Un-Eco Exhibitors at UK Aware 09

For some time now, I have been increasingly concerned at the amount of climate crisis destructive activity of many exhibitors at the increasing number of national eco-exhibitions that are thankfully now taking place.

Stands flooded with destructive halogen bulbs and stocked with un-eco freebies such as plastic bottled water abound. I have gradually started asking some of the worst offenders why they are acting so counter to the ethos of the eco-exhibitions that they are attending? The reactions have varied from the genuinely appreciative of having something pointed out to them, that they had not thought about before to the downright hostile.

So it was again when I visited the UK Aware exhibition at the Olympia Exhibition Centre yesterday in London. However, rather than be frustrated, I decided this time to ask an increased number of those stands that were being especially wasteful or were using lighting in areas that were naturally lit, to turn off their unnecessary lights or ask them why they were using very wasteful old -fashioned lighting systems. The following is a taste of the responses I received:

The National Trust

They had a stand situated in a naturally lit portion of the exhibition hall that had a pop up stand lit with 3 halogen tubes, that looked like were using 2oo watts apiece. I asked a staff member why and I got a hostile reply of ask the manager. He eventually turned up and shrugged his shoulders and replied that they came with their marketing materials.


Energy Saving Trust

They had a stall handing out literature on energy saving but had a floodlight in a naturally lit area. I asked why and their friendly reply came that they agreed it was a waste but they did not know how to turn it off. I pointed at the switch on the flood-lamp and turned it off for them. They laughingly acknowledged the friendly humour in the situation.

Avasarah.com Jewellery

Their stall was lit with hundreds of watts from wasteful individual halogen bulbs. When asked why, the reply was that they had to light their products but when it was pointed out that this lighting was using more than 30 times the amount of energy used by similar LED lamps which were available two stalls down, we were meet with a frozen smile saying "thank you " but in reality felt like "bugger off and drop dead" !

WWOFF (World Wide Organic Farm Foundation"

When pointed out that their lights were on in a naturally lit area, they thanked us for pointing it out and again thanked us again when we helped find the switch to turn them off.

Saab Bio-diesel Car Stand

The Bio-diesel Saab car was parked in a special halogen drenched lit enclosure, using well over a thousand watts in a space the size of a small bathroom. When this was pointed out, the aggressive reply was that we would have to ask "Marketing" why they used such wasteful lighting in a naturally lit space.

When asked where could we speak to "Marketing", we were told they were not available. We then asked, as the stand was being so wasteful at an eco-exhibition if they could turn the unnecessary lights off and we received a blank refusal.

Eco-eye Electricity Monitors

This naturally lit stand was also lit with a incandescent flood-lamp. The stall was dominated with a large poster stating
"Saved Electricity is the Greenest Tariff of All".

But apparently this message is not for them as when asked if they would turn off the unnecessary floodlights, the reply came that as other stands were using them, they did not see why they needed to. When pointed out that other stands had turn4ed theirs off, they then said that they needed the light to highlight their monitor product. When asked if this was necessary, they admitted it did not but then said they needed to get the boss to turn off the light, which he did not do.

Little Leaf Magazine

When we pointed out to the friendly staff on this stall that their lights were on in a naturally lit area, the gushed back "we know and we hate it but we do not know how to turn them off". They thanked us profusely when we pointed out where the switch was and turned them off for them. Seemingly one member of staff suffers from migraines caused by such lighting and so were even more grateful.


We then reported the results of the impromptu survey at a plenary question and answer session and were really astonished at the deafening applause that followed our revelations and we were mobbed by supporters after, providing all sorts of suggestions, including one from a friendly young man named Agamemnon, who said that all we needed to do now was to take it to the next step and ask others to start asking the same questions.

So this led to a decision to try and in future include in each Eco-activators Blog a suggested "Eco-activators Action Suggestion" and to use the comments section for that particular blog to be a place where people can report back on their own experiences and actions resulting from the "Eco-activators Action Suggestion". So here is our very first such suggestion:

Eco-activators Action Suggestion

Any time you are next at a local or national eco-exhibition, if you spot any stand using wasteful incandescent or halogen lighting, ask them why and suggest they change to LED lighting.

Also where lighting is being used in natural lit stands or too much lighting is being used, ask them politely if they would turn them off.


As this initiative is inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence, please do not return aggression if refused, no matter how rudely by the stall-holders.

Try to stay calm, polite and centered and if due to possible aggressive or negative response, you find you might lose your politeness, then just move gently away and ask another stall politely.

We would love to hear from your experiences on this in the relevant blog comment section. Good Luck and enjoy!

Donnachadh