Going green at Sundance — Bio-friendly options showcased

PARK CITY — It may be snowing in Park City, but the world around the Sundance Film Festival is covered in shades of green.

From the eco-luxury 360 Vodka — the festival's liquor of choice — to swarms of green gifting lounges, environmentalists and entrepreneurs from across the country have ridden the bio-friendly bandwagon here to make a difference — or in some cases, just get noticed.

"We almost didn't come," said Marie Dasaro, who sat at a booth for the Humane Society in the Village At The Yard gifting suite, mulling the irony of bringing the society's campaign to a celebrity event. "But this is a way for us to get new supporters. ... It's a good way to meet celebrities and find out who's interested in going to the next level."

Dasaro said at last year's festival the organization won the support of actress Sienna Miller, but that relationship may be on the rocks because, "She's wearing fur now," Dasaro said.

Around the corner from the Humane Society is a Timberland booth, where the company is displaying its first waterproof boots to be made mostly out of recycled materials. The "Earthkeepers" line is in addition to the company's regular shoes, but spokesman Brian Coleman said it's good to start somewhere.

"Not everything we do is green, but we're trying to make that possible," Coleman said. "You can't just snap your fingers and make everything eco-conscious, but we're trying to make strides toward doing what we can."

The eco-emphasis at Sundance started growing two years ago when Al Gore's documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," premiered at the festival. The carbon-neutral film went on to win an Oscar and was part of the reason Gore received the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his efforts to draw attention to global warming.

This year, "Fields of Fuel," a documentary on alternative fuel options; "Up the Yangtze," a documentary on the effects of a new hydroelectric dam that will be built on the river; and "Flow: For Love of Water," a documentary on the need for water and global change, are a few films that follow in Gore's footsteps.

Other filmmakers, whether their films have environmental themes or not, have taken strides to minimize their energy usage by shooting only in natural light with materials that are earth-friendly. For those in the industry who want to reduce their carbon footprint in other ways, Project Greenhouse has come to help.