Runners at Race Against Global Warming get Tree Planted in their name
Published Sunday, September 16, 2007 by SROmgmt.
taking care of the nursery. Photo: M. ArnoldusFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Runners at the Race Against Global Warming get Tree Planted in their name
Schwarz, a native South African and former teaching fellow at M.I.T., moved to Mozambique in 1994 to confront the deforestation issues. “Environmentalism and sustainable economic development are the same thing in different clothes. We can give back what we take out so that everybody wins.”
Planting season in Mozambique will commence after the Race Against Global Warming in October and November, depending on the first rain. Keynote speaker, Summer Rayne Oakes, will head to Mozambique in November to see the planting site. "Each participant will get a new Mahogany, Panga Panga, Chanfuta, Pau Preto, or other indigenous tree planted to absorb the carbon dioxide from their travels," she says.
Adschwarz.com Runners at the Race Against Global Warming get Tree Planted in their name
September 14, 2007 (Santa Cruz, CA): At the Race Against Global Warming this September 29th in Santa Cruz, CA, registered participants will get a special gift in their name: an indigenous African hardwood planted at the Mezimbite Forest Center in Mozambique.
Allan Schwarz, Ashoka Fellow and designer of the Mozambican-based line a.d. schwarz, set up the Sofala Initiative to begin a woodcraft cooperative of high-end design as well as a nursery and tree management program to help re-forest and provide sustainable income in the local African communities. "This is a great opportunity to connect The Race participants to global warming and how it relates to the issues in Africa," comments Schwarz. Schwarz, a native South African and former teaching fellow at M.I.T., moved to Mozambique in 1994 to confront the deforestation issues. “Environmentalism and sustainable economic development are the same thing in different clothes. We can give back what we take out so that everybody wins.”
Planting season in Mozambique will commence after the Race Against Global Warming in October and November, depending on the first rain. Keynote speaker, Summer Rayne Oakes, will head to Mozambique in November to see the planting site. "Each participant will get a new Mahogany, Panga Panga, Chanfuta, Pau Preto, or other indigenous tree planted to absorb the carbon dioxide from their travels," she says.
Raceagainstglobalwarming.org
###
Labels: "Summer Rayne Oakes, a.d. schwarz, Africa, climate change, climate crisis, eco speaker, global warming, Race Against Global Warming
Courtney looking vixenish (above); Emily (below) showing off a delicate grey jumper; (2nd below) Nana from Mali strutting her long, lean bod in a crocheted organic cotton top; (3rd below) Sammy Jo walking the runway in a body-hugging pink organic cotton dress; my finale piece in Joanna's hemp-organic cotton embroidered wedding dress.
hooray.
These are shots of the hair getting done backstage. I got into hair/makeup around 11AM. Show started at 2:45PM. Careers TV from Canada was there to do a documentary on my work. I told them my consulting work was a bit dry, but they filmed it anyway. Glad they were able to film the Ekovaruhuset show before I left to the west coast. They stayed around to shoot hair and makeup, but it was uncharacteristically quiet backstage. There was no real rush on the models' and styling crew's part, but I'm sure the designers upstairs were running around willy nilly. Images above compliments of Inhabitat and Thisismylab.com coverage. Thanks to Jill & Jill for coming.Labels: eco fashion, ecofashion, ecofashion runway, Ekovaruhuset, ethical fashion, organic clothes, organic fashion
Midwest group march. photo: Christine Irvine
photo: Christine IrvineWhat it took to get off my ass.
I didn’t get truly involved in the youth climate change movement until the beginning of this year. It wasn’t as if I didn’t know it was out there. On the contrary, I knew Billy Parish early on – when Energy Action and the Campus Climate Challenge were just a glimmer in his eye. We had our own paths – I was working on environmental issues – but aside from my work in mine reclamation, it was in an entirely different capacity. Our work was linked, but not necessarily collaborative or even synchronous.
Part of my work shifted in February 2008. I had more opportunities to work on climate change issues – through new clients and a growing base of friends and colleagues feverish for the issues.
I didn’t find the movement. The movement found me.
I wasn’t aware how big and how connected this entire movement was until I called Richard at Energy Action in February. I was specifically looking for a contact in Australia to fill me in on what universities were doing down und
er in regards to climate change. President Levin from Yale University had just finished speaking at DAVOS on Yale’s climate change policies and was headed to Australia to get other universities to follow their lead. It occurred to me that I knew very little of what was going on in Australia.
In enters Anna Rose, 24: a vivacious young woman and founder of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition. Richard directed me to Energy Action’s Google excel sheet of Climate Change organizers and told me to reach out to her.
Perhaps a name and a contact on a virtual spreadsheet do not mean much in this day and age, but it was at that point that I suddenly felt connected to the movement at large. All of a sudden my work for Yale in the U.S. was being connected to the work on the ground in Australia. For some that may not seem so huge, but for me it was a revelation: A revelation that the next greatest movement was underfoot and I had just dipped my toe in the water.
I’ve never met Anna Rose. One e-mail and one phone call with her, however, brought me a step closer to the movement. All of a sudden I started to feel…ownership.
A sense of ownership…That’s the key to revolutionary movements: tapping the power of peer relationships, feeling a sense of responsibility – like you are “one of the team.” If you’ve ever played sports, you’ll know what I mean. Did you ever miss the last basket – or conversely hit the three-point shot in the last two seconds – to win the game? That sense of loss or gain, that sense of camaraderie you felt with the other team members – is because you have stake in something that you care about.
My sense of ownership in the youth climate movement may have waned quickly if it weren’t for another significant moment. (Just goes to show you that sometimes you need a few kicks in the pants to get your ass out of bed). That particular event was an e-mail from Billy Parish. I wish I had saved it. It was simple. It was straightforward. Someone reading over my shoulder may have found it to be insignificant. I found it to be monumental. It was in regards to Power Shift. He and the group just decided that they couldn’t wait until next year to do the conference. The time was now. The e-mail said something like this:
“What would you do if you had 5,000 youth at your fingertips?”
Damn that Billy Parish. (And I mean that in the most loving of terms).
This is the stuff dreams are made of. I met Billy in 2003. We both received Udall Scholarships that year and were flown along with seventy eight other scholars to Tucson, AZ for the awards ceremony. I remember him gathering about two or three dozen of us in the conference hall and telling us his desire to build a campus-wide climate change movement. I doubted him. I thought to myself: “Yeah, you say this now, but as the intoxication and energy from meeting everyone comes to an end and people go their separate ways, it’ll be a hard sell.” I was wrong.
The more I spoke with Billy, the more I realized he is a force of nature. I mean really, this kid dropped out of Yale because he was moved by this movement. He realized that this stuff isn’t going to wait for us to graduate.
Shit man, did you read the news today? The Northwest Passage is melted. Polar bears will be a dying species by 2050. Africa continues to get drier. Hurricanes continue to hit harder. It’s not a time to be lazy. It’s a time for action.
Energy Action and The Campus Climate Challenge, (whether you realize it or not), have emerged as a powerful force in this movement. Most of us in it don’t realize it yet. We don’t realize the capacity that we have – as individuals and as a revolutionary movement. I know my own energy and enthusiasm – transferred from Anna’s and Billy’s and others, has been passed on. I know I have given others a sense of empowerment, and in turn, other young leaders are emerging and their willpower and energy serve as fuel for other new leaders. It’s infectious. It’s contagious. It’s inevitable. That’s what keeps me waking up bright and early every day. That’s what makes me believe that this is what I was always meant to do. It’s the most powerful positive feedback loop I’ve ever seen and felt, except this one has the potential to spiral out to infinity.
I call Massimo (a good friend, climate change psychologist at CRED, and one of the members on Power Shift’s communication team) weekly and our energy and enthusiasm transfers so much back-and-forth over the phone that I’m afraid the both of us are going to hop out of our skins from excitement. You need people like this in your life because there are so many naysayers out there who tell you “No, No, No,” “I don’t know,” or “That’s probably not going to happen” all the time. It can wear you down. Frankly, I don’t even care if all of Massimo’s and my ideas get off the ground for Power Shift – but it’s the moment of dreaming up all the possibilities that are rejuvenating. All of them may not get done, but the few that will…are going to be spectacular.
This is the most important thing you will ever do in your life.
If you don’t believe that, then you don’t deserve to be in this movement.
I mean that.
I came to that conclusion over a Power Shift communications call a couple months ago. Someone (I don’t remember who) made the statement that we shouldn’t hold the march on Monday because students would have to go back to school. She wasn’t just speaking for herself, she was speaking for what was on the mind of other students like her. I can’t be angry at a statement like that, because I felt that way at some point in time too. But at that moment, however, I had a raging fit of passion that has not subsided because I have come to the conclusion that this is the most important thing that we will ever do in our lifetime. If you do not think that this is more important than an 8AM biology class, then what on God’s not-so-green earth are you doing? We have got to believe that this is significant because if we don’t, then who else will? How will we inspire others if we cannot lead by example? How will we get people to take ownership if we don’t show them that they can be a part of the solution?
I’ve spent quite a bit of time over the last eight months connecting with people, seeing more colleges sign up to the President’s Climate Commitment, watching the Power Shift story shapeshift with each contribution. The youth climate movement is roiling, boiling magma coursing deep underneath the technological crust of wikis, google docs, e-mail strings, and social networks. We are all little volcanoes – blogging, organizing, speaking, writing, lobbying – from Australia to North America, China to Europe – connected by this magmatic movement.
This is in real time. The movement is alive. It breathes. It’s a story and an action coursing through all of us, waiting to be unleashed. Think about all that untapped energy that lies in each of us still waiting to be opened like Pandora’s Box. My question to you: When will you wake up and realize that we are what fuels the change?
Power Shift is our opportunity to unleash what lays dormant inside of us. We are the movement. We are the people we have been waiting for. This is what we were meant to do.
November 2-5, 2007 – Maryland University, College Park; I’ll see you there.
I didn’t get truly involved in the youth climate change movement until the beginning of this year. It wasn’t as if I didn’t know it was out there. On the contrary, I knew Billy Parish early on – when Energy Action and the Campus Climate Challenge were just a glimmer in his eye. We had our own paths – I was working on environmental issues – but aside from my work in mine reclamation, it was in an entirely different capacity. Our work was linked, but not necessarily collaborative or even synchronous.
Part of my work shifted in February 2008. I had more opportunities to work on climate change issues – through new clients and a growing base of friends and colleagues feverish for the issues.
I didn’t find the movement. The movement found me.
I wasn’t aware how big and how connected this entire movement was until I called Richard at Energy Action in February. I was specifically looking for a contact in Australia to fill me in on what universities were doing down und
er in regards to climate change. President Levin from Yale University had just finished speaking at DAVOS on Yale’s climate change policies and was headed to Australia to get other universities to follow their lead. It occurred to me that I knew very little of what was going on in Australia.In enters Anna Rose, 24: a vivacious young woman and founder of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition. Richard directed me to Energy Action’s Google excel sheet of Climate Change organizers and told me to reach out to her.
Perhaps a name and a contact on a virtual spreadsheet do not mean much in this day and age, but it was at that point that I suddenly felt connected to the movement at large. All of a sudden my work for Yale in the U.S. was being connected to the work on the ground in Australia. For some that may not seem so huge, but for me it was a revelation: A revelation that the next greatest movement was underfoot and I had just dipped my toe in the water.
I’ve never met Anna Rose. One e-mail and one phone call with her, however, brought me a step closer to the movement. All of a sudden I started to feel…ownership.
A sense of ownership…That’s the key to revolutionary movements: tapping the power of peer relationships, feeling a sense of responsibility – like you are “one of the team.” If you’ve ever played sports, you’ll know what I mean. Did you ever miss the last basket – or conversely hit the three-point shot in the last two seconds – to win the game? That sense of loss or gain, that sense of camaraderie you felt with the other team members – is because you have stake in something that you care about.
My sense of ownership in the youth climate movement may have waned quickly if it weren’t for another significant moment. (Just goes to show you that sometimes you need a few kicks in the pants to get your ass out of bed). That particular event was an e-mail from Billy Parish. I wish I had saved it. It was simple. It was straightforward. Someone reading over my shoulder may have found it to be insignificant. I found it to be monumental. It was in regards to Power Shift. He and the group just decided that they couldn’t wait until next year to do the conference. The time was now. The e-mail said something like this:
“What would you do if you had 5,000 youth at your fingertips?”
Damn that Billy Parish. (And I mean that in the most loving of terms).
This is the stuff dreams are made of. I met Billy in 2003. We both received Udall Scholarships that year and were flown along with seventy eight other scholars to Tucson, AZ for the awards ceremony. I remember him gathering about two or three dozen of us in the conference hall and telling us his desire to build a campus-wide climate change movement. I doubted him. I thought to myself: “Yeah, you say this now, but as the intoxication and energy from meeting everyone comes to an end and people go their separate ways, it’ll be a hard sell.” I was wrong.
The more I spoke with Billy, the more I realized he is a force of nature. I mean really, this kid dropped out of Yale because he was moved by this movement. He realized that this stuff isn’t going to wait for us to graduate.
Shit man, did you read the news today? The Northwest Passage is melted. Polar bears will be a dying species by 2050. Africa continues to get drier. Hurricanes continue to hit harder. It’s not a time to be lazy. It’s a time for action.
Energy Action and The Campus Climate Challenge, (whether you realize it or not), have emerged as a powerful force in this movement. Most of us in it don’t realize it yet. We don’t realize the capacity that we have – as individuals and as a revolutionary movement. I know my own energy and enthusiasm – transferred from Anna’s and Billy’s and others, has been passed on. I know I have given others a sense of empowerment, and in turn, other young leaders are emerging and their willpower and energy serve as fuel for other new leaders. It’s infectious. It’s contagious. It’s inevitable. That’s what keeps me waking up bright and early every day. That’s what makes me believe that this is what I was always meant to do. It’s the most powerful positive feedback loop I’ve ever seen and felt, except this one has the potential to spiral out to infinity.
I call Massimo (a good friend, climate change psychologist at CRED, and one of the members on Power Shift’s communication team) weekly and our energy and enthusiasm transfers so much back-and-forth over the phone that I’m afraid the both of us are going to hop out of our skins from excitement. You need people like this in your life because there are so many naysayers out there who tell you “No, No, No,” “I don’t know,” or “That’s probably not going to happen” all the time. It can wear you down. Frankly, I don’t even care if all of Massimo’s and my ideas get off the ground for Power Shift – but it’s the moment of dreaming up all the possibilities that are rejuvenating. All of them may not get done, but the few that will…are going to be spectacular.
This is the most important thing you will ever do in your life.
If you don’t believe that, then you don’t deserve to be in this movement.
I mean that.
I came to that conclusion over a Power Shift communications call a couple months ago. Someone (I don’t remember who) made the statement that we shouldn’t hold the march on Monday because students would have to go back to school. She wasn’t just speaking for herself, she was speaking for what was on the mind of other students like her. I can’t be angry at a statement like that, because I felt that way at some point in time too. But at that moment, however, I had a raging fit of passion that has not subsided because I have come to the conclusion that this is the most important thing that we will ever do in our lifetime. If you do not think that this is more important than an 8AM biology class, then what on God’s not-so-green earth are you doing? We have got to believe that this is significant because if we don’t, then who else will? How will we inspire others if we cannot lead by example? How will we get people to take ownership if we don’t show them that they can be a part of the solution?
I’ve spent quite a bit of time over the last eight months connecting with people, seeing more colleges sign up to the President’s Climate Commitment, watching the Power Shift story shapeshift with each contribution. The youth climate movement is roiling, boiling magma coursing deep underneath the technological crust of wikis, google docs, e-mail strings, and social networks. We are all little volcanoes – blogging, organizing, speaking, writing, lobbying – from Australia to North America, China to Europe – connected by this magmatic movement.
This is in real time. The movement is alive. It breathes. It’s a story and an action coursing through all of us, waiting to be unleashed. Think about all that untapped energy that lies in each of us still waiting to be opened like Pandora’s Box. My question to you: When will you wake up and realize that we are what fuels the change?
Power Shift is our opportunity to unleash what lays dormant inside of us. We are the movement. We are the people we have been waiting for. This is what we were meant to do.
November 2-5, 2007 – Maryland University, College Park; I’ll see you there.
Labels: climate change, global warming, Power Shift 07, youth climate change, youth climate change movement
Send 22 Youth Delegates to Bali, Indonesia for the Climate Change Negotiations
Published by SROmgmt.
$10 will go a long way.
The next climate change talks will be happening in Bali, Indonesia this December and we want to make sure we have enough youth delegates there to have a unified voice on the climate crisis. There is a competition sponsored by the Network for Good/6 degrees charity group. The top 6 charities to have the most NUMBER of donations (minimum $10) will have their money matched (up to $10,000). We need about 108 more donations. Competition ends TODAY (September 16) at 11:59PM. And it's a non-profit - so your donation is tax-deductible. I just got home and donated, so try to donate today to be part of the "matching competition."
Donate here: http://sustainus.org/donatebali
The next climate change talks will be happening in Bali, Indonesia this December and we want to make sure we have enough youth delegates there to have a unified voice on the climate crisis. There is a competition sponsored by the Network for Good/6 degrees charity group. The top 6 charities to have the most NUMBER of donations (minimum $10) will have their money matched (up to $10,000). We need about 108 more donations. Competition ends TODAY (September 16) at 11:59PM. And it's a non-profit - so your donation is tax-deductible. I just got home and donated, so try to donate today to be part of the "matching competition."
Donate here: http://sustainus.org/donatebali
Check out Kevin Bacon's 6 Degrees Organization here:
Labels: Campus Climate Challenge, climate negotitations, Climate talks, Donate Bali, Energy Action, youth climate change, youth climate change movement
"The Mountains are THIS big"
cool rocks on the way to the long hike
cool rocks on the way to the long hike
Rocky Mountain wetlands
Clouds part, sun peaks in.
Watching a group of Bighorns across the way. Yes, those are cat ears. Meow.
Getting some air up there.
"To the left, to the left."This was my first time to the Rockies. It was a little vacation of sorts. Hit Boulder, CO and then just traveled from there...
green living feature in Shape Magazine
Will you be in Santa Cruz, CA this September 29th? Sign up for the Race Against Global Warming, a 5K walk/run raising awareness and monies for the fight against global warming. The Race is partially sponsored by Shape Magazine, one of the only fitness magazines using recycled paper stock. Editor of Shape, Valerie Latona says, "We are committed to stamping out global warming and look forward to this worthwhile event."
The Race against Global Warming is one of many events that are happening across the world to heighten awareness on climate change. “The Race against Global Warming is an event that can be replicated in any community of any size,” says Summer Rayne Oakes, keynote speaker for the event. “It not only raises awareness of climate change, but allows members of the community to engage at all levels through positive action and wellness.”
The Race against Global Warming is one of many events that are happening across the world to heighten awareness on climate change. “The Race against Global Warming is an event that can be replicated in any community of any size,” says Summer Rayne Oakes, keynote speaker for the event. “It not only raises awareness of climate change, but allows members of the community to engage at all levels through positive action and wellness.”
Race Features:
The race will feature live music, celebrity keynote speakers and information demonstrating what we can do to address global warming. Proceeds from the event will be donated to non-profit Stop Global Warming Virtual March; Ecology Action; and the Ocean Conservancy. Resources and information are available through RaGW to assist environmental groups nationwide in bringing the Race against Global Warming to their communities.
The race will feature live music, celebrity keynote speakers and information demonstrating what we can do to address global warming. Proceeds from the event will be donated to non-profit Stop Global Warming Virtual March; Ecology Action; and the Ocean Conservancy. Resources and information are available through RaGW to assist environmental groups nationwide in bringing the Race against Global Warming to their communities.
Labels: climate change, climate crisis, global warming, green magazines, Race Against Global Warming, Shape Magazine, Summer Rayne Oakes
Doie Designs Launches their Bambooluscious Fall 2007 Shizen Collection
Published Tuesday, September 04, 2007 by SROmgmt.
To view the rest of the Collection, visit DoieDesigns.com.
See the reviews of Sara Kirsner's line at Treehugger.com and Fashiontribes
Labels: "Summer Rayne Oakes, bamboo, bamboo designs, bamboo fashion, Doie, Doie Designs, eco fashion, eco-fashions, sustainable style
Hey everyone, you're about to embark on a 3 1/2-month journey with me. If there is any moment that gives you a snapshot of what I do (or prefaces what I want to be doing), it'll probably take place over the next 115 days. I'll try to check in as much as possible over the course of my travels and have Julia fill you in on the rest. I wish you a healthy, happy voyage wherever you decide to take your good energy. The time is now. XOXO, Summer RayneMEET JULIA
This gal will be steering the helm while I'm away. She's been helping me plant the seed to get magazines to go green; getting the word out on some awesome clean energy projects; assisting in green media projects; and freeing up some time for me so I can do what I was meant to do. Thanks Julia!
Labels: clean energy, green magazines, Julia, magazines go green
Take you with me: Behind-the-Scenes at a photo shoot
Published Sunday, September 02, 2007 by SROmgmt.
Image compliments of Rob August
Summer Rayne. Paparazzi in the bedroom.
Robert.
One day we wake up and realize that the world is bigger than all of us.
Catching a glimpse of Crews.
It's not the space, it's what we do in the space.
Smooth.
Color me this.
Nice suspenders.
Spray.
Hello?
"I tell you man. It was this big."
Mug Shot.
Taking a break.
One day we wake up and realize that the world is bigger than all of us.But we wouldn't want to have it any other way.
Thanks to Matt, Robert, Crews, Liz, Alex, and Julius.
Labels: behind-the-scenes fashion, fashion model, fashion photo shoot, modeling
about
- From the frontlines: Tracking the latest news, updates, and projects of Summer Rayne Oakes
last posts
- Launched New Site and Don't miss THIS conference c...
- We're Moving
- Financial Times Germany Talks Sustainable Style
- Summer Rayne talks Planet Green, Green-Collar Jobs...
- Hometown Paper Highlights Career
- Two Dozen Long Stem Roses
- Sustainable Style: Trend or Movement? What do Stud...
- Behind-the-scenes at LOHAS
- Funniest Response to my Insect Terrariums
- Welcome to 21 new additions to the family
archives
- March 2006
- April 2006
- May 2006
- June 2006
- July 2006
- August 2006
- September 2006
- October 2006
- November 2006
- December 2006
- January 2007
- February 2007
- March 2007
- April 2007
- May 2007
- June 2007
- July 2007
- August 2007
- September 2007
- October 2007
- November 2007
- December 2007
- January 2008
- February 2008
- March 2008
- April 2008
- May 2008
- June 2008
- July 2008
- August 2008
eco fashion sustainable style ecofashion green fashion eco style sustainable design fair trade Summer Rayne Oakes global warming climate change youtube myspace eco organic green balance health wellness environment fashion fashion trends planet style fashion week