Sustainability

Ashoka and MTV have teamed up to sponsor a challenge for young people to come up with creative ideas for how they can make the planet "cooler or greener." MTV and Ashoka GenV will contribute up to $1,000.00 in seed funding and help get the venture off the ground, and possibly feature the venture on a program airing on MTV in 2009.

For more info, visit their website.

Kelsey Timmerman has an interesting article describing what comes to mind when she reads the "made in" labels on clothing.

Read about how Kelsey views that the more we know about those who make our clothing, "the more we’ll care about where our clothes come from, and the more we’ll recognize that our spending habits influence the lives of real people around the world."

Check out the article here

Climate Solutions Coalition, led by Adam Frank at Tufts University, seeks to bring together various members of society such as students, professors, politicians, and business leaders in order to discuss and develop possible and practical solutions to global climate change.

Recently, this venture led a light bulb swap event on Tufts' campus. The Coalition purchased 150 CFL light bulbs for students to trade in for their old, non-efficient light bulbs. Compact fluorescent light bulbs are more energy efficient than traditional incandescent lights and use less watts for the same light output. The event was a tremendous success, and was met with such demand that many students still want CFL light bulbs for their dorms. Adam is planning another exchange in the spring of next year.

Let's get to the point: The "nutritional" foods given to children at schools for lunch aren't so nutritious. There are pesticides and other nasty, harmful things that are placed into our foods the way they are produced and handled.

Meet Ann Cooper. She's a lunchlady, but she's not like most. In the district in which she works in, salad bars and organic foods have been implemented into school lunches with great success.

And she wants this to happen everywhere else too. Cooper wants America to start with schools in providing organic, healthier foods to save future generations from the poisons that are placed into our foods now.

Want to learn more? Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXvDLPu5vh0

Conscious Lifestyle's recent partnership with Slow Food USA included a commitment to send the social innovators leading the Conscious Lifestyle - Slow Food Ventures to Slow Food Nation in San Francisco.

Slow Food Nation (SFN) was a summit of over 60,000 people who celebrated the birth of a broad and inclusive food movement to build an American food system that is sustainable, just, and delicious. It included tastings, a farmers market, workshops, a concert, lectures, and a lot of great food.

Paul Valetutti and Kathy Helfrey represented Slow Food - Rutgers. Their venture connects local growers with Rutgers University Dining Services to dramatically increase the amount of "good, clean, and fair" food served to students.

Jane Goodall, a well-known chimpanzee researcher, knows plenty about primates - more than just about anyone else. She's studied them for many years and created an institute in her name back 1977.

Her ideas influenced the way scientists view humans and other animals together. And in this video, she explains how various programs and projects help Africans live in close proximity with other animals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbOvPUO_UWw

Norman Foster is a well-known British Architect that has helped build plenty of structures throughout the world, including Wembley Stadium, Hearst Tower, and plenty of others throughout his career of four decades. Efficient and green, his buildings are easily recognizable throughout various countries of the world.

In this TED Talk, he reveals how computers can assist in the building of "green" and nearly pollution-free buildings during the DLD Conference 2007 in Munich.

Watch this TED Video in which Foster explains more:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNgkEGs1l4A

What do you do with items that are in good condition but are not needed any more? You could have a yard sale, throw them away, or try to recycle them, but Throwplace.com offers another alternative that both benefits the environment and people in need.

In 1999, Throwplace.com was developed by Lomangino as an internet site of exchange. The process is easy, fast, and simple. Charities, businesses, and individual people can all contribute. Anyone can list online possessions they are willing to give away. Then, interested people can take what they like for free.

This here compilation has some killer tunes on it. Check it out. PLUS it's a fundraiser for places like the Surfrider Foundation and the Sierra Club to help protect the places we love to play.

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPreorder?id=285231...

Ukrop's, a community-serving and environmentally friendly grocery chain in Virginia, has begun another sustainable program. The supermarkets, which fry their own chicken, will use the soy oil from the fryers to convert into bio fuel.

Southside Fuel, a local company, will process the used oil from the frying vats into a standard 15 percent biodiesel, the most that the current trucks can handle.

Ukrop's expects to produce around 60,000 gallons of bio fuel each year, about one fourth of its needs. This is really an incredible amount and will really cut down on their carbon emissions.