Stakeholders on both sides of the war of the world turned out at Fair Park this weekend for Earth Day Texas, seeking to shift the dialogue on sustainability.
The goal for many of the environmentalists and venture capitalists in attendance was the same: to find common ground and make sustainability both an economic and environmental concern.
"If it's not affordable," said CleanTX Executive Director Dwain Rogers, "it's not going to be able to scale."
A sign on the dashboard of a Tesla Model X presented another sentiment: "There's No Planet B."
This is "eco-capitalism," the image the event's organizers promoted to bring industry and environmentalists together to create solutions for the future.
This Earth Day celebration, billed as the world's largest, was full of exhibits and discussions rooted in scientific discovery. There was face painting, lessons on how to milk a cow, beer tasting and live music.
On Saturday, the expo was rebranded "EARTHx" to reflect ambitions that have gone global since it began in 2011. Even so, organizers have said they don't plan to move the conference away from its position in Fair Park.
"We want to have this event be the destination for this conversation," EARTHx CEO Ryan Brown said.
The fairgrounds were also the destination for Dallas' March for Science, which began at City Hall and ended at Fair Park.
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Its participants voiced a growing anxiety concerning President Donald Trump's stances on environmental issues.
About the time the march entered Fair Park, Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton tried to position his party away from polarized discussions of the environment.
Sitton, a Republican, said the discussions he was hearing at the expo had been much more unified than debates on network television and in Washington.
"Texans have the opportunity to be leaders in areas all around the globe," he said, noting that developing nations could benefit from Texas' regulatory expertise. "Our mission shouldn't stop in Texas."
A day earlier, the railroad commissioner's discussion with Scott Pruitt, Trump's pick to run the Environmental Protection Agency, was interrupted by three attendees who charged Pruitt with having an agenda focused on "gutting the EPA."
"How much have you been paid to do this?" one protester shouted, disrupting the "fireside chat-style" conversation. "You're a monster!"
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, once on Trump’s shortlist to run the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said conservative Republicans must do more to combat the perception people have that they’re more concerned with business and political gains than environmental sustainability.
“This should be our issue,” Miller said of sustainability. “The problem is that we aren’t proactive. The only time we get involved is when something bad happens. And that’s why I get involved in Earth Day.”
