Our Sponsor Michelle Lacourciere was honored with an ‘Unsung Heroine’ award in recognition of their work with orphans and families in H

Dear Blog Followers,
I am reposting an article published in FogCityJournal.com. We are very proud to inform you all that Michelle was one of the six San Francisco women who received the award on International Women's Day. Congratulations Michelle! You totally deserve it!

~Apoorva

Six San Francisco Women Honored
on International Women’s Day

Posted By admin On March 10, 2010 @ 12:08 am In Events, Human Interest, Politics |

In celebration of International Women’s Day, Global Arts and Education (GAE) honored six outstanding San Francisco women Monday, March 8, at the Civic Center Holiday Inn. International Women’s Day has been celebrated since 1911. In 1975 the United Nations designated March 8 an official holiday.

As many as 200 guests attended the International Women’s Day Awards Breakfast
held at the Civic Center Holiday Inn, March 8.Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, recipient of the Extraordinary Public Service Award, was introduced by her brother, Michael Ma, who joked about following in his sister’s shadow. He spoke seriously of her drive for education and lifelong commitment to improving the lives of others. Assemblywoman Ma set the tone for the morning with a passionate speech about her commitment to service.

Former Mayor Willie Brown presented the Unsung Heroine Award to Farah Makras and Michelle Lacourciere of the Sirona Cares Foundation (SCF). For years before the devastating earthquake in Haiti, SCF has been working on the ground in Haiti to help children and their families. Michelle said there was a desperate need for fingernail clippers in Haiti to prevent disease.

“There is no sanitation no running water and they must eat with their hands,” GAE Executive Director Bradford-Bell shared with the crowd. “I think we should pledge right now to donate 1,000 clippers to Sirona Cares.”

Willie Brown raised the challenge to 50,000.Walgreens, a corporate sponsor of the event, immediately jumped on board and is sending the first 1,000 pairs of fingernail clippers to Haiti. According to Lacourciere, each pair of fingernail clippers can save as many as 5 lives. Reaching the 50,000 goal will save one quarter of a million lives. BART and Yerba Buena Engineering and Construction also provided generous sponsorship for the event.


The good people at Walgreens, pictured with Farah Makras and Michelle Lacourciere,
pledged to send 50,000 nail clippers to Haiti.San Francisco City Administrator Ed Lee presented San Francisco Human Rights Commissioner Zula Jones with the Community Advocate of the Year Award. In the tradition of International Women’s Day, Lee presented Zula with a gift and said it’s “about time” Zula was honored and recognized for her work.

Supervisor Bevan Dufty presented BART Director Lynette Sweet with the Annie M. Powell Community Service Award. Annie Powell, who feared she would not make it to age 25, was gunned down in the Bayview just twelve days after her twenty-third birthday. Supervisor Dufty and BART Director Sweet have vowed to help find ways and create policies to bring an end to the senseless loss of our youth.

Marily Mondejar moved the crowd with an emotional speech after accepting the award for Organization of the Year on behalf of the Filipina Women’s Network. Mondejar was presented the award by San Francisco Entertainment Commissioner Al Perez who sits on the board of the Filipina Women’s Network. The organization received the award for its fight against domestic violence with Mondejar offering that she was a survivor of domestic violence.

Reese Isbell, District Representative for Senator Mark Leno, brought Certificates of Recognition from the Senator. Each honoree and GAE received commendations from the Senator.

“I’m thrilled,” said Bradford Bell. “Senator Leno is a very special person whom I admired greatly.”Isbell brought his niece, Mariah Isbell-Becerra, to the awards breakfast. Typical of a sixteen-year-olds, Mariah wasn’t thrilled to be up so early during spring break, but it was clear she was having a great time.

“Get use to it. You’re going to attending lot of breakfast events when you get into politics,” Bradford Bell teased from the podium.

“I could not have dreamed of a better event,” added Bradford Bell. “Everybody gave above and beyond what I asked for. The Holiday Inn chef created a special frittata just for us and the guests had only good things to say about the food.”

Plans are now underway for the March 8, 2011, International Women’s Day Summit. In the coming weeks, GAE will be looking for volunteers and organizations who wish to participate. Anyone interested in volunteering for a committee should contact Shelley Bradford Bell at sbb@globalartsandeducation.com. To received updated information on the 2011 Summit, send an email to info@globalartsandeducation.com and type “IWD Update - Subscribe” in the subject link

Article printed from Fog City Journal: http://www.fogcityjournal.com/wordpress

URL to article: http://www.fogcityjournal.com/wordpress/2010/03/10/six-san-francisco-women-honored-on-international-womens-day/

The Haitian earthquake and how it relates to climate change

Dear Readers of our blog,
I'm reposting Adarsha's blogpost from the blog "Hot and Bothered." I love this post because it details the relationship between the devastating Haiti earthquake and climate change.
Sincerely,
Apoorva

The Haitian earthquake and how it relates to climate change

February 3rd, 2010 by Adarsha

When the earthquake struck Haiti, hundreds of thousands of people died, were injured, or were displaced. Millions more lost family, and the country, even now, is in a state of ruin. The loss of life and devastation to the infrastructure of the previously-poor country will take years, if not decades to recover from. Experts had predicted the Haitian earthquake sometime beforehand, yet they were unable to know when exactly the earthquake would strike. Earthquakes are a kind of natural disaster that we do not have the power to predict, let alone stop (yet). However, there are things that we can do-not build buildings on fault lines, and reinforce the ones that are so that they are less prone to falling or being structurally compromised if an earthquake does happen. Anthropogenic climate change is different as it is a large issue that has been primarily caused by man. Although its effects are not immediately as big-and it is a problem that CAN be mitigated we are not taking this issue seriously. We can see the effects of climate change, and though we may not be able to exactly determine the tipping point, we know general indicators of the status of the situation (polar ice caps, permafrost, etc.). Humans need to realize that like earthquakes, the consequences of climate change are devastating. Hundreds of thousands dead due to famines and changing weather patterns, plus the hundreds of millions displaced due to rising sea levels are staggering consequences.

Climate change will be a disaster if we don’t start mitigating it right now. Unlike earthquakes, we can change our actions to help mitigate climate change (by adopting cleaner technologies and making our lifestyles more sustainable).The important thing to note is that although there ARE natural disasters which we CAN’T prevent, like the Haitian earthquake, we CAN help prevent or mitigate climate change if we all come together and work towards it. Finally I urge every one of you choose your own DOT (Link to what a DOT is here: http://www.acespace.org/dot) and join us against the fight against climate change.

Adarsha

EDIT: Well, it seems that climate change may indeed have an effect on tectonics after all, according to this link: which, if proven true, further demonstrate the Pandora’s box we might be opening.

Whose job is it to fight climate change?

Dear readers of our blog,
I am reposting Adarsha's blog post from Alliance for Climate Education's blog "Hot and Bothered". I especially like this post because it details the global significance of Project Jatropha.
~Apoorva

Whose job is it to fight climate change?

January 22nd, 2010 by Adarsha

Actually, with global warming, icebergs such as these will be nonexistent! Problem solved!

As I read the events of Copenhagen meetings, several questions came to my mind. When we look at the scale of the climate change problem, we have to ask ourselves: is it too late? Are we even able to make a dent in this monster? If so, isn’t it the governments job to fight it? After much deliberation, I came upon answers. First of all, it isn’t too late yet. Combating climate change is like trying to steer an oil supertanker-a lengthy, difficult, and precise process. While it is certainly daunting, to paraphrase John F. Kennedy, “if the problem is manmade, it is possible that the solutions may also be manmade”. The resources that are needed are immense. In the past, only governments could mobilize these kinds of monies. The issue is that climate change is a global problem on the scale that no single government can afford to fight it. This is where the citizenry’s collective efforts can make the difference. What is needed are mass movements at grassroots levels. We need to educate people and show them that the tools needed to help fight climate change can be simple, accessible, and affordable.

Why do the developed nations have a stake in helping developing nations to combat climate change? Amongst most nations, there has been a general consensus that anthropogenic climate change is real and that we need to act now. However, the consensus breaks down, just as it has at Copenhagen, when it comes to how much responsibility each of the nations has for cleaning up the mess. The developed nations think that irrespective of past CO2 emission history, all nations, rich & poor alike, must share the burden of reducing CO2. When I tried to get a sense of the current understanding in India, it was an eye opener. For the majority of people, climate change is not a priority as there are other issues, such as meeting basic necessities of life. Most of the intelligentsia feels that it is the rich, industrialized nations that created the problem, and they must bear a proportionate burden of the remedial measures. The politicians in developing countries are also subject to as much public pressure and opinions, as are the ones in the developed countries. In developing countries with colonial pasts, submitting to such international conditions is often perceived as neocolonialism. Consequently, these nations are very reluctant to impose emission regulations.

During a time when there are major differences between developed and developing nations as how to mitigate climate change, Project Jatropha aims to demonstrate the commitment of the youth in developed countries to environmental issues that affect the developing nations as well. My sister Apoorva Rangan and I co-founded Project Jatropha in December 2007. In rural South India, many farmers cultivate tobacco as a cash crop. This has forced them to cut down the tree cover and forests for firewood. The processing of raw tobacco leaves in the kilns (barns) itself produces large amount of CO2 and other pollutants. Project Jatropha combats both poverty and environmental degradation using Jatropha curcas, a small perennial shrub with oil-rich seeds. It can grow on marginal lands with fewer agronomic inputs, without diverting valuable land from food grain production. Jatropha biofuel has a ready, large global market, owing to its small carbon footprint. In addition, by providing an alternative crop to tobacco for rural farmers, deforestation and the burning of large quantities of firewood can be reduced.

Project Jatropha is empowering the poorest of the poor farmers with a simple technology and an economic incentive by demonstrating that biofuel can be produced in a sustainable and economic way. In our social experiment, the farmers have become part of the solution to the problem of climate change. A developed nation such as ours will stand to benefit greatly by being an enabler of such types of endeavors even if it means the people helped are nine thousand miles and twelve time zones away. Such actions will demonstrate that the US is able to walk the walk and talk the talk. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “We need to become the change we wish to see in the world.” Project Jatropha has started on a small scale, but I hope it will help to inspire others to start movements of their own.

For more information please visit: www.projectjatropha.com

-Adarsha

Aid Drop Location Information

Dear readers of our blog,

The Project Jatropha Team will be at San Francisco helping our sponsor, The Sirona Cares foundation in sorting the donations received for the Haiti Relief Effort on Saturday afternoon. If any of you are interested in joining us, you are welcome to do so. I am attaching the information about location and hours below.

The address is: 188 King Street, San Francisco. There is no signage on that address to avoid a “dumping” issue for the building owners. 188 is clearly marked, and the sorting room is directly across from the Willy Mayes Gate at the Giant’s stadium. Hours are M-F (9-9) and Sat. (12-8). If the door is locked, the security guard at 188 King Street will let you in. Please bring a friend and sort as long as you like, it’s easy, and the directions should be posted in the room. Many hands make light work! Tax receipts are available, all donations are tax deductible. Thanks in advance for offering not only your donations, but your time, for the people of Haiti.
Sincerely,
Apoorva

Please Join hands in Haiti Relief Efforts

Dear friends,

I am reposting the blog post of our Advisor and Sponsor, Michelle Lacourcire from Sirona Cares Foundation blog. Some of you have emailed us asking information about donations of goods to Haiti. This has all the details. We at Project Jatropha are doing everything we can for the cause, and we request you to do the same. The Haiti kids could use all the help that they can get.

Sincerely,
The Project Jatropha Team.



January 17, 2010
With Love, From San Francisco... Haiti Relief

DSCN4299 Everyone is moving so quickly, and I although I have been asking for donations for a year for our work in Haiti I could never have imagined the compassion of people here, and the desire of people to give. Sirona is opening the door. If you have more time than money, collect donations and bring them to 190 King Street in San Francisco. The owner of the property has donated the space for sorting, and we will be there receiving. We sort, fold, and box everything in plastic bins which will be used in Haiti for years. If you haven't been there, you don't know the many lifes of a plastic bin, but the goods a family collects will be kept dry, they will use it first as a suitcase to hold their entire life's belongings, then someday it will be a bathtub. Perhaps even a gas station. Haitians need these bins, as they need everything else.

If you are near San Francisco or itching for a reason to come: 190 King Street is our drop spot. Go to 188 King Street if we aren't there and Philip, the security guard, will let you in. Unload (park on the sidewalk) and then move your vehicle (south of the Giant's stadium is best) and then come back to sort. I'm serious, if you are sitting somewhere wishing you could do something like go to Haiti, come here. You will be busy, and feel the blessing of delivering good to Haiti.

We are unsure when the drops will begin, but we are certain of our Haitian partners who are ready to get aide to those in need. Below (breaking the rule for 300 word on a blog, sorry) is our list of items. Here is our position: If you have more time than money, give Haiti your time. If you have more time than money, either donate to us or Partners in Health, Dr.s without Borders or the Red Cross. This is not the time to compete, it's time to pull together. Here's the list (tax deductible donations are on site, or can be e-mailed to anyone requesting them). Mesi in advance, Kreyol for "THANK YOU" Photos are from Day 1 in San Francisco's drop spot.

Items we accept:

* Clothing, including new or used underwear, for all ages. It would be incredibly helpful if these donations could be separated (babies, small children, large children, women & men’s clothes).
* Shoes, all sizes
* Medical Supplies: Gauze, Tape, Neosporin, Tylenol/Advil (Generics OK)
* Kotex and Cloth Diapers
* Towels and Sheets
* Plastic Storage Boxes (Large) for packing, shipping and giving Haitians something to store their personal effects in. If you can bring nothing else, bring these!

Posted by Michelle Lacourciere at 7:17 AM |

Please Join Our Hands to Help The Earthquake Victims in Haiti

Our sponsor Michelle Lacourciere, The Executive Director of Sirona Cares Foundation heads many projects to help the children of Haiti from past couple of years. Please visit her blog for more information about her work at
http://www.sironacares.org

The kids at the orphanages need more help now than ever. They need food, water, shelter etc. Please make a donation and help save their lives. The money goes directly to rebuild schools and orphanages that Sirona Cares Foundation work with. The situation is dire. Please view the pictures at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/missionofhope/EarthquakeJan122010#5426275089676835250

From the Project Jatropha Team