Fast Company Recommended Events June 2009

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mon, june 22
Recast
International Plastics Showcase
Chicago

The $400 billion plastics industry would like you to know that its products are becoming greener, lighter, more efficient, and less evil. Firms including Telles, a joint venture between Archer Daniels Midland and Metabolix, are making plastics from materials such as sugar and castor oil, while others are finding novel ways to reuse plastic. One example: Wyndham Hotels' staff will soon begin wearing suits made of recycled plastic. That's a uniform fit for the future. -- AB

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mon, june 22
Cover
Wimbledon 2009
London

Rain, rain, go away, come again ... never! There's a new retractable roof over Centre Court. It doesn't promise a total end to the weather delays that plague this hallowed tennis championship -- it takes 10 minutes to close the roof and up to 30 minutes postshower before play can resume -- but at least spectators in the 15,000-seat stadium will stay pretty dry. And the roof, designed by Kansas City, Missouri -- based Populous, also means better growing conditions for the lushest of lawns. -- ACL

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mon, june 22
Serve
2009 National Conference on Volunteering & Service
San Francisco

Volunteers contribute labor worth $156 billion per year to our economy, and their ranks are growing; HandsOn Network -- a matchmaker for volunteers and organizations -- reported a 124% spike in interest around MLK Day and Barack Obama's inauguration. This 3,000-person meeting will explore how to deploy this workforce. Sandy Scott, a spokesman for conference cohost Corporation for National and Community Service, gives Obama the credit: "He's made a bold call to action." Will people keep responding? -- ACL

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mon, june 22
Take Off
Virgin Atlantic's 25th Anniversary

It's ironic that the world's sexiest airline -- RIP, Hooters Air -- is still a Virgin. But these days, that's a good thing. As older carriers battle bad press (say, U.S. Airways) and financial woes (pretty much everyone else), the U.K.-based Virgin Atlantic has kept fares low and customers happy. Since its first flight in 1984, its famously attractive attendants have served 120 million meals and poured more than 4 million glasses of Champagne. Virgin has also recovered countless left-behind oddities, including false teeth and a wooden leg. Pretty fly for an airline. -- DM

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mon, june 22
Blow
International Whaling Commission Annual Meeting
Madeira, Portugal

Talk about white whales: Every year, the Japanese try to overturn the commercial whaling moratorium, and every year, anti-whaling nations lobby for a permanent ban. This year, things might actually change, thanks to beneficiaries of Japanese aid that have joined the IWC, including converts to the pro-whaling cause such as Eritrea, Tanzania, and landlocked Laos. Roughly half of the 84 member countries convened in March to discuss a proposal to allow Japan to resume commercial whaling in exchange for strict catch limits. Conservation groups have already begun protesting. But the decision would be in keeping with the commission's original purpose: It was founded in 1946 to support sustainable whaling. -- ACL