GreenLB! Upcoming August Team Meetings

Check out upcoming collaborative team meetings for GreenLB! Get involved! All team meetings listed will be held at the Catalyst Space, 430 E. 1st Street, Long Beach, CA 90802. For questions, please contact Elliot Gonzales at [email protected]. For more, go to www.greenLB.org.

August 10th, 4:00pm - Bike Team Workshop
RSVP w/ Ron: [email protected]

August 10th, 6pm - Community Gardens/Green Spaces Team
RSVP w/ Chris: [email protected]

August 12th, 6pm - Food Co-op Team
RSVP w/ Ty: [email protected]

August 17th, 7pm - Green Art Movement Team
RSVP w/ Elliot: [email protected].

August 24th, 6:30pm - Food Systems Team
RSVP w/ Andrew: [email protected]

Sept. 1st, 7pm - Government Action Team
RSVP w/ April: [email protected] or Sarah: [email protected]

Sept. 2nd, 6:30pm - Community Education Team
RSVP w/ Stella: [email protected]

GreenLB! Collaborative Community Mtg - July 2009

This was our second collaborative community meeting for Green Long Beach held at the Aquarium of the Pacific. We had over 40 people come out for the meeting. The six collaborative teams have been continuing to meet during June and July for strategic planning and implementation of their goals. Each team facilitator gave an update to everyone in the collaborative community on their progress. Afterwards, everyone broke out into the teams for further planning.

I was so proud of Elliot and all the GreenLB teams and facilitators! After months of helping to catalyze this community and empower leaders from within, I was able to take a hands-off role during this meeting. They all did a fantastic job!

Check out more pics of this awesome meeting here!

Upcoming GreenLB! Mtg - July 2009

Our next Green Long Beach! Community meeting will be held next Tuesday, July 21st, 7:00pm at the Aquarium of the Pacific, 100 Aquarium Way, LB, CA 90802, in the Watershed Room. All are welcome! Please RSVP. This will be a time for reconnecting, meeting new people and organizations, sharing common vision for a green Long Beach, hearing about the progress of our collaborative teams, and advancing forward together.

Our collaborative teams have been meeting since our last community meeting together on May 28th. They are looking forward to updating everyone at next week's meeting. There are a lot of exciting things happening and there are a lot of ways that you can get involved to help Green Long Beach! So far, we have active teams for:

• Green Restaurants Initiative
• Bikes
• Community Gardens/Green Spaces
• Government Action Team
• Food Co-op
• Education

We'll have the notes from the team meetings up on the web site soon. If you would like to know more about a team or participate in a team, go to the Collaborative Projects page and contact a facilitator.

I'd appreciate it if you would RSVP for next week's collaborative community meeting on Tuesday, July 21st at 7pm by replying back to this email. If you have any questions, you can also contact me at (562) 786-3874.

Looking forward to seeing you all again! Together we can Green Long Beach!

Elliot Gonzales
Green Long Beach! catalyst
www.greenLB.org

Catalyst Green Statement

At today's Catalyst Community Board of Directors meeting, we approved the following official Green Statement:

"Catalyst Community recognizes the interconnectedness between the world we live in and the people that live in it. Just as each of us can have a catalytic affect on the relationships in our community, each of us can have a catalytic affect on our community's environment. We support the proper stewardship of our environment by encouraging community members in all areas to take steps towards sustainable living and to adjust our practices in ways that reduce our carbon impact on our world."

GreenLB! Collaborative Community Mtg - May 2009

Tonight was our first Green Long Beach Collaborative Community meeting following the festival. We had said from the very beginning that if Catalyst was going to help put on the festival, then we're going to want to make sure that there is ongoing collaboration after the event.

So here we are, continuing what was started! We came together to share common vision for working together strategically to see a green Long Beach. Then we broke up into groups to begin a strategic planning process towards six initiatives.

The www.GreenLB.org web site has been converted over from a festival site to more of a collaborative community site. There you can check up on the collaborative teams that were formed coming out of tonight's meeting.

Sarah Mills also presented some of her findings from the Sustainability Audit that she conducted of the Festival. Check it out here.

Click here to check out more pics from this awesome meeting!

Festival Pics in The District Weekly

Check out a full page of pics from the Green Long Beach! Festival in The District Weekly!


See more pics of the festival here!

Big Thanks for Festival Support

A message from Elliot Gonzales, festival organizer:

To all volunteers of the Green Long Beach! Festival,

Thank You!!!

Without your help this event would not have been as great as it was. If you were very busy, just imagine how much more difficult it would be to have done this without you. It was a pleasure working with every one of you and I hope you all enjoyed yourselves very much. The feedback for the event has been great with everyone already asking about next year. Next year? Let's finish this week first!

I hope that as you volunteered you also got the chance to meet other great members of your community. One of the broader, definite goals of Green Long Beach! is to bring together community and offer the experience to meet your neighbor. We are all one community and all human beings who need to take good care of all the creations of the planet, especially each other. You all did a great job in helping host the first community-based Green Long Beach! Festival ever.

We broke records:

• Largest East Village farmer's market since it opened
• Possibly most activity in the Art Park since it opened
• Largest "green" event by and for the community in Long Beach - ever

We all did it, by taking some time from our busy lives to commit to something that helps everyone, something that created a vibe that is part of a movement. All over the world, people are waking up and seeing the need to do what they can to help change the way we live, not only to help our environment as in our planet, but our environment in the area around us, our communities. We are seeing how important it is to work together, that together we all bring something larger than ourselves into existence, and this, this my friends, is a beautiful thing.

Congratulations to you all for your help in putting on this event! Since there is not a single organizer, or single entity we can all take a bit of credit for our part in making this event such a success! You all did an amazing job and your hard work definitely paid off!

Let's continue to do our part and integrate respect and stewardship for our environment into our lifestyles and our communities. We will have a Post-Festival Meeting on May 28th, at 7pm location to be determined, we will send invites or evites and post it on the website. The purpose of this meeting is to connect and collaborate with other green groups. We can do anything we set our minds to - imagine when we all put our minds together. Hope to see you all on the 28th and thank you once again for making a difference.

Peace and Love,

Elliot Gonzales

Green Long Beach! catalyst

Post GreenLB! Festival

Wow, what a festival, right?! Thank you so much for being a part of it!

Among the many lessons we've learned in the short two and a half months of planning and organizing the festival, we've learned that we could not have accomplished what we've done without each other. Each of us has a collective contribution that builds our sense of community - that sense of common unity.

The festival wasn't just an event. It was a catalyst for ongoing collaboration to green Long Beach. As we move forward together, let's not just think of next year's festival. Rather, let's think of what we can do between now and the next festival. So what now?

1) A Home for Green Long Beach!

The festival started as a collaboration between individuals so it didn't really have a home, per se. Now that the event is done, we can continue to organize and collaborate together. Green Long Beach! will now be housed under the umbrella of Catalyst Community - a 501c3 non-profit organization. Read more about it here. Elliot Gonzales, the festival organizer, will still head up Green Long Beach! with the support of the Green Team (you!) and also the Catalyst Team.

This will give Green Long Beach! some stability.

2) Green Long Beach! Collaborative Meeting

We're all having a post-festival collaborative meeting on Thursday, May 28th at 7pm to begin an ongoing process for getting to know each other and strategically working to green Long Beach. We all comprise a wide array of community groups, businesses, and passionate individuals. We can do so much together! The location of the meeting will depend on how many people we can expect. So this means I'll need you to RSVP to let me know you're coming. I'll send location information to you later as we approach the date. Just save the date! =)

This will give Green Long Beach! some sustainability.

3) Festival Photos and Videos

The fun part after a festival event is seeing all the pics and vids! We've already posted over 120 festival pics over at www.GoCatalyst.org. Go check em out! We want to see your festival pics too! Anyone can add their festival photos to this same photo album by getting a gocatalyst login. Once you login to the site, you can add pics to any album or even create new albums of your other community events. So share your festival memories with the rest of the Green Long Beach! community!

I also added a photo album for the pre-festival meeting here.

I've got some cool videos of the festival that I'd like to put on youtube then share them on the site. I'll do that soon. But if you'd like to share your festival videos or share your videos from other community events, you can do it here.

What about www.greenLB.org? We'll still have it! You'll start to see that website evolve from a festival event site into our Green Long Beach! Collaborative Community site.

So this will give Green Long Beach! some visibility.


What an exciting time this is! At the festival, we talked about how this is our time in the green movement to shift from individual responsibility to a community responsibility. What would it look like for a whole community to own being green? Imagine Long Beach becoming known as a "green city"?

Let's stay connected so that we can continue working together to green Long Beach!

Green Long Beach Day

Check out the Proclamation from the Mayor of Long Beach and the City Council!

Pre-Festival Meeting Recap

We've got 2 more days before the Green Long Beach! Festival this Saturday!

It was awesome seeing over 50 people come out for Tuesday's pre-festival meeting and it was fun meeting and talking with many of you. Thank you to all those who were able to make it to the meeting! For those who couldn't, here's a quick recap:

- Elliot Gonzales, festival organizer, shared from his heart why he wanted to host this festival.
- We talked about the "Down to Earth" theme and how after only 2.5 months of planning, there has been incredible community ownership for the festival - all of us sharing a piece of Elliot's vision.
- The festival Logistics Team were introduced and each team member shared about what his or her role has been for the festival.
- Team members took general logistical questions.
- We emphasized the importance of ongoing collaboration and asked everyone to Save The Date of Thurs, May 28th for a post-festival meeting for strategic conversation. Please RSVP for it with me here at [email protected].
- We broke from group time and gave everyone an opportunity to look at their booth assignments or stage schedule, ask specific questions to the appropriate Logistics Team member and also to mingle and meet other participants.

It was a fun time of cultivating even more momentum going in to the festival this Saturday!

GreenLB! Festival Ad in District Weekly

Back page advertisement of the District Weekly!

GreenLB! Festival Media Advisory - May 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Mayor Foster Proclaims Green Long Beach Day As 270 Community Groups and Individuals Participate In Festival

LONG BEACH – With just two and a half months of planning, over 270 community groups, individuals, and businesses will be involved in an all-day festival in the East Village Arts District on May 9, 2009, a day Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster proclaimed as Green Long Beach Day.

News of the Green Long Beach! festival spread quickly through a grassroots viral response to be a part of a growing movement of thinking differently about the way we use our community’s resources. Festival organizers are hoping to catalyze an ongoing conversation about shifting from personal responsibility to embracing a sense of community responsibility for creating a green Long Beach.

“By pooling together our resources and talents we are proud to bring our community together as we celebrate our planet and community through Green Long Beach!” said Elliot Gonzales, festival organizer, on the event’s web site at www.greenLB.org.

The Green Long Beach! festival will feature four stages of entertainment involving 64 bands, musicians, performers, artists, workshop speakers, and kids activity groups, 35 East Village businesses hosting an event or offering discounts to festival guests, over 98 booths and vendors, 13 sponsors, 7 event hosts, and about 60 festival volunteers.

Organizers estimate attendance of approximately 3,000 people. Get “Down to Earth” by bringing your own reusable water container and tote bag. Bring your old cell phones for recycling. Take the bus or ride your bike to get a free tune-up. Bring your own t-shirt after 4pm and get a $5 festival screen print.

Major sponsors include Southern California Edison, Downtown Long Beach Associates, and East Village Arts District, Inc.

Festival hosted by 2nd Saturday Art Walk, East Village Farmers Market, Catalyst Community, DeAvy Art Gallery, T’s Space, East Village Arts District, Inc., and Long Beach Depot for Creative Reuse.

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Green Long Beach! Festival Update 05.04.09

Hi friends,

I remember first talking with Elliot Gonzales in February about his crazy idea for having a festival for local green groups in the community to get together and raise awareness about some really important issues that he cared passionately about - supporting the environment and appreciating the arts.

It was back in February when I decided that I wanted to be part of Elliot's vision and so Catalyst Community partnered with him to explore what this might look like.

But the thing is . . . he wanted to do it in May.

This May.

After laughing, whimpering, and crying, we rolled up our sleeves and assembled a team of passionate and talented folks to see if we can work towards making Elliot's picture of a locally-focused festival that supported a movement towards a green Long Beach a reality.

We knew that the festival would only be an event. But the more important goal was to have this event serve as a catalyst for ongoing conversation and collaboration among everyone who cared about a green Long Beach. That's what we're headed towards!

So the Festival planning team started work in March and in only two and a half months, there are now OVER 270 community groups, individuals, and businesses participating in making this all-day festival happen! These include 98 booths & vendors, 64 bands, musicians, performers, artists, speakers, and activity groups, 35 East Village businesses hosting an event or offering discounts to festival guests, 19 hosts and sponsors, and 60 festival team volunteers.

It is truly amazing to see how so many people stepped up to be part of this community vision!

The festival web site has been updated constantly these past few weeks and we've tried to put everything that's happening up there so that we can all see the amazing momentum that is happening. So go to the web site at http://www.greenLB.org to see all kinds of stuff on festival schedules, stage and activity times, participants, and more!

We are now only six days away from the festival. If you've already got something planned for Saturday, please come afterwards! The festival will run from 9am - 10pm. Be sure to bring your reusable water container, tote bag, and old cell phones for recycling. Ride your bike and get a free tune-up! Bring your own t-shirt after 4pm and get a $5 festival screen print on it.

Please help spread the word about the full day of fun this Saturday on May 9th. Grab a logo or image and change your profile pic for the rest of this week to help promote the festival. Post the web site link to your FB wall. Email your friends.

Thanks!

Eric Leocadio
Green Long Beach! Festival
Logistics Coordinator
Communications Director

Green Long Beach! Festival Update 04.22.09

Hi GreenLB! friends,

I've got tons of fun festival updates for you (down below) but first I wanted to wish you a Happy Earth Day! Will you celebrate with us and help promote the Green Long Beach! Festival by changing your Facebook profile pic for the next several days to a GreenLB! logo or image? You can use one of the promo logo images in the FB event photo gallery or at the festival web site's promo page here:

http://www.greenlb.org/PromoStuff.html

Would you also please post the GreenLB! web site to your profile and ask your social networks to pass it on? www.greenLB.org

Huge thanks!

With limited resources it's amazing to see what we can produce and accomplish - both in our world and in an event.

The GreenLB! Team has been working on festival planning for only two months now and we're rapidly approaching our celebrations together on May 9th. I can tell you that it's been fun to see plans coming together in such a short period of time as we all draw on each others strengths, experience, and relationships to contribute to making the festival a success! We are literally simply working with what we've got so we invite as much support, resources and participation from everyone as possible!

This really is a local organic event as we are seeing local artists, organizations, businesses, residents and people who care about seeing a green Long Beach all pulling together to start an ongoing collaboration of green groups. We hope this will catalyze a conversation about working together to Green Long Beach!

I wanted to give you some quick updates:

* We have an exciting main stage entertainment line up with band and musician confirmations so far from:

+ Jack Maness
+ The Reactives
+ Kristi Jo
+ Trevor Green
+ Love Wings and the Deep Seed of Desire featuring Drew Brooks
+ Mulch
+ Llama Lipstick
+ Down & Dirty Dub
+ Miranda Rondeau
+ Big Moke & the Contract Killers
+ The Wandering Of
+ ...and a couple more that we're trying to secure confirmations from!

* We're planning a really fun festival finale with fire dancers Sirena Serpentina and a drum circle.

* We've got local artists teaming together to design an amazing creative landscape for the East Village.

* There will be lots of fun activities and workshops including:

+ GreenLB! Festival T-shirts on sale - get 'em cheaper by bringing your own T-shirt and we'll screen print it right on
+ Adult yoga in the morning at the Art Park
+ Speaker Daren Butler from Ecological Designs
+ Kids activities in the afternoon at the Art Park
+ Recycled crafts workshops
+ The 1st & Elm Organic Community Garden will be open
+ A Live Art Mural
+ Lots of local artists featuring their work
+ Henna artists
+ Workshops on organic foods and on urban herbalism
+ A fun "green march" is in the works
+ Fun street performers including A Delicate Balance of Sound, Wild Wood Border Morris, and hoop troupe Mademoiselles Monsoon
+ ...and TONS more!

* We've also got vendors and booths for you to check out. We've got room for night booths so check out the web site if your organization still needs to get in on all the fun!

There's SO MUCH more that's in the works. I'll try to keep you updated periodically so that you can help pass the word along about how much fun the festival is gonna be. We've been gradually updating the web site and I'm hoping to add pages for all the main stage bands and musicians, media, vendors and booths, activities, and other stuff. Stay tuned!

We need all the volunteers we can get so if you're available or if you know peeps, please let us know!

Remember to switch your profile pic to a GreenLB! image. ;)

Let's generate more buzz!

Thanks so much friends!

Eric Leocadio
GLB! Communications
www.greenLB.org

The Green Team

The Logistics Team for the Green Long Beach! Festival has been working like crazy every single week several days per week. Some of us have been working 30+ hours each week on top of our normal day jobs! But it's been fun working together and we're really excited about all of the community support and team volunteers.

Check out who's on the festival Green Team here.

Green Long Beach! Festival Update 04.09.09

Hi Friends in our Local Green Communities!

We are exactly one month away from our Green Long Beach! Festival in the East Village Arts District on May 9th! The festival planning team is plugging away working out details for a successful event and we are all very excited about the incredible response and interest that there is both locally and from out of state. The festival theme of "Down to Earth" really describes our local Long Beach community - we are neighborhoods connecting with each other, helping each other, and encouraging each other towards making sustainable choices. This is not only Long Beach's first "green" festival, but this is "our community's" festival. And it will be a fun time too!

We've done so much in a short period of time and we are in our last month's stretch before the festival. The team wanted to thank you so much for your support and willingness to be part of our broader green community. We hope that further connections with other green groups, businesses, and individuals will bear much fruit for you!

If you have submitted your participation forms for vendors, booths, performances, volunteering, or workshops, we will be sending you a confirmation packet and will contact you soon to work out details. If you have yet to submit your participation forms, you can get the forms here: http://www.greenlb.org/about.html

Festival Reminders:

+ Bring your own reusable tote bag to the festival.

+ Bring your own T-shirt to the festival to have the festival logo printed right on for just $5! Keep an eye out for pre-festival opportunities to get your early-bird festival T-shirt.

+ Ride the bus to the festival or ride your bike.

+ Bring your own water bottle or jug, straw, utensils or chop sticks to the festival.

+ If you'll be passing out materials at the festival, think green and creative - use multi-purpose type advertising like t-shirts or buttons or write on someone's shirt or tote bag or some other fun way to tell others about your group or business. Let's try to minimize paper flyers! Or at least, let's use recycled paper!

Here are ways that you can stay connected with us:

+ Check out our Web Site: http://www.greenlb.org/

+ RSVP on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=159300590108

+ Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/greenLB


Here are ways that you can help out:

+ Pass word along to your family, friends and social networks about the festival. Here's a Social Media Release that you can use: http://www.gocatalyst.org/page/Social+Media+Release%3A+Green+Long+Beach+Festival

+ Volunteer for set up and clean up crews, assist with various errands, and more. Go here for more on volunteering: http://www.greenlb.org/page05.html

+ Artists join the Creative Landscape Team to help design a street, alley, the art park, or the main stage. Contact Ryan Blanc at [email protected].

+ Join the Marketing Team to help get the word out to the local community. We'll be meeting every Monday and Wednesday at 7pm at the new coffee house Sipology on Broadway and Linden. Contact Ryan Blanc at [email protected].

+ Support the festival by becoming a Sponsor! You can offer financial support or have your organization offer an endorsement. Go here for more on sponsoring: http://www.greenlb.org/about.html


Thanks everyone! Let's stay connected and let's get "down to earth"!

Eric Leocadio
Green Long Beach! Festival Communications Director

GreenLB! Festival Media Advisory - April 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Green Long Beach! Festival Brings Locals Out to Get “Down to Earth”

Hosted By 2nd Saturday Art Walk, East Village Farmers Market, Catalyst Community, DeAvy Art Gallery, T’s Space, East Village Arts District, Inc., and Long Beach Depot for Creative Reuse

LONG BEACH – Working together to inspire the Long Beach community to see “green”, local organizations come together to host the Green Long Beach! festival to show the local community the kind of resources we have right in our own neighborhoods. Local green groups are pooling together for collaboration, celebration and education on Saturday, May 9, 2009 for an all day festival in the East Village Arts District. Teams of local artists will design the creative landscape of streets, alleys and the East Village Art Park featuring a common theme of getting “Down to Earth.”

“This event is intended to unite the many aspects of the green community that we have in Long Beach,” said Elliot Gonzales, festival organizer. “We want to create awareness that we are one people on one planet. When we work together we can create positive change.”

The Green Long Beach! festival will feature a main stage with live entertainment along with a wide array of visual and performing artists, activities, music, booths and vendors, farmer’s market, and informational workshops. Organizers estimate attendance of approximately 3,000 people. Get “Down to Earth” by bringing your own reusable tote bag to the festival and your own t-shirt to have the festival logo printed right on. Pre-festival events are scheduled for early t-shirt printing and art displays. For more information and to volunteer, go to www.greenLB.org.

###

Preliminary Planning for Festival

So while working with Elliot regarding the Green Festival, we decided to first bring together some people that Elliot had been talking with about it.

We had the meeting and it looks like there are folks excited about the event. It'll be fun to work with them!

Alright, let's roll up our sleeves!

Catalyst to Host Green Festival

So after meeting with Elliot earlier this month, we decided that we will work together to see about making his idea for a Green Festival a reality. I gave him some tips on how we should proceed. I told him that he'll obviously be the event organizer for the festival but I'll be there to support and assist him logistically.

One other stipulation I made was that Catalyst isn't about events for event's sake. We're about ongoing relationship. So if we're going to be part of putting on this festival, then my focus will be on catalyzing ongoing relationship and collaboration after the festival. Elliot liked that idea. Sweet!

So it's official! Catalyst Community will be a host for the Green Festival!

But uh oh. Elliot wants to do this in May. oy!

Meeting Elliot Gonzales

I could tell that Elliot was a catalyst.

He's this fire ball kid - 21 years old - super excited about this idea that he has about having a Green Festival here in Long Beach. He saw a Catalyst brochure, called me up, and we scheduled a coffee shop meeting tonight to talk about his idea and to hear more about Catalyst. Our visions seemed to click and I'd like to see how I can empower him if at all possible.

We'll continue a dialogue to see how we might continue working together.