Edit Expo - Smart Design for Life

EDIT EXPO -The Festival of the Future

Dates: Sept 28- Oct. 8, 2017

Location: 21 Don Roadway

Event: Expo for Design, Innovation & Technology

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EDITDX

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/editdx/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/editdx/

Website:  http://editdx.org/home

Cost:  $15 day pass

I hoped to post this much earlier but I only had a chance to visit the Edit Expo on the last day due to the location and time factors but I wish I had time to go to a few more of the panel events.

The Inaugural 10 day Edit Expo was situated inside an abandoned factory in Toronto's Port Lands area tucked in at the end of the Don Valley Parkway.  It was an immersive festival that brought together world-changing ideas with a goal to get closer to achieving the UNDP's Sustainable Development Goals.

Situated inside an abandoned factory in Toronto's Port Lands, the inaugural EDIT –– a 10-day immersive festival full of world-changing ideas –– brought us one step closer to achieving the UNDP's Sustainable Development Goals. 

With a day pass you could access speakers, exhibits, and workshops.  On the last day that I attended they had a FREE Lunch for anyone that attended using Food that would normally be thrown out with a host of volunteers serving up Soup and Foccaccia bread to up to 5000 people.

Second Harvest Ambassador and Chef Bob Blumer was on hand to do a food demo using left over bits of food provided to make a Cauliflower crust pizza with green pesto and vegetables.   I had a bite and it tasted great.

As you can see from the sign that one of the volunteers above was holding, we waste up to 30% of Fruits & Vegetables in Canada mostly because it's thought of as "too ugly".  Grocery stores will not stock blemished fruits and vegetables so most of them go into landfills.  People at home do not want to buy these so called "ugly vegetables" and they also waste food that goes un eaten.  I am guilty of this and am trying to be more mindful of what I buy and how I use it.  Almost half of the food produced in the world doesn't end up being consumed by people.  That would be enough to feed everyone in the world if it was better managed.

Besides the Food aspect which is what I was most interested in of course,  I am also interested in smart design and technology that makes life better for people.

I have to admit that I didn't understand some of the artistic installations but as you can see there were some beautiful installations.

I wish this Expo was in a more accessible area so that more people could have attended.  There was parking and that was probably the easiest way to get there besides on bikes.  They had a bike share company there at the entrance.  I took the ttc and then took an Uber back to the subway because it was a bit of a hike from the stop closest to the location.  I wish I had more time to visit sooner.

One of my favourite things at the Expo was the rooftop garden.  I think every multi unit building should have a roof top Oasis that provides food, relaxation and at the same time cools the buildings.  That's smart design.  Keeping nature in an Urban environment and for Sustainability which is the ultimate goal.  

We need to start finding solutions to problems of the ever increasing population and density with the decreasing amount of natural resources.

I would love to see where the direction of this Expo goes next year.