Happy World Fair Trade Day, everyone! (And a happy Fair Trade Fortnight, too — the celebrating stretches on through May 16.)

In addition to the World’s Largest Coffee Break, which has turned into an annual tradition, festivities for this year’s WFTD include the multi-city “Big Bang Stomp.” Folks across the globe — in London, Seattle, Reykjavik, Dakar, Nairobi, Tokyo, Manila, Christchurch (New Zealand), and the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu — are picking up drums (or even buckets and trash-can lids) and making a joyful racket to get the word out about fair trade.

On a related note, we went to the second-annual Down:2:Earth expo last month, and we had a blast. Just like we did last time! The highlights:

• checking out the fascinating panel “The Future of Cars”
• sampling a tasty amuse bouche prepared by chef Mary Dumont (of the way-upscale Harvest restaurant in Cambridge)
• reading anonymous confessions of un-green behavior, as scrawled on a ZipCar
• gawping at local designers’ handiwork at the “Eco-Chic Fashion Show”
• seeing some familiar faces — like Equal Exchange and Mass Farmers Markets!

Check it out!

Oh, and a short ZipiZape Artisans update for y’all: As you may have noticed, our online store, www.zipizapeartisans.com, is currently offline. Fear not; we shall return. We’ve got a big relaunch in the works, so we’ll be on hiatus until we finish our retooling the site. Call it spring cleaning. In the meantime, you can still hang with us here. Or on MySpace. Or on Twitter.

^{[Didi Emmons is way excited to share her slaw -- which is good, 'cuz it rocks]}

As you may recall, I promised you all D:2:E recipes … and I’m not one to make idle threats. So here it is: a semi-sprawling gastronomic crawl through D:2:E, Boston’s latest symposium on sustainable living. Two of these recipes (the Broiled Channel-farmed Catfish with Red Curry Sauce and the Haley House Ginger Slaw) actually got live demos at D:2:E; the rest I scooped up from exhibitors‘ booths or their websites.

What’s so sustainable about these dishes? Emphasis on local (and seasonal) produce, fair-trade ingredients, and responsibly fished seafood. Of course, when you’re talking about sustainability, the prevalence of brand names can be a little off-putting. So I tried to choose recipes that lend themselves to more, um, open-source culinary solutions, or transcend brands entirely. (Bonus: They’re all extremely easy to make.)

OK, enough philosophizing — let’s get to the vittles!

APPETIZERS/SIDES
Spring Leek and Asparagus Tart with Goat Cheese
Braised Spinach with Thai Flavors
Roasted Sweet Potato with Rosemary
Heirloom Tomato Slaw
Haley House Ginger Slaw

ENTREES
Some Enchanted Pizza
Baked Macaroni & Cheese
Collard, Pear and Caramelized Onion Casserole
Broiled Salmon with Dijon Sauce
Broiled Channel-farmed Catfish with Red Curry Sauce

DESSERTS
Hazelnut Coffee Brownies
Honey and Lemon Tea Cakes
Peach Crisp
Butterscotch Bananas Foster
Chocolate Hazelnut Empanadas

DRINKS
Frozen Chocolate Moo
Thomas’s Thai Iced Coffee
Green Princess

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Last weekend marked the first-ever Down:2:Earth fest, and the Hynes Convention Center was awash in solar panels, electric motorbikes, fair-trade chocolate, sustainably farmed catfish, recycled-paper coffins and earthworm dung.

Oh, and plenty of fresh-faced sincerity — from the farmers’ market reps, to the cycling advocates, to the Boston Harbor Islands conservationists. Slightly more cynical was environmentalist Bill McKibben (choice quote: “I’m not an insane optimist … I wrote a book called ‘The End of Nature’ “), whose keynote speech quickly roused me from my feel-good stupor.

And what would a eco-fest be without an eco-fashion show? Hemp threads abounded, accessorized by felt totes from Etcetera Media, lacquered paper beads from Paper to Pearls and shoulder bags made of repurposed sailcloth.

Also, stay tuned for Part 2, when I’ll be posting a batch of recipes swiped directly from D:2:E. Believe me, you’re going to want to learn how to make that Haley House slaw. (Sooo good.)

In 2007, Sydney, Australia, cut the power for 60 minutes as a way to raise awareness about global warming. Call it a token gesture, but just that one small act alone slashed the city’s emissions by 10%. According to Earth Hour’s website:

[I]f the greenhouse reduction achieved in the Sydney CBD during Earth Hour was sustained for a year, it would be equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year.

This year, 370 cities worldwide took the pledge; and now Earth Hour 2008 has come and gone. Was it a success? While results seemed a little mixed, one thing is for sure: Sydney and Manila both earned gold stars. Just take a look at Boston.com’s photo gallery:

^{[photo courtesy the Associated Press]}

Inspiring, no? And the Earth Hour Flickr pool is filling up with some equally dramatic photos. (Way to go, Seattle!)

Even Google got in on the act.

^{[photo courtesy pirate johnny]}

OK, I worry that this post might be coming off as a bit breathless … but after seeing environmentalist Bill McKibben speak at D2E Boston, it’s hard not to be all fired up about climate change. Yesterday, McKibben dropped this sobering statistic: NASA researchers recently concluded that the maximum safe atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide is roughly 350 parts per million. And we shot past that benchmark 20 years ago — we’re at 385 ppm right now.

McKibben offers this analogy: Let’s say your doctor tells you that your cholesterol is dangerously high. Sure, you may not be doubled over with a heart attack right this second, but unless you’re looking to become a young, well-marbled corpse, McKibben says, “you have to stop eating cheese.” Consider Earth Hour a slice of cheese not eaten.

McKibben’s latest effort is 350.org, a global-warming activist movement still in its infancy. Check it out!