In the months following the selection of Denver as the host city for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, I worked to lay the groundwork for it to be the greenest convention ever - supporting Mayor Hickenlooper’s early greening pitch to DNCC chair Howard Dean and organizing a group of advocates and supporters to get the effort underway. Since leaving my role as Greenprint Denver founding Director in June of 2007, life has been relatively quiet. I’ve enjoyed building a new business, being in the private sector, walking to work, supporting local and national clients with sustainability strategy needs and working on a book contract.

But next week the Democratic National Convention comes to Denver, and it’s impossible not to get caught up in the transformation in the city as it prepares for 30,000 guests, and the wild proliferation of “green” events and opportunities related to this historic event. Ariana Huffington is setting up shop in my husband’s office downtown, with a yoga and wellness center. CNN is just down the street and Jon Stewart’s got a live studio across town at Denver University. Friends I haven’t seen since college or graduate school, who have since become prominent journalists and political operatives are calling out of the blue, looking for lodging and local contacts. Local artists have produced cool locally oriented convention pins. There will be parties, speeches, film festivals, meditation gatherings, protests and art events, and there is a palpable buzz and excitement in the central city everywhere you go. And, in a shift of priorities not previously experienced in my lifetime, everyone is trying to “go green”.

From the luddite (wooden hotel keys) to the high tech (green frontier fest solar and wind energy demos), from the local (DNC caterer food sourcing specs) to the international (British scientist Sir Nicholas Stern speaking on climate change), the greening of the Denver convention has caught on and been adopted to a degree that was almost unimaginable in Boston in 2004. The efforts of Parry Burnap (Greening Director for the Mayor’s Office) and Andrea Robinson (DNCC Greening Chief), the Denver Host Committee, the Governor’s Energy Office, the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado, the Metro Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (which recently posted a carbon calculator and offset options on their website), the hotel and restaurant associations and others to numerous to mention, have been remarkable.

A few highlights:

• 1,000 bikes will be available to anyone who wants to avoid the downtown traffic crunch, from various stations throughout the city, courtesy of Boulder-based nonprofit Bikes Belong and Humana.
• The Green FrontierFest on at the Denver Performing Arts Complex on Sunday August 24 from 10-6 will feature exhibits, games, music and green living information, presided over by Mayor Hickenlooper, Governor Ritter and Daryl Hannah, among others.
• The Sustainable Living Roadshow BE THE CHANGE tour will park itself on the two square blocks in front of my office and feature a similar variety of eco-delights and inspirational speakers (including, rumor has it, Michelle Obama).
• As part of the Rocky Mountain Roundtable series, a sold-out all-day Energy and Climate Change Symposia on Tuesday 8/28/08 at the DCPA, featuring Senator Amy Klobuchar, NRDC president Frances Beinecke, Ira Magaziner, John Podesta and Sir Nicholas Stern, among many others.
• A special E-Town DNC concert at the Buell Theater on Tuesday 8/28, featuring James Taylor, Graham Nash and David Crosby and Ani DiFranco.

As for me, I plan to offer free 10-minute consultations to anyone who drops by my office to visit, see Jon Stewart Live at least once, enjoy Willie Nelson at the CH2MHill bash, and take my children around town to enjoy the spectacle, and walk and bike everywhere to avoid nightmare traffic.