Update from Digital Be-In: Biomimicy, Earth Day Event in San Francisco

What happens when you mix the founder of Burning Man, the founder of Odwalla, scientists, techies, organic farmers and JP Morgan as a sponsor? You get Digital Be-In: an artsy event with speakers, organic food and a party. Over 10 speakers came, with booths, drinks, and later a big party. It was definitely an eclectic mix; I couldn’t see that well in the dark, but about 200 people came to hear the speakers, and more were entering. Urth.tv did a live broadcast of the event on the internet. Here were some interesting things I saw:

• The first public unveiling of Wiser Earth, a nonprofit social networking site focused on activism and issues, very similar to Care2.com. It already has a community going and active membership.

• Urban Alliance for Sustainability, a nonprofit that focuses on environmental sustainability and building communities, was selling the Green Zebra, SF based coupon book. I took a look inside the book, and it was full of coupons from green businesses like natural food, yoga, spas, and travel. Here’s an example of a coupon inside from one of my favorite places to shop for groceries:

I bought the book for $25, and I know that I’ll already use several coupons inside that payoff the initial fee. If you’re in San Francisco or go often, I recommend buying this. But if you live outside of the city or don’t come often to the city, it won’t be worth it for you.

Other interesting talks included Autodesk’s sustainability design consulting, a group that helps design large scale things like buildings and PAX Scientific, a green research and development tech group.

To be honest, I’m not sure whether I’d go next year, I think the Green Festival and other conferences are a little more organized, but this is definitely a good attempt to get more people in the Bay Area aware of environmental issues by making it fun.