Colorado Rocky Mountain School Awarded Environmental “Captain Planet” Grant

Captain Planet cartoon, is proud to announce that Colorado Rocky Mountain School has recently been awarded an educational grant of $2,500. These funds will be used towards the Colorado Rocky Mountain School Organic Garden Learning Center project.

“We are thrilled to present this award to Colorado Rocky Mountain School,” says Taryn Murphy, Programs Director. “We receive thousands of submissions each year, and therefore have to be very selective to whom we award funding. We feel that this project deserves exploration and attention and wish Colorado Rocky Mountain School the best of luck. It is our hope that our combined efforts will educate, empower, involve and invest today’s youth to cultivate a better tomorrow.”

The Colorado Rocky Mountain School Organic Garden Learning Center is a great asset to not only the school and our students, but the community as well. CRMS is committed to teaching our students and other community members how to grow and harvest organic foods in a sustainable, and energy and water efficient manner. “We are thrilled that a national foundation is partnering with us on this project,“ says Linda Halloran, Director of the CRMS Organic Garden Learning Center.

The CRMS Organic Garden Learning Center expansion project will allow the school to double the amount of food produced to 40% of the produce consumed on campus (30,000 pounds annually), while decreasing the school’s carbon footprint. The project also includes a remodel of the recycling center and the Recycling Program.

About CRMS

Colorado Rocky Mountain School, located in Carbondale, is an independent high school founded in 1953. The school combines college preparatory academics, outdoor and work experiences, arts, community service and campus life in a comprehensive educational approach that develops strong students who are engaged global citizens. For more information visit www.crms.org

About The Captain Planet Foundation

Captain Planet Foundation is located at 133 Luckie Street NW in Atlanta, Ga. They can be reached by phone at 404.522.4270. Founded in 1991, The Captain Planet Foundation (CPF) was created to support hands-on, environmental projects for youth. CPF is committed to making a global impact with projects throughout the United States and around the world. In 2007, CPF funded 138 hands-on, environmental education projects spanning across 38 states and internationally in Canada, England and Costa Rica. We have done projects in all 50 United States. For more information visit www.captainplanetfdn.org.

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Behind the Designers Interview: Gary Ptak, The Conscience Collection

Each week we profile a new Sulusso featured designer. All of our designers have one thing in thing in common – a commitment to social and environmental responsibility.

Hear from Gary Ptak, the designer of The Conscience Collection – a line of fine jewelry made exclusively from recycled gold and lab-created diamonds.

1. How did you get started in making jewelry?

For many members of this industry, including myself, it was something of a family tradition. My dad started out in the jewelry manufacturing business with his brothers in the 1940′s, so I have always been around it. Throughout my life I’ve been exploring many different creative avenues, and making jewelry has become an outlet for expression as well as something that provided me an income. 

2. Sustainability in the jewelry sector is pretty rare, what inspired you to use only recycled metals and lab-created gems?

To a certain extent I’ve always been personally conflicted with jewelry manufacturing because of the disparity between the emotion evoking beauty of our materials and the unspeakable journey many of these materials have taken to become finished jewelry. 

Throughout my career I’ve worked to reconcile that conflict in my business. Sustainable fine jewelry just makes sense to me. I’ve been using recycled metals and lab grown stones for many years. But, about a year before the movie “Blood Diamond” was released, I recall many industry blogs and publications fearing the release of the movie, speculating that if the public learned the dark secrets of the diamond trade that sales would be crippled.

Certainly, it was a legitimate concern for the industry, but what moved me most was that the message from these sources was focused on how to debunk the “propoganda” in the film and assure consumers that the highlighted issues were not a systemic problem. The industry wanted consumers to believe that Hollywood sensationalism was making the problem out to be much larger than it was. My feeling was that the issues brought into the light in the film were real, legitimate and that addressing them was critical.

The reality of lab grown gems and recycled metals is that beauty does not need to be compromised and the “wow” factor is taken to another level in that the piece is not only a fashion statement, but a statement that the wearer is observant of the impact that their choice has made.

3.  Why do you think lab-created gems are important to the sustainable jewelry movement?

Besides their beauty, what attracts me to the gems I use in The Conscience Collection is that I know that our environment was not destroyed or even disturbed in their procurement. Nobody was enslaved or had their life or health in danger while bring them to market. These points cannot be understated. I enjoy conducting my business in accordance with these principles—sometimes doing so makes manufacturing more complicated. Sometimes it negatively impacts the bottom line, but I believe what I am doing is the right thing for me to do.

4. Who are you outside of the founder and designer of Gary Ptak, LLC? 

Father, husband, cook and television personality, bass player, traveler, driver, dog lover, friend to all animals, patriot, photographer, athlete, coach and all around good guy.

5. Who would you be most thrilled to know is wearing your jewelry?

My wife.

6. Could anyone who knew you as a young boy have predicted that you would be a pioneer of sustainable luxury?

I doubt it. It would have been far fetched, however, taking initiative and acting in accordance with my values has been an enormous factor in my life as far back as I can remember. I’m told I was “taking a stand” before I could stand. While I’ve certainly learned from mistakes and been enlightened numerous times, my principles have always led my way.

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The George Washington University and VolunteerMatch Partner to Help Students Reach First Lady’s Service Challenge

Following a unique challenge issued by the First Lady, The George Washington University and VolunteerMatch have partnered to launch a new Web site that will enable the GW student body to inspire and track the 100,000 hours of service that Mrs. Obama challenged the University to complete by May 1, 2010.

When the new site launches in early November, it will connect GW students with volunteer opportunities from more than 2,600 participating organizations in the Washington, D.C. metro region. VolunteerMatch and the University’s Office of Community Service will also highlight additional volunteer roles at GW’s network of student service agencies.

Best known for its award-winning public Web service, www.volunteermatch.org, VolunteerMatch provides businesses, campuses and organizations with Web-based solutions to track and manage volunteer engagement at local and national levels. In a typical deployment, a campus, company, or cause campaign uses the service to connect students, employees, or consumers to the VolunteerMatch network of nonprofit organizations. GW’s Office of Community Service will use its VolunteerMatch deployment to report the hours of its student volunteers.

“We want to make participation in this challenge as simple as possible,” said Robert Chernak, the University’s senior vice president for student and academic support services. “Our partnership with VolunteerMatch will not only help the GW community find volunteering opportunities they can be passionate about, it will help us ensure that service hours are tracked accurately for this challenge.”

Mrs. Obama issued the challenge on September 11 during the first ever National Day of Service and Remembrance, an event which marked the culmination of President Barack Obama’s “United We Serve” summer service initiative.

“The call to service is being heard loud and clear at The George Washington University, and the spirit and energy of this student body is contagious,” said Greg Baldwin, president of VolunteerMatch. “We look forward to working with the GW community to make this effort a success.”

To learn more about VolunteerMatch’s solutions for campus involvement, visit:
http://www.volunteermatch.org/corporations/engagestudents.jsp

To learn more about The George Washington University’s Service Challenge, visit:
http://serve.gwu.edu

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CSR Minute: October 14, 2009 – Be Green’s Sustainability Scorecard; EcoSecurities’ Carbon Report; Canada’s BSR Conference

Corporate Social Responsible News: Be Green’s Sustainability Scorecard; EcoSecurities’ Carbon Report; Canada’s BSR Conference