By Ken Schlather, Tompkins Weekly

It’s time to do your friends (and your kids) a favor. A long-lasting favor. Anyone who has been a regular reader of this series knows that Tompkins County is overflowing with signs of sustainability but they are not always easily spotted. In fact the point of this column is to identify and spotlight signs so we can all see them. But still it takes a bit of work. And that extra effort often makes it difficult to convince friends that slight changes in lifestyles need not be difficult. Well not anymore. At least not the weekend of the Ithaca Festival. The Sustainability Fair at the Ithaca Festival offers you a chance to proselytize through play.

The last day of the Ithaca Festival, Sunday June 3, between 12 Noon and 6 PM marks the 3d appearance of this sign of sustainability. Gathered in one tent will be over 40 of Tompkins County’s best businesses, organizations and initiatives addressing sustainability issues. Here’s your chance to introduce someone you know to play with the plethora of pleasures, try out the trove of treasures and master the mess of measures that everyone in Tompkins County has access to, to improve their lives, reduce their carbon footprints, save money, save the earth and have fun too!

The Ithaca Festival, under the leadership of Vicki Kysar, decided three years ago to use the Festival as one more way to build awareness not only of the “need to be green” but to show how mainstream being green can be. The first year of the Sustainability Fair Ithaca Festival joined forces with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County (CCETC), New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and Sustainable Tompkins to put on a Fair that focused primarily on energy and green building.

Last year, using the slogan “It’s Easy Being Green” the Sustainability Fair and the same sponsors focused on the range of things one could do in one’s every day life to live more lightly on the earth. Vendors and exhibitors featured a range of products one could use and things one could do from the minute one woke up in the morning to the moment one fell asleep. More than 500 people tasted local foods, learned to landscape their yards and reduce energy use in their homes, checked out biodiesel and hybrid options for transportation, and explored alternatives that save water, time, other resources and money and reduce carbon emissions. Fair attendees were also able to measure their carbon footprint, to identify areas where each one could focus his or her efforts to achieve maximum reductions in their own carbon emission.

This year under the slogan “Back to Basics” exhibitions and vendors will be organized into the four elements, Earth Wind, Fire and Water. In keeping with the sense of playfulness this year’s event will feature live theater and art, in addition to many of the exhibitors from last year. Plus, plenty of opportunities for kids to get their hands dirty, and be creative. Among the many kids’ activities will be an opportunity for them to design and build a sustainable village. And for those of you who want to learn something here’s a short list of some of what you can explore: energy smart appliances, alternative energy sources – solar and wild- hybrid and vegetable oil fueled cars, energy audits for your home, lawn care, green building and composting.

You may have to work a little to drag your friends away from the beer tent and into the big white Sustainability Tent, but once they’re in there you’ll have an even tougher time dragging them back out! We’ll see you there, between 12 Noon and 6 PM on Sunday, June 3d, down at Stewart Park.

Ken Schlather is Director of the Tompkins County Cornell Cooperative Extension