Usurped!

Paging Dr. Orac! Your crown has, apparently, been usurped.

The photograph above was taken at San Francisco's Green Festival, an over-all excellent event. I learned a lot about the state of green technology, from solar panels to composting, and more importantly I learned a lot about the state of the market for such technologies.

I also learned that a lot of woo gets wrapped up under the heading of "green," and that's a shame. There weren't any anti-vaccine booths, but large sections of the conference center were devoted to homeopathy, herbal remedies, cupping, and related silliness. Among the groups displaying in the herbal section was the manufacturer of Maqui Superberry, owners of one of the most annoying websites ever.

I don't mean to complain, since I got to see Van Jones speak, not to mention the astonishing Cornel West (and got to chat with each of them as they signed books that my girlfriend and I bought). But the credibility of the whole enterprise would be greatly enhanced if there were some standards applied to the vendors who display. It isn't like there's a dearth of good products that could use the promotional opportunity to great effect.