The weekend of Dec. 3, Everywhere Agency descended to the riverfront of the Big Easy, not to indulge in the revelry of Bourbon Street, but to support ShiftCon 2016 as a media sponsor and to bear witness to an epic community of green movers and shakers.

ShiftCon is an eco-wellness and social media conference that focuses on food, health and sustainability. It hosts sessions that educate the crowd not only on how to improve their SEO and avoid #haters, but how much vitamin B6 can affect the production of serotonin to make you happy. Founder of this event, Leah Segedie, an influencer in her own right, was one of the first to take on giants like Monsanto and the topic of GMOs – among many other global concerns – and push them to the forefront of online conversation.

Shout out to businesses leading the charge to healthy, chemical free products like Applegate, Stonyfield Organic, and Garden of Life to name a few. Here’s the full list of awesome do-gooder brands that were in attendance.

I was surprised to hear facts like less than 1% of farming in the USA is organic, or stats from the CDC regarding how vitamin deficiencies vary by population group, with certain ethnicities and age groups lacking by great number in certain nutrients. How were more people not talking about this, I kept wondering?

Those who were undoubtedly not surprised by these facts were the attendees, hundreds of influencers who self-identify as everything from crunchy, light green, dark green or even, my favorite, the “aggressive hippie” blogger. These folks all had a shared goal - to use their online platforms to make the world a better place and drastically change the food industry. Some of the notable influencers who are helping others lead healthier, more sustainable lives are lifestyle blogger Love, Peace and Tiny Feet, podcaster like Organic Crumbs, and comedian/life coach and YouTube sensation Awaken with JP.

There was an undeniable feeling that permeated through the eco-friendly brands, influencers and speakers at the conference – which is, that a shift is undoubtedly in the air. Everyone in attendance understood that their combined voices not only have the ability to disseminate information to the masses, but the power to put the pressure on corporations to make real change when it comes to food production and our environment.

These folks are our modern day warriors – fighting to put chemical-free vegetables on their tables and access to food with nutritional value. As the word spreads to companies and brands that these matters are a priority for a significant portion of the population, they must evolve… errr… shift their practices to align with their consumers’ values.