Brad Pitt: Make It Right NOLA green houses
December 3, 2007
Make It Right is a fitting name for a new project to build 150 green homes in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans by next summer. The ultimate goal is to build more than 150 new green homes.
Brad Pitt is attempting to restore one of the neighborhoods most devastated by Hurricane Katrina — infamous as one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the US — with the launch of the Make It Right campaign.
In Louisiana, New Orleans residents of the Lower Ninth Ward suffered unthinkable loss of life and property. 5,000 homes were destroyed. Two years later, many families are still displaced and the rebuilding has been very slow going. That is not right. Making it right is long overdue.
This morning, NBC’s Today Show host Ann Curry interviewed Pitt regarding the Make It Right foundation. Pitt has assembled 13 architects to design the new environmentally-friendly homes, donated $5 million dollars of his money, with another $5 million dollar donation from billionaire Steve Bing, and is now reaching out to the American people to help rebuild the Lower Ninth Ward.
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Rockefeller Center Christmas tree gets greener
November 27, 2007
The 76 year old traditional Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is about get greener.
This year, the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree will be adorned in 30,000 energy-saving multicolored light-emitting diodes (LEDs). In addition, the Rockefeller Center office complex is sporting a new 365-panel solar energy array that will generate electricity on the roof of one of the complex’s buildings.
The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is found in New York City’s Rockefeller Center. This year, the Christmas tree is scheduled to have its lights turned on November 28th. The first Christmas tree erected at Rockefeller Center happened in 1931, during the depression, by construction workers at the site of the office complex.
According to CNN, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is hoping the famous Christmas tree will inspire others to go green.
“Now they will see an example of green leadership which may inspire them to make greener choices in their own lives,” said Bloomberg.
Kiva.org: Micro loans offer hope of prosperity
November 24, 2007
During a recent make a difference and help change the world theme show on Oprah, Kiva.org founders Matt and Jessica Flannery were featured guests. From the time of launching Kiva.org, Kiva.org’s founders stated that $10 million dollars in loans have been made through the organization, with 99.7 percent of the money loaned repaid.
A simple idea to help the working poor obtain a small loan to start a business that can change the economic life of the small business owner and the lives of family members who depend on them.
Using the internet, anyone can make a small business loan (as little as $25 dollars) to someone living on the other side of the world. There are no boundaries to lending a helping hand to someone who just needs a chance. Where a larger lending institution might not be interested in making the kind of small loans available through Kiva.org, Kiva is designed to fill the needed void of making these micro-loans available. In the process, every day people are helping each other reach the potential of greater economic security.
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Christmas Seals: Holiday stickers for charity
November 4, 2007
The holidays are a time of giving. One way that you can give this holiday season is to buy Christmas Seals. Christmas Seals are holiday themed stickers that are put on envelopes and the money made from their sales go to different lung and respiratory disease associations across the globe.
Christmas Seals were first sold in 1904 when a postal worker in Denmark came up with the idea of selling a holiday themed seal for envelopes and using the money to help fight tuberculosis, which at the time was the leading cause of death.
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