focuses on Virtual Power Plants — software that collects and stores energy resources, such as home solar or electric vehicles.
The College Corps sold repurposed clothing and shared fliers about the SLO Climate Coalition’s Home Energy Advising. The advising is a free service that helps residents transition to energy-efficient appliances.
Along with the College Corps and the Cal Poly Initiative for Climate Leadership & Resilience, several Cal Poly alumni-led organizations staffed booths focused on sustainability and climate solutions.
Sitting at one of the booths was Benjamin Arts, a Cal Poly graduate student and founder of Mr. Turtle, a senior project-turned eco-friendly soap-refill business, led by a team of Cal Poly graduates. Arts enthusiastically spoke about his journey to discover the need for sustainable solutions for plastic laundry detergent bottles and how to meet that need cost-effectively.
READ MORE: “Mr. Turtle brings sustainable soap refill station to PCV market.”
Arts was inspired by his upbringing in the Netherlands, which he said has common practices of sustainability and refilling that are not part of the United States’ culture. He noted how expensive it is to go to a traditional detergent refill store compared to buying in bulk at stores like Costco.
The business is expanding, with a current total of 10 machines spanning across three states.
