Tomorrow night is the first official Earth Hour! All you have to do is turn off your lights at 8:30 pm, March 28- Saturday night- and the whole world will be turning them off with you.
Go to www.earthhour.org/home for more info!
E mail me or post a comment on your experience if you turn off the lights.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
This Thursday
A friend of mine is working on an important film documenting peace and reconciliation efforts of women in Rwanda, and the project is hosting a great event on Thursday, March 26 (tomorrow night.) Come out to support the project, hear great bands, and learn more.
You can help show the world the lessons Rwandan genocide survivors can teach us. Make an impact this Thursday night (6 p.m.-1:30a.m) by supporting our documentary film Reconciliation's Reach.
Please join us for a special concert event this Thursday March 26th from 6 p.m. until 1:30 a.m. at Hennessy's, Faneuil Hall. Several great music acts will perform including the bands 2Adam12 and Nicky Egan & the Majority.
When: Thursday March 26th, 6 p.m. - 1:30 a.m.-- Come early, come late! What: Rock Out for Reconciliation's Reach Benefit Concert
Where: Hennessy's of Boston, 25 Union St., Faneuil Hall
Who: Everyone 21+ will be welcome
Cover: Donations accepted at the door
To learn more about the film, go to peacedocumentary.org.
You can help show the world the lessons Rwandan genocide survivors can teach us. Make an impact this Thursday night (6 p.m.-1:30a.m) by supporting our documentary film Reconciliation's Reach.
Please join us for a special concert event this Thursday March 26th from 6 p.m. until 1:30 a.m. at Hennessy's, Faneuil Hall. Several great music acts will perform including the bands 2Adam12 and Nicky Egan & the Majority.
When: Thursday March 26th, 6 p.m. - 1:30 a.m.-- Come early, come late! What: Rock Out for Reconciliation's Reach Benefit Concert
Where: Hennessy's of Boston, 25 Union St., Faneuil Hall
Who: Everyone 21+ will be welcome
Cover: Donations accepted at the door
To learn more about the film, go to peacedocumentary.org.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Green a little. Change a lot.
So people have been asking me frequently about the idea that's made it to the finals for the Pitch the City contest. What is it? How will it work? What's this contest, anyway? What's the deal with the Mayor? Will he be there? So here's the story!
The contest is sponsored by D2e Boston and the City. They decided to ask people for ideas on how to green the city in ways that would have a genuine impact and be easy to implement (read: not a lot of money.) So I came up with this idea, they chose it, and it has made it this far!
Here's the pitch, more or less:
Get a Little Greener: Boston's Public Awareness and Action Campaign involves a PSA campaign to make citizens aware of what they can do every day, using local people to come on TV and the radio and say what small action they are taking, one thing at a time. The slogan is "Green a Little. Change a Lot." Once the ads begin running everywhere from TV to the T, the city will launch an interactive website that will include tips on what you can do, chats and blogs, and a place where people can log in and record green points for their actions. The city will periodically recognize those people and neighborhoods with the most green points, giving people an opportunity to be in the next ad, or contributing something green to that community. Each community would develop a green task force to incorporate non-profits and local activists as partners to ensure that everyone has the tools and knowledge to take action. This is also an umbrella idea that allows almost any other environmental action campaign in the city, large or small, to gain power from this framework. This would ultimately put Boston on the green map of the country, be excellent publicity for the city, and get every person out there involved with going green- easily and affordably.
I submitted this idea in a lengthy version that detailed the resources needed and the methods for implementation, which includes a seriously exciting Red Sox game that gets the city off to a green start. (details forthcoming.) For more on this and to see the whole thing pitched live and in person on stage, come to D2e Boston on April 5 at 2 pm (www.d2eboston.com) and watch it unfold in front of a formal panel that includes the Mayor. Or, you can e mail me and I can tell you all about it.
See the comments people are making about it at www.changents.com/jessl.
The contest is sponsored by D2e Boston and the City. They decided to ask people for ideas on how to green the city in ways that would have a genuine impact and be easy to implement (read: not a lot of money.) So I came up with this idea, they chose it, and it has made it this far!
Here's the pitch, more or less:
Get a Little Greener: Boston's Public Awareness and Action Campaign involves a PSA campaign to make citizens aware of what they can do every day, using local people to come on TV and the radio and say what small action they are taking, one thing at a time. The slogan is "Green a Little. Change a Lot." Once the ads begin running everywhere from TV to the T, the city will launch an interactive website that will include tips on what you can do, chats and blogs, and a place where people can log in and record green points for their actions. The city will periodically recognize those people and neighborhoods with the most green points, giving people an opportunity to be in the next ad, or contributing something green to that community. Each community would develop a green task force to incorporate non-profits and local activists as partners to ensure that everyone has the tools and knowledge to take action. This is also an umbrella idea that allows almost any other environmental action campaign in the city, large or small, to gain power from this framework. This would ultimately put Boston on the green map of the country, be excellent publicity for the city, and get every person out there involved with going green- easily and affordably.
I submitted this idea in a lengthy version that detailed the resources needed and the methods for implementation, which includes a seriously exciting Red Sox game that gets the city off to a green start. (details forthcoming.) For more on this and to see the whole thing pitched live and in person on stage, come to D2e Boston on April 5 at 2 pm (www.d2eboston.com) and watch it unfold in front of a formal panel that includes the Mayor. Or, you can e mail me and I can tell you all about it.
See the comments people are making about it at www.changents.com/jessl.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Message in a Bottle - a BPA bottle, that is.
Here's an important action I would love to be at, but can't, because I'm booked with clients all day thursday. Check it out. If you're reading this, try to go. The lobbying definitely makes a difference, and AHT (Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow) does great work. If you're in Boston and can be there, consider going! If you can't, think about signing the online petition at
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2155/t/6249/p/dia/action/public/index.sjs?action_KEY=404
When: Thursday, March 19th at 10:30 am
Where: MA Statehouse in Room 222
What: Bring a polycarbonate baby bottle or water bottle and put a message inside to the governor. Together we will deliver these messages in a bottle and the thousands of signatures that we have collected thus far requesting a ban of Bisphenol-A (BPA) in children's products.
Who: you, your friends, and your neighbors!
It is about time that action is taken on BPA! There is enough science out there for the Department of Public Health to issue a regulation banning BPA in products for children under the age of three.
Also, check out our website for more recent studies done on common exposures to BPA.
Oh and by the way, this past Tuesday a county in New York State, Suffolk, voted to ban polycarbonate baby bottles, so now we have no more excuses!
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2155/t/6249/p/dia/action/public/index.sjs?action_KEY=404
When: Thursday, March 19th at 10:30 am
Where: MA Statehouse in Room 222
What: Bring a polycarbonate baby bottle or water bottle and put a message inside to the governor. Together we will deliver these messages in a bottle and the thousands of signatures that we have collected thus far requesting a ban of Bisphenol-A (BPA) in children's products.
Who: you, your friends, and your neighbors!
It is about time that action is taken on BPA! There is enough science out there for the Department of Public Health to issue a regulation banning BPA in products for children under the age of three.
Also, check out our website for more recent studies done on common exposures to BPA.
Oh and by the way, this past Tuesday a county in New York State, Suffolk, voted to ban polycarbonate baby bottles, so now we have no more excuses!
I'm a finalist in Boston's Pitch the City Contest.
I was so thrilled today to learn that I made it to the four finalists of the Pitch the City contest, which selected practical ideas designed to help green Boston. I submitted my idea "Get a Little Greener: Boston's Public Awareness and Action Campaign" back in February, and have done a ton of work on it since then, turning it into a significant and well-thought out proposal and creating a PSA on film from scratch.
The four finalists will pitch their ideas directly to the Mayor at D2e (Down to Earth) Boston at the Hynes Convention Center on Sunday, April 5 in front of a large audience. I am also an exhibitor and speaker at the event, so I have a lot going on that weekend!
Come to the Hynes to check it out, I'll be exhibiting Green on the Inside at booth 120, and speaking on Going Green Affordably on Saturday, April 4 at 2 pm. Sunday I'll be pitching the Mayor. Pretty exciting!
My idea includes everything from Public Service Announcements to a website dedicated to citizens and their actions to getting the Red Sox and the Mayor involved at Fenway. I'll be posting the proposal online sometime soon. If they choose my idea, it will truly be a green revolution in Boston that will wake up the consciousness and shift the behavior of consumers and residents all over the city.
Learn more about my idea and read comments about it at www.changents.com/jessl
and about d2e at www.d2eboston.com
and as always, about Green on the Inside at greenontheinside.net.
Monday, March 16, 2009
BuildingEnergy 09
Last week I attended NESEA's Building Energy 09 conference here in Boston, and participated in various workshops and sessions. I also volunteered, possibly for the perk of getting free chocolate doughnuts every morning, or maybe because it meant I could get in free. Either way, it was a fantastic experience, so far my third of these and the best yet. (Again, could have been the doughnuts.)
Last tuesday, I attended the Greening an Existing Facility workshop, which took us into the bowels of the Boston Housing Authority where we examined ancient steam heating facilities (made me think of the gorgeous Andrew Bird lyrics, "and explodes/in a steam heat fevered cyclical motion" as my feet ground soot into the concrete and my eyes gazed up at the cavernous mouth to that massive coal fired thing, resembling the face of a steam locomotive eerily located in a room to another century.)
I imagined the operators of the heating equipment down in that basement shoveling coal, eyeing the asbestos suspiciously as they ultimately chose to leave it and abandon the steam heating, the asbestos hiding in perpetuity, vainly clinging to its history in that room despite the suffocating and encroaching consciousness of environmental health advocates. Speaking of which, it was pretty suffocating down there, and when we migrated to another room, full of (seriously) thousands of boxes of files living in a regularly flooded space, I worried. I worried not so much for the files, but for the building manager, who has to take care of that space and probably breathes in mold and other toxins every day. And when we got upstairs to the classroom, I personally had a headache. Maybe it was just me. I'm used to these spaces, but I guess I'm getting more sensitive. We went from there to the expansive rooftop overlooking downtown crossing, and studied the ventilation to the outside and elevator operations from within.
This was kind of a treat for me (minus the headache) because I rarely get to check out large commercial buildings like that, and mostly work with homeowners and small offices, without doing a major eval of the entire heating and ventilation systems unless asked to. So it was very very interesting to be on site and get to ask questions there. Interestingly, in terms of indoor air quality- one of my favorite subjects- I learned that the way the HVAC is set up, the air from that moldy basement gets pushed up to a space full of holes where the ductwork lives, and is basically recycling that same air throughout the building where people are working. Which means they might get headaches, too. Or worse. It left me deeply concerned and upset about all the unknown dangers in buildings like that all over the world, where employees never even think for a second the air they are breathing might be dangerous, and don't have any tools with which to examine that on the basic level. Questioning it would seem absurd, right? Incidentally, when we got back to the classroom, I took an informal poll and learned that 5 out of 21 participants had headaches. Hmm.
Well, despite that unnerving discovery, it was still quite a workshop. The other days, I was able to get to several sessions, most of all, my favorites in Track 7 which is called Whole Systems in Action. I'd visited this track in the past, and been profoundly inspired. This time was even better. I'll write more on the topic soon, but for now, go to BE09wholesystems.wordpress.com to read all about it.
Last tuesday, I attended the Greening an Existing Facility workshop, which took us into the bowels of the Boston Housing Authority where we examined ancient steam heating facilities (made me think of the gorgeous Andrew Bird lyrics, "and explodes/in a steam heat fevered cyclical motion" as my feet ground soot into the concrete and my eyes gazed up at the cavernous mouth to that massive coal fired thing, resembling the face of a steam locomotive eerily located in a room to another century.)
I imagined the operators of the heating equipment down in that basement shoveling coal, eyeing the asbestos suspiciously as they ultimately chose to leave it and abandon the steam heating, the asbestos hiding in perpetuity, vainly clinging to its history in that room despite the suffocating and encroaching consciousness of environmental health advocates. Speaking of which, it was pretty suffocating down there, and when we migrated to another room, full of (seriously) thousands of boxes of files living in a regularly flooded space, I worried. I worried not so much for the files, but for the building manager, who has to take care of that space and probably breathes in mold and other toxins every day. And when we got upstairs to the classroom, I personally had a headache. Maybe it was just me. I'm used to these spaces, but I guess I'm getting more sensitive. We went from there to the expansive rooftop overlooking downtown crossing, and studied the ventilation to the outside and elevator operations from within.
This was kind of a treat for me (minus the headache) because I rarely get to check out large commercial buildings like that, and mostly work with homeowners and small offices, without doing a major eval of the entire heating and ventilation systems unless asked to. So it was very very interesting to be on site and get to ask questions there. Interestingly, in terms of indoor air quality- one of my favorite subjects- I learned that the way the HVAC is set up, the air from that moldy basement gets pushed up to a space full of holes where the ductwork lives, and is basically recycling that same air throughout the building where people are working. Which means they might get headaches, too. Or worse. It left me deeply concerned and upset about all the unknown dangers in buildings like that all over the world, where employees never even think for a second the air they are breathing might be dangerous, and don't have any tools with which to examine that on the basic level. Questioning it would seem absurd, right? Incidentally, when we got back to the classroom, I took an informal poll and learned that 5 out of 21 participants had headaches. Hmm.
Well, despite that unnerving discovery, it was still quite a workshop. The other days, I was able to get to several sessions, most of all, my favorites in Track 7 which is called Whole Systems in Action. I'd visited this track in the past, and been profoundly inspired. This time was even better. I'll write more on the topic soon, but for now, go to BE09wholesystems.wordpress.com to read all about it.
Life through green colored glasses.
Until recently, I must admit, I've been a bit of a technophobe. Not necessarily phobic, just...wary. I am online enough, and I figured why make myself sit in front of the computer for innumerable hours, facebooking, tweeting, and blogging? I treasure my moments away from the screen. But then, suddenly, and so unexpectedly, I succumbed. Not to the peer pressure, though there's been plenty of that! But to the desire to share what's going on as I observe and experience the massive shifts in mindset and behavior all over the nation. Since it's what I do every day, it's on my mind. Life through a green lens, that is. Also, it's fun. How could I not love blogging? A space to muse, share, explore and suggest stuff. Better even than tweeting.
Today, I'm enjoying the article "Stuff Environmentalists Like" from Plenty magazine. http://www.plentymag.com/features/2008/11/stuff_environmentalists_like_p.php
I especially loved the quotes "They can seem like a very difficult group to infiltrate and eventually exploit" and, "environmentalists like to offset things."
I wonder what the carbon footprint of this new blog is...I could find out by going to CO2stats.com, which offsets and explains the footprint for the Green on the Inside site.
Today, I'm enjoying the article "Stuff Environmentalists Like" from Plenty magazine. http://www.plentymag.com/features/2008/11/stuff_environmentalists_like_p.php
I especially loved the quotes "They can seem like a very difficult group to infiltrate and eventually exploit" and, "environmentalists like to offset things."
I wonder what the carbon footprint of this new blog is...I could find out by going to CO2stats.com, which offsets and explains the footprint for the Green on the Inside site.
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