Visiting the Eco-friendly Ambassadors new facilities in Lawndale, California I observed ideal absent this application is driving Environmental Charter Substantial College to be like no other. Perhaps it was the compost corner and vegetable backyard, or in which they transform vegetables into biodiesel. Or the Very first Area award-successful ‘Floatation Machine’ created out 100% recycled products. Either way, this faculty is distinctive. I am at the home of The Eco-friendly Ambassadors (Eco-friendly Ambassadors web-site), which is an instructional application from the Environmental Charter Substantial College.
Sara Laimon, the magnetic Founder of Eco-friendly Ambassadors gave me a tour of their new facilities of ECHS and Eco-friendly Ambassadors, while still in the transforming and upgrading phase. As the faculty is moving out of bins, and arranging their new classrooms she explained the sustainable strategies in keep for this distinctive Environmental Charter Substantial College. There is an air of pleasure. As I peaked into the classrooms, students have been active with many projects. These students know they are making a variance in our environment for generations to appear. The Eco-friendly Ambassador Application is comprised of an elective course taught throughout educational institutions in Los Angeles place, Youth Summits, Eco-friendly Cell Embassy, Eco-friendly Adventures and supported by Eco-friendly Mentors.
This groundbreaking business is beginning to explode. The environmentally friendly element of the application is so powerful that even for the duration of our job interview she was promoting organic soda to students from her workplace. In truth we have been surrounded by environmentally friendly remedies, hangers created from wheat, recycled binders created from paper, Forest Licensed pencils, even donated environmentally friendly, bio-degradable diapers are stacked on her desk in the workplace she shares with her environmentally friendly associates. “This application is developed to breakdown our cultural social paradigms and teach all. Especially the communities that go through the most from environmental injustices, the interior metropolis, who commonly pass up the environmentally friendly instruction on how to advocate for a thoroughly clean, balanced environment.” Laimon.
Eco-friendly Ambassadors, a undertaking of Environmental Charter Substantial College, is an environmental instruction application that empowers youth to become brokers of improve in their communities and the environment. The aims of the application contain: Educating and motivating youth, inspiring them to established a “Eco-friendly” example via open up idea trade and social action To create a understanding environment that will encourage new considered, assisting young men and women to create self-assurance in them selves and their potential To community communities, share thoughts and empower area and world environmental remedies To create “Eco-friendly Ambassadors” for area communities and the environment, inspiring hope in just us all for a just, sustainable and tranquil world.
I asked Sara what is the potential you see for the Eco-friendly Ambassadors?
With certainty she reported, “For all educational institutions to have Eco-friendly Ambassadors about the environment. Who are brokers of improve and the voice of the environment.”
The Eco-friendly Ambassador elective course at Environmental Charter Substantial College is a needed study course for each and every student to choose in their tenth grade 12 months in which students obtain higher education credit rating from Los Angeles Trade Technological School. The Eco-friendly Ambassadors have by now been accomplishing their mission via their trainings in initiatives. These initiatives are applied by youth who are committed to satisfying Eco-friendly Ambassadors mission, vision, values, and aims. The Eco-friendly Ambassador application supplies a different way of understanding for youth who want to add to this world.
They have been skilled in the One particular Billion Bulbs Youth empowering youth to think about the prospects. With a target of mobilizing the environment to swap one particular billion typical incandescent light-weight bulbs with electrical power-successful compact fluorescent (CFL) light-weight bulbs. Plastics are Endlessly is an additional initiative in which youth empowering youth to create cleaner oceans by banning plastic bags and Styrofoam (polystyrene) in Los Angeles with Algalita Marine Analysis Basis, Provide Your Have, Recover the Bay and other non-income. Eco-friendly Ambassadors are skilled in Biofuels, Organics, Biodiversity, Remediation of our soil, and developing structures and buildings out of earth friendly materials.
‘Floatation Machine’ created of all recycled products
“Sara Laimon has been a good light-weight in just the sustainability movement for the previous 10 a long time. Throughout her occupation as a classroom trainer, she has guided classes and faculty teams to create cob benches, transform a diesel car to operate on veggie oil, create bio-diesel, and try to eat organic. Sara has traveled to Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Haiti, Greece, and Galapagos finding, sharing, and understanding remedies. She is devoting her existence to generating and nurturing eco-activists to be empowered to share the remedies of hope.”
Eco-friendly Ambassadors at the moment has two academics. They are distinctive in that they are nicely versed in Environmental Research. “They approached me with a substantial want for a substantial improve.” Sara shared with me. The names of these remarkable academics are Sandra Valencia who is originally from Colombia, she has taught Substantial College Spanish for the previous five a long time at ECHS and Dorsey Substantial College (LAUSD). She has been an environmental activist for the previous five a long time working with the Los Angeles Biodiesel Coalition, Dorsey Substantial School’s club World-wide Warriors. Gabriel Azenna, who’s assertion is “Green’ is not simply a color… but it truly is a point out of brain”. He adheres to a pragmatic acceptance that human beings may well continue on to prosper, but only by recognizing and embracing our integral duty as planetary stewards. Over and above the classroom, Gabriel is the Environmental Education Director for Subsequent Help, a non-gain business his wife Lauren, co-established in 2002. Gabriel also sits on the steering committee for the Coalition for a Sustainable Africa a consensus-dependent community of NGO’s all devoted to sustainable development projects on the ground in Africa.
Sara thinks that the passion powering the men and women that add to our application stems from a gratification that they are investing into youth, that they see what they are accomplishing is even larger than them selves and they contributing to the environment at the very same time.
I was also interested in the ethnic backgrounds of The Eco-friendly Ambassadors.
She explained they started out with interior metropolis young children, but recognize and endorse that there is one particular environment and we are the human race working with each other to create a world in which everyone can stay. Consequently we have ‘Youth Summit’ in which youth crossing gender, race, and social limitations and are collaborating as youth throughout the metropolis and nation to encourage, create, and share remedies for a balanced world.”
“We are tired of the myths about interior-metropolis little ones and their apathy to the environment!” What is distinctive about our Los Angeles Youth Management Clinic is that it is youth-planned, youth- driven and youth-motivated. Youth are driven to strengthen their area environment.”
Spelled out clearly on their web-site “Young grown ups are generating their individual stewardship model by teaching each other, pooling their resources, strengthening their community vision and inspiring men and women to improve. Youth require to see that they are an influential and important part of the community. The youth of Los Angeles are the up coming era of leaders. If they are not included in the community when they are young, they may well not continue to be in the community to be the leaders of the potential. These thoughts have been a short while ago expressed by Sabina Ibarra, a youth participant in the management clinic, Eco-friendly Ambassadors, and a student at Environmental Charter Substantial College in Lawndale, CA.”
In asking how Eco-friendly Ambassadors enhanced their your area community? Sara demonstrates how they have shown teaching for bio-diesel technological innovation, community battery recycling, teaching area elementary educational institutions on how to recycle plastics, to be a first in marketing metropolis council ‘ban plastic in our community’, Recognition Day, and Earth Day to identify just a couple. They also are dependable for Southern California Disposal to change their fleets of filthy diesel to operate on thoroughly clean burning biodiesel.
“Our system via all of our applications is to offer encounters for the Eco-friendly Ambassadors to acquire awareness and create the expertise that will not only aid them in this application, but also offer them with authentic-environment expertise for own, tutorial, and qualified success. The students choose the issue, study and create remedies, and socially current market the solution to their friends and the community at-huge.”
The Long run
They have not stopped there. Eco-friendly Adventures are cross cultural world exchanges. Right after a profitable subject knowledge to Brazil in April 2007 with Earthwatch Education, and educating the educational institutions there, they have taken on a new horizon: Columbia. They are at the moment keeping a fundraiser, ‘Support 10 students with the Eco-friendly Experience Program’ as they create Eco-friendly Ambassador Leaders in Medellin, Columbia. Medellin has developed numerous applications that purpose to bring peace and environmental action via instruction. To obtain out much more make contact with Sandra Valencia [email protected] or Sara Laimon at 310.214.3400 ext 118. Check out
(http://www.greenambassadors.org/initiatives.php#Eco-friendly_Mentors)
They think that ‘ youth identify an issue, create a solution, act to bring about the solution, and teach many others. The most important part is that young men and women are becoming empowered to make a variance and are, in change, empowering other young men and women. This leads to a community that has youth that are awareness, active, and know how to make a variance.’
Sara Laimon explained what their Cell Embassy will include. It will function a multi-media station and fingers-on understanding stations on the pursuing matters plastics, bio-diesel, bio-plastic, solar electric power, and organic foods. It will be made use of as the showcase for Eco-friendly Ambassador to meet up with, share, and exemplify remedies for our World-wide Local weather Disaster.
With specialist help from Algalita Marine Analysis Basis, Provide Your Have, and a grant from Patagonia, the Ambassadors will completely transform a trailer into a Eco-friendly Cell Embassy (GME), a vessel housing versions of environmentally friendly remedies. The Cell Embassy will provide to educate students from throughout the region about the issues and how they can aid to ease the environmental complications.” As their site demonstrates. Jack Assadourian, owner of the Ha-Ha Cafe Comedy Club in North Hollywood (www.hahacafe.com) also donated two faculty buses that will be converted into biodiesel transportation for the Eco-friendly Ambassadors.
Eco-friendly Mentors
“The Eco-friendly Ambassadors application also identifies and enlists ‘Green Mentors’ who are of higher education age or higher than. These Mentors perform with the Eco-friendly Ambassadors to help them in their understanding of environmental issues as nicely as remedies to these issues. Eco-friendly mentors are benefited by creating their interpersonal expertise (empowerment, networking, and enrollment), awareness (environmental and scientific), and ecological values (biodiversity and interconnectedness). Eco-friendly Mentors aid the Eco-friendly Ambassadors to aim on certain issues in which students can create social consciousness and measurable improve.”
If you are a trainer, administrator, guardian or student, and want to be apart of Eco-friendly Ambassadors go to: www.greenambassadors.org. You can make contact with Sandra Valencia ([email protected]) or Sarah Laimon at 310.214.3400 ext 118. Eco-friendly Ambassadors 16314 Grevillea Ave, Lawndale, CA 902160 Cell phone: 310.940.1626
There are numerous approaches you can participate and make a variance in your faculty, community and world. You can also go to the ‘Green Coalition’, a
“Eco-friendly Youth Coalition connects environmental clubs throughout Southern California by using www.becoolbegree.com to create a youth movement.”
Eco-friendly Ambassadors utilizes the EARTH Charter Ideas
(www.earthcharterinaction.org)
You can learn much more about Eco-friendly Ambassadors and their Mission Assertion: www.greenambassadors.org
They have communities and enterprises reaching out to be apart of this distinctive application. ExitSigns.com environmentally friendly exit indications are a zero electrical power emissions, zero upkeep, and is zero hurt to the environment. Fundraising Eco-friendly, The Espresso Bean, California Credit rating Union, 41Pounds.org, Fred Leeds Properties, Smokey’s Muskie Shop, Marc Laimon Jiu Jitsu, Steaz, Peak Organic and natural brewing organization, the Sustainable Group, Southern California Disposal, Seven-Star environmentally friendly party professionals, Get Hip Get Eco-friendly, Cuningham Group, Cater Eco-friendly zero squander remedies, Biodiesel The usa, Luis Moro Productions and Algalita Marine Analysis Basis are a couple of the sponsors that have jumped on board. The Formal Fundraising Lover of Eco-friendly Ambassadors are My Eco-friendly Spark, Fundraising Eco-friendly.
The Eco-friendly Ambassadors left me with an knowledge of what is ideal with the environment. No make any difference what your opinions are on the environment, the truth remains they are cutting back on squander. These students, as a substitute of stressing about the plights of interior metropolis faculty complications, such as gang violence they are generating an environment for them selves these days, for their potential that will outcome generations to appear. Not only are they making a variance for their faculty, families, and communities, but they are spreading the technological innovation on HOW to be environmentally friendly to educational institutions throughout the metropolis, states, and now countries.
I left the faculty motivated, and honored that these remarkable youngsters are working on improve for my potential, and my children’s potential.
Let’s start off off 2008 powerfully, and create “Eco-friendly Ambassadors” for all communities inspiring hope for a just, sustainable and tranquil world.