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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.)

By the time March rolls around, we New Englanders are through with merely being SAD — we’re exasperated. (Seriously; have you seen NH’s snowfall statistics?)

So, really, it’s no surprise that the New England Spring Flower Show is consistently packed to the gills with nearly 100,000 of the Northeast’s winter survivors, all straining to catch a glimpse of green to tide them over until the earth wakes up and starts blooming again. For this annual event, the Bayside Expo Center surreally transforms into a lush garden paradise.

Every year, the Flower Show takes on a new theme, and encourages its exhibitors to run wild with it. For 2008 (marking the 137th show), they chose “Rhapsody in Green,” a celebration of eco-friendly and sustainable horticulture. ” ‘Green’ doesn’t have to mean dull and practical,” exclaims the Mass Hort website. “This year, we’ll show the cutting-edge, sensual and colorful side of responsible gardening.” And the exhibitors delivered, filling the Bayside with battery-powered lawn mowers, solar-powered trash cans and rain gardens.

Here are the highlights. For the full image gallery, click here to view it at our Flickr page. (Note: If you enjoy this recap, stay tuned for our coverage of D2E Boston, which kicks off at the Hynes Convention Center next week. You might also want to check out our notes from our last trip to the Bayside, for Boston’s inaugural Going Green Expo.)

Upon entering the showroom, visitors were greeted by this massive metal spheroid made by sculptor Chris Williams.

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It’s hard to imagine a force strong enough to pull Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, hemp-wearing econauts and an enormous pile of processed elephant dung into the same room — but last weekend’s Going Green Expo did exactly that.

In its Boston debut last weekend, the fledgling Going Green Expo did an admirable job of demonstrating the breadth of what “going green” can mean — with over 150 exhibitors showcasing everything from industrial washing machines to clothesline advocacy; from health-promoting cookware to paper made from Sri Lankan elephant poop.

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