Atlanta’s Youth Do Their Part in Earth Day Service Event

Atlanta, GA – Today, Atlanta high school and college students learned the importance of environmental sustainability and their crucial role in educating communities, thanks to an Earth Day service event hosted by Green For All and Atlanta-based Let’s Retrofit A Million (LRAM). Young environmental leaders from Atlanta University Center and students, parents, and teachers from Woodson Elementary School joined forces for a service event that honored the legacy of Wangari Maathai, a 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner known for her environmental activism and civic education efforts in Kenya. 

In the spirit of Maathai’s environmental stewardship, volunteers planted trees in the community and encouraged Atlanta’s Grove Park Community residents to bring practical green solutions into their every day lives. One solution that volunteers shared with fellow Atlantans was how easy it is to retrofit their homes to slash energy consumption and save money. 

“Maathai’s activism is a strong reminder that we must empower our communities to take ownership over the way we treat the environment” said Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, CEO of Green For All. 

Volunteers also delivered free compact florescent light bulbs to local residents and installed new energy efficient light bulbs in Woodson Elementary School to reduce the school’s energy use.  

Atlanta Falcons Fullback, Ovie Mughelli echoed the rallying cry. “Greening Atlanta begins with our actions at home,” said Mughelli. “If we don’t make an effort to show our kids that each one of us has the power to do something to improve our environment, then who will?”

About Green For All

Green For All is a national organization dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans through a clean energy economy. The organization works in collaboration with the business, government, labor, and grassroots communities to create and implement programs that increase quality jobs and opportunities in green industry – all while holding the most vulnerable people at the center of its agenda. For more information, please visit www.greenforall.org. 

About Let’s Retrofit a Million 

Let's Retrofit a Million connects “communities of modest means” with water and energy efficiency products to catalyze a dialogue about sustainability through a unique field-based, service-learning opportunity. LRAM does this by directly supporting and catalyzing the power of campus-based and community-based organizations with resources including project planning support, energy and water saving products and seed funding. www.retrofitamillion.org

About Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, is a noted environmental and human rights activist who founded the Green Belt Movement in Kenya in 1976.  She founded the Green Belt Movement to plant trees to protect the soil and restore the forests.  The Green Belt Movement organized workshops on civic education; it encouraged the women to look for the cultural, political, and economic policies and practices that were the root causes of environmental problems, and to take action to address those root causes.  Eventually the Greenbelt Movement challenged the corrupt power structure in Kenya and Ms. Maathai was elected to Parliament as Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources.  The Greenbelt Movement has planted over 40 million trees since its founding. www.greenbeltmovement.org