Students wearing tie-dyed T-shirts mingled with men in business suits at ASU's Green Summit Thursday.
Business leaders from across the country joined with environmental activists on the lawn outside the Student Services Building with the goal of accelerating the adoption of green products and design.
Approximately 55 different organizations set up booths, including several ASU departments, according to the Web site greensummit.org.
More than 1,000 attended the event during the four hours it was open.
"Everybody seemed really positive about it," said global studies senior Chris Samila, who organized the event. "There's a lot of people here."
People manning the many booths - representing everything from light bulbs and paint to environmentally friendly hot water heaters and green architectural products - gave away free samples and explained how their products worked.
Others, like activist Nico Guillermo, walked around inside the giant tent housing the booths and informed passers-by of political causes.
Guillermo, who was gathering signatures for the Green Party and other initiatives, said responsible capitalism is the way of the future.
"I think it's the only way," he said. "You've got to make money to make environmentalism your life."
People who make Green purchases are learning as they buy, Guillermo said.
"When people read about ... organic food or safe paint, it informs them through their purchases," he added. "It's not just a hippie thing."
Representatives from both sides of the environmental/business barrier said the way of the future is to work together.
"I'm absolutely an environmentalist," Samila said. "But the only way to get people excited for it is to get the marketing and business side involved."
The Green Summit showed that if businesses or people go green, they can "increase the bottom line but still do things for the environment," Samila said.
Samila and four other students began organizing the event in January.
There were many more local adults than students at the event, but some did come to see the green products.
"I'm pretty impressed," said undeclared freshman Wylie Timmerman.
His friend, computer science freshman Tim Trefren, said there wasn't too much for students at the event.
"A lot of the kiosks are more directed to people who own homes," he said. "I don't have much use for eco-friendly paint."
Reach the reporter at: john.dougherty@asu.edu.
