I attended the Digital Be-In 16 last night at the Temple club in San Francisco. The event was organized by the Green Century Institute as an adjunct event to the Ecocity World Summit. The event has roots back the original Human Be-In of January 14, 1966, with such characters as Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Wavy Gravy and others. In fact, Leary was involved in all previous incarnations of the event up until his death.
That link to the past, along with the highly stylized and well-conceived club atmosphere, really made for a special event. The evening kicked off with a symposium on the Ecocity movement, with presentations from many individuals who have creatively engaged with their communities to make a difference. Architect and eco pioneer Paoli Soleri was honored, but unfortunately couldn’t attend. There were also several demonstrations of web-based technologies aimed at creating more community involvement in green issues.
After the event there were a series of performers, including poets, dancers, musicians and DJs. The event spread out from the main hall into a catacombs of inter-connected chambers below that housed displays of eco-minded organizations out to make a difference. I’ll be blogging about several of these organizations in the near future.
