Now friend, you seem like a conscious person. I mean really conscious — I can tell you care about making the world a better place for all of Mother Earth’s children. Well, I wouldn’t share this with just any old person, but let me tell you about a little something I like to call the New Green Revolution. Now you can make the world green and make yourself some green, all at the same time. That’s the wonder of the New Green Revolution. It’s about having fun, it’s about opportunities — that’s making money — and it’s about making a better world.

To see the magic for yourself, all you need to do is wander up the road to this year’s Connecticut Green Expo, the grand finale of the Connecticut Folk Festival and Green Expo, made possible for you by the lovely people up at New Haven Folk and Southern Connecticut State University. Don’t let global warming get you down! Experience the magic today! Then sign up for a booth at next year’s expo, and tomorrow you’ll be rolling in green!

Friend, I would venture to say that there isn’t a finer event east of the Mississippi than this gem of an expo in beautiful New Haven, Connecticut. Out in the parking lot, there are loads of conscious people just like yourself all clamoring to change the world — that parking lot is absolutely filled with hybrid and biodiesel and electric cars, and you just know the people are conscious since they’ve all got beautiful messages like Follow Your Heart and Imagine Peace and God Bless the Whole World — No Exceptions. Yes sir, these people are following their hearts and they’re following ’em right into the Southern Connecticut State University quad, right into the countless vendors and exhibitors and workshops that make up the 2008 Connecticut Green Expo.

And let me tell you, there is something for everyone! Whether you’re looking for eco-friendly sunroom additions, cruelty-free vegan skin products, or dairy-free snacks, you’re sure to find it at the Connecticut Green Expo. At the JAG Studios booth (their slogan is Conscious Photos for Conscious People, isn’t that nice?), Jacklyn Greenberg is showing off her limited-edition landscape and wedding photos. Green gourmets line up at The Green Umbrella, where Lisa Storch is selling oh-so-yummy goji berry extract powder and organic shelled hempseed (Delicious Nutty Flavor, Add to Your Favorite Recipes!). True hemp aficionados can purchase organic hemp dog collars, hemp baby salve, and incense matches (For Masking Odors!!!) from my dear friend Stephanie Niles at the Earthetarian, which also offers Tibetan prayer flags, handmade knitting needles, and cookbooks like the ever-popular The Garden of Vegan: How it All Vegan Again. If you’re fashion-conscious, we’ve got everything from Little Hippie imprinted handmade children’s clothing to 68-dollar Steel Pony designer T-shirts whose promoter, the charmingly dreadlocked Marcia Duvall, assures me that the shirts aren’t made by a roomful of abused Indonesian women. Those in need of foreign nannies may also want to pay a visit to Brenna Lanigan of Au Pair Care. Now, she might have a bit of trouble explaining her connection to the green movement, but she’s a very nice lady and she fits right in with the New Green Revolution since — now here’s a little secret — she caters to our target demographic.

Now please, friend, before I get carried away let me remind you that the New Green Revolution isn’t just a day at the beach. Let’s not forget about the really important issues in the world, like factory farms and global warming and Darfur and the poor feral cats of Cheshire, Connecticut. That’s why the Connecticut Green Expo has also got things like the Connecticut Fund for the Environment. The Sierra Club. Jewish World Watch, which is providing Disney backpacks for Sudanese schoolchildren. Friends of Cheshire Feral Cats (Success is Pawsible). If success is pawsible for those poor little kitty cats, it’s certainly possible for the children of Mother Earth.

And when you’ve got pals like these on hand, the conscious folks don’t mind spending a buck.

Sorry for being a bit of a downer there — now let’s just put those really important issues in the back of our mind while we have some fun. At the One Community Programs Booth you can learn how to harvest the energy that exists right in your own backyard and how to cultivate not only veggies but also a newfound respect for common weeds — the unsung heroes of the garden. For pure spectacle we’ve got a giant papier-mâché earth and a man in a carrot costume and a chakra-cleansing glitter-sprinkling wing-wearing friend of mine named Sweet Pea the Earth Faerie and a woman calling herself Mother Earth who will tell your children a colorful tale of how she experiences our presence! If you’re hankering for a snack, check out Bare Beans Coffee (Fair Trade Organic Coffee Roasted Fresh Daily in Teeny Tiny Batches!) or Mamoun’s Falafel (Home of the Crunchy Falafel Wrap and Not of the Whopper!) or First Fruits Fruit Smoothies (Yoga-nah Love These! Try a Mango Meditation or a Berry Blissful!). If you’re feeling stingy — and who doesn’t once in a while? — there’s free apples and pens and faux-Livestrong bracelets and T-shirts and vegetable juice and pamphlets — so many pamphlets! — and free samples from Steaz (The First USDA-Organic, Free-Trade, Vegan-Friendly Sparkling Green Tea Beverage, Which Will Always Be Cheerfully Described To You In Exactly The Same Way!). Don’t worry — it’s all going to contribute to greater conservation in the long run! Warm your heart, not the globe! Bumper stickers today, green tomorrow! Don’t let global warming get you down, because conscious or not, most of us don’t anyway!