Environmentalism these days is often underscored with a hefty dose of doom and gloom.  Earlier this week, Green Zebra co-founder Anne Vollen invited me to join her at the Brower Youth Awards where I was truly encouraged and inspired for the first time in a while.  The awards were founded in 2000 in the name of David Brower who was a phenomenal environmental activist who did more in 60 years than many accomplished activists put together.  Among a long list of impressive organizations, Earth Island Institute was founded by Brower and hosts these annual awards.  The awards honor 6 young people “for their outstanding activism and achievements in the fields of environmental and social justice advocacy. Each winner is awarded $3000 and brought to San Francisco for the award week and a backcountry camping trip. The Brower Youth Awards not only promote the accomplishments of these young leaders but also invest in their continued success.”

This year’s six recipients were particularly impressive, well-spoken, accomplished and optimism-inspiring aging from 17 to 23.

1. Marisol Becerra, 19 from Chicago – Environmental Justice Mapzine: Marisol is dedicated to shutting down the coal power plant in Little Village, her neighborhood of Chicago.  She noticed the health effects resulting from the proximity of the plant and worked to map the toxins found within 150 blocks of her neighborhood and organized the youth around her to create OurMap of Environmental Justice, which includes descriptions of toxic sites and more.
2. Jessie-Ruth Corkins, 17 from Vermont – The Vermont Sustainable Heating Initiative: Jessie worked to replace expensive and polluting heating systems with pellet stoves in Vermont, organizing 200+ youth from 26 high schools to create a sustainable heating plan for her state.
3. Timothy DenHerder-Thomas, 21 from New Jersey – Social Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Community Development: Timothy created an innovative financial pool, Clean Energy Revolving Fund, to finance energy efficiency projects on campus with savings from each initiative and then went on to form a cooperative company to organize enviro-entrepreneurs and innovation in the community.
4. Kari Fulton, 23 from Denver – Loving Our City, Loving Ourselves: Kari worked to build the fight against climate change across college campuses in DC with Loving Our City, Loving Ourselves and also organized and trained hundreds of climate activists at over 50 universities.
5. Phebe Meyers, 19 from Vermont – Change the World Kids – Bosque Para Siempre: Starting when she was 8, Phebe and her twin sister founded a group of kids that worked to “change the world.”  That same group of kids has raised $165,000 to conserve a corridor in the rainforest of Costa Rica whcih will preserve the habitat for certain birds.
6. Ivan Stiefel, 23 from New Jersey – Mountain Justice Spring Break: Ivan organized his Appalachian community to fight mountain top coal removal and other abuses from the coal industry that were impacting his local community.

Wow.  That’s all I can say.

Sausalito, CA Floating Homes

I was lucky enough to enjoy a visit to Sausalito’s floating homes this weekend.  I was delighted by the aesthetic and concept of living on the water, which got me thinking about whether the environmental impact of living on the water in a floating home or houseboat as compared to living on the land as most of us do.  While I don’t have a definitive answer, I think there are definite benefits and sustainability upsides to a floating lifestyle, including the following:

1. Floating homes are on average much smaller than landed homes, so must use fewer resources like electricity and home furnishings.  I love the idea of living in as few rooms as possible, so this is a selling point for me.
2. Today’s generation of floating homes are made specifically taking climate change into mind.  Dutch firm DuraVermeer is leading the movement building both floating and amphibious homes that can weather Holland’s flooding problems.  In the Netherlands where nearly half the country is below sea level, flooding is a great concern.  That said, most coastal regions should be concerned by the potential for rising sea levels.  And floating homes should stand flooding better than others given the contruction allows for a rise and fall. While I admire this innovation, I can’t stop thinking of Wall-E…
3. The last point I wanted to make about floating homes is largely anecdotal.  A friend who lives in one of these gorgeous floating wonders suggested the homes are often build of recycled and reclaimed materials.  Google searching on this topic brought up one story from Brazil where a floating home made almost entirely of trash was preserved as a model of recycling.  I think there is something to designing a different kind of house that floats, that may capture the imagination and encourage green innovations, such as this home, which boast:

Urbansun Floating Home

1,200 square foot “near net zero energy” home. The small size of the home, combined with a well-insulated and designed envelope, and a combined ventilation/energy recovery system will significantly reduce energy use. Innovative features include a micro-hydro system that capitalizes on the steady flow of the Columbia River and passive and active solar elements. High post-consumer recycled content engineering wood and salvaged and certified sustainably harvested lumber will make up a significant proportion of the home and rooftop greenhouse. The greenhouse will be irrigated with harvested rainwater.

To see more, go to:

http://blog.buildllc.com/2008/07/04/floating-houses/

While I consider myself an avid environmentalist, I have never had a dream as blatantly featuring global warming as this one:

I’m at a house party in this exotically placed Northern California beach house, perched on the cliffs above the ocean. I’m trying to help clean up and I take the recycling bin outside after emptying it. Someone has poured orange juice in there so I want to rinse the thing out in the ocean to prevent stinky bin syndrome. I wander down to the cliffs above the water and the ocean level has risen. Instead of looking down at the waves crashing below me, the water is swirling and crashing on the sand at my feet. Some waves even hit the glass door of a neighbor’s house. I dip my toes in the water and lo and behold the water is gloriously warm. I hop in with my recycling bin and have a great time swimming in the warm, turbulent, deep sea water. How bizarre: I’m trying to recycle, ocean levels are rising, ocean temperatures are bath-like, and I’m making the best of it!