Every day of the week, The Pollination Project (www.thepollinationproject.org) provides $1,000 in seed funding to an individual who is working to make the world — or just their own community — a better, more peaceful and more sustainable place. Here are the extraordinary people and ideas changing the world this week:

…Angelo Drummonds and Malik Evans are Green for All college ambassadors at Morehouse College who work to bring environmentally progressive ideas to campus. Malik, who has been gardening since age ten and understands the benefits of clean organic food, and Angelo, a Bonnor scholar with community project experience, along with permaculture designer Brandy Hall, are creating a permaculture garden on Morehouse’s campus with a mosaic of recycled glass. We thank our partner Green For All for referring us to Angelo and Malik…

The post Huffington Post – How Information is Changing the World: This Week in Seeding the Change appeared first on Green For All.

It’s no secret that the prison system in America is broken, but the statistics are pretty shocking. The United States has less than 5% of the world’s population, and 23% of the world’s prison population – that equals roughly 1 in 100 adults that are in prison. The problem is complicated and hits on hotbed issues like gun control, racism, the war on drugs, sentencing laws, overcrowding, privatization of public services, and prison profits supporting politicians and political agendas that keep us all, metaphorically speaking, locked in.

…Meet Kabira Stokes, the founder of Isidore Electronics Recycling – a startup that employs people with criminal records to recycle electronic waste in Los Angeles for companies seeking a more responsible way to manage their environmental footprint, and avoid exporting e-waste to developing countries that have poor environmental and workplace safety standards. In the United States, it’s estimated that 50-80% of the e-waste collected for recycling is being exported (predominately to Asia). And only 25% of total e-waste is being collected for recycling – most is discarded in landfills or incinerators, releasing dangerous toxins into the land and air. While e-waste represents just two percent of America’s trash in landfills, it equals 70% of overall toxic waste. So how did Isidore Electronics Recycling come to be?…

…To become an expert on how to make progressive changes at the city-level, she decided to obtain a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Southern California (USC). Around this time a friend of hers made an email introduction to Van Jones – a prominent environmental and civil rights activist who launched Green For All, a national NGO dedicated to “building an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty.” (President Obama later appointment him as Special Council on Green Jobs.) They began a correspondence, and Stokes could see her social and environmental passions coming together…

The post Forbes – How E-Waste Is Creating Jobs For People With Criminal Records In Los Angeles appeared first on Green For All.

Like many Black Californians, Chearon Raye faces a dilemma when the time comes to make a purchase as substantial as a new automobile.

As the owner of two Mercedes-Benzes (one is a six-cylinder, the other eight), Raye’s daily 200-mile round-trip to and from work takes a heavy toll on her bottom line — making her the ideal customer for the hybrid cars that are all the rage among consumers seeking the dual benefit of environmental consciousness and freedom from fluctuating gasoline prices.  At the same time, automobiles that run on alternative fuel are quite expensive; so when deciding to indebt herself with a such a pricey purchase, Raye likes to know whether the companies seeking her business invest anything in the African-American community beyond sales pitches designed to lure more Black customers into showrooms…

…Lamman Rucker, an actor who serves on the board of board of Green For All, a national organization which works to build an inclusive green economy to help lift people out of poverty, feels information shared during the evening is what people in general must have but that people of color don’t have and aren’t exposed to.

“Even in this environment right here, this is the informed [crowd], so it’s a matter of getting this information out and having other people have access to this vehicle, to other vehicles like that, to the technology, to the information, and to the opportunity,” Rucker told California Black Media…

The post Tri County Sentry – Are We Plugged In? appeared first on Green For All.

Becoming a mother last year fundamentally shifted the way I think about leadership and how we create a more just and healthy world. I’ve realized that one of the biggest barriers to our progress is shame. It’s what keeps us feeling isolated and prevents us from realizing that we share the same struggles, and the same hopes. And it’s especially evident among women (like me) who are fighting to balance our careers with the demands of parenting.

That’s why I was so uneasy when I saw the Politico story this week titled “Leaning Out: How Michelle Obama became a feminist nightmare.” The piece gives voice to critics who say the First Lady is squandering her position by sticking with “safe” issues like healthy food and fitness, and by prioritizing her role as a mother.

The problem is that these attacks on Michelle Obama just feed into the idea that women should feel bad — ashamed — for making the choice to prioritize motherhood, or promote childcare and kids’ health. This gets us nowhere. After all, feminism shouldn’t be about limiting our choices or creating a single mold for what it means to be a woman and powerful at the same time.

When we criticize Michelle Obama for focusing on motherhood, we’re just furthering hobbling ourselves. What we really need to be doing is working to find ways to support women who want to be mothers, or who want to focus on their careers — and women who want to do both.

As Salon’s Roxane Gay puts it, “The shame here is clear: Motherhood, fitness and early education are beneath feminists.”

They shouldn’t be. Because nothing will do more to shape our country’s future than our decisions about how we raise, educate, and care for our children and their health. Yet, for all the political rhetoric about the importance of families, we do very little to support the folks, mostly women, who are caring for our next generation of citizens and leaders.

In fact, we’re seeing a steady move to scale back investment in education, childcare, and healthy food for kids. By advocating for children and families at this point in history, Michelle Obama is more progressive than she gets credit for. The idea that taking a bold position on policy is the best, or only way, for Michelle Obama to make a difference is shortsighted.

And nothing undercuts the gains women have made more than laying shame on each other for our choices. It’s a mean-girl tactic, and when we use it, we become our own worst enemies.

The post Huffington Post – How Michelle Obama’s Critics Undercut Progress appeared first on Green For All.

…Energy efficiency is particularly critical in affordable housing developments, says Jeremy Hays, Chief Strategist for State and Local Initiatives at Green For All, a sustainability advocacy group with offices in Oakland and Washington, D.C. According to Hays, apartment buildings built before 1970 use 55 percent more energy than those built after 1990, while low-income residents spend 400 percent more of their monthly income on utility bills than the average American. Furthermore, affordable housing owners—a segment which includes public housing agencies and non-profit real estate developers—are constrained by rising utility bills; energy consumption in the US has steadily increased nearly every year since 1985, a trend which shows no signs of reversing.

As utility bills continue to rise, “we’ll continue to lose affordable housing,” Hays says, unless the amount spent on utilities can be reduced. “Every time you reduce your energy bill, you build in some safety for yourself around increased cost,” he notes…

The post Oakland Local – How Green is the Hood Part Two: Bringing Solar and Energy Efficiency to Oakland’s Affordable Housing appeared first on Green For All.

The one-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy last month spurred renewed conversation about making communities more resilient in the face of extreme weather and disasters. President Obama moved the conversation from talk to action by signing an executive order requiring all federally funded projects to address the impact of global warming, and creating a task force of state and local leaders who will help shape climate resilience efforts.

These are important measures, because we know that even if we act now to combat the worst effects of climate change, we’ll still see an increase in hurricanes, floods, wildfires and other disasters.

The idea of resilience is related to the ability of a place or system to “bounce back” after a shock.
Much of the national dialogue on climate resilience revolves around a community’s ability to “bounce back” after a shock. What’s absent from this conversation is the fact that while climate change threatens all of us, communities of color and low-income Americans are hit first and worst. And our response to climate issues need to take that into account.

We have to acknowledge that the social, economic and infrastructural stability of a community all help determine how well it will survive a flood, a fire or a hurricane — and that some places simply need more help shoring up these factors.

Because for many Americans, the question is, “Bounce back to what?” If you’re struggling to keep a roof over your head and feed your kids before a storm strikes, the idea of returning to the same situation after the storm isn’t too appealing.

Nationally, African-Americans are at greater risk for displacement from flooding and rising sea levels because they’re more likely to live in coastal areas. African-Americans are also more vulnerable to heat related deaths, which are expected to increase by 90 percent, because they’re more likely to live in inner cities, which are, on average, 10 degrees warmer than non-urban areas.

Our climate response plans should actively fortify communities on the edge, and ensure that they’re moving forward instead of treading water. Vulnerable communities don’t just need funds to create emergency shelters; they need long-term investment in the things that will make them stronger — including public health, economic vitality and social cohesion. We need to find ways to make hard-hit neighborhoods healthier and safer. And it starts with creating good, high-wage, accessible jobs.

The investments we make in climate resilience offer an opportunity to create these jobs, and connect them to folks living on the edge.

Here’s one example. We know that we have to fix and overhaul storm-water infrastructure — we already experience 23,000-75,000 sanitary sewer overflows each year. With the increased risk of floods from climate change, the need is even more urgent. In fact, the EPA has estimated that we need to spend $188.4 billion just to make the basic repairs. But there’s a tremendous opportunity — because that investment will create roughly two million jobs. A study by Cleveland State University showed that fixing sewers and water systems in Ohio would create 31,000 jobs in that state alone.

In fact, local leaders are already addressing the problem. In New York, the Alliance for a Just Rebuild — a coalition of labor unions, faith, community, environmental and policy organizations — is working to ensure that dollars spent rebuilding and repairing damage from Hurricane Sandy create good jobs and fortify vulnerable neighborhoods.

The right climate response will make sure that vulnerable communities do more than just bounce back. It will ensure that they come back stronger, healthier and more prosperous than before. It will fortify them — not just for the next disaster, but for generations to come.

The post BET – Commentary: When Bouncing Back Isn’t Enough appeared first on Green For All.

With U.S. EPA’s work on a national stormwater regulation stalled, a pair of congressional Democrats are trying again to move a bill aimed at spurring innovative solutions to one of the country’s largest water pollution problems.

Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) this week reintroduced their “Innovative Stormwater Infrastructure Act” (S. 1677, H.R. 3449), aimed at encouraging the use of tools such as swales, green roofs and pervious pavement to soak up polluted stormwater runoff. Proponents of so-called green infrastructure say that it can be less expensive than massive concrete projects and bring additional benefits to neighborhoods…

The post E&E – Pair of Dems try again on ‘green infrastructure’ stormwater bill appeared first on Green For All.

For me, clean air isn’t an abstract concept. I grew up in a polluted town and struggled with childhood asthma. I know what it means to be forced to breathe dirty air.

That’s why it’s so important to me that the Environmental Protection Agency is able to do its job and protect Americans from air pollution—including carbon from power plants.

Coal-fired power plants pump out toxic pollution, with serious health consequences: An estimated 12,000 emergency room visits for asthma, 20,000 heart attacks, and 13,000 premature deaths are linked to America’s dirty, outdated coal plants. They don’t just cost lives, they cost dollars: our country loses nearly $100 billion a year to these preventable health problems…

The post The Hill – Attacks on EPA are attacks on health, safety appeared first on Green For All.

The timing is significant. Just a few days after the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, when President Obama stood among the rubble and vowed to do something about climate change, he issued an Executive Order designed to encourage Americans to incorporate climate change awareness into their activities and plans.

In that order, he writes, unambiguously, “The impacts of climate change — including an increase in prolonged periods of excessively high temperatures, more heavy downpours, an increase in wildfires, more severe droughts, permafrost thawing, ocean acidification, and sea-level rise — are already affecting communities, natural resources, ecosystems, economies, and public health across the nation.”

…The order seems to have received a warm welcome from the environmental community.

Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, CEO of Green For All, said, “One year ago this week when Superstorm Sandy hit New York and New Jersey, we learned how vulnerable we all are to the devastating potential of extreme weather caused by climate change. And today, we applaud President Obama for leading our nation in preparing our neighborhoods to survive the storms. The executive order acknowledges that while climate change threatens us all, it doesn’t do so equally. Social, economic, and infrastructural stability are important factors in determining how vulnerable a neighborhood is to floods, fires, and hurricanes. Superstorm Sandy confirmed what we learned from Hurricane Katrina more than eight years ago. Communities with the fewest resources have the hardest time preparing, escaping, surviving and recovering from extreme weather.”…

The post Triple Pundit – Obama Issues New Executive Order on Climate Change appeared first on Green For All.

Green is in. Several Historically Black Colleges and Universities are working with the environmental education organization Green For All’s “College Ambassadors” program to improve the environment at their schools and to foster a green economy.

“Our Ambassadors see the toll that humans are having on the environment and view climate change as a critical issue for our world. They also recognize that as current and future leaders of the Black community, they have a responsibility to educate themselves and their fellow students about these issues,” says Green For All’s Director Of Education & Outreach, Julian Mocine-McQueen.

The Green For All ambassadors not only work to make their schools more green but also try to influence their communities to think green.  ”Our students come from communities that are directly affected by pollution, have high asthma rates and don’t always have access to things like healthy affordable produce,” says Mocine-McQueen. “While our students see that the environment has a direct effect on black communities in these ways and more, they also know that there is potential for new opportunities through the green economy.”…

The post MadameNoire – HBCUs Get Eco-Friendly With Green For All appeared first on Green For All.