Posts Tagged capital

THE NATION’S CAPITAL WELCOMES THE EIGHTH ANNUAL GREEN FESTIVAL SEPTEMBER 29 & 30

Aug 17

Posted by joanna in News, Press Releases | Comments off

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Social justice and environmental issues are key focus at the largest and longest running green consumer event with renowned authors, educators, and visionary leaders

The 8th Annual Washington DC Green Festival, Sept. 29-30 at the Washington Convention Center

Washington, D.C. (August 16, 2012) –  The eighth annual premier green living event, Green Festival, rolls into the nation’s capital September 29-30, 2012.  TheWalterE.WashingtonConvention Center will host eco-innovators, speakers, artists, community leaders and green businesses addressing environmental and social justice issues. It is the largest marketplace of conscious, fair-trade businesses and the place to get a head start on holiday shopping.

There are plenty of activities and workshops aimed at educating kids and families on making healthy lifestyle choices: highlights include a kids’ zone where youngsters can learn about easy and fun ways to be green, a Good Food Stage featuring delicious vegetarian cuisine, yoga classes and an organic beer and wine garden.

Keynote speakers include leading environmental, healthy lifestyle and social justice advocates: Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Elizabeth Kucinich, of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine; political activist and author, Ralph Nader;  Dr. Benjamin Chavis, a noted civil rights leader;  Amy Goodman of Democracy NOW!; Laura Flanders of GRITtv; NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous; John Perkins; Greg Palast; and Medea Benjamin.

A joint venture between Green America and Global Exchange, Green Festival is a non-profit event that celebrates an 11 year milestone hosting over one million attendees in eight cities. Green Festival is the largest sustainability event and is the only event that screens exhibitors for their commitment to social justice and ecological balance using Green America’s Green Business Certification Standards.

FORD Motor and Green Festivals have partnered again to fund a $5,000 Community Green Grant at the Washington, DC Green Festival. Attendees can to vote for their favorite non-profit project at the FORD Community Green Grants Booth during show hours.

“We are excited to host the eighth annual Green Festival in the Nation’s Capital,” said Denise Hamler, Green Festival Director. “Green Festival is a celebration of what is working in our communities and about showing the healthy choices we can all make in our communities and in our lives that will make a difference – from the food we consume to the technology we use.”

At the center of Green Festival is the Green Marketplace, which features 300 green and socially responsible businesses/organizations, featuring the latest in sustainable products and services. Attendees will have the opportunity to browse everything from green, non-toxic home furnishings to eco-fashions, Fair Trade gifts, and children’s toys.

Attendees of all ages can learn at the hands-on DIY workshops and gain practical green tips to apply to everyday life. At the Green Business Pavilion attendees will experience what’s trending in green jobs and businesses.

Highlights include:

  • Ford Ride and Drive in all-electric and hybrid cars
  • Green Kids Zone
  • Eco-Fashion Showcase
  • Do-It-Yourself Workshops
  • Green Pet Stage and fashion show
  • Green Business Stage
  • Green Jobs and Careers
  • Green Investing
  • Renewable Energy
  • Beer and Wine Garden
  • Organic Local Food
  • Fair Trade Stage
  • Community Action Stage
  • Green Films
  • Live music
  • Bike Valet
  • Keynote speakers include: Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Elizabeth Kucinich,  Ralph Nader, Dr. Benjamin Chavis, Amy Goodman, John Perkins, Greg Palast, Laura Flanders, Benjamin Todd Jealous and Medea Benjamin

Key partners and sponsors include: Ford Motor Company, Ford Community Green Grants, Earth Balance, New York Times, O’Organics, MOM’s Organic Market, SustainU, NAACP, Clif Bar and Yelp DC.

The 2012 Green Festival will be held at the WalterE.WashingtonConvention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Place N.W.Hall B, Washington, DC, 20001. Doors open Saturday, September 29th 10 am – 7 pm and Sunday, September 30th 11 am-6 pm.

Tickets are $10 for a one day pass and $20 for a full weekend pass when purchased online at www.greenfestivals.org, or $15 and $25 at the door. (All tickets provide access to exhibit floor, all workshops/yoga classes, speakers and films.) Discounted admission at the door for seniors (over 65) and students with student ID. Free admission for anyone who rides a bike to the event and parks with the bike valet, youth under eighteen, union members, volunteers and Green America and Global Exchange members.

For more information, please visit www.GreenFestivals.org. To exhibit, please call: 828-333-9403 x 300.

For partnership information, visit www.greenfestivals.org/become-a-partner.

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About Green America

Green America is a national nonprofit organization founded in 1982, providing the economic strategies, organizing power and practicing tools for businesses and individuals to address today’s social and environmental problems. Its Green Business Network is the largest national network of businesses screened for their social and environmental responsibility.

About Global Exchange

Global Exchange is a membership-based international human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, economic and environmental justice around the world. Since its founding in 1988, Global Exchange has successfully increased public awareness of root causes of injustice while building international partnerships and mobilizing for change.

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Environmentalist Leaders Meet to Discuss Strategies for Fight Against Climate Change

Apr 28

Posted by joanna in News, Press Releases | Comments off

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At the Venezuelan Embassy’s Bolivarian Hall

Washington DC – April 27, 2011 Environmental leaders met on Tuesday, April 26, at the Venezuelan embassy’s Bolivarian Hall to share their experiences and celebrate their joint work in protecting the environment, promoting social justice and food security, combating climate change, and fighting for a cleaner earth.

The event, organized by the Rural Coalition, ChecktheWeather.TV, Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, Live Green and the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, sought to pave the way for activists of the nation’s capital to make connections to further work at the local, national and global level aimed at saving the earth. Additionally, the leaders sketched out future actions in the fight against climate change. The proposals, which will be collected and sent to all the attendees by the Venezuelan embassy, include environmental justice initiatives that will be implemented over the remaining year and through 2012.

“I think this event was productive. I met people that I didn’t know before. I had been able to make connections and build solidarity on the work that I’m doing and that others are doing. We were able to find commonalities,” said Michele Roberts, Campaign & Policy Coordinator of Advocates for Environmental Human Rights.

Most of the activists who attended this meeting participated in the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, held in April 2010 in Cochabamba, Bolivia, as well as in the UN Framework Conventions on Climate Change, held in Copenhagen in 2009 and Cancun in 2010.

According to Roberts, this event, which was co-hosted by the Venezuelan embassy, also allowed environmental activists to join efforts and strategies for a common agenda in the wave of the coming UN Climate Change Conference to be held in Durban, South Africa in late 2011.

“If we are all able to work together, we should be able to go to Durban with folks representing the United States, Venezuela, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Various countries that we’re representing in this space tonight have people right here working in the United States,” added Roberts.

Besides members of the environmental community in Washington, D.C., the event was also attended by leaders of social movements and human rights activists. “We realized that our struggle is bigger than an environmental issue. It is about an issue of saving humanity,” highlighted Roberts.

The deputy chiefs of mission of the embassies of Bolivia and Venezuela, Freddy Bersatti and Angelo Rivero-Santos, also attended the event.

A brief presentation on the experience of Venezuela’s “Mission Tree” was given by Clara Saraí Rodríguez, the Venezuelan embassy’s environmental attaché. Angela Adrar, from the Rural Coalition; Kari Fulton, from ChecktheWeather.TV, Lilian Molina, from the Energy Action Coalition, and Roberts also presented their experiences and work in the environmental struggle, and thanked the embassies of Bolivia and Venezuela for supporting environmental initiatives.

The photo exhibition “Faces of the Harvest,” which documents the participation of the Venezuelan people in activities centered on reforestation and the protection of Venezuelan forests, was also enjoyed by the people who attended the event.

From 2006 to 2010, Mission Tree has created 5,199 conservation committees, groups made up of people from local communities who organize to promote reforestation and to protect the environment. Those conservation committees include the participation of 50,000 people throughout Venezuela. Thirty-four thousand hectares, over 84,000 acres, have been reforested throughout the country, and about 42 million plants have been planted in 3,198 community, school and governmental nurseries.

The event concluded with a concert of musicians Maimouna Yousse, Patricio Zamorano and Vicky Leiva.

Press Office – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / April 27, 2011

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Investors in Organic Farms Cultivate Healthy Profits & Healthy Food

Apr 25

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Chicago, IL, April 21, 2011 – While most investors may not think of organic farmland when rethinking their retirement portfolio, this strategy has the extra benefit of improving the health of our environment as well as diversifying one’s investment returns.  Concerned investors looking for more financial stability and sustainable growth now have more opportunities to participate directly in the emerging businesses of organic farmers.

Illinois-based Working Farms Capital is offering private equity and debt alternatives on certified or transitional organic farms under lease to legacy farmers.  Unlike most conventional and annually renewing leases, Working Farms Capital structures long term leases designed to retain existing farm tenants and their intimate knowledge of the land.  By obtaining lease terms spanning multiple crop years, farmers are better able to implement their business plans. Increasingly, the business of farming is more diversified. Recently a 225 acre farm was acquired  to develop wind energy alternatives. The combination of renewable energy and sustainable agriculture represents a growing trend in land use. Working Farms Capital is at the forefront of this development and is expanding operations in the Midwest.

The typical farm lessee is a family farmer whose primary source of income is from the farm. Usually the farm ranges from 100 to 500 acres in size – considered a mid-size farm in the Midwest. Farmers run their own business utilizing rotations of row and cover crops, small grains, vegetables and pastured livestock. Owners receive a base rent with a variable upside based on overall farm profitability. The organic crops are sold to food processors and wholesalers with such varied end uses as blue and white corn chips, tofu, soymilk, organic flour, oatmeal, cereals, roasted soy nuts, milk etc. Most of the production is for human consumption. New owners are also varied and include individuals diversifying their IRA’s, educational endowment funds, pension funds, environmentally focused enterprises and mission driven private wealth offices or institutions.

According to David Miller, founder of Working Farms Capital, the investment theme is simple, “We’re offering investors a unique growth opportunity supported by an appreciating and renewable real asset.  Focusing on soil health and renewable energy will naturally foster higher revenues and enhance the long term value of these farms.”

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Working Farms Capital was incorporated Illinois in 2007 to enable new capital for the transition of conventional farmland to organic practices.  To receive more details, contact Dave Miller (dmiller@workingfarmscapital.com) More information available at www.workingfarmscapital.com

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