Host Edmonton is about Eat. Drink. Think. I'm not here to promote it or anything, but I got to volunteer at the event and it was a fun experience. Their website looks really professional and you would never think that this was their first year doing this. Here's the site: http://hostedmonton.com/.
It was a 4 day event from Thurs-Sun, but the core of it was on Friday and Saturday. I volunteered the whole day Saturday (yesterday). Honestly, we volunteers were unsure of what we were supposed to be doing, and just followed the core team's instructions and doing whatever they wanted us to. It may have been a bit chaotic behind the scenes, but overall I think it was pretty well done, considering that this was their first year (they hope to go on for three more years).
Also, it must have been a really big budget production. They had so much excess customized pens and notebooks and they got quite a few big shot names in the culinary world to come up and speak. However, the turnout wasn't as big as expected. Maybe they should have advertised it more because I certainly hadn't heard of it until it was posted on a volunteer page at my university.
Regardless, it was a fun day and I met a lot of new people and had fun coming out of my shell. I was greeting people coming off the escalators in the morning, then doing odd errands and staying at the registration booth for the remainder of the late afternoon-evening.
And I must say that the core team really took care of us volunteers. They fed us with good food, let us attend the talks, and gave us free drinks. And yes there were alcoholic drinks too, which we could try. A really fun day, and if they have this again next year, I wouldn't mind helping out again.
So yesterday, on the 10th of May, was Canada's national 'Defend Our Climate, Defend Our Communities' day. This day opposes the government's relationship with oil companies-- especially against the tar sands and pipeline productions.
In Edmonton, a mock ceremony was held to depict the 'too-close' relationship between the government and oil companies. Here is the news coverage of that day: http://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=361502&binId=1.1203428&playlistPageNum=1
And if you want to watch the whole ceremony, it's on here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6h5IiWq3X018 minutes long, but it's pretty funny.
I actually did not know we were going to have quite a big turnout. It was pretty epic even though there were some mishaps and problems along the way (especially with the weather). This was an event organized by Greenpeace, and I was one of the volunteers. I was supposed to be at a table giving out information leaflets and flyers to people who wanted them, but it was too windy and at some point it started to snow, so we didn't set the table up.
Not the best day to be out and about at a wedding, but it was definitely worth it. My only regret is that I didn't take a picture at the end with the backdrop. Well I'm just glad that there are so many people out there who cares about our environment. Even young children participated. And it was across Canada, in places like Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria which had much bigger turnouts, though I personally feel that ours was more epic.
You don't have to be in Canada to defend our climate. Defend yours with small steps at a time! Leave your environmental footprint behind and let people know that you care.
I was here, were you?
