GREENER PASTURES >>>

The doctor is in. If you've been grappling with making your lifestyle choices greener, the presenters and exhibitors at the fifth annual South Sound Sustainability Expo have the answers you've been seeking. Around 70 vendors and resources are included in the cost of admission, which is FREE written in big, green letters.

According to hype, the South Sound Sustainability Expo is "intended to provide residents and business owners in the greater Tacoma metropolitan area a place to discover services, products, companies, and agencies in our region that address sustainability needs in our community." As part of that goal, instruction and information on everything from urban chicken cooping to waste minimization and recycling will be discussed.

New this year is a mini farmer's market with about eight vendors selling everything from dried beans to organic ice cream; an art exhibit by local elementary schoolers in the Arts EnviroChallenger program made from refuse; and an interpretive dance by SOTA students titled What the Frack? The piece is a social commentary on fracking and has original music composed by Tacoma jazz saxophonist Kareem Kandi.

The sections of the dance interpret the environment moving from healthy to a state of digging madly for oil and then back to nature.

"Movement is abstracted from societies' multiple perspectives regarding this topic, from the oil companies to the landowners to the environmentalists. The final section of What the Frack? takes us back to nature. It is intimate and personal, yet it is also now broken. This piece leaves the audience to wonder."

You can also use this event to up the ante on your green know-how. The Expo runs (cleanly) from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. During this time, there will be five free workshops spread throughout the day, including how to design a sustainable landscape, solar power, and spring gardening wisdom.

To cap it all off, there is also a raffle - the raffle to end all environmentally centered raffles! Prizes are from a long list of local companies and businesses, from Northwest Natural Lighting to University of Puget Sound to Rain Dog Designs.

TACOMA CONVENTION AND TRADE CENTER, 10 A.M. TO 3 P.M., FREE, 1500 BROADWAY, TACOMA, SOUTHSOUNDSUSTAINABILITYEXPO.ORG