by Allison Arieff, Sunset editor-at-large

It was a big week for green in the San Jose, CA, last week. On Thursday, September 25, the truly inspirational West Coast Green conference opened in San Jose. Keynote speakers throughout the amazing event included former Vice President Al Gore and an unparalleled group of sustainability stars such as David Suzuki (whose foundation put out the report, Sustainability within a Generation, a map to put Canada on the path to sustainability by the year 2030), Hunter Lovins (President of Natural Capitalism Solutions), and Sarah Susanka (author of the Not So Big House books).

I gave a lecture Thursday about creating community and presented some of my favorite people-connecting projects like the tree-planting efforts of Friends of the Urban Forest, and Linden Alley, a once derelict alley transformed by the Blue Bottle Coffee kiosk and the ever increasing hordes of caffeine addicts who frequent it.

Sunset was proud to sponsor the beautiful SG Block Shipping Container House (aka Harbinger House) designed by the Lawrence Group. The striking structure drew a steady stream of visitors eager to see how shipping containers could be transformed into domestic bliss:

It's impossible in just one post to recount all the interesting people, provocative conversations, and promising new technology gathered under one roof during WCG....you'll be hearing more from us on this later.