Just wow: the Green Schools National Conference

Dear Friends,
I am re-posting Adarsha's Nov 18th blog entry from ACE's blog: Hot and Bothered about the Green Schools National conference and Youth Summit in Minnesota.
~Apoorva

Disclaimer: The following description cannot possibly do justice to the incredible experience that I experienced. If you have any specific questions on an activity, comment and I’ll respond to the best of my ability.

Adarsha Shivakumar

Will Steger speaking at the conference

Continuing where I left off (or close enough)-I was the last person to arrive at the hotel where everyone was grouped. When I first saw Ethan and company, I was surprised to see high school students who were also seniors.

We knew the days ahead of us would be hectic and hard. We’re talking about meeting up with around a hundred students and teachers from the Minnesota/Wisconsin area, and seeking to not just inspire them, but to help them create concrete plans to act upon in the near future.

Our planning went well into the early hours of the morning, and jetlag didn’t really help me get more than 4 hours of sleep. At around 8AM Minnesota time, we went to the local church, which had graciously agreed to host the conference, and set up.

Around 9AM, the conference started. But we didn’t start off like how most conferences start off-with a speech or introduction that either bores or depresses (or some lethal combination of the two) the entire audience, speaker included. Instead, Ethan had planned out an ingenious way to energize everyone-an introduction based off of Awakening the Dreamer.

We started off by using just our feet and hands to create a rainstorm-and it was surprising how loud and realistic the effect was. One hundred people acting in unison can generate a lot of noise.

Continuing onwards, the National Youth Leaders, me included, sang Wavin’ Flag by K’naan, with Ethan on the guitar providing a beat. As we all started to wake up a bit more, Ethan introduced the next activities, which involved everyone in the room moving around and trying to empathize with random strangers.

Ethan then showed a video that really told us what issues, even just environmentally, we-my generation-face. And to be honest, after we watched it, the atmosphere was one of disappointment and resignation. But that was supposed to happen, in a sense. We had to understand the sheer magnitude of the problems that we’re facing-we can’t just tell ourselves that everything is fine, and that the problems are small and easy to overcome.

The truth is that we’re facing the biggest problems humanity has faced so far. But it’s not hopeless. It’s never hopeless. And what we’d do in this conference is show that not only do we have hope, but we also have the willpower to act on that hope. Two great people and great speakers-Phillippe Cousteau and Will Steger-came and spoke to us. They made sure to remind us that the youth held the power to change the world.

After they left, the entire group broke up and focused on different aspects of sustainability and the environment. The students and teachers split among the tables, and all of us went to several tables. After that, everyone rejoined and split up once more, this time into three groups. We were now focused on taking that hope that was starting to build in us and making it into reality.

The groups were led by adult mentors, and focused on three things-how to be an effective leader, how to conduct an effective campaign, and how to fundraise. Each was impressive, with the adult leaders using the projects that students were interested in starting up as examples and models.

But with the combined knowledge of all the lectures, we-the youth-felt more and more confident in creating and working on the projects that had been in our heads.

And so came the culmination of the conference: where each school that had visited, and any individuals, would write up an action plan. A plan that detailed what project they were going to do, a timeline, and the resources they think they’d need. Before this conference, I would’ve guessed that maybe 25% of the people could make an action plan, and fewer still would act on them.

By the end of the conference, every single group had an action plan, and I have no doubts that they will follow through with them. Because at the end of the conference, we all realized the purpose wasn’t really to tell us that we need to change the world, or even to just show us that the youth can change the world.

The purpose of the conference was to give us the foundation and the tools to change the world. It was made possible because people like Ethan and Phillipe Cousteau and Will Steger all believe that the youth will make a difference, and that they can help us accomplish our goals.

Based on any of those criterion, the conference was a tremendous success-and I’m ever thankful to ACE for sending me there.

Clean, cheap transportation – why Minneapolis has it right

Dear Friends,
I am re-posting Adarsha's Nov 9th blog entry from ACE's blog: Hot and Bothered about his trip to Minnesota conference. Adarsha established new contacts which will help us in future. His next post will be about the conference itself.
~Apoorva

Minneapolis Light Rail

Last Sunday through Tuesday, I represented ACE and attended the 1st Annual Green Schools National Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Upon arriving at Minneapolis, the first thing that struck me was the rail system. I live in California, and specifically, the Bay Area. BART is the public transit system, but many people have legitimate gripes with it-it’s rather costly (going from the San Francisco airport to the general area of SF can cost $8), not aesthetically pleasing and often delayed. Perhaps that’s why I found the Minneapolis public transit system to be nothing short of impressive.

The trams themselves are well-designed, with specific vertical racks for bikes that are convenient, and a general openness that makes them more pleasing to ride on. The trams came on time and frequently, which would help explain the large number of people riding them. Stops were placed throughout the city and clearly marked off- I also noted that by putting them literally in the middle of the streets, they were the center of attention, rather than an afterthought.

The most stunning aspect of the Minneapolis public transit system is how cheap it is comparatively. To take me and Emily from the airport to a mere 10 blocks from our hotel cost a grand total of $3.50. This is by far the cheapest fare I’ve payed for traveling the distance we did.

By making mass transit so accessible, so cheap, and rather attractive, Minneapolis is setting a good example of how public transit should be done in this country.

Another example of how Minneapolis is really quite admirable is their system of bikes around the entire city. There are dozens of stations where green bikes (literally green!) are located. You can pay a small rental fee and take the bikes wherever you want in the city and drop them off at any other station. If I remember correctly, the fee was around $5 per month, and $50 per year-a very small amount, especially if a person bikes frequently in the city (and Minneapolis is a bike-friendly city it seems).

The stations are located in convenient locales, like near libraries, gyms, and large buildings. Biking in Minneapolis is also really enjoyable due to the nice weather (which I unfortunately did not experience much of), and the accessibility of bikes definitely results in more of the population taking cleaner forms of transportation.

All in all, even before the actual conference, I was very impressed by Minneapolis. It’s really a city that’s trying, and so far succeeding, in becoming more green, and more energy efficient. Not only that, but the streets are far less congested because of the use of mass transit and bikes. It seems to me that in terms of transportation, Minneapolis is a model city.

More to come on the conference itself…

Sincerely,
Adarsha

Charity vs sustainable development issues in Haiti

Hello readers of the Project Jatropha blog,
My name is Michelle Lacourciere and I am the director of the Sirona Cares Foundation. The SCF uses Jatropha as a tool to empower Haitian farmers giving them the ability to create, use and market Jatropha oil in Haiti. SCF and Project Jatropha’s work share many commonalities, and we are proud of our partnership with them and honored to post on this blog.

Recently a reader here posed questions about Haiti, specifically about the role of NPOs there and the charity vs. sustainable development issue. I’m happy to respond with regard to the SCF role in Haiti. Our primary reason for being in Haiti, and eventually in other countries, is to bring true sustainable development to the poorest people there, the peasant farmers. We are creating an industry with many jobs, and all of the profits from this work will be eventually be controlled by a Haitian for-profit entity, Sirona Haiti and reinvested into the participating communities. Our goal is to create possibility where none exists now, to create a machine that will continue to enhance life in rural Haiti long after we have gone.

It is impossible to work in Haiti and see the condition that our communities suffer in and do nothing to help. Without losing our focus on sustainable development we also work to support those who care for and educate children. This critical advocacy role gives our orphanage and school directors a voice where they had none before. We have successfully linked them to resources supplied by other NPOs and individuals/groups here that wish to help in this area. We do this because we believe that children are the future, and in Haiti the median age is only 20. If we can help support these children and harness the energy of the change-makers who are in their late twenties we will be able to rapidly see change in Haiti. Response to our work has been tremendous, hundreds of farmers have enrolled, and we are well received in their communities because we work both to empower them, and to support their children. We are proud of the model, and excited to have made the progress that we did this year in light of the earthquake and recent cholera epidemic.

Sirona’s name was taken from the Celtic goddess of healing. We see the crippling effects of long-term charity in Haiti on every trip, and we work very hard to reverse them through empowerment and education. Our work uses on the “teach a man to fish” vs. “give a man a fish” philosophy. A SCF blog entry addressing this very issue is found at http://tinyurl.com/2bxe4ec. I hope that this has answered your questions, and again, I respectfully thank the Project Jatropha team for asking me to post here on their blog.

Michelle Lacourciere
The Sirona Cares Foundation
mlacourciere@sironacares.org