Environment

Last week, Aleem Walji, the Head of Global Development Initiatives for Google.org wrote a blog post celebrating innovation in Africa after a trip across four sub-Saharan African countries. He notes that:

We recently highlighted the work of Buffalo ReUse and its founder Michael Gainer, a 2007 Echoing Green Fellow, but it seems there’s more media coverage in store for the organization. The Sundance Channel will be devoting an entire episode of its show Big Ideas for a Small Planet to Buffalo ReUse and the work it’s done to recycle and restore everything from front doors to floorboards.

Once again, we’re excited to see 1994 Echoing Green Fellow Van Jones getting great press in The New York Times. The article explores the question of what is a "green-collar" worker..vs a blue-collar worker or vs an enviromental scientistic.

In this clip, 1993 Echoing Green Fellow Charlie Lord talks about his Moment of Obligation and the experiences that drove him to seek social change. While in law school, Charlie realized the connections between environmentally unfriendly practices, and social injustices in low-income neighborhoods. He became inspired to transform environmental standards with the aim of creating safe cities and communities.

Dr. Michael Bengwayan, a 2001 Echoing Green Fellow, wrote in to let us know his organization, PINE TREE was recently awarded a $75,000 prize from Toyota’s Environmental Activities Grant Program. The award will help Michael provide energy to farms and households in the Cordillera Region of the Philippines.

A little publicity never hurt us either…