One of our favorite organizations, Ecoist, continues to do amazing work in Serbia.  Earth Day has become a day for companies to blast their public relations agenda to their customers, but in Belgrade, the day was instructive thanks to Ecoist’s hard work.

Once again Ecoist collaborated with the Supernatural Movement to organize the Supernatural Festival, where visitors to Belgrade’s Botanical Gardens had access to an open classroom, jazz music, an eco-fair, organic products, and a valuable lesson about plastic bags.

Locals enjoying Supernatural Festival events in Belgrade's Botanical Gardens.

By far the best exhibit was a demonstration about how plastic bags can accumulate (see at top of the page, above left, and click to expand).  Ecoist figures the average Serbian can accumulate 300 bags within 6 months thanks to shopping and running errands.  To give visitors a visual, 300 plastic bags were plunked into a clear bin--with the reminders how long it takes those bags to break down and how many can rack up within any country.  For an item used an average of 20 minutes, the decomposition time of 300 years is hardly worth it.

More on the event here.  The Supernatural Festival had the support from Coca-Cola and The British Council.  More activities like this in the Balkans and elsewhere would be most welcome!

A few Ecoist employees and volunteers taking a deserved break.