Going Green

Congratulations to Brandon McEachern this weeks Climate Community Citizen of The Week.  Brandon is a wonderful, very energetic and positive young man who is the founder of a website/and a movement called Broccoli City.  Brandon saw a need in US urban communities for exposure to topics such as – “green”, “eco”, “organic”.  He believes (as we do) that people from all walks of life need and deserve information to make informed lifestyle choices.  This opening to educate and create involvement within our nations urban communities is a fantastic opportunity.  We met Brandon through our good friend Apple Levy of The Green Girls. (note Brandon on the left side of the picture with the great big smile!)

The following is a little background that Brandon has shared with us:
My name is Brandon McEachern I am from North Carolina. I moved to LA in 2005 after graduating from North Carolina Central University. I started “httpBroccoli City” in 2007 to educate my peers on living a healthier lifestyle, not just about going green but also to increase self esteem in our communities. The word *ORGANIC* to us means to be your true self! We started out with just tee-shirts made from organic cotton, with positive messages on them. Now we do events in LA, DC, and Atlanta. We have a daily blog filled with eco-tips,arts,technology and music. This year “Broccoli City” successfully had one of the biggest Earth Day Celebrations in the LA area with more than 2500 attendees. Myself and those who work with Broccoli City now focus in own bridging those gaps for other companies,  with “Think Broccoli” which is the advertising, and consulting side of “Broccoli City”. BC University which focuses on going to schools and speaking to the youth about what matters to them. BCTV which are mini episodes on our website where we have covered big events, and orginal content as well. I will contunie to make this positive movement grow. “Most people live on this Earth but Broccoli City lives in it.

BCTV:WHAT DOES ORGANIC MEAN TO U? (THE BRIDGE) from Broccolicity TV on Vimeo.

Once again congratulations to Brandon and keep up the great work!!!

Congratulations to Brandon McEachern this weeks Climate Community Citizen of The Week.  Brandon is a wonderful, very energetic and positive young man who is the founder of a website/and a movement called Broccoli City.  Brandon saw a need in US urban communities for exposure to topics such as – “green”, “eco”, “organic”.  He believes (as we do) that people from all walks of life need and deserve information to make informed lifestyle choices.  This opening to educate and create involvement within our nations urban communities is a fantastic opportunity.  We met Brandon through our good friend Apple Levy of The Green Girls. (note Brandon on the left side of the picture with the great big smile!)

The following is a little background that Brandon has shared with us:
My name is Brandon McEachern I am from North Carolina. I moved to LA in 2005 after graduating from North Carolina Central University. I started “httpBroccoli City” in 2007 to educate my peers on living a healthier lifestyle, not just about going green but also to increase self esteem in our communities. The word *ORGANIC* to us means to be your true self! We started out with just tee-shirts made from organic cotton, with positive messages on them. Now we do events in LA, DC, and Atlanta. We have a daily blog filled with eco-tips,arts,technology and music. This year “Broccoli City” successfully had one of the biggest Earth Day Celebrations in the LA area with more than 2500 attendees. Myself and those who work with Broccoli City now focus in own bridging those gaps for other companies,  with “Think Broccoli” which is the advertising, and consulting side of “Broccoli City”. BC University which focuses on going to schools and speaking to the youth about what matters to them. BCTV which are mini episodes on our website where we have covered big events, and orginal content as well. I will contunie to make this positive movement grow. “Most people live on this Earth but Broccoli City lives in it.

BCTV:WHAT DOES ORGANIC MEAN TO U? (THE BRIDGE) from Broccolicity TV on Vimeo.

Once again congratulations to Brandon and keep up the great work!!!

Here we have another wonderful video from our friends at Eco Company TV:

Flowers are big business all around the world. But just like most food products pesticides are traditionally used to control insects and pests. But Eco Company’s Jordon visited one grower that uses good bugs or beneficial bugs to control bad bugs. She filed this report as she learned how this battle unfolds.

On Saturday we were a part of an absolutly fantastic party hosted by The Green Girls, and The Climate Community in which we raised money for a remarkable organization – EarthSpark International.

The most amazing aspect of the event was the ability of our wonderful hostess and friend Apple Levy to bring together such a wide array of people – representing the full spectrum of “green” – science, policy, consumer products… young, old, men and women. 

 As hard as the fight against Climate Change is, it is nice every so often to enjoy one another, have a bit of fun, and do some good along the way….

Davida Heller / June 23, 2010 On Tuesday, June 8, The Urban Land Institute Climate Change, Land Use, and Energy Initiative hosted a forum at the recently retrofitted Empire State Building entitled Energy Finance for Real Estate.  The event was held on the 61^st floor of one of New York City’s most treasured buildings, which is in the process of receiving an extensive energy facelift as an extensive retrofit is underway.  From 7:30am to 5:30pm, building owners, lenders, investors, sustainability executives, and public officials hashed out topics including energy efficiency initiatives, government regulation, risk calculation and how to access capital in the retrofit market, of financing.  Essentially, the question on everyone’s mind was how to make energy improvements financially viable. During the first panel of the day about the current state of the commercial real Estate industry with regard to energy efficiency, Charles Leitner, the global head of RREEF explained, “Capital is looking for something new…the next trend.  Everybody who manages money has the responsibility to demonstrate financial performance.  Capital is part of the solution, not the problem.” Gregg Saunders, CFO of Codding Enterprises, who later presented a case study of his company’s work in Sonoma Mountain Village, says “Owners are really struggling on how to survive.” Other panels included The State of Energy Efficiency Markets, Financial Strategy Implementation, New Tools and Rules for Market Transformation, Implementing Finance Strategies, The Empire State Building Story, An Energy Finance Case Study, Making Energy Districts Work and a Bankers Roundtable about Unlocking Capital Markets with Bankers hosted by Climate Community’s founder Dan Cashdan. Anthony Malkin, President of Malkin Holdings, discussed the retrofit project currently underway at the Empire State Building with over $4 million projected in energy savings per year.  Windows were actually retrofitted inside the building, rather than taken off-site or replaced. The building is now the largest wireless unity. Every louver, radiator, fan, pump are all linked wirelessly to a DDC system operated and monitored out of Milwaukee to provide constant, real-time commissioning. While no one walked away with concrete answers for how to effectively finance energy efficiency within the real estate market, the event generated active, thought provoking discussion among the forum’s attendees.  A common point of discussion during the event was the current need for and lack of tangible data on energy retrofitting results from retrofitting, which would push forward substantial lending in the area, but in the meantime the demand for green building must come from the user, not the investor or the lender.  But, why can’t the investor or the lender educate others on the value of green building and energy efficiency? It seems a new definition of the term “value” is what is truly needed.  As green building practices, holistic approaches to business development, triple bottom line accounting and health issues come to light the “value” of a property can no longer simply be defined in financial terms, nor can the financial value only be applicable to monetary income. www.uli.org