Local Heroes

Justin Rudd Keeps Long Beach Trash-Free

Marcus — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:08:22 -0400

For the past nine years, Justin Rudd has organized a monthly beach cleanup of the beach around Granada Avenue in Long Beach, California. On the third Saturday of every month, volunteers show up at 10 AM to comb the beach for garbage, socialize, and take part in keeping the natural beauty of their community intact. The 30-Minute Cleanup team provides trash bags, gloves, and refreshments courtesy of a variety of local sponsors. Over time, the event has grown and its popularity has blossomed, to the point that the average cleanup now boasts over 150 participants!

In order to encourage participation, Rudd decided to make the cleanups short, in order to emphasize the fun, positive aspect of the activity. And it worked. The cleanups have been growing in popularity since they first started, all the way back in June of 1999. At this point, the 30-Minute Beach Cleanups have become a widely recognized community event in the Long Beach area. In fact, Rudd recently received the Hal Albertson Volunteer of the Year Award from Keep California Beautiful, a non-profit dedicated to maintaining California’s natural beauty. While he’s honored to receive the award, Rudd plans to continue his efforts to keep his community litter-free and beautiful for years to come.

For more information on 30-Minute beach cleanups, click here.

Charity: Water Aims to Stop Water Pollution at its Source

Marcus — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:11:35 -0400

Before founding Charity: Water in 2006, Scott Harrison was a successful club and event promoter in New York City, coordinating events for some of the biggest names in media, fashion and entertainment. Despite his success, Harrison was dissatisfied with the course his life had taken, and in 2004 he decided to volunteer aboard a floating hospital for Mercy Ships, a humanitarian organization which offered free medical care in some of the world’s poorest nations. Completely transformed by his experience abroad, Harrison founded Charity: Water upon returning to New York, and has devoted his life to the cause ever since, never pausing to look back at his former life of exclusive parties and nightclubs.

In the two years since its inception, Charity: Water has blossomed, and is now responsible for installing drinking wells in communities in need across the globe. Each well costs between $4,000-12,000 to install, and Charity: Water donates 100% of the money it raises to direct project costs based on greatest need, and through events and fundraising exhibitions that promote public awareness. At the moment, one in six people on the planet do not have access to clean drinking water, and Charity: Water’s mission is to change this statistic by bringing clean water to the people who need it the most.

For just $20, you can provide a person in Africa with clean water for 20 years. Help Charity: Water bring clean water to the world’s developing countries by donating here.

“Buycott For Change” Recognizes Responsible Business, Promotes Merrymaking

Marcus — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 16:51:54 -0400

When Brooklyn resident and Northwestern University graduate Josh Sherman founded Buycott For Change earlier this year, he had one goal in mind: to change the world. The objective of Sherman’s fledgling non-profit is to recognize local businesses that have adopted socially responsible practices that benefit their employees, the surrounding community, and/or the environment. Each month, Buycott For Change selects a “target” business and hosts a gathering to encourage participants to “simply enjoy what the target has to offer.” The event serves to both patronize the selected business, and encourages participants to socialize with other like-minded members of the community.

Last month, the Buycott selected Ft. Greene’s Habana Outpost as its destination, due to its use of solar power, innovative rainwater collection systems, compostable cups and cutlery, and picnic tables made out of recycled plastic bottles and sawdust. This month, the Buycott traveled to Blue Marble Ice Cream in Boerum Hill, citing its use of local, fair trade, and organic ingredients as Buycott-worthy attributes. By bringing a mob of friendly consumers to responsible businesses, Buycott For Change hopes to provide positive reinforcement and encourage other businesses to follow suit.

Seriously, check this out. It’s a great cause, a great time, and an excellent opportunity to change the world a little with some fine people.

To learn more about Buycott For Change, visit www.BuycottForChange.org. If you have ideas or suggestions for future locations, email the Buycott at BuycottForChange@gmail.com.

8 Steps to Organize a Clean-Up Day in Your Community

akronheim — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Eww, there's trash everywhere, and somebody's gotta clean it up. Ever wanted to organize a group of people to do just that? I've done it at Ithaca College (IC) and many others have done the same. The IC Environmental Society has Green Teams who clean up after home football games and keep the good stuff (free unopened beer, sweatshirts, etc) recycle what we can, and throw out the rest. Even a group of high school students cleaned up their local park in New Haven recently and younger kids did it last year for Earth Day.

Here's 8 easy steps to get on your way to cleaning up your campus/park/area:

1. Find 5-10 loyal friends/sustainable companions to take on this endeavor.
2. Pick a day and time that works for all of you.
3. Decide where exactly on your campus you want to focus on for this first clean up day...where's the trash?
4. Create advertisements to recruit extra volunteers for the clean-up day. Make sure there's contact info for RSVPing, the date and time for the day, and a meeting place that everyone would know about.
5. Compile the list of volunteers.
6. Buy enough gloves, garbage bags, and maybe even plastic body suits if you want, for everyone for the clean day. You can ask departments on your campus or student organizations for money for these kinds of purchases easily. (If you really need help, with that, let me know!)
7. Send out a reminder email or phone call to every volunteer the day before the big day.
8. CLEAN UP! And maybe even start a group with all these extra people that wants to do this every week/month.

Getting the Goods on Green Medicine

kbutler — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Did you ever know a kid who counted seasons by super-awesome holidays? In other words, Easter baskets (Spring!); fireworks (Summer!); candy (Fall!); presents (Winter!). Yeah, well, that was so not me. I was incessant hay fever (Spring!); blistering sunburns (Summer!); dangerous ragweed season (Fall!)….you get the picture. I was your basic varietal allergen magnet running around in dungarees (yes, dungarees) and ribbon barrettes.

Basically, being a sneezy kid made me, shall we say, a tad thoughtful when it comes to medicine. And I’ve recently begun to wonder – is it possible to incorporate a green philosophy when choosing a doctor? What is green medicine, exactly? Doctors and hospitals use tons of energy and disinfectant chemicals (BAD). But since these practices also save lives, (GOOD), what is the happy medium? Can we really be eco-friendly when picking our treatments?

After my head exploded, I decided to look for answers by consulting acupuncturist Michael Yang, L.Ac., founder of the Los Angeles-based Pacific Medical Group. (And to all Angelinos who have questions about alternative medicine – this is the guy who will give you the answers.) Mike quickly informed me that there are two approaches to green medicine. One is that facilities themselves must take the initiative to be as green as possible – recycle, reuse, and keep waste to a minimum. But Mike took it a step farther by pointing out that the cornerstones of health are nutrition, exercise and mental health. These concepts, when properly practiced, are green by definition. “Healthy nutrition is organic, seasonal and local - that's green. Exercise is best outdoors and people need to be physically active beyond exercise hour. No need to buy fancy equipment and build more (carbon-foot printing) gyms. When patients are encouraged to think globally, that promotes a healthy feeling of community which in turn generates green activities.” And that, my friends, is green medicine.

But how does western medicine green up? Luckily, it seems that the idea of eco-friendly hospitals is catching on. Duke Medicine recently upped their commitment to becoming as green as possible. As their web site promotes, “In recent years, Duke has taken steps to green its operations, in everything from large-scale construction projects to everyday housekeeping services, bucking the conventional wisdom that being green means sacrificing quality or cost-efficiency.”

It seems like green medicine is on the road to evolving into a real force. Naturally! After all, Ralph Waldo Emerson says “Nature suffers nothing to remain in her kingdoms that cannot help itself.” Oops, sorry, my head just exploded again.

Adrian Grenier: Green God

kbutler — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

I know what you’re thinking – why should we care how a celebrity lives his life? Well, most of the time we shouldn’t. (And somewhere, Paris Hilton trips on her heels.) But sometimes, when a celebrity does good work, we like him, we really like him! And right now we really like Adrian Grenier. Why? Because he uses his celebrity to promote more than a cautionary tale about DUIs, stage momagers, and bi-polar disorders. He often uses the red carpet as a podium to discuss environmental issues, which is more than we can say about….most of Hollywood.

For starters, Ecorazzi recently reported that Grenier of the dreamy eyes and dusky facial visage has been tapped to receive the 2008 Blue Sky Award for Environmental Activism. He will receive the award at the Vail Film Festival, to be held in Colorado in April. Grenier also revealed that he did a complete green remodel on his New York brownstone – interestingly enough, by using old jeans as insulation. Further, he’s producing a new show for the Discovery Channel with partner Peter Glatzer on how to apply a green lifestyle to your day-to-day. Called The Green Life, the show is expected to debut in the summer of 2008. In an interview discussing the show, Grenier asserts that “Less travel, less waste, and more substance is (our) goal here.”

We salute you, Adrian Grenier. Looks, career, and a cause. Clearly, the gauntlet has been thrown for a new Prince of Green. (Leonardo DiCaprio, we’re looking at you.)

Great Green Guides

kbutler — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:21:55 -0500

So you’re a committed green warrior. You buy organic, you read Thoreau, you turn your nose up at anything with a hint of plastic. But let’s face it; living green all hours of the day can be difficult. Sometimes you forget your re-usable hemp carrier bag and – horror upon horrors – the grocer offers you recyclable paper or recyclable plastic. Or you’re super hungry and the only options are – can you handle it? – three different kinds of organic produce. What’s a greenophile to do with all these choices?

Luckily, easy answers are available! If you live in Los Angeles or San Francisco (and soon, New York City), you can consult the Greenopia Guide. Called “the definitive resource for eco-minded city dwellers looking for an easy way to access the…green markets in their area,” this book “contains (a directory for) everything from organic restaurants and grocery stores, to dry cleaners and organic pest control services, to sustainable building suppliers, landscapers and interior designers—whatever a consumer needs for every day green living and more.” Or in other words, have green questions, have Greenopia Guide, have answers.

So what to do if you’re outside the Greenopia coverage area? You can always throw a Go-Green Party. Msn.com recently listed a guide to educating the masses on green issues. Gather your friends and invite an energy expert to advise you all on how to unplug vampire devices (like the sinister DVD player that blinks the time at you). Msn.com further offers up a cool gift bag idea: reusable tote bags fill with compact fluorescent bulbs (which last up to ten times longer than regular bulbs). Like some guy in some movie probably once said sometime, “Knowledge is the key to victory.” So the next time your eco-warrior status is threatened, think green guides! (Okay, it sounded a little more heroic in my head.)

Photo by Josh Piha