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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.)

^{[photo courtesy Spanish-Living.com]}

Meet L’Hemisfèric, one of the five attractions that make up the dazzling, ultramodern City of Arts and Sciences (known as Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències in Catalan, or Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias in Spanish) in Valencia, Spain. This “city,” completed in 2004 by renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, includes an opera house, a garden, a science museum and an oceanographic park. The cherry on top of this sensory overload sundae is, of course, L’Hemisfèric: an entertainment complex boasting the trifecta of IMAX theater, laserium and planetarium. And if you’re into creepy nicknames, feel free to call it the “Eye of Knowledge.” (According to Spanish-Living.com, “The eye even blinks with the aid of a steel and glass shutter operated by hydraulic lifts.”)

^{[photos courtesy Hipocondriaca, . Bambo]}

As it turns out, right now would be an excellent time to make a trip to Valencia, as the whole town is gearing up for Las Fallas. Held on March 15-19, this annual celebration welcomes spring in the very best way: with FIRE and NOISE. During the festivities, celebrants construct enormous firecracker-stuffed puppets (called ninots), usually grotesque or satirical figures, which get paraded around the streets and placed in tableaus (fallas). Every day at 2pm, pyrotechnicians try to out-muscle each other in La Mascletá, a fireworks competition that focuses on sheer bone-rattling percussive power instead of sparkly lights. (They refer to the finale as the terremoto, meaning “earthquake.”) As you might expect, the whole thing culminates in an epic conflagration: Nit del Foc (”The Night of Fire”). According to Valencia City Guide:

All Fallas burn all over the city the following night (including the winner of the competition) in a tremendous spectacle of fire and joy. Valencia is at that moment like Nero’s Rome, a city in flames.

And indeed, so it would seem:

^{[photos courtesy vanguardista, Fabio Gava]}

For more dazzling Las Fallas snapshots from Flickr, go here. [Thanks to Neatorama for inspiring for this post!]