By Harriet Blake

Fact: America has an abundance of food.
Question: So why does anyone go hungry in this country?

A potato gleaning in Virginia (Photo: Society of St. Andrew)

Armed with this simple thought, the Society of St. Andrew (SOSA) took up the cause of feeding the hungry in 1979 with the idea of gleaning fields for salvageable produce.

“We do this in two says,” says Carol Breitinger, communications director. “We use volunteers in the field for hands-on gleaning, or we send out trucks to pick up surplus crops that farmers can’t use and would just end up in the landfill.”

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By Ashley Phillips
Green Right Now

Second Nature, a nonprofit organization promoting sustainability in higher education, launched the Advancing Green Building in Higher Education initiative earlier this year to help under-resourced higher education institutions with a $1.2 million grant from the Kresge Foundation.

Today, Second Nature launched the Campus Green Builder, a part of the initiative, to help all schools further their sustainability plans. The program recognizes that colleges and universities are in a unique position to influence the future, as they shape the minds of tomorrow, and also that they are large consumers of resources. While many institutions have already formed sustainable committees, there are still many more in the initial stages.

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From Green Right Now Reports

Kimberly-Clark Corp. and upcycling firm TerraCycle today announced they will partner on a program to enhance the sustainability performance of some of K-C’s product packaging. The new program also will create fundraising programs that benefit schools and communities nationwide.

The new program allows participants to earn funds for their selected charity of choice for every used piece of plastic packaging associated with Scott or Huggies brands that they collect. The collected plastic packaging will be upcycled into affordable, high-quality products available next year at major retailers nationwide, the companies said.

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By Ashley Phillips
Green Right Now
For centuries, different religions have argued about many issues and even gone to war over some of them. Next week however, they will put it all aside and come together for a common cause — sustainability.
On Monday, Nov. 2, a group of 200 religious leaders from all around the world [...]

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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

It could be colder in Boston this time of year. With overnight lows in the upper 40s, it’s not the worst or best condition for sleeping outside.

Still, that’s what dozens of college students and environmental activists across the state have decided to do to make a point about clean energy and press Gov. Deval Patrick to promote a bill that would power Massachusetts with 100 percent clean energy by 2020.

The students, organized through the student-led Leadership Campaign began their “sleep out” protest this past weekend with about 70 students and community members sleeping out in Boston Common

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From Green Right Now Reports

Northampton, Mass.-based non-profit Soldier On, which will break ground this month on a limited-equity housing project for formerly homeless veterans, said the project will use photovoltaic technology supplied by Berkeley, Calif.-based Borrego Solar to supply electricity to its 39 apartments.

Berkshire Veterans Village will house formerly homeless veterans. (Image: Soldier On)

Berkshire Veterans Village in Pittsfield is intended to serve as a new national model for transitioning veterans from homelessness to home ownership. The Soldier On, which has been helping get veterans off the street since 1994, said a second limited-equity housing project is planned for Leeds. The organization said it eventually hopes to take the model to a national level.

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By Ashley Phillips
Green Right Now

The Sustainable Endowments Institute released the 4th edition of their annual College Sustainability Report Card 2010, also known as the Green Report Card on Wednesday.

Founded in 2005 and supported by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, the Institute supports the advancement of sustainability in higher education. It boasts that its college ranking project had a response rate of 96% in 2009, giving the Green Report Card had the highest response rate of any college sustainability ranking or rating service. The Green Report Card graded 332 universities on a scale of 1 through 4 on their performance in nine categories:

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An artist's rendering of Habitat for Humanity's green project at Ocean Hill-Brownsville in Brooklyn (Image: Habitat for Humanity -- New York City)

From Green Right Now Reports

Habitat for Humanity – New York City has opened the largest and greenest multifamily complex ever built by a Habitat affiliate in the nation. Keys to the 41 affordable condominiums, which are expected to receive LEED Gold certification, were handed to families at a ceremony Saturday.

The ribbon-cutting event in Ocean Hill-Brownsville, Brooklyn, included about 10,000 volunteers who helped build the homes, financial backers, faith and community leaders, and elected officials who made the new homes possible.

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Photo: Chicago Lights

By Lynette Holloway
Green Right Now

Collard greens, kale, tomatoes, swiss chard and okra spring from a swath of asphalt amid a bustling sidewalk on Chicago’s North Side. The incongruous site is the Cabrini-Green Chicago Avenue Community Garden, a vegetable and flower garden that was home to basketball and tennis courts more than six years ago.

Enclosed by a chain-link fence, gardeners plant on compost beds shaped like crude graves. It is part of a community garden project conducted by Growing Power, a national non-profit organization, dedicated to helping urban families gain access to healthy food systems. Growing Power, headquartered in Milwaukee, also provides training and oversight for volunteers who participate in the project.

Erika Allen, a mother who uses her art therapy major in her work, is project manager of the Chicago urban garden. She also appears in the critically acclaimed documentary Food Fight, which is about the importance of sustainably produced or locally grown food. She also is the daughter of Will Allen, founder and chief executive officer of Growing Power, who last year was awarded a MacArthur Genius Award for his work in the delivery of healthy food systems in urban areas.

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By Melissa Segrest
Green Right Now

Photo: Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas

Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas in Austin was the first hospital to receive the LEED Platinum award

For too long, hospitals have been less than healthy — inside and out.

They burn massive amounts of medical waste that spew the carcinogen dioxin into the air. They are energy gluttons, operating 24/7 — creating untold amounts of greenhouse gases and leaving massive carbon footprints. They traditionally have used about twice as much energy as regular office space. From toxins in lab chemicals to dangerous elements that leach from IVs and catheters made of vinyl plastic tubing, the place you go to heal may not always be good for you.

That is changing, thanks to powerful non-profit groups, architects with green expertise and some of the nation’s largest hospital systems.

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From Green Right Now Reports

Arguing that junk economics has replaced junk science as the cause of inaction on climate change issues, more than 100 of the nation’s economists have joined to launch RealClimateEconomics.org. The group, which will use economic evidence to support public policy and business responses to the climate crisis, is modeled after Realclimate.org, an effort among climate scientists to dispel what they see as junk science popularized by climate skeptics.

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Green Right Now Reports:

Americans are ready for action on clean energy jobs, energy independence and reducing carbon pollution, according to two Pew Environment Group-commissioned polls, one by the Mellman Group and another by Public Opinion Strategies.

The national survey of Americans contacted in late March by the Mellman Group, found that:

• 77% of voters favor action to reduce global warming emissions

• 50% of voters say they would view their Member of Congress more favorably if they support a comprehensive plan to create clean energy jobs and fight global warming, only 22% say they would view their Member of Congress less favorably.

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