Texas hosts the largest Earth Day event in the world — here’s what it was like

By Rebecca Harrington From Business Insider

Dallas businessman and philanthropist Trammell S Crow founded Earth Day Texas in 2011 and its gotten bigger every year since
Businessman and philanthropist Trammell S. Crow.Rebecca Harrington/Business Insider

DALLAS — Businessman and philanthropist Trammell S. Crow founded Earth Day Texas in 2011 and it has gotten bigger every year since.

This Earth Day weekend, an expected 150,000 people attended the event at the Texas State Fairgrounds. School groups, families, college students saw 850 exhibitors, and about 260 speakers come together to talk about protecting the environment.

Here’s what it looked like:

First of all, Earth Day Texas is huge. Held in Dallas’ 277-acre Fair Park, it was a haul to get around.
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Crow describes himself as a conservative Republican and an environmentalist. He has made it his mission to get people from those two camps to come together on fighting climate change.
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About 850 exhibitors from companies, non-profits, and schools filled 1,720 booths. The Republican Party was set up right across from the Democratic Party.
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Secretary of Energy Rick Perry attended on Friday. He touted Texas’ environmental accomplishments when he was governor and said he would use the state as an example for the federal government to follow.
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Another Cabinet member, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, also attended. Here’s the hall where he was supposed to speak. But he was late, and the audience of several dozen people had to move to an auditorium in the basement.
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While waiting to move downstairs, two protesters unfurled a banner and started chanting, “science not superstition,” accusing Pruitt of being the wrong choice to lead the EPA. The crowd looked on unperturbed, not joining in the chants.
Business Insider/Rebecca Harrington

Pruitt spoke with Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton for about 20 minutes. Three protesters interrupted the talk, and Pruitt’s staff removed them from the hall.
Business Insider/Rebecca Harrington
Read more about Pruitt’s visit here »

Many, many brands attended to tout their sustainable business practices or environmental programs. Chipotle was there advertising its new “clean food” campaign.
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Chester Cheetah was there with PepsiCo giving out free chips and Gatorade.
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Tesla was there, too.
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The LEGO exhibit was extremely popular with kids and adults.
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LEGO challenged people to make a creation that touched on one of two themes: protecting bees or keeping the ocean clean.
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Some kids used those ideas as a springboard, but many made their own unique creations.
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One of the buildings was entirely dedicated to agriculture. Here, ranchers attend a panel on soil regeneration.
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The Texas Farm Bureau had a simulator in a truck where you could go in and pretend to virtually harvest corn
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Virtual reality was a top draw for many different booths.
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Most of them used Oculus Rift VR headsets.
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“You wanna go off the grid?” this man asked before jumping on the bicycle to power a set of light bulbs.
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Tons of activities were interactive for kids, like this one from CMC Recycling’s booth where kids got to color a giant mural.
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Tree climbing was a popular event.
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The kids used ropes instead of tree limbs to climb.
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There were free fitness classes. These people were learning Tai Chi.
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Tiny houses seem to be a mainstay at any environmental conference these days. These were slightly larger than ones I’ve seen in the past, though, and they donated one to a homeless veteran.
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“Fun facts” about trees were posted throughout the festival.
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The massive fountain running through the middle of the event was turned off and is being renovated to conserve water.
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All seven of the major buildings where exhibitors had booths and where speakers held talks had bare floors.
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While many of the materials used at the event were recyclable, like any large event, Earth Day Texas produced a lot of waste.
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The Savor Food Garden offered six tastes of sustainable foods for $5. I tried a vegan brownie, vegan chili, bread pudding (seen here), watermelon gazpacho and a few other delights.
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What Earth Day Texas is complete without a sustainable beer garden?
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Not a live tiger.
Not a live tiger.
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Live birds of prey attended, too.
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Texas A&M University’s booths stretched an entire row.
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Local non-partisan, non-profit Texas Heritage Protection taught people about the environmental impacts of litter.
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A lot of Texans brought their dogs to the festival!
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Despite the 50-degree temps on Saturday. lots of people tried scuba diving in the pool.
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Joining cities around the country for the Science March on Saturday, demonstrators marched from City Hall to the Earth Day Texas event 3.5 miles away.
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Science March participants showed off their signs and costumes at Fair Park.
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Legendary ocean scientist Sylvia Earle delivered a keynote speech on the importance of scientific inquiry.
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Kids loved the little petting zoo.
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Here’s a man on stilts talking on the phone with a cow in the background.
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Until next year, Earth Day Texas!

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