SXSW Eco Blooms October 4-6th

South By's newest spawn will climb out of the waters next week for it's shot at taking the hugely successful conference franchise in one more direction. Over the middle of next week, Eco plans to focus on the challenges of our environment and its sustainability.

Their 50 panels and keynote speakers will cover everything from local conservation of private land in Texas, to solving the global food and water problem and even features a panel about reshaping the lexicon of the movement (which interestingly features a panelist from Walmart). The words the panel has claimed are failing? Why, the very two we used in this article to describe the conference: environmental and sustainability.

There are still spots available for the downtown Hilton conference, the price tag of which seems to show that it's focused more towards businesses and professionals than to an eager-to-learn public. That said, South By manages to keep its panels intelligent and sounding fresh to unacquainted ears. Sierra Club has recently jumped on board with The Chronicle to act as the main sponsors of the conference. We shall see if their presence acts as a stamp of legitimacy.