For March, we’re taking our CFL spotlight to the schools and shining it on one very eco-conscious place, Vermont Academy.

Located in Saxtons River, Vermont, Vermont Academy is a small independent secondary school.  Their Director of Communications, Maryann McArdle, as well as current student Dylan Gilbert were kind enough to share some of the green initiatives they have organized to promote green friendliness on campus.  Check them out!

Vermont Academy students clean up the river during the Connecticut Rivershed Cleanup day. Students also work at compost buckets during lunch time.

Bottled Water Initiative
Based on a growing awareness about the negative social & environmental consequences of disposable plastic water bottles (and disposable plastics in general) Vermont Academy agreed to discontinue the use of bottled water at Vermont Academy. The bottle water initiative:

• Eliminates bottled-water expenditures
• Reduces Vermont Academy students and faculty exposure to harmful Bisphenoln A
• Educates Vermont Academy students, faculty and visitors about water as a universal right that must be consumed sustainably and protected
• Reduces Vermont Academy’s participation in fossil fuel dependence, climate change, environmental pollution, and water privatization among other issues
• Creates a powerful statement that Vermont Academy takes sustainability seriously—improving our image in the community and providing opportunities for promoting ourselves to prospective students and their families.

Composting Project
Vermont Academy along with every major institution in the United States today faces a convergence of crises largely centered over the interface between ecological and economic sustainability.  Beginning on Earth Day last year, we as a school acknowledged an excellent opportunity to eliminate a tremendous amount of our waste production while at the same time producing a much-needed resource for the region.  So began the Vermont Academy Composting Project. This project has many important environmental benefits: it helps us to reduce the amount of waste we are putting in local landfills; it reduces our contribution to the global warming gas methane; it educates faculty, staff and students at VA about “closed-loop ecological systems” as an alternative to wasteful linear systems; and it produces a high quality soil amendment which can be used on campus gardens, donated to community gardens, sold at fundraisers or traded to local farmers in exchange for fresh organic produce (further reducing our ecological footprint and dependence on fossil fuels).

Christine Armiger, environmental science teacher and Certified Master Composter, Bruce Herforth of Garden Alternatives, along with some of our product.

VA Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Program
Vermont Academy as an individual player in a global society bears the responsibility to make efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle materials and energy as efficiently and effectively as possible. During this time of global climate change, VA must transition away from our participation in the linear materials economy, and toward systems that follow closed-loop ecological cycles. Vermont Academy conducted a survey, specifically addressing our efforts to Reduce, Reuse & Recycle here on campus.  Over 200 surveys were distributed to students, faculty and employees at Community Lunch.  Results of this survey indicate that while the majority of Vermont Academy students have made some efforts to Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle materials and energy on campus, a significant number of individuals are not contributing to sustainability efforts either because they do not find it to be convenient or they are not aware of the importance of modifying their individual actions for the collective benefit of the environment and future generations.

Based on these findings, the Vermont & Environs Committee proposes a series of initiatives targeted towards increasing campus participation in a variety of sustainability projects:

• Place single-sided paper bins – have been placed next to every printer and at the end of the day, an assigned individual places all of the paper that is sitting idol in or beside printer tray into the ‘single-sided paper bins’. This helps Vermont Academy reduce the amount of paper it uses.
• Disposable products – such as chip bags, disposable coffee cups, and disposable yogurt containers have been removed from the Dining Hall. This has reduced VA’s amount of post-consumer trash waste significantly.
• Reusable Klean Kanteens – VA school store numerous metal reusable water bottles as to accommodate students with reusable water bottles that are durable and do not leach harmful chemical into the water.
• Black Out Time Slots – every week there is a scheduled time slot where the Vermont Academy community takes efforts to reduce its energy usage by conserving power. Phantom devices that slowly leach energy are turned off.

Organic and Local Products in the School Store & Student Café
Vermont Academy has recently started to incorporate local products into the School Store and Student Cafe. Local artists are commissioned to provide clothing and various locally produced items, such as maple syrup for sale. Moreover, United Natural Foods Incorporated (UNFI) will now act as the school’s main distributor for organic products.

Earth Day
Every year in order to raise environmental awareness Vermont Academy holds an Earth Day event. Students are required to attend and participate in activities designed to raise environmental awareness. Workshops are taught, green art projects are commissioned, students are taken to work on local farms, and students are invited to visit to local recycling and paper centers.

Localvore Banquet
This year Vermont Academy will host its first Localvore Banquet. The night would feature the produce of local farmers. Selling finalized soil amendment from the Compost Initiative to local farmers in return for fresh produce would offset some of the cost of the night. Farmers will come to speak about the benefits of your local community, sustainable agriculture, and the importance of knowing where your food comes from.

For more information about Vermont Academy, visit their website.

For the month of love, green is sexy shines a CFL spotlight on John and Allyson Lindsley, two Ohio natives now residing in Seattle, who recently had a very green big day.

We hear you had a big fat green wedding! What were some of the reasons you wanted to be eco friendly on the big day?
When we realized we were potentially spending a lot of money for just one day, we wanted to be sure our dollars were going to the right places. To us that meant ensuring our wedding would have a soft environmental impact, and that our dollars were contributing to supporting fair trade. Although we wanted to go local as much as possible, we wanted to pay fair trade for our goods that were being shipped from other countries. In a way, we just wanted our wedding to help, not hurt the local and global communities. Plus, we are conscious of the environment in our daily lives, so we wanted to reflect this on our wedding day when our lives would come together.

What are some of the things you did to stay low impact and environmentally conscious?

1. Our reception site, the Culinary Vegetable Institute, was an amazing green facility with fresh produce straight from the farm.
2. The church we worked with for our ceremony takes all profits (after operating expenses) and donates to children of the working poor and autistic education efforts in the local community.
3. Local Food (fresh from the garden!) and Beverages (local wine and beer) at Reception, as well as Organic Fair Trade Coffee. Buying local ensures a minimal carbon footprint.
4. The Bride and Bridesmaids’ bouquets, the groom’s boutonniere, and all table and floral arrangements were created at CVI from herbs grown in the vegetable garden, vegetable blossoms, and flowers grown on site. Did you know the zucchini plant grows flowers that usually go to waste?
5. Donating to Carbonfund.org to offset our travels from Seattle to Ohio; posting a link to CarbonFund.org on our website for guests.
6. Recycled Paper for programs and invitations
7. Fair Trade Wedding Dress and dress for Bride’s Mother were from Lena Medoyeff Bridal Studio in Portland, OR. Lena buys her raw silk material from a woman in India, pays her fair trade for her labor, then employs a local seamstress to create the dresses. Allyson loves how she knows exactly where her dress came from!
8. In lieu of party favors for guests (that usually get tossed in the garbage anyways), we donated to Oxfam Unwrapped, purchasing gifts like a “Plant 100 Trees”, “Support a Farmer”, and “Pair of Sheep” to ensure that we were giving to communities that need it the most.
9. Wedding Party Gifts + Gifts for musicians, readers, officiant: Handmade Jewelry Boxes from Rwanda (www.handmadeexpressions.net) , Eco-Stationery, Fair Trade Organic Coffee & Chocolate from Theo’s Chocolate (www.theochocolate.com) , jewelry from www.tenthousandvillages.com.
10. We made a wedding mix CD for our out-of town guests made with recycled CD sleeves from www.rebinder.com.
11. We took the time to research our vendors and worked with those that upheld eco-friendly values and had their own green initiatives in place. We liked some things being done at Great Lakes Brewing and Paper Source.
12. And if there was a way to harness all that energy generated from the dance floor at the reception, we definitely would have fed it back to the power grid.

Ha!  You might be onto something with that dance floor energy solution.  Tell us about the Culinary Vegetable Institute where you had your reception. That sounded like a great place.
CVI offered so much of what we were hoping for to make our wedding day environmentally and socially responsible, and not to mention a very vegetarian-friendly menu for the bride! The veggies served were all fresh and organic produce from their garden, and for the carnivores the meat was grass-fed beef. CVI pays close attention to its environmental impact and is an ardent proponent of sustainable agriculture. Focusing on the “earth to table” method, farmers and chefs come together to use in-season produce grown at the facility. The site itself is a green facility that was built from local limestone and timber, and includes large windows to allow for minimum indoor lighting.

All the table decorations at CVI came directly from their gardens, as did the herbs used for our specialty cocktails.

We were able to meet with our Chef, Johannes Klapdohr, to describe some of our tastes, and these are some of the amazing creations he came up with…

• Beet “Lollypops” with Spices, Crushed Almonds and Scented Oils
• Chefs Garden Summer Rolls with Spicy and Sweet Jingle Bell Pepper Dip
• Lasagna of Summer Squash, Bok Choy and Root Spinach with Buffalo Mozzarella
• Oven Roasted Grass Fed Beef Tenderloin “Carved to Order” with Sunflower Crust and Vidalia Onion Jus

Sounds like you had some really interesting food! Especially those beet “lollypops.” What is one of the best/ most fun green things you did for your wedding?

Well, topping the fun things we did included when we invited our out-of-town guests over for a barbeque with our families before the wedding day. Even for this occasion we were able to be green by serving food and recipes from the bride’s parents’ garden and contributing to their compost when we were done. It was a great day with Ohio sun, friends, games, and great fresh food!

You knew where every food came from – that’s a great idea. What were some of the hardest green decisions you had to make when planning your wedding?

Something we struggled with was the idea of showcasing our green practices to our guests without being overbearing or overly preachy. We wanted to show people that a wedding can be super fun, but also be environmentally conscious and socially responsible.

We also knew we couldn’t be 100% green. We tried to incorporate both green and fair trade ideas into every part of our day, but eventually realized not everything was going to be green due to lack of availability or cost.

But we must say, planning a green wedding is really easy! There are tons of resources for you out there such as:

• www.greatgreenwedding.com
• www.fairtradefederation.org
• www.etsy.com – so many eco-friendly vendors!
• ethicalweddings.com

Our initial plan was to incorporate fair-trade ideas on our big day, but the more we researched, the more being green and supporting fair-trade went hand-in-hand.

Are there any suggestions you would give to our readers who are considering having a low-impact wedding?

Don’t be afraid to step outside the traditional perception of a wedding. Let it be a reflection of who you are, and just try to plan the wedding day according to the green practices you already love and enjoy!

As long as your guests are buying you gifts, try adding green items to your registry. We love some of the bamboo and fair trade products we received!

And just because it’s fun – how did you two meet?

We happen to be from the same home town and were both home for Christmas. We were each at a friend’s party on Christmas evening, but being a small town it turned out to be the same party. We hadn’t actually met before that night, but the irony was that our parents lived right down the street from each other. So of course our wedding was back in our home town, and whenever we go home now for Christmas spending time with both families is easy.

Thanks, John and Allyson, and congratulations!

Photos by Whirlybird Photography.

To kick off 2010, we caught up with green building and LEED consultant Lauren Gropper to learn about green building, her super cool entourage and why “shift” is more than a key on your keyboard.

Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Vancouver, Canada.

How did growing up in Vancouver influence your greenness?
Vancouver is a super green city and the natural environment is very much a part of the city itself, so I definitely developed an appreciation for all things green early on.

What made you want to pursue Environmental Planning and Design?
I was always interested in cities, the way they’re designed, and the ways in which we relate to our environment. I had also studied geography and environmental studies in college. So, pursuing sustainable design was a great way to combine my love of design and the built environment with sustainability.

You have a Masters of Science in Environmental Planning and Design. What is that, exactly?
Good question!! It’s basically the study of sustainable urban planning and the design of more sustainable environments, beyond the building scale.

Tell us about your latest project, SHFT:
I just launched an environmental media platform called SHFT with Adrian Grenier and Peter Glatzer. We offer original video series, curated shopping, and a host of resources that speak to a modern, inspirational, sustainable lifestyle.

What drew you to the new project?
I’ve been working with Adrian and Peter for several years, and it was something that we developed together after they approached me with the concept.

What is the easiest and most affordable thing everyone can do in their own home to make it greener?
I know this sounds very boring and cliche, but turning off your lights when you leave the room and switching out your incancesdents for CFCs or LEDs is a great start.

In addition to consulting on green building projects, you also consult on various television shows….
A few years ago I hosted and consulted on a green show for HGTV in Toronto, and shortly after that I was a consulting producer on a show for Discovery’s Green channel called “Alter Eco” – which was created by Adrian Grenier and Peter Glatzer, my business partners in SHFT.

You work in both New York and Los Angeles. Is it easier to be green on the East or the West coast?
You have such hard questions!! They both have their advantages and disadvantages. LA is great for fresh, local, and organic food and NY is amazing because of accessibility and an incredible public transit system, though the green attitude is definitely present in both places, and growing.

What’s next for you?
I’ve also recently launched a line of compostable cups and cutlery made from plants called Repurpose. All of our products can be composted in 90 days.

Do you have an eco-indulgence?
Long showers!

For more info on Lauren, check out her website, and be sure to check out SHFT!

For December, we caught up with Cassie Stevenson, co-founder of Degree 6 Clothing to learn about bamboo clothes, cotton’s insatiable thirst and why there’s more to six degrees of separation than Kevin Bacon…

Do you design the clothes yourself?
I do design each piece myself. I work with my pattern maker on each each style from start to finish until all details are perfect and ready for production.

Each piece in the collection features a Green Facts label – how did that happen?
The tag was an extremely important aspect to each piece in the line. One of our goals with Degree 6 was to make the environmental issues that we support easy for the consumer to understand. One thing that everyone understands is “nutrition facts.” In the same way that each box of food is labeled with “nutrition facts” which contain its ingredients, we did the same with our “Green Facts” label in order for the consumer to understand the ingredients of each Degree 6 garment.

Why bamboo?
The Bamboo Sorona is by far my favorite fabric to work with. There is really no comparison to any other fabric for a Tshirt, from the way it feels to the way it lays against the body. The Bamboo has a unique soft and silky feel, and is just as durable if not more than any other Tshirt fabric. However, the most important quality of Bamboo is its sustainability. To produce a Bamboo T-shirt requires 35 gallons of water compared to the 750 gallons of water it takes to produce a single cotton T shirt.

Do you wear your own clothes?
I do wear my own clothes. I love to comfy T’s for any occassion, whether is casual day wear or to dress it up at night, so my line is actually perfect for my style.

What is your favorite D6 piece?
I love each of the styles for different reasons, but I would have to say the Boyfriend T is my #1 because it is so versatile and is sexy and comfortable at the same time.

D6 stands for Degree Six, a reference to six degrees of separation. What does this mean to you?
I believe that everything each person does each day can effect the people and the environment around them. There are simple choices that people can make everyday to make a positive impact. A choice as simple as buying a bamboo Tee, rather than one made from conventional cotton can save over 700 gallons of water.

Have you ever played the Kevin Bacon game?
No, but I want to. Who should we start with?

You come from Portland, one of America ’s greenest cities. Do you find it more difficult to be green in your current hometown of Los Angeles?
Portland definitely has a heads up on LA as far as living “Green.” I continue to do the same things I did growing up in Portland, although they do not seem to encouraged in quite the same way. It is habit for me to recycle cans, plastic, paper, etc. As well as conserve energy by always turning the lights and electronics off when not in use, and not leaving the water running more than I need. However, I have seen more of a push for “green living” in Los Angeles in the past year than before. There are many more businesses taking action to do good for the environment and more products offered that are recycled and eco-friendly.

What’s your favorite green living tip for this ultra-consumptive time of year?
REUSABLE BAGS when shopping!!!!

Are you hoping to find anything special under the tree this year?
A puppy!!

What’s next for you and D6?
At this moment I am focused on developing the Mens and Womens collections further and incorporating recycled clothing in a few of the new styles as well as keeping busy with the launch of our D6 Baby collection.

For more on Cassie and the ultra-soft, ultra-cool D6 clothing line, check out the company’s website.

For November, actor, writer and Freelance Video Journalist for the New York Times, Jeremy Beiler volunteers to step into the spotlight and share some of his greeness. Jeremy has produced, shot and edited about a hundred videos for the New York Times since starting in 2007, almost all of them for the Arts section. He can also be seen in the hit production of Our Town currently playing off broadway at the Barrow Street Theatre.

Is there something or someone that first prompted your interest in the environment?

I used to get nerdy over science almanacs in high school and college, and I had crushes on magazines like Scientific American and books like Bill Bryson’s “A Short History of Nearly Everything” – so I think my concern for environmental stuff was a natural byproduct of my interest in science and cosmology. It’s hard to read about the earth without reading about the damage that’s been done to it, and then at some point it became less about the scientific fascination and more about the basic obligation of being a living person on the planet.
If I had to pick one person who solidified my views, its Carl Sagan. His 70’s educational series “Cosmos” is so incredibly expressive and accessible and beautiful. He dedicated his life to educating normal people about science and connecting them with the true questions of life, bridging the gap, and there’s nobody like him today. He was talking about global warming decades ago while a lot of people were calling him crazy.

Why did you choose coal as the subject matter of your first video (and is it your first video of this nature?)

I made Coal with my sketch group, FreeLoveForum, and we’ve made a lot of parodies, but it’s my first video of a green nature, yes. I’ve written some more stuff in this vain that I intend to produce. I think humor has a way of illustrating real issues in a way that is clearer and more accessible than just speaking about something. I wrote “Coal” after I saw a commercial called “the human element” put out by Dow Chemicals (part of a larger campaign of theirs). It’s a truly beautiful commercial, full of gorgeous cello music and sweeping slow-motion images, a deep meaningful voice over about the preciousness of human life – And of course, Dow is notorious for decades of environmental disregard. They manufactured Agent Orange, helped build nuclear bombs, leaked Dioxyn into residential communities… so this incredibly beautiful commercial seemed like the ultimate irony, and the ultimate display of how a company’s branding may bear no resemblance to the reality of their business.
I wanted to poke fun at the tools that are often used to create a company’s image… I wanted my commercial to look expensive, and have all the earmarks of something “inspiring” – slow motion, people looking sincerely in the lens… and I used coal as the subject because it’s so ubiquitous and iconic as a dirty substance. I made the vid around the time that “clean coal” was gaining noteriety as an alternative energy source (which it is not).

The number of hits for Coal on youtube is nothing to sneeze at. What has been some of the feedback towards the film?

We have gotten some nice blog action on it – and it was featured on the homepage of YouTube, which is where it got a boost early on. It’s been shown on TV a couple times in “best of the web” shows on CW and Current, and it caught the attention of Greenpeace last year, who got in touch with me and said it inspired them to create a humor-based campaign to spread their message. I don’t know if they’ve gotten that off the ground yet, but I was touched to hear them say that, and I hope they follow through.

At green is sexy we enjoy how relatively sustainable it is to run a website – do you feel that way about film and video?

I make all of my videos using a corn-based bicycle-powered video camera, and all my film-stock is recycled burlap. Uhm… I mean…. Actually it’s not the most sustainable activity, no. Making films and videos uses electricity and can be wasteful. Most pro lighting instruments, even simple ones, pull a whole lot of juice. And on bigger film projects, a lot of money is spent on sets and other materials just so they can be photographed and then destroyed. So it’s not as low-impact as a website, BUT, there are a lot of ways to cut corners and have a consciousness about what you’re using while filming. As with anything else in life, it’s possible to minimize the wastefulness.

Are there easy, cost effective ways to be green when filming? Any tips?

One thing that’s always good to do is whenever you can make a scene work outside, shoot outside. For one thing, the sun is the best lighting instrument available, and it uses no electricity. Or if it’s gotta be indoors, stage the scene near a window using the natural light in the room, and a bounce board to fill. It usually looks best that way anyway. And, in terms of gear, don’t let your batteries stay in the chargers all day after they’re charged. Unplug the charger when its not in use or it will keep sucking power. In general, keep gear switched off unless it needs to be on. There is lots of waiting on a film set between shots, and all that time adds up to a lot of waste if there is something running that doesn’t need to be.

You are currently starring in the critically acclaimed off broadway production of Our Town. Is there a movement towards sustainability in the theatre world? Tips for being green on or offstage?

Theatre is the most sustainable form of entertainment because it’s just people talking and telling a story in person – no electricity needed! (Though, realistically, commercial theaters use gigantic lighting instruments and dimming switches that suck a lot of power.) Maybe the best green page to take from the theatre is the idea of re-purposing materials into new things, and maintaining old things to keep them working. The theatre world has a great reputation for not having any money, and therefore re-using sets, costumes, props etc. and modifying them to fit any production. It’s always good to be creative about reusing things before you just throw them away. Like – if you have a broken chair, don’t replace it, fix it really well so it works again… Or, if you have a crooked old bookshelf, take the shelves out and attach them to the wall. Be a pack rat with the things you can’t recycle, and think creatively about how to turn them into other useful new-seeming things.

What is the most rewarding thing about making these projects?

One of the coolest things about “Coal” was hearing from a friend that his sister’s professor in Montreal showed it in his classroom one day. And every once in a while we get an e-mail asking if it’s okay to use in a presentation or class. So it feels good that people want to use it to illustrate a point. I want to try to make things that speak for themselves and express concepts clearly, on their own. While making you laugh. It’s gotta be funny or it doesn’t float.

Do you have a favorite eco film or play?

The final episode of Carl Sagan’s COSMOS series – it’s called “Who Speaks for Earth?” (I’m a nerd, I remember the title!) is so amazing. I’ve watched it many times, it’s an inspiring and serious call to action. And it’s so much more powerful (and scary) that it was written and recorded 20 plus years ago. It speaks the truth beautifully and urgently, and reminds you why the cause is so important. It gives me chills.

What is your favorite green thing?
YOU! And, building-integrated photovoltaics. Which are solar panels that are incorporated invisibly into the façade of a building, or the shingles of a roof. So the building is constantly gathering its own power without looking any different from its surroundings!

Check out Jeremy’s NYT news video on the flooding in the Cedar Rapids.

Contact Jeremy @ jeremyben1982@gmail.com

For September, we caught up with jewelry designer Carolyn Rafaelian to learn about her Alex & Ani line of jewelry, enhancing human consciousness and the most charming recycled-metal bracelets around.

We love our wire bangles! Where did the idea for the charms come from?
I love personalizing my jewelry, so I came up with different charms so when girls wear my bangles, they feel connected to them spiritually. There are many charms starting with Love, Peace and Om symbol to Zodiac Signs, Birthstones, and Initials. This way everyone that wears Alex and Ani can personalize their sets!

The three of us have very different wrist sizes, but each of us can rock our bangles like they’re custom fit, which is unusual. Where did the idea come from to make the bangles expandable?
We were originally known for our classic lightweight “endless hoops” earrings, which are designed with a sliding function. I took this exact idea and turned it into the perfect bangle designed to fit everyone. The simplistic design along with the sliding adjustable function creates a custom fit.

You come from a family of jewelers; did your mother have lots of jewelry when you were growing up?
My love of jewelry came from my mother and playing in her many fun jewelry boxes but the desire to create it came from being brought up in my father’s jewelry manufacturing factory. I learned everything just being around it my entire life.

Your line, Alex and Ani is named for two of your daughters. Are they into jewelry?
My daughters absolutely LOVE the Alex and Ani jewelry! Ani will leave for school with a whole arm of bangles and return with only two!!! Her explanation: “Mom, I had to give them to all the girls in school, they were begging me for them!” Alex and Ani love the expandable bangles because they can expand as they grow!!

Your jewelry is made from recycled metals. Why is this important?
I started Alex and Ani about 10 years ago, long before there was this huge green movement which I am thrilled about and I am proud to say that I have been designing green jewelry the entire time. We are one of the last jewelry manufacturers in the United States that does not import product. Our pieces are all made in the USA and we use recycled materials purchased from local Rhode Island mills. It’s important that we continue to produce everything here in the USA because we adhere to higher environmental standards and rules for waste management and chemical disposal compared to other countries. We have always done things this way and we are lucky to have our own factory and manufacturing facilities, where we dictate how and where our products are produced.

You grew up in the smallest state in America and you now live in the biggest city in America. Is it easier being green in Rhode Island or in New York?
I actually live in New York and Rhode Island; I grew up in RI and find it very hard to leave. My kids and family are in RI. My showroom is in NYC and since I get a lot of my inspiration from NYC, I travel there every week. I think that if you are conscious about being green, it doesn’t matter where you live, you just make that extra effort to help the environment.

Nature seems to play a significant role in your designs. How does a busy city-gal like you get a chance to soak up the great outdoors?
A: I spend a great deal of time in Jamestown, RI, so I love to go to the RI beaches and “special spots” where I become inspired. Mother nature is the most creative force we are blessed to experience everyday anywhere- whether you’re sitting on a NY rooftop or at the water’s edge.

Giving back seems to be an integral part of your business. What exactly is “Charity By Design”?
We’ve partnered with several charities and are thrilled we have the ability to help foundations in need. We came up with our Charity by Design concept so we create specific pieces and collections catered to each organization with proceeds of sales donated to these foundations. Foundations that we have partnered with and donated to have included Stand up to Cancer, The Humane society, Red Cross and African Rainforest Conservancy to name a few. Charity by Design is the heart and soul of Alex and Ani, and it continues to grow.

One of the goals of Alex & Ani is to “enhance human consciousness”. Can you elaborate on that?
I am inspired by people, their unique energies, what makes them who they are, and what is truly important to them. Jewelry has the means to empower and I am just a designer who helps facilitate one to their own greatness because the meaning behind many of the pieces I create should reflect the essence of the wearer. Our Collections are all about what is inspirational to you and reflects you as a human being, Whether it be a cross, Buddha, an Om Symbol, you can create a custom piece that is your own and directly represents your life’s purpose and individual spirit…

We hear your third daughter Alivia might soon have a namesake line. Can you give us any hints about that?
I am trying to decide if I want to develop another jewelry line or if I want to venture out and do a lifestyle/home line. I will keep you posted!

Stay tuned for Carolyn’s Alivia line, and in the meantime check out the Alex & Ani website for more info about Carolyn, her jewelry and the Custom Create feature (create your own charmed bangles) coming in October.

For August, we caught up with Daniel Riser, founder of greenwriter.org, a new website for screenwriters to house their screenplays for production companies and directors to find while helping to save an estimated 5,000 trees per year. Catch the full catalogue due out later this month and read below to see how Daniel and the people at greenwriter.org are helping Hollywood make going green just a little sexier.

So what exactly is greenwriter.org?
Greenwriter.org is a web service designed to streamline the conventional process agents and producers use when finding scripts, while creating environmental awareness.

What made you want to “reinvent the way we buy and sell screenplays”?
I wanted to reinvent screenplay distribution because I was tired of seeing a general acceptance of mindless waste, both in regards to printed paper and writer’s works. There are dozens of online venues a screenwriter can use to showcase his work but they all charge $60 to $1,500 to submit a PDF. That’s when I decided to rebuild the system from the ground up.

Are you a screenwriter yourself?
Yes. I’ve got the cynicism and coffee mug to prove it.

How did you become involved in screenwriting?
I was eight years old. Bought some old James Bond novels at a used book store. My parents quickly found my chauvinist contraband and confiscated it. I wasn’t about to let that stop me so I sat down and wrote movie versions of the books. Next thing I know I’m 19 years old writing an action film for an independent company and we go out all over the world to film it. That’s when I bought the coffee mug.

For those of us not in the film business, do screenwriters really use that much paper?
Short answer: Yes. An average screenplay is 90 to 120 pages in length. Your run-of-the-mill screenplay guide recommends printing ten copies (at least) Most of which go to agents (unless God himself has smiled on your charmed life and you already have one) and a few random production companies across Los Angeles. About 200,000 screenplays make it into circulation every year.

How much paper would you estimate the film industry uses for things like scripts?
Oh boy. Well a “greenlit” script gets copied at least 100 times for the various members of the three stages of production (pre, principle, post) and then any revisions to the screenplay are also printed for each member. This obviously doesn’t include storyboards, index cards, shot lists, production schedules, etcetera. If I had to present an estimated figure I’d say at least 16,000 sheets per production for the screenplay itself.

How much paper or how many trees will the film industry save with the help of your website?
If 1/2 of industry professionals use Greenwriter as their content provider and 1/2 of the agents encourage their clients to do the same (we are developing a privatized feature for established writers) AND assuming 3/4 of screenplays are printed on recycled stock… we would still save 5,000 trees per year.

We love that Greenwriter helps the environment, but doesn’t it also help writers and production companies?
We are non-profit to the writers and their works because we want them to have a safe haven, free from exploitation or abuse. In order to stay in business we have customized our architecture to fit the needs of industry professionals who will pay for a professional interface that exceeds traditional online screenplay catalogs.

This service was designed to help struggling agents find excellent writers seeking representation, directors looking for the perfect “blueprint” to launch their professional career, actors of all success levels to find a star vehicle, independent investors who are interested in funding low budget films and increase a veteran producer’s productivity without printing a single sheet of paper.

Your nine person company is based in LA. Are you all writers?
Most of us are involved in entertainment and media but there are only two writers; myself and Trevor Berry; a dialog specialist. I’m more of a story editor/structure aficionado.

Aside from offering an essentially green service, does greenwriter implement any other green strategies in the office?
Our staff is environmentally responsible. The company recently purchased two Hybrids and we even had our office sign made in recycled materials. The only thing that isn’t Green is our flat screen TV. We’re movie people here so we have to have the biggest TV we can get our hands on. I think we succeeded.

Your Slogan for the site is “Let’s Save 90 million pages in 6 months” do you think you will reach that goal in 6 months or less?
100 screenplays were uploaded on our first day. I believe with all my heart that we can accomplish our goal but it’s not intended to be a race. Our original slogan was a statement. We’re proud of the service we have in store for everyone (Catalog is revealed late August) and we believe producers will see the benefit our digital product will bring them. If writers can see the opportunity we have created for them we will have no problem saving paper, saving trees and greening an industry that desperately needs it.

Where do you see Greenwriter a year from now?
We are hard at work crafting a perfect place for everyone involved in the screenwriting industry with plans to expand into television pilots, webisodes, commercials, novels, journalism, comic books, songs and other literary markets by the end of this year. We want to provide a venue where illustrators, editors, musicians and other artists can showcase their work before a global audience for free. Each category will be meticulously crafted by experts in their respective industries but it all begins with screenplays and our dedicated staff is making sure it’s worth the wait.

For more information on Daniel, Greenwriter or reading/selling screenplays online, check out greenwriter.org.

Thanks to Erin Kuhlmann for this interview!

For July, we caught up with Matthew Rutman, the project coordinator of Partners in Solidarity, the international computer placement program of NextStep.

Partners in Solidarity is not your typical non-profit. You might recall our spotlight for July that focused on NextStep Recycling. Partners in Solidarity take NextStep’s rebuilt computers and electronics to the next level: they are the facilitators between organizing NextStep’s electronics that will be shipped to communities in need, and organizes with another non-profit, INEPAS, that will make sure the equipment is set-up, managed, and used most efficiently. They are the bridge. And it all started about 8 years ago with an idea. In Matthew’s words….

I spent a year working in Guatemala from 2000-2001. I was involved in a variety of non-profit work that included house construction, homeless shelter support for street kids, and education. I thought I’d only spend a few months there, but ended up spending almost a year. The big “yahoo” moment for me came from being invited by a group of community leaders in a small village called Pasac Segundo to work with them on a fund raising project to build a school in their community. I spend days which turned into months spending time in their town-getting to know families, teachers, and kids.

The town school was built out of a variety of scrap materials and all the classrooms were dirt floors. Kids sat on planks of wood supported by cinder blocks. It was amazing to see how inspired they were to learn, and how little resources there were. Over the months, I was adopted by the town, and especially a family that made me one of their own. The long story short was that we wrote grants together, put on fundraisers, and eventually raised enough money to buy land and build a school. To this day it stands as the largest building in the community. That experience was huge for me. In addition, I knew dozens of awesome Guatemalan NGOs that were doing amazing work with limited resources. While down there, one of these NGOs told me they had over 300 donated bikes in the states but didn’t know how to get them down. They asked me for help. Through networking in the states, I sorted out the shipping and an idea was born.

I figured it would percolate for a while before becoming a reality. But, the dream of staring a non-profit was born during that time.

Things were sped up on July 10,2001. I was working for the United States Forest Service(USFS) in Washington state as a fire fighter. Me and 11 other fire fighters and two civilians were trapped behind a fire that became known as the 30 mile fire. Four fellow fire fighters died that day and the rest of the survivors came as close to dying as was possible. I realized how thin the veil was between life and death and decided to make some dreams turn into realities while I was still here. I had argued with death in my fire shelter and said that there were things I was supposed to do. One of those things was to create a resource bridge to Guatemala.

A student at Casablanca School, Salcaja, Guatemala

Initially, the vision of the project was to gather anything valuable to the myriad of NGOs in Guatemala that were focusing on education and health care projects. We brought down medical supplies/equipment, school supplies, classroom furniture, computers, bikes, kids clothing, toys. I had friends that were dumpster divers and would score all kinds of amazing junk(i.e. working bikes) that would make an orphanage kid super stoked. So, we filled 8×8x40′ containers with “American excess and trash.” Everything we brought down worked fine, but had no value in the rich throw away society of America.

I remember hearing an amazing story of a clinic that saved the life of a little girl whose lung had collapsed. We gave them a bunch of medical equipment/supplies that were going to be trashed by an American Med Supply company. In the boxes was the apparatus that saved the girl’s life! Just that one story alone makes everything we’ve done so far worth it. But, of course there are many other stories.

For example, we brought wheelchairs one year, and an eight year old paralyzed girl got her first wheelchair. You should have seen here smile! It was amazing.

As the project morphed and changed over the years, we started bringing down more computers and teamed up with two awesome organizations. In the states, NextStep Recycling started rebuilding old computers for us.

Technology CAN destroy culture. It CAN ALSO PRESERVE CULTURE as well. It depends on whose hands it is in.Projects like ours help break that cycle. If a student knows how to use computers, they will have access to higher education. Doors will change, power paradigms will shift. I now hear indigenous students saying they want to be doctors, lawyers, even the president when I visit schools with labs. This is the start of something that could go far. There is a cool article about the project written by a reporter who went to Guatemala to track and report on the project.

Thank you, Matthew. Partners in Solidarity just shipped an 8 x8 40′ container with 325 computer systems. They will augment existing labs, start new labs, and support various NGOs in the dept. of Quetzaltenango. They have volunteer techies working with Guatemalan counterpoints on prepping machines, teaching basic repair/maintenance classes, and organizing a spare parts warehouse that will support the over 1000 computers in the labs.

If you are interested in getting involved, there are many options. For one, donating funds, computers, printers, etc. to Partners in Solidarity is easy. Check out their website to learn how to donate. Or you could volunteer. Visit NextStep Recycling’s project partners to see how you can help. Want to learn Spanish? One of NextStep’s project partners INEPAS pays its bills by operating an awesome language school in Xela. Visit INEPAS to learn about taking Spanish classes in Guatemala.

Outside of Partners in Solidarity, Matthew is an elementary teacher based out of Eugene, and currently preparing to spend the next year teaching at an international school in Venezuela. Feel free to contact him by email.

For June, green is sexy caught up with Lorraine Kerwood of NextStep Recycling, an organization in Eugene that takes in your old electronic equipment, rebuilds them, and then puts them back into the hands of others who can use them…

Let’s start with a bit about NextStep recycling. How did the organization come together?
We came together because I have a need, and I learned members of my community had a similar need. I grew up thinking I was unintelligent. I was a “special ed” kind who received many labels. I got through life okay, working a series of working class jobs, but after being injured in a car accident, I was faced with the need to find a new way to earn money. I discovered that to attend college, students needed to know how to use a computer-and at the university, it was expected that students have computers in their homes.

I viewed the computer as symbolic of “what smart people” can do. Since I did not understand my own intelligence, I was not going to apply to college-because I was certain I would not be able to grasp how to use the technology.

After much prodding from my family, I enrolled in a beginners class in computers. I learned about word docs, the Internet, how to turn the computer on and off. I also learned, through great support of the instructor, that I was competent at using a computer. The instructor demystified the computer and explained to me that many folks (like me) who have a diagnosis on the Autism spectrum are very good at computer use.

After a few more adult ed classes in computers, I enrolled in college and was accepted. While a practicum student, I met kids and adults who had a similar experience as I did: either they did not understand their intelligence or they didn’t have money, or, they could not compete in class to get access to the computers.

My power supply died on my computer that I purchased for school. I tried to fix it, but I ended up killing the hard drive instead! I learned about the community of Mac users on the Internet, so I started researching how I could do better in the future. I learned that there are a ton of “regular” folk who have “how tos” on the web and who share parts. So, I started purchasing computers from thrift stores, learning how to upgrade/repair them. Once I was proficient at the repairs, I gave the working units to kids I was meeting and working with in child welfare. I also meet two local fellas-who, just like me, were new to computers but fascinated but the hardware. We worked together rebuilding Macs. It was a great garage based activity!

Folks in the community learned about MacRenewal and started dropping stuff of at my house. I begin making connections in the community-finding folks who needed to clean out their stored units and finding folks who needed access to computers.

As our knowledge and community connections grew, so did our skills.

Four years and 3000 computers later, I quit my job as a child welfare worker to see if I could take MacRenewal to the next level. After researching how to move a nonprofit out of a garage in to a public setting, Computer Reuse and Recycling was born. We now accepted PCs and, eventually, household electronics. We opened a recycling facility and a reuse store. As more folks approached us regarding their children with special needs, we designed a training program-where interested volunteers could learn different tasks-recycling of electronics, refurbishing of electronics, and reselling of refurbished electronics.

That’s an amazing story. When did this happen? How long has the org been going?
I started refurbishing in 1999, I hooked up with Mike and Foss in 2000, we were awarded nonprofit status in 2002, and we opened our first “out of the garage” on February 14, 2004.

Tell us about your role in the organization
I am the Executive Director. So, I do the community outreach thing, I do the staffing HR thing, I do the public speaking thing. What I don’t get to do any more is the refurbishing thing. That’s tough on me – I LOVE that part!

What is the mission of the organization?
Our mission is to provide technology and training to children and adults who have barriers to education and employment.

What types of things does NextStep take in for recycling and repair?
We accept all things electronic, non-electronic technology (like manual typewriters), office furniture, stretch wrap, EPS foam, household electronics.

What do you get too much of and what do you get too little of? What’s been a surprise about intake?
We receive more EPS foam than we would like. We occasionally receive garbage hidden inside donations. The random mouse, bird, and other critters. We have received some interesting things-like dentures, a human femur, a deer head. We also receive items would would prefer not to see, like mercury switches, but, our staff is trained to catch these items.

We don’t receive enough COMPUTERS or working cell phones. We gift cell phones to seniors, folks living in shelters, and to folks who do not have
homes-all of which feel safer in the world knowing they can use the gifted cell phone to call for emergent help. We also receive referrals from our local ATT, Sprint, and Cricket stores-for their customers who can not afford a replacement phone but are still on a contract. We sell refurbished phones to address this technology gap.

Is there a way for someone to easily send a cell phone or laptop if they are reading this now and realize they have one to give?
We encourage folks to ship USPS. This is generally cheaper and they come to us less damaged – folks send laptops and cell phones this way. We do get whole systems donated and pallets of computers.

What happens to all the electronics once they are fixed? Do you sell them or give them away?
We have four adoption programs.

1. Social service gifting: a social service worker (Dr. Nurse, teacher, social service specialist) makes a referral to NextStep. We place technology with the recipient. The provider generally covers the $50.00 admin fee.
2. Volunteer training education grant: we offer a variety of training programs. Recycling: 30 hours, refurbishment: 90 hours, reuse sales: 40 hours. When a volunteer completes the training, we complete the process by gifting a computer. This completes the educational experience and connects them up to the wide world.
3. Partners in Solidarity > international placements gifting: we partner with international nonprofits (schools, social service orgs, health clinics) and place computer labs all over the world. Last year we gifted to Guatemala, Ecuador, Mexico, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Bolivia, and others. We do not place with individuals, but with other NGOs-so we know the technology is getting where it needs to go and so we know the hardware is being maintained.
4. Kith and Kin > foster children placements. We gift directly to children in the foster care system. It is our goal that every child living in the foster care system have access to technology. Studies show that children living in foster care who have access to technology are more likely to succeed in their lives.

We also sell electronics at low cost in our two reuse stores, on eBay, and on Craig’s List. We will be launching our own online store in the next few months to further our mission.

Tell us a bit about international placements gifting with non-profit organizations with electronics. How did that come to be?
I have been in the nonprofit world for most of my adult life. I was raised to understand that a life worth living is one filled with service work. I know how much nonprofits struggle to do the work needed in our communities. We have worked with nonprofits since the beginning. Access to technology can improve the level of service nonprofits provide our community, and make life so much easier for the employees and volunteers!

Was the initial intent of the org to recycle or get involved with other organizations – or have they always been working together?
As a child welfare worker, I quickly learned that it truly does take an umbrella of services to support our most marginalized populations. Parents, teachers, and medical providers all need help to meet the needs of our children. So, focusing on this work has been a paramount concern.
In 2004, when we opened our donation doors to PCs and household electronics, we had to create a recycling program. Reuse and refurbishment was our first calling, but, as soon as we accepted PCs, we had an avalanche of dead hardware to deal with! Each time we have decided to take a different item, we have researched what to do with the non-reusable material.

There are so many amazing things that NextStep is involved with. What, in your opinion, is the most rewarding thing about the NextStep?
I love to be part of community members connecting with the world. We have folks who have been recently laid off, looking for new skills. After training and receiving the technology grant we are told that: they can connect with unemployment in a more timely fashion; apply for social security, communicate with doctors, stay connected to family and children, research an illness. All this because the recipient has access to technology they did not have.

What effects or feedback have you received?
Well, folks are delighted to learn we kept 8 million pounds of electronics waste out of our Short Mountain landfill. When someone donates money and understands that means someone in our community will have a tool to move them forward in their lives, they get excited. We have lots of thank yous from community members who have been impacted by technology grants, training opportunities, and other volunteer opportunities.

What are your plans for the future of NextStep?
Right now, our plans are to keep our doors open and our services running. At the end of last year, the scrap market plummeted, the new economy rolled out, and a new electronics recycling law was introduced in Oregon. We are no longer able to charge a processing fee for material we refurbish. We can accept the material, but only receive a small income on material if we send it to a shredder. Since we are a reuse organization, this also limits our income. Times are very challenging right now. That said, we would like to open more receiving depots and reuse stores to share NextStep opportunities.

You can contact Lorraine by emailing her. To learn more about NextStep recycling or to make a donation, visit them on the web You can donate your old electronics via USPS or donate to them via their site.

On his website, LA-based architectural designer Alex Webb writes that he is “primarily interested in performative algorithmic design, environmental sustainability, sustainable transit and building information modeling (BIM).” We caught up with Alex in Santa Monica, California to learn what the heck all of that means.

So… what exactly is performative algorithmic design anyway?
Yeah… it’s a pretty nerdy term. But algorithmic design is a method of designing the parts of a building through numbers and parameters and stuff, and letting them “self-organize”. You create how the pieces go together and how they relate to each other instead of starting with a preconceived idea of what your design will look like. It’s a pretty common technique in architecture schools and it tries to copy how living organisms grow and evolve.

Performative Algorithmic Design is when the parameters and numbers are based off of some sort of information set, and the building components organize themselves to have the building perform better. So, if you had a bunch of solar data, you could tell the components to assemble themselves so they shade windows during the summer and let in light during the winter. Stuff like that.

How did you become interested in that?
I really loved learning the usual Algorithmic Design in architecture school, but the more and more I learned the more and more I thought that we were just scraping the surface of what it could do. Most people would use the method to create insanely cool looking designs, which is great, but I was sort of obsessed with figuring out how to create something more than that.

I ended up doing my thesis with Performative Algorithmic Design and it’s been a bit of an obsession ever since.

As an architectural designer, do you incorporate sustainability in your designs?
Absolutely. My firm just signed on to the 2030 Challenge, so we’re all working to be able to meet it. It’s a really cool time to be involved with architecture- more and more people are trying to make their buildings greener and greener, so a lot of the time you have your clients pushing you to be green.

What kind of architecture/design is your primary focus?
I work mostly in airports and transportation. Even though most of the projects I’ve worked on have been airports, I’m becoming more and more interested in rail and bus line projects. So much of LA’s carbon footprint is generated from a really inefficient transit system- so I feel that one of the greenest things I could do would be to help change that.

What are some environmental challenges you face when designing those types of projects?
Well, the biggest one with airports is that typically people at an airport want to see the planes and the runways, so you end up with really large stretches of glass. Managing the heat gain that comes with that is a huge problem we face on every project we do.

What is building information modeling?
Nice! Another wonderfully nerdy topic… BIM is a new way of designing buildings with computers. With the old way, CAD, you used to basically draw lines that you would then label “doors” or “walls” or whatever. With BIM, you actually create door and wall “objects” in the computer model that have a relationship to the other objects (windows are in walls, lights are in ceilings, etc). So then you have a model that if you need to move something, like a wall, all of the doors and windows move with it. You also end up with a database of all of the pieces of the building, since you’re modeling the objects and not just drawing lines, so it’s easier to understand costs, construction time, and that sort of stuff.

You’re from Boston originally, did that have any impact on your current greenness?
I think that my roots in puritan New England made my hyper-obsession with efficiency and simplicity led to my interest in sustainability. I was the president of my environmental club in high school and in junior high I was voted “class granola,” so this has been going on for a while.

You surf, right?
Yeah- I started about 7 years ago when I moved to LA, and for a while I was surfing every day before work. I’m still not any good though- I grew up snowboarding so that’s my sport. But if I’m living by the ocean, nothing beats a nice morning in the water.

Isn’t it kind of gross to surf off the coast of Los Angeles?
It’s actually not that bad, but if you go after a storm it can really do some damage. A buddy of mine was in the hospital for a week because of an infection he got at the beach, and he came close to losing his leg. It’s fine if you pay attention to the weather, but you have to be really careful.

Are you involved with any environmental outreach groups like Heal the Bay?
Not as much as I should be- most of my volunteer time I spend helping a group called STOKED. They pair inner-city kids with mentors and then they both learn surfing, snowboarding and skateboarding. I help out as an instructor for the surfing and snowboarding parts, I’m no good at skating.

Why did you decide to become a blogger?
After I finished my thesis, I wanted to keep on learning how to integrate sustainability into different design techniques. Having a blog to write helped me go the extra distance in learning about different subjects.

We love the categories on your blog! They range from architecture and urban planning to food.
Thanks! Yeah, the focus of the blog really spread out once I started writing, but I think everything still relates to sustainable design in some way or another. So much of design is understanding the range of possibilities that are out there, so a lot of the time I’m documenting work that I think is either significant or innovative in some way.

What’s up with the geometry topic?
Yeah… the geometry topic is a little lacking at the moment. But geometry is where design on a building component level can have some sort of performative quality- so it’s in there, I just need to post more about it.

You’re big into composting. How did you get into that?
I think that goes bad to the puritan obsession with efficiency… I cook a lot with vegetables, so I got tired of throwing broccoli stalks and apple cores away. My composter is just a big trash can with a lid and an opening at the bottom. I put the parts of fruits and vegetables I don’t use in there, and 8 – 10 months later I have great compost for the veggies I grow. It’s great- no smell, no bugs, no problems at all, and I’m not putting reusable plant matter in a landfill.

Tell us about reFarm
1/5th of our country’s gasoline is used for transporting food, so I’m really interested in how we can reduce that. The problem with that is typically we live really far from the food we eat. While many people’s idea of sustainable living is a pastoral cottage in the woods somewhere, the reality is that there isn’t enough space to make that happen and even if we could it would be really inefficient. We need the efficiencies of cities to create a sustainable planet, but they just need to function better. The reFarm Project looks at cities on a case by case basis, and tries to determine what urban farming techniques would work there. Like in the case of LA you could utilize all of the low rise warehouses for rooftop farming, while Houston has a huge amount of abandoned office buildings where you use hydroponic techniques on a large level. reFarm looks at the different urban landscape of different cities, and tries to figure out how you could grow food in the city itself, so you don’t have to transport it there from somewhere else.

To learn more about Alex, check out his website, alexwebb.com