Boulevardia’s Greenville promotes sustainable living

By Katie Pohlman

Celebrate Father’s Day weekend sipping beer and learning about sustainability efforts at Boulevardia’s Greenville.

While the festival is best known for beer, food, music and more beer, the Boulevardia Sustainability Committee is increasing its focus on reducing the festival’s footprint and educating attendees about how they can help reduce their individual ones. Festivalgoers can learn about sustainable organizations and their efforts at the Greenville & Family Carnival section of Boulevardia.

“The festival in general promotes a lot of local flavor,” said David Peal, Boulevardia Sustainability Committee chair. “There are a lot of great companies that produce local merchandise and there’s a great amount of groups that focus on sustainability and education. We’re bringing together different groups so everyone can learn a little bit more about all of them and get a better idea of what’s out in the city and how they can help the city and the environment.”

Discover eco-living at Greenville

Each group involved with Greenville will have a hands-on activity and information about their efforts in the community, Peal said.

At the Greenability exhibit, children and adults can create a Father’s Day card using recycled materials and 100-percent recycled paper cardstock from Posty Cards. Heartland Conservation Alliance will have an activity that shows attendees how their decisions affect the waterways, said Jill Erickson, alliance project manager. For example, if a participant says they don’t pick up their dog’s waste, they will have to add “waste” to a jar full of water, which will model the Blue River.

“By the end of the day the water will either be really clean or dirty based on participants’ choices,” she said.

The participating groups, include: Better Block KC, Bridging the Gap, Cultivate Kansas City, Friends of the Kaw, Greenability, Habitat for Humanity Kansas City, Heartland Conservation Alliance, Kansas City Water Services, Kansas Sierra Club, Posty Cards, Ripple Glass, Science City and The Giving Brick.

Ami Freeberg, communications and outreach manager for Cultivate Kansas City, said participating in Greenville will help connect the public to environmental groups. Cultivate Kansas City will have a map of a Kansas City neighborhood and a box of small artistic renderings representing community gardens, urban farms, compost piles and chickens. Participants can place the visual pieces on the map.

Erickson said Heartland Conservation Alliance talked to more than 300 people at last year’s Eco Expo, and she hopes even more will attend this year’s Greenville.

“The fact that Boulevardia is … providing an opportunity for participants to engage and learn more about their environment is a really important thing,” she said.

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