Changent Paul Young

Guest post generously contributed by Changent Paul Young of Craft Village, UK, a Fair Trade Company that has started a unique project in Kenya. It has helped the locals increase their income significantly by selling hand-carved, fabulously crafted statues of various popular Simpsons characters!

Craft Village UK – a member of The World Fair Trade Organisation- have developed an acclaimed, income generating, animation inspired product series.

We launched our Kenyan ‘Simpsons Statues’ in February 2009 after 3 years of development working directly with stone carvers in Kenya. Our unique mix of Fair Trade and animation-art has received great reviews; from CNN, The BBC, The United Nations Development Programme, Sir Bob Geldof, Matt Groening and many happy customers!

Our debut stone product series is hand carved in Tabaka. Like many parts of Kenya, Tabaka suffers high levels of poverty and limited access to basic human needs: clean water; health care; education, sanitation, etc. By harnessing The Simpsons popularity, we are creating vital income for the area. This is trade, not handouts. We provide great products and service at a fair price!

This exciting collection has strong appeal to two specific markets; the growing Fair Trade market, and the massive ‘Simpsons’ collector’s market, -worldwide 60 million people watch The Simpsons each week. If we can sell just 1 statue to 0.01% of regular Simpsons viewers -it will provide 10 years work for our artisans!

Developing such a unique project has been a challenge, with many obstacles and false starts along the way. From product development issues, to obtaining a 20th Century Fox license, to packaging and branding problems, we have met each challenge with competence and confidence, and feel very excited about the impact Craft Village can achieve in Kenya, and elsewhere…

Our unique product concept is transferable to many animation and film properties. To date I have met with Licensor’s for Star Wars, Nickelodeon, Aardman Animations and 4Kids Entertainment, all have expressed interest in working with Craft Village to develop fair trade memorabilia for their brands.

It is Craft Village’s goal to become a genuine innovator within Fair Trade, and attract a new audience to the Fair Trade movement with our contemporary cartoon-inspired statues. We are proud to supply Simpsons’ fans with high quality animation art whilst simultaneously having a positive impact on many families in rural Kenya.

We recently launched our new website http://www.craftvillageuk.com which includes a retail platform and lots of images and videos of our producers in Kenya. All enquiries welcome! Contact Paul Young on paul@craftvillageuk.com

Changents Kopernik

Kopernik, an on-line store of technology designed for the developing world, is a brainchild of Ewa Wojkowska and Toshi Nakamura. Both of them have worked in international development for about a decade in various developing coutries, with local communities, government ministries, NGOs and donors. This experience exposed them to a wide range of issues from working, improving access to justice for the poor, public sector reform, elections, to recovery from the devastating earthquake and Tsunami. They have been privileged to work for the UN as well. However, during this journey both of them were often left with a feeling that things were being done the same old way that they’ve been done for years and the environment was not conducive to spur innovation. At the same time, they knew that in order for development to be more effective, new ideas and innovation were necessary. And in spite of all the innovation taking place in the private sector it never got assimilated in the developmental planning for the projects utilised in developing coutries.

Out of this restless feeling and drive to do something about it themselves spurred Kopernik, named after the great Polish scienctist, Copernicus. The story of its birth is probably best told in Ewa’s own words from their Changents profile,

[…] then in early 2009, we came up with one model of solving long standing development problems by asking people of various professional backgrounds for bold ideas. The foundation of this model was a clear statement of issues, articulated by the communities in developing countries who are living with those problems.

But based on our own experience, we instinctively knew that it would be difficult to get a clear statement of challenges. We were stuck on this for a while.

One night, after some good food and some more good wine, at our place in Brooklyn, we suddenly came up with the idea of reversing the idea. Why don’t we start with the proven ‘solutions’, and let the communities (represented by local organisations) articulate instead how they want to use the solutions (technology) to solve their existing problems. This was a little ‘Copernican Revolution’ for us, as we are now starting with supply (menu of possible options to solve common development challenges) and then from here our partner organizations can articulate the demand. And given that so many challenges are common to many developing countries (lack of clean drinking water and lack of power supply for example) – we think it makes a lot of sense.

Honouring my Polish background we decided to name our venture ‘Kopernik’, the Polish name of this great Polish scientist.

And that’s how it all began.

I interviewed Ewa about their unique and ambitious venture, which in its early stages is definitely showing signs of being a big success, and I would like to share her answers with my readers below.
 

Q] When you started Kopernik, what was your expectation of response to this unique idea from your potential technological partners? Was the response better or worse than your expectation?

A] We were pretty confident about the idea, but of course we did not know for certain until we actually spoke to the technology providers. The response from them was overwhelmingly positive, as we directly address the two fundamental challenges they face. These challenges are limited distribution channels (Kopernik helps by connecting the technology providers to local organisations in developing countries in need of the technology) and price, which is frequently too high (by crowd funding and subsidising at least part of the cost of products and international shipping we enable more technology to reach those who need it). For them, Kopernik is a means to be able to scale more quickly, and eventually bring the price down to reach even more people.

Q] How has the response from the beneficiaries of these technologies been? The provision of the gadget or technology definitely improves the quality of living for them. However have you had an experience where this boost has encouraged them to lead a better life and take initiative for further improvement?

A] We conducted our pilot activities in Timor-Leste and Indonesia, and the response from the beneficiaries has been very positive. While at this early stage it might be premature to say whether our initiative has encouraged them to lead a better life, they immediately saw the benefit of the technology, and its transformative power on the way they live.

One thing that is very important to us is ensuring that the technology that we feature on Kopernik is effective and appropriate for a developing country context. So we also ask that each organization rates and provides feedback on the products that they have received.

Kopernik will conduct a sustainability review one to two years after completion of selected projects. We want to know what difference the technologies have made to people’s lives, whether they are still functioning and in use, and if not, why not.

Q] In your bio on the Changents website you mention about Kopernik, “The model has evolved almost daily and then in early 2009, we came up with one model of solving long standing development problems by asking people of various professional backgrounds for bold ideas.” This would help incredibly in making the ideological base of Kopernik very broad and hence for it to be able to offer diverse technological solutions. What are the different fields of expertise, backgrounds that these professionals come from? Does their expertise as “professionals” help in the operation of Kopernik?

A] The idea was to really to leverage the un-tapped capacity and competencies of engineers, doctors, business consultants, students, designers, and teachers etc. in solving development problems. While we have not implemented this idea, we are in the process of incorporating it into the current model. This wil
l be mainly in the area of developing new appropriate technology that responds to the needs articulated by partner organizations/communities in developing countries. We would be happy to provide more info on this endeavor, once the idea has taken more shape.

Q] Can you explain a bit about ‘crowd-funded financial subsidies’ that Kopernik helps provide to those in need in the developing countries?

A] New technology, however useful it may be for the society, is often very expensive, and the free market mechanism does not necessarily bring such technology into the world. This is why government often provides subsidies for new technology, such as hybrid and electric cars. This market failure also applies to technology for the poor. Building on the collective power of individuals, Kopernik is providing micro-subsidies to the appropriate technology to scale and reach the people who need them the most.

Q] Given that it is a very new idea and initiative, what are Kopernik’s goal / vision for next 5 years in terms of outreach, both to technological partners and those who need those technologies? And how would you want anyone reading this interview to help Kopernik reach that goal, realise that vision?

A] We want to bring appropriate technology to benefit over one million people within 5 years. We are building networks with key universities such as MIT and organisations like Ashoka to identify and distribute emerging technologies that can change lives. We also work with NGO networks and are establishing relationships with overseas volunteer programs to identify and reach out to reliable and innovative NGOs so that we can reach more people and connect more technology to people who need them.

We are currently working with ‘off the shelf’ technology but will soon expand into supporting local level production of appropriate technology. Similarly, while we are currently using a donation/subsidy model we will soon introduce new service lines that include loans and lease-to-buy schemes.

As for what readers can do – two things:

1. Donate towards one of the following two proposals:

Provide Access to Clean Water

$6.50 will buy a life-straw for a displaced person in Sri Lanka and provide one person with safe drinking water for a whole year.

http://bit.ly/cFJh9X

Help provide clean light to students in rural Nigeria

$30 will buy a solar lamp for a student in rural Nigeria that will replace dirty, dangerous and expensive kerosene.

http://bit.ly/bGkL4e

2. And ask 5 of their friends to do the same!

http://www.thekopernik.org/

Changent Ocean Robbins

[Image source]

In the 70s, a child is born in a 1-room log cabin on a tiny island off the coast of British Columbia, Canada. His parents built that cabin themselves, grew most of their own food and lived on less than $500 per year. The child grew up with few material possessions but had clean air, clean water, time with my mom and dad and beautiful nature all around. He grew up with deep love for nature and the Earth. Then in the 1980s, his family moved to California. His dad’s book called Diet for a New America, one of the first books to show how our food choices affect not just our health and happiness but also the future of life on Earth, became a runaway success and brought the much needed financial security to his family. The little boy’s life could have been a very different story had his father not decided to work for the growth of compassion and healing in the world and walked away from the fame and fortune of the world’s largest ice cream company that his family owned. But then, this boy wouldn’t have recognised, at a young age of 15, that the planetary bio-system was deteriorating rapidly under the impact of human activities and that he had to do something about it. He wouldn’t have started a project to help young people make a difference in the world, that would later become YES!, and reach half a million students in high schools in more than 40 US states in the first half of the 1990’s.

I am talking about Ocean Robbins, co-founder of YES!, son of John Robbins, one of the first “food revolutionaries” in the US and grandson of the owner and founder of Baskin-Robbins or 31 flavours. Yes, I know it is quite an incredible story and that is exactly why I have decided to feature Ocean and YES! in my Changents post for this fortnight. Ocean’s upbringing had made him a very different human being which showed through his early entrepreneurial ventures like the ‘Ocean’s natural bakery’ that he started at the age of 10. By the age of 15 he was already facilitating summits on environmental concerns and writing for national magazines. And around this time he, along with friend Ryan Eliason, started a project to help young people make a difference in the world. They organized a national tour, speaking to school assemblies about the environment and what their peers could do to make a difference. Along the way more enthusiastic young people join them and with tens of thousands of dollars raised, YES! was launched as an organization. Over the years Ocean and YES! have experienced the realities and struggles of many different kinds of communities. And this has prompted them time and again to keep broadening their definition of the environment to include people as well as the planet.

It has also been an eye-opening journey for Ocean to see and experience firsthand the great divide between the haves and have-nots in our society that prevails even today. He says it made him rethink about his own place in the world. The lifestyle he had taken for granted as a white, heterosexual male with a US passport and financial sufficiency now looked like a privilege. Along with this inner struggle Ocean’s life has brought him challenges in various shapes and forms. But his positive attitude towards their purpose in his life only makes him stand out even more as compassionate human being. Taking care of the special developmental needs of his twin sons, River and Bodhi, acts for him as a reminder of the simple healing beauty of love, and of what really matters most in life. The rude and devastating first-hand encounter his family had with the economic meltdown in December 2008 made his family’s life savings disappear overnight in Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. This has meant a lot of rethinking and adjustment of lifestyle for Ocean and his family. It has lead him to the conclusion that perhaps life, is mostly about what we do with whatever is given to us. In Ocean’s own words,

“[…] sometimes it has seemed a heroic achievement just to make it through the day. Caring for my sons’ special needs while directing an organization and trying to help a generation respond to the madness and violence of our times… There is never enough time to do all the things I want to, so I get to practice doing the best I can with the time I have, and letting the rest go by.”

I am privileged to have come across such a compassionate and dynamic individual and decided to ask him to share with us what has been his greatest challenge or most valuable experience during his work with YES! This is what Ocean has shared with us.

We live in a world with profound gaps in access to resources, opportunities, and liberty. Ours is a world with deep divisions along lines like race, class, power, nationality and religion. Ours is a world where the use of people and the planet for short-term monetary gain have enabled massive wealth to concentrate in ever fewer hands, while hunger and malnutrition take the lives of thousands of children daily.
As a white American male, born into a loving and supportive family in which all of my basic material were met, I see the world in a manner that is influenced by the privileges I have known. As a bridgebuilder whose life and work are about building authentic partnerships across historic divides, I must see the world not only through my own lens, but also learn to identify with the problems, work and dreams of people from many different places and perspectives. Sometimes, that is hard.
When I started YES!, we called our org
anization Youth for Environmental Sanity, and we wanted to mobilize young people to take positive action on behalf of the future of life on Earth. So we organized a national tour, speaking to school assemblies about the environment. As we travelled the United States, I kept finding that the environment meant different things to different people. To some, the environment was trees and blue sky, but to others, the environment was gangs and concrete and trying to get home from school without getting shot.
So we kept having to broaden our definition of the environment, to include people as well as the planet. And I had to recognize that it is a privilege to think about the long term — something that can be very hard for people who are on the edge of survival in the here and now. If your house is on fire, you don’t think about saving water for the next drought. You do whatever you’ve got to do to increase your chances of survival. Issues like global warming, or a resource consumption overshoot, have a profound impact on the world we share. And yet they can feel removed to folks whose day to day needs are so urgent.
Whatever our context, however, I learned that to be an environmentalist is to cease being a victim of the problems around us, and to become an active participant in making things better. Some people take positive action by cleaning up trash or organizing carpooling ventures, and others by working for gang truces or green jobs in urban communities. It all matters, and it’s all part of a broad and diverse movement that is changing the face of our world.
I have come to believe that there are more than six billion parts to play in the healing of our world. Whatever our background, whatever privileges we have know, and whatever traumas we have endured, we all have some vital and unique contribution to make. Our histories, and our destinies, are each unique. And they are each vital in enabling us to do what we are here to do.

  

 

Changents Green Guerrillas

Sunday Spotlight from about two weeks ago featured ‘Changents’ (Change + Agents = Changents) who describe their goal as ‘Connecting the people that help the world to the people that help them.’ And I had promised that in my capacity as an author and blogger I will feature various Changent stories on my blog.

The first Changents I interviewed are Green Guerrillas (GGs) self-dubbed the Youth Media Tech Collective. They are a group of youth (aged 13-19) living in upstate NY who drive around in a veggie powered van and use film making and storytelling to raise awareness renewable energy and protecting environment. An eclectic group of “sustainable storytellers who challenge the status quo”, the GGs advocate equitable living and learning environments. What inspired me to interview GGs is the unique combination of the section of community they work with and the way in which the GGs have chosen to empower them. Since 2006, they have empowered marginalized youth and adults to identify the issues which adversely impact their lives and actively challenge institutional imbalances which threaten their futures. [Images source]

Q1] On Changents webpage GGs describe themselves as “[…] young sustainable storytellers who are cool with Mother Earth. We are a grassroots collective of youth, used to be youth, activists, filmmakers, hip hoppahs, historians, graphic artists, grease car drivers, journalists, life-long learners, media makers, off-grid survivors, photographers, poets, punx rockahs, students, videographers, visual artists, and writers… among other things!” What was the motivation behind bringing together such diverse group of individuals and starting Green Guerrillas? How has it expanded over the years and has its scope and influence increased with time?

A1] Our team that started Green Guerrillas Youth Media Tech Collective represents a diverse array of activists, artists, cultural workers, eco-enthusiasts, and movement-building strategists who were youth organizers amongst their peers in the 1990s. Green Guerrillas is an extension of our work to inform and empower young people to connect the dots between pollution and prisons by challenging the increased use of policing, criminal justice supervision, exploitation, and resource extraction nationwide and abroad.

Since planting the seed to start Green Guerrillas in 2000, our program’s design and implementation from 2002 until now has been influenced by local/regional conditions and events in Ithaca and New York; the growth of the prison industrial complex and the “green movement” in the United States; the destructive impact of globalization on indigenous communities worldwide; and, the input and direction offered by all members (young and old) of our Collective.

Since officially starting our program in Summer 2006, Green Guerrillas have redefined sustainability in terms that make sense to us, and our communities, by expanding the scope of our work to include: (1) community organizing (leading a high school walk-out in 2007); (2) hands-on experience with renewable energy technologies (converting our bus to run on waste vegetable oil in 2008); (3) eco-cinematography (spending time outdoors overcoming “nature deficit disorder” with HD camera equipment in 2009); and, (4) regional/national/international movement-building activities (co-organizing a Prisoner Justice Conference, the Allied Media Conference, the United States Social Forum, and the Northeast Climate Confluence in 2010).

By connecting the dots between the same ideological approaches which criminalize immigrant communities and pollute the air, water, and soil we all collectively need for survival, Green Guerrillas Youth Media Tech Collective represents non-traditional leaders who are actively asserting a rarely heard or respected voice into the global conversation on sustainability with confidence in our commitment to define ourselves and our futures.

Q2] Since 2006, GGs have empowered marginalized youth and adults to identify the issues which adversely impact their lives and actively challenge institutional imbalances which threaten their futures. This is definitely a very challenging and demanding task. Tell us about your most (or one of your most) testing experience (as a group or individual) in raising awareness about sustainable living in marginalised communities. What difficulties did you face and how did you overcome them?

A2] Green Guerrillas are teens who are at-risk for criminalization and incarceration based on factors such as race; family income; history of family incarceration; and, adverse personal experiences with the criminal justice system, foster care, special education services, and zero-tolerance school discipline policies. In 2007, after a state human rights commission made an official finding of discrimination based on actions by administration and staff in failing to protect a student within the Ithaca City School District, Green Guerrillas took the lead in organizing our peers and adults in the community to demand substantive policy changes. After attempts to engage the school board through administrative channels proved fruitless, Green Guerrillas led our peers at Ithaca High School in a walk-out that re-asserted the position of young people at the decision-making table when it comes to the design and implementation of school practices and policies. Immediately after the walkout, Green Guerrillas and other students who participated in the action were threatened with racial violence and other reprisals which led to a school shut-down, an article in The New York Times, additional school disciplinary consequences for student activists, and intervention by the United States Department of Justice.

For several months following the walk-out, Green Guerrillas continued to organize our peers and encourage all community members to take a proactive role in eliminating the factors that negatively impact success for all students in the school district. But despite hundreds of hours of meet-ups, strategy sessions, and community engagement exercises—and the increased confidence with which staff and students alike came forward to share their stories of isolation and discrimination—few changes materialized. Even the progression of a pending lawsuit—that was afforded its “day in court” as a direct result of the public pressure prompted by the walk-out—was eventually side-stepped in favor of “business as usual.”

The after-math of the walk-out was very challenging for the emotional and psychological stabili
ty of several members of Green Guerrillas. Grades and school performance suffered as a result. Two of our youth members decided to leave the group within a year of the events surrounding this tumultuous time in our small, rural upstate community.

On the two-year anniversary of the walk-out (October 2009), only 1 of the 5 teens in Green Guerrillas who led this effort was still actively working with our Collective. She and another teen (who is now in college) were successful in overcoming the odds and graduating from high school on time with their class in June 2009. The 3 other teens received their GEDs. In the Fall of 2009, one is in college, one is looking for work, and one teen is incarcerated.

The campaign for equity in our living and learning environments in Ithaca and Tompkins County continues. As recently as this week (02-01-10), a community meeting was held where it was acknowledged that racism remains “rampant” in the schools, and district staff are not making adequate progress in addressing the issues which impair student success.

Green Guerrillas serves as a “safe space” for teens who must overcome marginalization by mainstream society to grow and expand as activists, artists, community organizers, sustainable storytellers, and healthy and whole human beings.

Q3] You respect The Great Law of the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations), which reminds us to live in a way that considers the impact of our actions at least seven generations into the future so as to preserve planetary wellness for those who inherit Mother Earth. Like this old wisdom of the native Americans, what are the 3 most significant and/or helpful lessons, facts or values did GGs learn from your interactions with the marginalised and local communities during your awareness campaigns and/or media recording sessions?

A3] As low-income youth of color, Green Guerrillas engage in weekly political education sessions to expand our critical perspectives on environmental and social issues. As a result of our increased awareness of renewable energy technologies, green building options, the impact of our carbon footprints, the existence of eco-friendly businesses, and our vulnerability to low expectations along the school-to-prison pipeline, Green Guerrillas are better equipped to put into context larger issues of cultural hegemony, globalization, racism, classism, patriarchy, and sexism vis-à-vis our own life experiences.

Green Guerrillas recognize the role mainstream media plays in supporting stereotypes which promote sweat shops over sustainable style, genetically modified crops over locally-grown organic foods, and pollution and prisons over sustainability and social change. As part of our commitment to making sustainable healthy life choices, and encouraging others to do the same, Green Guerrillas spend time outdoors (camping, creating eco-cinema, agricultural activities) to connect with, and personally develop a tangible relationship to, the natural world. Further, with every team decision, Green Guerrillas consider sustainability first and foremost by remembering the four R’s: reduce, reuse, recycle, and rebuy. For example, Green Guerrillas’ events are zero-waste; our program vehicle runs on biodiesel and vegetable oil; in our work space we eat local and organic foods and snacks, and compost our food scraps and paper goods; and, our work gear is made from organic cotton and sweatshop-free fabrics. Even our team banner is made from recycled plastic bottles!

Additionally, Green Guerrillas Youth Media Tech Collective organizes broad based constituencies to re-think fossil fuel dependency and challenge false solutions to climate justice. In Fall 2009, Green Guerrillas joined other eco-activists in 31 states to challenge hydraulic fracturing for domestic natural gas exploration and extraction. Using media tools to help raise awareness and challenge natural gas as a transition fuel, Green Guerrillas are working to expose the irreversible environmental damage that drilling in the Marcellus Shale (our backyard) will have on our air, soil, and water, threatening animal, human, and plant life for many generations to come.

Q4] In April 2009 GGs embarked on a 16-month project to travel locally, regionally, and nationally to create your fourth, full-length feature film, Green Guerrillas Blockumentary v.3 HD which will showcase stories of sustainability from under-represented communities in the current environmental movement. Did you find difference in awareness level and attitude towards sustainability in general in different parts of the nation? If so, what factors would you say significantly contribute towards this discrepancy?

A4] During Winter 2009, Green Guerrillas started our latest project… which involves our third film, acquiring HD camera equipment, renovating our biodiesel/veggie oil bus, and embarking on a road trip to collect stories from others like us who challenge the status quo with a commitment to sustainability and social change.

April – June 2009, Green Guerrillas participated in an Awakening of Mother Earth ceremony with the Piscataway Nation in Southern Maryland; helped prep the site for a yurt-raising at the Black Oaks Center for Renewable and Sustainable Living outside Chicago; and, purchased HD camera equipment with the help of a generous anonymous donor. In July 2009, Green Guerrillas completed Green Guerrillas Blockumentary v.2.5: Green Grease Guzzlers. Over the Summer and Fall, Green Guerrillas spent a considerable amount of time outdoors connecting to our environment, while building our media-making skills. We produced two eco-cinema shorts. Currently, Green Guerrillas are in pre-production for our fourth film: Green Guerrillas Blockumentary v.3 HD: Ganonyonk | Gye Nyame | Generation (GG v.3 HD in 3G). We have started renovating our bus.

Beginning in April 2010, Green Guerrillas Youth Media Tech Collective will be travelling locally, regionally, and nationally to uniquely distribute Green Grease Guzzlers (a dynamic, teen-centered, novice friendly, edu-taining “howto” film). Our Green Grease Guzzlers 2010-2011 Biodiesel/Veggie Oil Bus Tour will be a two-prong media/demonstration vehicle approach to increase the general public’s access to information on alternative and sustainable transportation; inspire young people — as future vehicle owners and drivers — to assume leadership roles in reducing the impact of global climate change on the planet; and, increase the number of diverse perspectives in the local, regional, and national conversation on environmental responsibility and social justice. Our Green Grease Guzzlers Tour will feature both our film and our Collective’s biodiesel/waste veggie oil bus (the “star” of v.2.5 transformed into a renewable energy demonstration vehicle/mobile studio). Some stops on the tour will include a prisoner justice conference in Albany, the Allied Media Conference in Detroit, the United States Social Forum in Detriot, and the Northeast Climate Confluence in the Catskills of Upstate New York.

With regard to GG v.3 HD in 3G, the themes will focus on people’s connection to the planet using the Ganonyonk (Haudenosaunee/Six Nation’s Thanksgiving Address) as a guide; universal energy that connects all living beings as represented by the Adinkra Symbol Gye Nyame of Ghana; and, our collective responsibility as caretakers to maintain the balance of life for t
he benefit of those yet to come, commonly referred to as the Seventh Generation. Because of Green Guerrillas recent involvement in raising awareness about the potential environmental impacts of natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, it is anticipated that GG v.3 HD in 3G will be completed in August 2011 following the close of our Green Grease Guzzlers 2010-2011 Biodiesel/Veggie Oil Bus Tour. Green Guerrillas intends to use the tour to film and photograph footage for GG v.3 HD in 3G.

Q5] What is the vision and/or goals for GGs in 2010 and in near future? And would you like to give any message to the readers of this blog that really needs to be spread into this world far and wide to make your vision and/or goals a reality?

A5] Green Guerrillas Youth Media Tech Collective is an innovative, grassroots job-training program which values our creative insights and capacities to transform our reality as leaders and participants for change. Green Guerrillas are working to further our larger vision to end the exploitation of all people and our planet’s natural resources by increasing the number of diverse perspectives in the local, regional, national, and global conversations on environmental responsibility and social justice.

For 2010, Green Guerrillas are building a movement to encourage everyone to play an active role in redefining sustainability in ways that make sense to them and to the healthy and holistic continuation of all life on Mother Earth. We recognize the need for more spaces which encourage broader community development of critical environmental and social consciousness in an effort to collectively and creatively re-imagine all the possibilities for transformative action in every aspect of our lives.

Our latest film, Green Grease Guzzlers, premieres in Ithaca on April 1st. Following the premiere, Green Guerrillas are taking Green Grease Guzzlers on the road to expose the environmental destruction caused by petroleum dependence, and encourage viewers to take responsibility for their lifestyle choices while also critically analyzing the quck fix “solutions” offered by corporate-backed bio-fuels.

Green Guerrillas Youth Media Tech Collective believes in a renewable future for all… now. We invite others who share in our vision to join us by supporting our Green Grease Guzzlers 2010-2011 Biodiesel/Veggie Oil Bus Tour—we are seeking green sponsors for our bus and a variety of venues to screen our work.

Sunday Spotlight: Changents

‘Connecting the people that help the world to the people that help them.’ Yes, this is how ‘Changents’ (Change + Agents = Changents) describe themselves on their website. I do not know if I should call ‘Changents’ an organisation, a network, a support-system, a charity or what? Because to me it seems all-in-one. The reason for that is that ‘Changents’ is made up of numerous individuals. Individuals just like you and me. Nobody significant if you think in terms of financial, political or glamorous influence on the world at large. But they’re all making a difference at the grass root level, where it matters the most. Individuals from all over the world are starting and championing movements every single day in various communities. Some of them are “green” champions, some are heralding a community development project, some promoting education, some others seeking health and sanitation facilities while someone else might be rooting for human rights. ‘Changents’ is a place where they all come to share their stories with the world. And it is also a place for people like me who want to help them help the world.

The categories listed on the ‘Changents’ website in which the various Changents work are Corporate Responsibility, Disaster, Education, Energy, Environment, Health, Homelessness, Human Rights, Hunger, Politics, Refugees, Terrorism, Tolerance, Violence, War & Conflict. So those who’re passionate about any of these causes can find people making a difference in these fields at a click of the mouse. Each Changent has their own blog to share the updates of their triumphs and trials. And others can share these stories as well as comment on them. One can also find Changents based on geographical location of their work. Making good use of social media Changents has presence on Twitter and on Facebook. The website even has the Facebook connect feature which lets you share your activity and the Changent stories with your Facebook contacts. And you can start making a “ripple” in the world by inviting friends to join Changents.

I have only recently come across and joined Changents. And in my capacity as an author and blogger I am going to be featuring various Changent stories on my blog in the coming days. I will try and maintain diversity by writing about stories from different parts of the world and also people working in diverse fields like education, eco-conservation, human rights and many more. So keep your eyes peeled for the updates and search for posts tagged with “Changents”. I hope that at least one of these numerous gems of selfless acts will inspire to take an action and spread the word.