This month we’re all about sharing stories of girls and women around the world who are beating inequality and empowering their communities along the way. Well, here’s one about a different sort of female empowerment—the kind that lights up the night, makes light bulbs shine bright, and literally powers communities. It also features donkeys lugging solar panels around the Kenyan savanna, which is not a sentence I get to write everyday.
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Rodale Institute and St. Luke’s University Health Network launched a true farm to hospital food program. The Anderson Campus at St. Luke’s has over 300 acres of farmland, much of which had historically been farmed conventionally with crops like corn and soy. The hospital administration recognized the impact that providing fresh, local organic produce could have on patient health and approached Rodale Institute to transition the land to organic and farm vegetables to be used in patient meals as well as in the cafeteria.
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Consumers want safer chemicals and ingredients in their products, and they want companies to be transparent about what’s in their products. meet this demand and achieve a competitive advantage, retailers and manufacturers including Target, Walmart and SC Johnson have taken steps to phase out hazardous chemicals in their products and encourage product transparency.
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“Eco-fashion is slowly increasing its footprint and influence. As more people become aware of the harsh cost of current manufacturing practices, as well as, availability of more positive options, the switch toward greener processes will hopefully become inevitable. The smaller designers, such as those on FiercelyGreen are able to pivot their supply chain much faster than the big established brands, at the same time their influence is very limited by their size, which is why it is so important to give them visibility because of the green ripple effect they will help to perpetuate in the industry in the future.”
Continue reading... →I have attended many Clean Tech conferences in the southwest over the last six months. Frankly, I wish I saw more women in the room. So this post on EcoAid’s website really resonated with me, so I am sharing it with you. It’s a juicy topic. Please join in on the conversation by leaving your comments below. And if you are a woman working in clean tech now, what do you know now that you didn’t know before that could help other women wanting to enter the clean energy sector? — Carolyn
Women across the nation are preparing to play an integral role in the green economy, and the United States will need their help if we’re going to pull ourselves out of the recession and compete in the new economy on a global scale. CAP’s Jorge Madrid has the story in this repost.
It’s true that men have been hit the hardest in the recession as far an unemployment numbers go, but we will need to seize the opportunity to diversify the future workforce in a way that will incorporate all workers in all areas of the clean energy economy—including those where women have been traditionally underrepresented.
Women in Burlington, Vermont are training for careers in the fields of green construction, renewable energy, and energy efficiency as part of the Vermont Works for Women project. Women Going Green in Atlanta, Georgia is educating women in management and entrepreneurial opportunities in the clean energy economy. And young women in Los Angeles, California are receiving science, technology, engineering, and math education through the Infrastructure Academy, which will prepare them for high-paying, high-demand careers developing the next generation of clean energy technology.
Continue reading... →When you start asking moms to promote products that other moms and organizations find troubling and maybe even toxic, you can expect a backlash of conversation. That’s what happened when Johnson and Johnson launched a contest called Big Bubblin Stars, in which the winning video of kids having fun in a bubble bath garners $10,000 in prize money. You didn’t have to buy the J&J products and yet, wouldn’t you? It’s $10,000 after all, and it seems fun and safe enough. But is it? The troubling part for many moms was that the contest promoted the use of products that contained dubious chemistry, shown over time to build up in the little bodies soaking in it. The launch of Bubblin Stars also coincided with a report from the Safe Cosmetics Organization titled No More Toxic Tub. In the bubble bath case, the moms were specifically questioning the use of products containing 1,4-dioxane and formaldehyde, included in some J&J products. What’s the big deal? Well, according to areport on a site focused on reducing breast cancer, it’s not just in J&J products. As stated in the report: Laboratory tests released today revealed the presence of 1,4-Dioxane in products such as Hello Kitty Bubble Bath, Huggies Baby Wash, Johnson’s Baby Wash, Scooby-Doo Bubble Bath […]
Continue reading... →Remember my Earth Day guest, Rebecca Harrell Tickell, the author of Hot Rich and Green? If you remember, the book revealed secrets that woman are using to get rich and save the planet. Well, I found my guest today in Rebecca’s book and she shares some of her secrets to her success including how connection with your community trumps “hard work” — and how being authentic was her competitive advantage over other “how to green up your whatever” businesses. I love Rachael’s honesty and transparency in this interview as she shares openly her own emotional journey in life, in business and in green.
Continue reading... →For our special Earth Day show today, I couldn’t resist having on Rebecca Harrell Tickell. She’s written a book called “Hot, Rich & Green: The Secret Formula women are Using to Get Rich and Save the Planet.” The whole book highlights women in green business. The lessons in it come directly from actual successes and failures of women who have lived the formulas. Rebecca’s energy is contagious. And wait to you hear what she says about women and money. If you have any issues in the arena, watch them fly out the window.
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