Non-Profit
Know Your Non-Profits Series, 1: Liveable Streets Alliance
Steve Miller, Board Member of the LiveableStreets Alliance is our first guest blogger for our series “Know Your Non-Profits” which introduces you to non-profits doing work in the Great Boston Area.
Creating a Sustainable Transportation System
Transportation shapes where and how we live, which shapes our life style options and consumption decisions. But for too long the overwhelming focus of transportation planning was solely on moving cars as fast as possible. All other travel modes (transit, walking, bicycling, wheel chairs) and all other uses of the street space (socializing, shopping, playing, celebrating, and community building) were ignored. As a result, our air has become polluted and noisy, our streets unfriendly and unsafe, our neighborhoods under-developed.
Sidewalks and streets are often the single largest physical asset owned by a municipality. It is an enormous waste of limited tax money to reserve this huge asset solely for the use of cars.
In contrast, a livable street – including everything from the sidewalk to the roads and the buildings around them — has been structured around the needs of everyday human life. It maximizes the opportunities for personal interaction, for accomplishing everyday tasks, for experiencing beauty and culture, for heath-promotion activity, for local shopping, for fun.
In five years, LivableStreets Alliance has helped change the nature of Massachusetts transportation advocacy – and many aspects of official transportation planning. We worked with Boston to start the Hub On Wheels Bike Festival, which laid a foundation for the growing Boston Bikes program. We’ve helped reform parking policies, road designs, and bike parking in nearby urban cities. We sit on state-level advisory committees pushing for greater balance among travel “modes.” We combined public education with citizen activism.
Our publications (a weekly news summary and a monthly newsletter) and our monthly educational events are all free. If you would like to learn more or get on our low-volume mailing list, please go to http://blog.livablestreets.info/
New Guest Blog Series – Know Your Non-Profits
Hi All,
Down:2:Earth is in just a few weeks (April 9-11!) and we’ve been hard at work making sure this event is the best it’s ever been. But we are also thinking about what happens after the conference is over, after all the exhibitors pack up and the speakers go home, what is left? Have we done our job if you go home without next steps and resources? We think not.
For that reason, we are introducing the “Know Your Non-Profits” Guest Blog Series. Each week, we’ll be introducing you to two to three non-profits doing work in the Greater Boston community. Your job is to connect with the organizations that resonate with you and then:
- Volunteer with them.
- Go to their events.
- Blog, tweet, facebook, email and talk to people about them.
- Post comments about them on this blog.
So many ways to make a difference. Let’s get started!
Citizen Schools; exposing middle school kids to professional opportunities
Last night I had the honor of serving as a judge at the annual Citizen Schools Design & Development WOW! presentations. Citizen Schools is a local non profit that works with middle school kids. The Design and Development Apprenticeship is an urban planning ideas competition – and we at D2E love ideas! This event engages more than 100 youth from middle schools throughout Boston. For 10 weeks each fall, the students collaborate with volunteer architecture and development professionals and Citizen Schools staff to re-envision Boston’s built environment and public open spaces, developing plans and models for projects in different city neighborhoods.
This student from the McCormack school impressed us with his innovative ideas, his spiffy suit and his articulate presentation. Well done!
The Edison Middle School tackled the problems with City Hall!
It was inspiring to hear these students ideas. And it was great to also meet some of the graduates from previous years that are now in college. This really is what it’s all about. Kids have to be exposed to options in order to understand that there are opportunities.
According to John Werner, the enthusiastic leader of Citizen Schools, “This program works. Our combination of rigorous academic support and engaging apprenticeships is producing a generation of eager and invested learners. Citizen teachers are sharing their expertise and kids are listening. Our students are outperforming a comparison group of public middle school students on 6 of 7 key indicators, including MCAS scores, attendance, suspension rates and on time promotion to 10th grade, a critical indicator of HS graduation rates. As well, graduate of our 8th grade academy program are graduating from HS and attending college at nearly twice the rates of their BPS peers.”
I was really tired on this Monday and at 4pm I was dreading the commitment I made to be a judge. Those feelings faded as soon as I arrived and saw all the great work being done. I was energized and excited to be a part of this great effort. And a big “Thank you” goes out to all of the local businesses that stepped up to the plate and brought the students into their offices. This was a big time commitment and a great investment in the future of Boston. We at D2E applaud you!
Participating Apprenticeships:
Payette Associates: McCormack Middle School
Cubellis: Edwards Middle School
Goody Clancy: Irving Middle School
Harvard Graduate School of Design: 8th Grade Academy
ICON Architecture, Inc: Rogers Middle school
Paul Lukez Architecture: Mario Umana Middle School Academy
Shepley Bulfinch: Gavin Middle School
Jones Lang LaSalle: Edison Middle School
Altitude, Inc.: McCormack Middle School
Below are a bunch of photos to enjoy.
Students are making plans for a bike and pedestrian path to help improve and reinvigorate the Columbia Point neighborhood.
Jones Lang LaSalle even went to the extent of teaching the kids about budgeting. I could have used a few of these lessons!
To the tune of Rocky, the students marched up to the podium to collect their awards.
Ernest Pough, a graduate of Citizen Schools and current Freshman at Union College was one of my fellow judges. He passed out our awards to the teams.
One step forward, two steps back
“How is the Sierra Club determining which products to endorse and should we trust them?” – D2E Blog, May 14, 2008
When we saw that the Sierra Club also endorsed Green Works by Clorox, but not any other great cleaning products (like D2E exhibitors Shaklee and Seaside Naturals, or Method or Mrs Meyers) I started to loose faith in their brand. It started to become clear that the Sierra Club was not using their brand as a stamp of approval based on open criteria, but more as a marketing tool.
Don’t get me wrong, I am a capitalist 100%. I like to see nonprofits and for profits working together for a common goal. I see all three parts of sustainability as equally important; environment, social and economic. But we have to be transparent about our dealings and the goal is to create a new and improved environment for commerce. At least that is how we see it here at D2E. We see our weekend of exhibitors as the future of business. These people are doing business the way it has to be done in order for us to evolve. (See D2E Criteria here and D2E 2008 footprint here.)
So I was pleased to finally learn some details about the Sierra Club endorsements. Anya Kamenetz lays it out for us in the September issue of Fast Company. I recommend you read the whole article since Kamenetz does a good job reporting. She confirmed my suspicions about the Sierra Club, and she confirmed my belief that consumers are smarter than many marketers think. Apparently the Sierra Club has been taking an undisclosed amount of money from Clorox in exchange for the endorsement, and it made no demands for Clorox to offer recycled packaging or change the environmental profile of any other Clorox products.
“The take-home message for the Sierra Club and other nonprofits may be that they need to draw a careful distinction between two types of nonprofit/for-profit relationships: cause-related marketing and endorsements. …. In endorsement relationships, on the other hand, a group such as the Forest Stewardship Council or the Sustainable Fishery Advocates puts its seal of approval on a product that claims some mission-related benefits. No money should be involved, or that seal isn’t going to be worth much.” – Fast Company, September 2008
My take on this whole issue is that we are moving one step forward and two steps back. I am happy to see nonprofits working with for profits. But obviously they need to be careful about how they do this. I am also happy that a large company like Clorox is working to create products that are better for the environment and better for people. These large companies can touch more people, thereby expanding the natural market and educating more consumers. There is a moral to learn from the Sierra Club’s story, and hopefully it will help us move that one step closer to becoming a sustainable economy.
By the way, in the same issue of Fast Company there is an interview with Jeff Swartz, CEO of Timberland. We are big Swartz fans here. This is a business person that is walking the walk.
When old is new again
One person’s trash is another person’s treasure. Sometimes it is a clever designer finding a new use for an old thing – other times it is curb-side shopping, and other times it is passing on your old stuff to organizations that can redistribute it. It’s all good.
One of the great things about this blog is that it keeps us actively looking for sustainable businesses, products, organizations, events and news around town. We learn something new each day at D2E and we love sharing it.
Since finding new owners for old goods is clearly sustainable, today we wanted to feature More Than Words. This is a student-run organization that sells donated books. It’s simple: you have some old books that are cluttering your home, they can sell them to raise money. High school students learning how to run a business.
Beauty in simplicity.
Are the oil prices affecting you?
On my way to work this morning I stopped at a local gas station to put some air in my front bike tire (see photo above). I had to take a photo since the garage had a little moped in it instead of a car – sign of the times.
While there I got into a conversation with the station owner about the price of oil/gas. He had an interesting tip for those of us that heat our houses with oil: you can hook up your hot water heater with electricity so that you don’t have to use any oil until the cold months come.
Obviously this is not a solution – but every little bit helps these days. Since I do not drive much, the price of gas does not make a big impact on my daily life. But my apartment is heated with oil and I felt the price increase this past spring when I had to re-fill the tank – OUCH! And like everyone else, I have felt the ripple effects with the increase in food costs and my vendors’ fees.
Below are some excerpts from today’s Globe article by Erin Ailworth.
The increase will have an especially dramatic impact on the nearly 1 million households that are heated with oil, which now sells for about $4.70 a gallon, up from $2.59 a year ago, according to the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources.
Heating costs are expected to keep rising, the report says. The state’s average household oil bill next year could top $3,000, according to the report by the UMass Donahue Institute, a university think tank. All told, consumers can expect to spend $4.45 billion for gas and oil heat in 2009 – a $469 million increase from 2008.
….
“Maybe the people who are very, very wealthy won’t bat an eyelash. But for the regular people who are working from paycheck to paycheck and week to week, and don’t have anything in the bank account, this is devastating,” said Joseph P. Kennedy II, chairman of Citizens Energy Corp., a Boston-based nonprofit. Kennedy’s company provides discounted oil to low-income residents and senior citizens. To help reduce bills, he said, the state should create an energy bank to finance energy-efficient home improvements.
An energy bank – that is an interesting idea. I also like the carbon taxes. We have a lot of work to do – time to get busy!
As always, if you have any interesting programming ideas, please let us know. We are booking speakers and workshops for the April Down:2:Earth event.
Policy and Art are alive in Boston
While reading the Globe this morning, in my effort to be more informed of our policy makers, I was again heartened to read not only about progress in our local government and non profit sector, but also I read about some great art. So this Monday morning I am feeling all warm and fuzzy about living in a city and state that is taking action and growing culturally. In this morning’s Globe I found two articles I’d like to pass on. One about Green Collar Jobs and one about a local heavy metal artist, Skunk who makes robotic sculptures out of old bicycle parts.
In regards to the green collar jobs, our job panel from this past year’s show was a direct response to Van Jones’ call for action. We at down:2:earth are trying to use our show as a forum for discussion and a resource center. So we brought together some young people working in the green sector with Galen Nelson from the City of Boston to talk about opportunities and to inspire people. We were surprised to see how many people over 20 years old attended the workshop, and that taught us that we should expand our job related event this year. D2E can’t be the answer for every sustainable issue, but we offer a great opportunity for people to talk and learn. So please let us know if there is an issue that you want to be covered. We are working on our programming for the April 2009 show, and we want to hear your thoughts.
On Social Justice from today’s article:
“We’re going to need to see a lot more of this stuff on a much larger scale than we have before,” says Penn Loh, executive director of Roxbury’s Alternatives for Community & Environment, an organization focused on eradicating environmental racism that is also a member of Community Labor United. “This could be as big as the New Deal and the restructuring of the economy after the stock market crash and the Great Depression. We’re at a turning point in human history.”
On Skunk:
We love Skunk.
Sustainable Architecture Part II
Let’s begin!
The Macallen Building, formerly a printing press, was designed by Office dA, Inc. in collaboration with Burt, Hill architecture firm. Located in South Boston this building has a green roof technology, that collects rainwater runoff for landscaping use, saving the building 600,000 gallons of water annually! The building also has vents that are kept open in order to let fresh air into the apartment lofts. This building also uses sustainable materials such as insulation made from recycled jeans.
The Epicenter. Home of Habitat for Humanity, a non-for-profit organization located in the South Boston. It was designed by Arrowstreet Architects, and is one of the few platinum LEED certified, non-for-profit buildings in Boston. This building features solar panels, recycled car windshields, and other recycled materials for their washrooms, most of which were recuperated from building debris. The building is conveniently facing south where huge windows let the natural light in. The Epicenter also uses natural ventilation as a replacement of air-conditioning mechanisms. To top that off they store rainwater which is harvested and stored for landscaping!
The Genzyme Center, located in Cambridge Massachusetts is designed by Behnisch & Partners, architecture firm is based out of Venice, California. The creative minds behind this impressive commercial building have incorporated a top lit atrium allowing natural light to enter the entire building while providing light to almost every corner. This building has night time ventilation, and uses a curtain glazing system. There are several indoor gardens for employees to enjoy while looking up at a complex system of mirrors that deflect the light from the sun into different parts of the building.
San Francisco Federal Building, designed by Thomas Mayne (founder of Morphosis) is located in San Francisco. This building takes into account the health of it’s employees and the environment. Take for instance the incorporation of sensors that open and close the windows mechanically during the day improving the in door air quality creating natural air flow ventilation. This building also reduces the need of electricity by having big windows that rung from the floor to the ceiling. An interesting concept in this building that perhaps not all employees are happy with is that the elevator stops every three floors to encourage employees to utilize the stairscase as a way to exercise and socialize with one another.
New York Times Building, designed by Renzo Piano (Italian architect) last on our list today demonstrating the evolution of sustainable, commercial designs. This building is made mostly from glass and steel. It uses technology to monitor the amount of direct sunlight and glare entering the building and adjusts the intensity of the light on the inside accordingly. It’s ventilation systems incorporates 85% efficient filtration and a humidification system to maintain optimum indoor air quality.
Well that’s a wrap for this weeks sustainable architecture, join me next week to see what we have on our lists
Sustainably yours
Nathalie Zegarra
Lucy loves Bison too!
While grocery shopping last week I found a new toy for Lucy – the Protected Wildlife Bison Dog Toy. These stuffed animals represent endangered animals that are under protection. Sergeant’s, has partnered up with the National Wildlife Federation and will make a donation to the NWF for every toy that is registered. Please note that the toy has to be registered on-line for the donation to be made.
NWF has three main missions – 1. Confronting Climate Change 2. Restoring Wildlife Habitat 3. Connecting People with Nature. So in celebration of the NWF and our new Bison toy, Lucy and I decided to head outdoors. We need to get out of the office and remember why we are working so hard.
Saving trees, one fax at a time
Since we in the D2E office are planning an environmental expo, we are becoming very conscious of the impact of even the tiniest actions of our business. For instance, every day we get at least one advertisement faxed to us. Ironically, we often receive ads for ink cartridges. Do the ink cartridge companies really think we’re going to call them after their junk faxes use up all our ink?
We’ve started collecting the faxes and other pieces of one-sided paper in a cardboard box for reuse. The ads really add up! We are also calling the advertisers to remove our fax number from their list, which takes a little extra time, but will save a lot of paper.
As for the paper we can’t reuse, the D2E office signed up for Earthworm Recycling about 6 months ago. Earthworm is a nonprofit based in Somerville that recycles mixed office paper for businesses. We recently received a report on our progress; we have already recycled 481 pounds of paper, which is roughly equivalent to 4 trees.
Interesting factoid from Earthworm’s website:
Did You Know . . . Enough office waste paper is thrown away each year to build a 12- foot wall between Los Angeles and New York City?
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