Deborah Bakker, Zero Emissions Research and Initiatives pavilion, EXPO 2000

Deborah Bakker is currently working at the Zero Emissions Research and Initiatives (ZERI) pavilion at EXPO 2000, the World's Fair in Hannover, Germany. Previously she worked for the International Institute for Sustainable Development. Originally hailing from Ottawa, she currently calls Winnipeg, Manitoba, home.

For the first time in about a week, it's sunny at 8:30 a.m. The pavilion looks stunning in this morning light, since it's coming in at a sharp angle from the east, and I take a few pictures. The two-story round building, modeled after a mushroom, is airy and open. It was designed by Colombian architect Simon Velez, considered by many to be a world expert in bamboo architecture and construction.

I go upstairs to find a notebook I left there yesterday and spend a few minutes swinging in the hammock from Colombia, looking up at the exposed beams in the ceiling, before heading downstairs to meet others arriving for the seminar. The flooring here on the second floor of the pavilion is made from Thai bamboo by a German company, Elephant Parkett, and there's also a large table used for meetings and seminars, a few bamboo plants sitting against the sides, and a few computers, ostensibly linking to the ZERI website, except they haven't been working for the past few days. In a few weeks the second floor will be transformed into a Japanese Zen space and monks will be here for the day. I only hope that it's this beautiful for the monks' ceremonies.

A group of us walks over to the 3,600-square-meter Japanese pavilion next door, made almost entirely out of recycled paper and a cardboard frame, where we're having this morning's seminar. After staring at the outside of the building from the ZERI pavilion for two weeks, I'm finally getting to go inside. The gently vaulted roof is a graceful arched lattice made of thick paper tubes and steel, covered with a layer of special fire-resistant, waterproof paper which allows light to pass through.

Typical of what seems to be the unofficial modus operandi here at the EXPO, the person at the door knows nothing about our intended arrival and plans to use the conference room for something else, and everything is a bit chaotic for a few minutes. We finally find the right person and get escorted up to the conference room, sparely furnished, thoroughly supplied, and extremely neat and tidy. I sit down close to the rose placed on the table, and I think all of us in the group, about 25 in total, are glad to be inside after sitting outside for the rest of the week's seminars. I make a mental note to myself to try and get some slippers before the next seminars.

Graham Harper, who works with ZERI Link in Japan, talks about his experiences and we all share our views about environmental education. ZERI Link is an educational program that creates and distributes curriculum for high school students based on the ZERI principles, and connects students with local companies so they can apply what they learn in the classroom. There are parallel programs operating in Sweden (at least six guides here have participated in that program), England, Japan, and, in a few months, Thailand, with some plans to develop programs in Italy and Canada. The programs are a bit ad hoc, varying in structure and size from country to country, but they all have the common elements of creating a dialogue between the corporate sector and high school students, allowing the students to gain practical experience in the theory behind ZERI.

In the Japanese program, Graham's English class worked with Shiseido Cosmetics, identifying waste streams and trying to suggest ways of making industrial clusters and creating value from innovative uses of the company's waste. Graham tells the story of how much of an impact the students' work had. After listening to the students' presentation of their final report, one of the senior executives expressed his epiphany out loud, saying that perhaps it was time for the company to change its ways. It's impressive that a group of schoolgirls could have such an effect.

After the education seminar we wander back to the pavilion. I have a stimulating conversation with someone from New Zealand about the importance of experiential education, particularly in environmental education, but also in online education. All this thinking makes me thirsty and I get a couple of beers from the bar (not very unusual here, since Germans start ordering beer as soon as we open at 9 a.m.) and we continue talking and move on to our EXPO misgivings.

The fair is supposed to radiate with the themes of Humankind, Nature, and Technology. But most days I see an enormous consumer fest -- a summer fair like those they have at home minus the carnies, with better coffee, pretzel carts instead of cotton candy, and more stylish people. Take for instance the Andorran pavilion, one of the most prominent here, representing one of the smallest countries at the EXPO. They've done a superb marketing job, since almost every 10th person has a pin or bag from the pavilion's gift shop, but their pavilion contains little about technology, sustainable development, or nature. Cynicism aside, there are some gems here, including the ZERI pavilion, and the Finnish and Bhutanese pavilions.

Back to work at the bar and information booth. Customers like the menu -- a variety of toasted sandwiches, coffeecake, beer, good strong Colombian coffee that comes from a ZERI project, and homemade lemonade. The sandwich bread and the coffeecake are both made from spent grain from the brewery in Cologne where we get the beer.

Finally, at about 10 p.m., a group of us leaves for one of the big concert halls here for a free show by the Buena Vista Social Club. Arriba!