Has the sport of kings finally come down to earth? Long considered a pastime for elites, the centuries-old game of polo is made accessible and fun at Prestonwood Polo & Country Club.  In tribute to mother Earth, the club hosted its 2^nd annual Polo for the Planet on June 5^th, a family-friendly, picnic-style community celebration.   Judging by this event’s popularity, polo’s panache seems to add just the sort of luster that the green movement has been longing for.

The brainchild of polo club owners Dena and Vaughn Miller, Polo for the Planet gives green business owners, aka “ecopreneurs”, a way to sell their wares and spread the green gospel against a backdrop of grassy fields and galloping horses. The Green Market was assembled by this year’s event chair Debora Annino, the creative director of dNh Do No Harm medical scrubs: high-quality, sustainable apparel for use in hospitals, doctor’s offices, and spas.  Green Market vendors in attendance and/or donating to the gift bags included: Anna Sova home, Avon Liv Botanicals, A.L.A.R.M women’s products, dNH Do No Harm, Dixie Piece Goods, EarthPeople, Earth on a Shoestring, GreenPet, Make Love Not Trash, Moss Gatherers, Nordstrom Galleria Beauty, Pure Dental, Rehoboth Ranch, Sila’s Soup, Susan’s Soaps & More, Texas Discovery Gardens, and The Spa at The Whole Foods Market.

Elizabeth Dry, Executive Director of the Promise of Peace Community Garden, proves that you don’t lead from position, but from vision. A public school educator for almost 30 years, Elizabeth now educates students, community leaders and executives on the power of the garden as a teaching tool. “By cultivating a spirit of ownership in families both poor and affluent, this garden teaches children and adults to cherish the earth and to see those who help tend it as part of their community,” says Elizabeth.  Since starting it in 2009, Elizabeth’s project has garnered significant media attention as a proactive, hands-on way to improve our environment while fostering community, improving health, supporting local vendors, and preventing crime.  It’s sustainable development in a nutshell.

At a recent EcoTuesday Dallas event at Times Ten Cellars, Elizabeth shared inspiration for ecopreneurs and other participants.   Her advice, which stems from her experience in conceiving the idea and subsequently being awarded a funding grant from the City of Dallas, is simple but profound. “Work as hard is you can on your plan,” she told us, “but remain flexible enough to step back and let your project take its own course.  I’ve seen miracles unfold in my garden.  Don’t be so controlling that you crowd out the opportunity for magic to happen.”  Relationships are flourishing along with their first spring harvest, proving the success of Elizabeth’s formula for sustainable development.  As far as I can tell, the secret to Elizabeth’s success is, “Let others build it and they will come.”  If people support that which they help to create, you expand your influence when you make a place for others to participate in your mission.

Working on this video with Tom Henderson, owner of Downing Hill Garden Studio, was a blast.  To put this in context, here's a short excerpt on organic gardening from my new book, Green, American Style:

Tending a garden must be instinctive to humans. There is no other way to explain why I am embracing it with such enthusiasm. To say I am not the outdoorsy type is an understatement. I dislike dirt and have an almost pathological fear of insects (except spiders, only because they remind me of Charlotte’s Web). How many of us wouldn’t prefer sitting inside the air conditioning or a screened porch to digging around in the dirt while getting chewed up by chiggers? And yet, I have an irrepressible urge to do so anyway.