Cast Your Vote Here For the She-ro of the Year!

This year is the 100-year anniversary of International Women’s Day. It’s a time to celebrate women and how far we’ve come, baby. From female presidents to humanitarians to Nobel Prize laureates, the world is full of women that have soared and roared and paved the way for every one of us, every day.

The Huffington Post World team has put together an enlightening slide show of some the she-roes of our time. I was personally moved by these women who move the world. Cast your vote for the most inspiring woman for you here.

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Businesswomen Pushing the Green Agenda in China

China and the US are not only the largest economies in the world (US is #1, China #2), but they also consume vast amounts of energy. The good news is that women-owned businesses are the fastest growing segments in both economies! So it’s no surprise that women are taking a leadership role in promoting sustainability. In this GreenBiz.com post, “How Businesswomen are Helping China Push Its Green Agenda”, Ann Goodman, executive director of the Women’s Network for a Sustainable Future tells how women’s ambitions for a global green economy were on view at the annual conference of the China Association of Women Entrepreneurs and what they are doing about it.

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Women Fast-forwarding the Green Economy with Kathleen Rogers – show 39

“It is essential that our most talented and driven women come together to fast forward the green economy,” says Kathleen Rogers, President of Earth Day Network, the organization that is widely viewed as the birth of the modern environmental movement with over 22,000 partners in 192 countries. “We think that women will look at it differently, build it differently, and at the very least, should have a major seat at the table in a major way around the world.” But the fact is we don’t. Women hold less than 20% of the top tier position across the board in corporations and in the political arena. “We are conspicuously absent from the power broker positions,” says Rogers.

The Earth Day Network, under Rogers leadership, has launched a campaign to change all of that. Their WAGE (Women and the Green Economy) campaign’s purpose is to accelerate and provide the new thinking and creative power for a global post-carbon economy by engaging women business, government and NGO leaders. Its goal is to create a policy agenda for Rio+20 and relevant generate national initiatives that will promote the green economy, secure educational and job training opportunities for women and channel green investment to benefit women.

“The idea behind WAGE is as we create a global green economy,” says Rogers, “women need to be at the table.” Kathleen Rogers certainly is. Are you? Listen to this podcast now. It’s a rally call to all women everywhere to turn up the volume of our leadership right in the very communities we live. The time is now. Let’s seize it.

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The Psychological Barriers to Green with Simran Sethi – show 38

How do you get people to care about green? Hint: It’s not talking about the polar bear, rising sea levels or carbon emissions. According to Simran Sethi, it’s about meeting people where they are and reframing these issues within the context of issues they care about. So instead of “organics” being an environmental issue, reframe it as a public health issue so that “everyone can understand it,” she says.

Simran is right in the middle of co-authoring a book about the psychological barriers to environmental engagement and I was fortunate enough to pull her away from her computer to talk to me about this important subject. Weighing in on this topic in her book are public figures such as Robert Redford and Newt Gingrich, along with a number of behavioral psychologists have helped her uncover why widespread information has not resulted in widespread engagement. If you think this topic is juicy, just wait until you hear Simran speak about it.

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Cultivating Women’s Leadership with Bioneers co-founder, Nina Simons – show 37

Nina Simons is one of those rare teachers who encourages and emboldens at the same time that she inspires curiosity about the topics of service, gender, and leading from the heart. She speaks here about the importance of collaboration between women (and between men and women) as we all strive to reinvent a model of leadership that can help steward the current changes taking place on our planet. “Liberate your own capacity,” she suggests “and get out of your own way!”

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Meet the Queen of Clean Tech, Rhonda Dibachi – show 36

Rhonda Dibachi is a women to watch. Her company, The Noribachi Group, has funded and is building several Clean Tech businesses from LED/solar lighting to custom solar material manufacturing to light-powered consumer electronics to home energy storage systems. She believes that clean tech offers the same promise of transformation to the masses as the internet did in the ’90’s. Instead of info, it’s energy. Why? According to Rhonda, “Everyone has more power, more control over their power destiny.” And that is going to change the energy game very soon. “The way we live is going to be very, very different in the next 5, 10, 15 years,” she pronounced. She’s right. After listening to Rhonda, I am doubly excited about it all.

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Creating a Sisterhood of Change Makers – Show 35

She’s an avid social entrepreneur. She has helped train and mentor thousands of girls worldwide. She has started an organization that is the only global organization that is run by girls, for girls. She has advised political leaders and corporate executives, co-authored a book and has been featured in many more. She has received national awards for her achievements from the Coca-Cola Company, Nestles Corporation, Taco Bell Foundation, Glamour Magazine, the U.S. Secretary of Education, and the President of United States.

And she’s only 19 years old.

Sejal Hathi is a change maker, and she believes that “as girls work together, they can solve some of the world’s intractable problems”. She calls it “the potential of the sisterhood of change makers”. Need some juice to get your social venture off the ground? Listen to this podcast and hear how Sejal, and her two friends at the ages of 15-16 years old, started an organization with no special resources, connections or capital and turned it into the only global organization that is run by girls, for girls. May 2011 be the year for you to make the impact you were born to make.

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Putting Solar’s Pedal to the Metal – show 34

First, she found a 1950’s vintage gas pump and installed batteries, inverters and charge controllers inside it. Then she connected it to mini solar panels and voila! A fully functional solar pump that will charge your cell phone, laptop or the cool electric bike I got to whiz around in at the Bioneers conference. It doesn’t get more fun than that.

Beth Ferguson is an environmental designer and her company, Sol Design Lab, wants to make solar super accessible to the public. If she had it her way, this bright yellow outdoor charging station would be on college campuses nationwide.

Want to see how it works? Watch this.

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Built Totally Green with Michaela Miller – show 32

On August 27, 2008, tropical storm Fay crisscrosses the state of Florida four times. It hits Jacksonville hard. The violent winds tore down trees and the rivers rose. It was a presidentially declared disaster. When the storm passes, MiKaela and Steve’s beautiful home was left in ruins. However, Mother Nature also left new opportunity. And it was green. This is a how the film “Built Totally Green” begins.

My guest today, Mikaela Miller and her husband, Steve Sadler, became leaders in the Green Building movement after losing their river front home during Tropical Storm Fay by fully deconstructed their old house and rebuilding it to become the 1st Platinum LEED certified home in NE Florida. Their film is a step-by-step account of their entire green building process and their very unique personal journey.

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Women in Sustainable Design with Kira Gould – show 31

Studies show that women are more likely then men to support environmental causes through voting, activism and consumer choices. I am going to sound like a broken record here but we buy 85% of the consumer products on the planet. We hold in our hands the economic power to change the world. My guest, Kira Gould, is doing just that. She is the co-author of “Women in Green: Voices of Sustainable Design” and her book is a poignant collection of stories and voices of women creating system-wide change in this movement.

In this show, we talk about the special qualities women have that make us prime candidates for carrying out what is needed on the planet today. Qualities such as consensus building and inclusiveness. Kira’s clear voice and grounded manner give me hope that what is needed now will be accomplished if we rally the forces of both women and men. How do we do that? According to Kira, “Keep communicating as frequent and effectively as possible about all the opportunities for ways to make change.”

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