Veg Option Allies and Advocates - Vegetarian Food Festival NYC

Nicole Eisenberg has been a vegan advocate for seven years. Realizing how difficult it could be for those with a plant-based lifestyle to have conversations with omnivores, she founded Veg Option Allies & Advocates (VOAA).

VOAA aims to knock down walls between vegans and non-vegans by joining them together to break bread at delicious events to respectfully engage in conversation.

Hear more about VOAA and upcoming events from Nicole at the Vegetarian Food Festival in NYC.

http://www.voaa.org

Social Media @vegallies

Guerrilla Wearfare Pro-Veg Clothing - Green Festival NYC

Trying to share information about the impact eating vegetarian, vegan, or less meat in general has on the body, mind, environment and economy is no easy task. Vegheads are usually met with sighs, eye-rolling and complaints about their food choices being respected.

Fortunately, pictures are worth a thousand words, and Christopher Baez of Guerrilla Wearfare has brought his message down to street level with thought provoking tees for every day wear.

GuerrillaWearfare.org

Help Plant A Million Trees in NYC

I have been seeing the Million Trees NYC efforts all around my neighborhood for a while now. It started with TD Bank putting advertisements up on their windows, and participating in events around New York City. I spotted TD Bank at The Worlds Fair Anniversary in Flushing Meadow Park in Queens with this awesome nature habitat inside of a truck. If you took a tour of the truck, you would get a cool, million trees reusable shopping bag. The line was ginormous, so I sadly did not get to see the truck, or get the nifty bag. Reusable shopping bags are my jam.

TD Bank Tree Trailer - Worlds Fair Anniversary, Queens NY
The Green Monger

 Then I started seeing trees actually being planted around the neighborhood, and spots drawn on the sidewalk to mark out where future trees were going to be planted.

Preparing For The Green Festival in NYC

Attending the Green Festival this weekend in NYC was a fairly last minute decision. What makes it even more exciting is that The Green Monger is going in as press! This is my first and biggest event for this blog, so I must say that I am nervous. If I would have found out about it earlier, I could have prepared better. I feel like such a scatter brain! I hope that I don't go in there seeming like a complete amatuer. I have done work with NY Comic Con before, so I am not intimidated by crowds, but this seems different. 

Since this was last minute, and I never needed business cards before, I had to fandangle some. This IS a green event, so why not get completely in the DIY, reuse, recycle mode? With some paper I kept from previous print job screw-ups, and some brown paper bag I had lying around, I made up some business cards. 

I have a microphone for interviews, and am currently working on a microphone flag. (A flag is the logo box you see on the medias microphone).

I have online storage ready and The Green Mongers YouTube account is set for videos to be uploaded directly from Green Festival in case I start to run out of room. 

I don't know what else I need aside from a comfortable pair of footwear, and some confidence!

If you are an eco-friendly or eco-curious New Yorker, The Green Festival should be an educational and fun day for you to check out all the latest products and services in green living. I'm looking forward to it big time!

33rd Annual Making Brooklyn Bloom Event

Getty Images - Ariel Skelley

Gardens serve, teach, and inspire young and old alike. In honor of 100 years of The Brooklyn Botanic Garden's groundbreaking Children's Garden, BBG celebrates the ways that gardens provide common ground for bringing generations together with their annual Making Brooklyn Bloom event. Now in its 33rd year!

With free workshops, films, information and more, the event is a wonderful opportunity to socialize with other local gardeners. Expect some giveaways and freebie handouts including brochures, catalogs, and more.

The event is this Saturday March 8th from 10am to 4pm. Workshops always fill up quickly, so if you go, make sure you get there before 10am and sign up for the goodies so you're not left out! Workshops include:

New Yorkers Enjoying Making Brooklyn Bloom

• A Farmer's Yoga
• Can We Get the Lead Out? Soil Contamination in Urban Gardens
• Connecting the Plots: Crossing Generations in the Garden
• Dive into Compost Bins
• Educating the Senses: Edible Schoolyard NYC
• Gray and Green: Cultivating Active Retirees
• Grow Your Salad: The Edible Container
• Heritage Eating: Foodways 1914–2014
• Just Get Out There: Tools for Nature Walks and Talks
• Kitchen Botany
• Seed Starting with Youth
• Tree Care for All Ages

Check out the event posting at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's website for all the specifics. See you there!