Shaping Youth’s fellow semifinalists in the 2008 Echoing Green competition are founders Tim, Alex, and Antuan, of Envirolution who made it along with yours truly as one of the top 25% of global orgs applying.
Alas, both of our orgs lost the top slot, but role modeling resilience like an “Ahnuld” movie moment, we’re ‘baaaaaaack’ and both of our fledgling organizations have fundraisers this week to move our objectives forward…proof positive that passion trumps defeat. Tonight in New York, The Envirolution begins!
Envirolution is officially launching with “the sustainability party of the year” bringing together the Ecorazzi (fun eco-celeb blog by that name here) of active leaders in the green movement dedicated to balancing out the “three spheres” of interdependent wealth in a fusion to correct the lopsided consumption patterns in the marketplace at the expense of our youth and future well-being.
Remember when I wrote about these hot shot young greenies at the Ease ’07 conference? Well, I “bookmarked them in my brain” as ones to watch for partnering with down the line, as our synergy is substantial…youth, eco, use of media in positive ways, and the digital sphere as the ultimate conduit for mobilization. I love it when my instincts play out…
Envirolution (party invite at left) is unveiling its high school “club” model (much like we’ve been doing Shaping Youth media advisory clubs in schools!) and its local green economy campaigns Urban Mentor Go Green Tour, and The Win-Win Campaign as well as their interactive website to mobilize the next generation of eco-savvy youth!
Shaping Youth is always looking for ‘mentor models’ for our youth teams, and these sharp, young Yale twenty-somethings fit the bill for inspiring collegiates and teens, which in turn leads to high school mentors for tweens, tween to elem, and even elem to preschoolers as peer to peer role models.
We use youth peer practices in our own work, finding that the more we ‘close the age gap,’ kids can relate and be empowered to see what’s doable, rather than perceive their own personal actions in more of an abstract form.
Just as we’ve jumped aboard the Green Teen Fashionista concept to help kids parlay their talents into our Shaping Youth ‘Project Runway/Extreme Makeover’ reality show mashup embedding green cues in our counter-marketing games and virtual pals, we’re seeing Envirolution take this “it” bit into the ecorazzi realm of realism.
They’ve invited organic food purveyors, fashion and event photographers and leveraged the ‘web celeb’ factor offering special edition organic Izzy Gold tees for their goodie bags (lots of young hip-n-happenin’ Izzy’s in my life lately!)…
ThinkMTV.com’s Suzanne ‘Africa’ Engo (also head of the New York Aids Film Festival) will cover the event in her Cause Celeb News blog, and Aysha Said, who’s capturing her vision of the modern woman in Signette, will be filming snippets of her documentary on site.
They’ve also aligned with powerhouse American Express to add ‘green’ to their scene, in classic sponsor form. (yep; sponsorships sure work faster than grants to mobilize!) Well done, gang! Wish I could be there to cheer you all in person for this night of celebration, but alas, we’re doing our own fundraiser tomorrow night and Wednesday. (see? We’re still both Echoing Green in our spirit of ‘being bold’ and moving onward with our respective dreams and visions!)
Much like our friends at Quantum ShiftTV have created cool Earth superhero video contests using media to create social and environmental change through film (see global May 10 “Pangea” event in their blog) Shaping Youth is using our film event tomorrow (& Wed.) to make change toward sustainable, local foods in schools.
Meanwhile, Envirolution is using film/media as one of many mediums to tell their own story of how they plan to how they plan to carry the torch forward for the next generation of young, smart leaders. (reminds me of the Step Up crew, folding a one-off event into a global happening!)
Envirolution and Quantum ShiftTV also have ‘extreme sports’ alignment in common in terms of snagging young entrepreneurial agents of change, as you can see here:
“Bode Miller, World Class American alpine skier, four-time World Champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist, stated,
“Every year races are cancelled and the season is changed due to absence of snow. The effects of global warming have already begun. The issue is current and it will take a serious commitment to reverse these fatal trends. Organizations like Envirolution are what the future leaders of this country need to point them in the right direction.”
Indeed. The energy and positivity is contagious…
Good luck tonight, gang. Lead It. Live It. Shaping Youth will do all we can on this coast to turn the spotlight on you and will certainly tell our partner org at The Green Zebra all about you!
I see ‘teaming’ in the future…and hey, maybe THEN we’ll get that Echoing Green Fellowship with double firepower coast to coast!
Here’s more about Envirolution and how to get youth involved anywhere on the planet to pay it forward for us all.
p.s. I remember talking to Abby on the west coast Envirolution team along with the trio from New York about how silly it was to have all these green conferences around the nation when they should be ‘virtual’ in some form to erase the carbon footprint, and lo and behold, it appears conferencing tops the list on the agenda of green business strategies! Woohoo! Progress!
From the Envirolution Launch Press Release, May 9th event:
“Envirolution is committed to “walking the talk” and making this launch event green. They are utilizing the carpooling taxi service, Rideamigos.com, offsetting the event’s carbon footprint with carbon-offset certificates from Sterling Planet, and what minimal printing they are doing will be on recycled paper or poster-board.
They will also plan to recycle and reuse any waste that is produced at the event, including the decorations, which will be living flowers that guests can take home and plant.
As a national network of individuals, organizations and businesses, Envirolution is dedicated to advancing sustainability in order to meet society’s current needs without compromising the needs of future generations.
Defining sustainability as dependent on the balance and prosperity of the “Three Spheres” (Economy, Environment and Society) – Envirolution maintains that everyone, no matter their talents or skills, can contribute to sustainability and the emerging green economy.
The night’s mission is to unite guests around a common goal, and together they can find the solutions necessary to preserve the health of our society, planet, and economy. It is up to this generation to think through the steps to sustainable progress and create lasting solutions.
Envirolution’s mission is to build collaborative platforms that advance sustainability, grow the green economy, and empower the next generation of leaders. It accomplishes the mission by providing tools and avenues of participation via our collaborative platforms of school clubs, community campaigns, events, website and local projects.
This organization is engaging youth to step up as the next leaders of this country in order to ensure our future opportunities and those of our children. It is up to us to empower them.”
Lead It. Live It.
For tickets to The Envirolution Launch or to donate to their 501c3 click here.
Really? That’s weird. I’m still receiving comments from 2007 and back here?! Try again? Or ping me directly amy at shapingyouth dot org. ?