Earth Day

The Green Fair on the 11th had a great turnout, it was exciting to see all the work behind the scenes payoff.

The fair was very busy, everyone I spoke to was happy with the results and making great connections. Circular Boutique's fashion show definitly got some attention (will try to get some pics and add them to this post). The evening forum had a small but very powerful turnout, 20 + people maybe (remember this was the night before Easter). We definitly did get influential representatives from key organizations together for intentional strategic dialogue. I am begining to feel confident in the connections I have made in the last few weeks that I will be able to finesse these different groups into working together to develop an Anchorage Green Jobs Corps program. I am definitly the one "rolling the stone up the hill" as one local labor leader phrased it; I am the one doing the leg work.

Acting Mayor Matt Claman was at our forum briefly and spoke about different green initiatives the city is currently working on. Our two final mayoral canidates Croft and Sullivan were given last minute invitations to the forum, but could not make it. They / their staff did stop by the fair though, which was great to see.

Beth Nordlund from the Municipality's Youth Parks Program and Gloria O'Neil president of Cook Inlet Tribal Council both gave excellent presentations and shared some insights with the audience re their programs. Brian Yanity Nana Pacific Engineer spoke about the new UAA Renewable Energy Research and Discovery center that is in the works, Peter Crimp from AIDEA/ AEA was present and talked about Renewable efforts in the state, as well as some reps from different unions and educational entities.

Alaska NOLS Directors Don and Donna Ford attended, as well as some youth from AYEA. I had discussed with Donna on the phone the vision for working with them to build a 3 -5 day intensive @ their branch into the Anchorage Green Jobs Corps program. Where the trainees would be exposed to their farm's sustainable agricultural operation and also participate in a wilderness backpacking trip for a few nights or some of other type of micro NOLS experience. The more I think about this: I believe the NOLS element should be a few weeks at least and should be a cornerstone for the foundation upon which this program will be built. There were also some great comments from Matthew Gilbert who is Gwichin and from Fort Yukon about the relationship between Energy needs, and rural Alaskan Communities (more info here http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89755688).

Where I have been going with all of this: I connected with Green Star a local non profit that certifies Anchorage green businesses; it developed originally out of an Anchorage Chamber of Commerce initiative. At first I thought we were going to be able to collaborate to convene an Anchorage Council of Green Employers... the idea would have been to add an additional social tier/ certification upon their existing green business certification system.

After discussing more with their staff and learning more about their program we all realized that this would be more complicated than we had initially envisioned, and that I better develop this Green Employer Council separate from Green Star. The basic concept is that businesses in this Green Employer Council network will commit to taking on trainees from the Anchorage Green Jobs Corps program for paid OTJ (on the job) internships, and help them continue their career with referalls and transferable skills etc.

I have been to a few different meetings of Labor groups and unions as well, and connections within these groups seem to have great potential. I am definitly learning as I do all of this. I met with Anchorage Central Labor Council and am following up with Building and Trades Council re how Anchorage Green Jobs Corps program would connect trainees with different opporuntities @ UAA, AVTECH, community colleges... and opporuntities with different apprenticeship programs with greater Anchorage unions. The support of these groups is very important.

Gloria from CITC has proved to be really helpful, one of the many ways she has enabled me to make progress is to connect me with Mike Andrews @ http://akwp.org/ . Alaska Works Partnership is the state non profit that coordinates the distribution of the states Weatherization funds. They run some construction academy programs very similar to what I was envisioning re Anchorage Green Jobs Corps, I did not even know Mike's organization existed when I put together that concept paper for the Egan Center Event. I will be updating that concept paper here shortly and will post it with the new vision.

Mike and I both believe strongly in the promise of a new innovative world class Anchorage program that would have a conscious / specific emphasis on Green Economic Development, Green Employment Outcomes: and on cultivating Green "pathways out of Poverty" for disadvantaged youth.

I have also been spending time looking closely at the local social challenges, and have been following people within the local coalition for Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing that is recieving about 800,000 from the recovery Act. They plan to develop a single point of entry program http://www.muni.org/iceimages/Mayor/HPRPCommunityProposal.pdf etc., and their improved / more efficient coordination that could result from the stimulus funds should carryover to link the social challenges in Anchorage directly with job creation/ environmental and labor groups thru this Anchorage Green Jobs Corps program. I was one of the few people who attended the public hearing at City Hall who does not work for an organization that is potentially recieving funds from this program. I have also been researching other programs in different cities.

Today is Earth Day, April 22nd. Originally we were trying to plan a version of a "carrotmob" reverse boycott event for this day, but we are shifting our focus to friday the 25th to collaborate with Synapse Presents ( http://synapsepresents.com/browser.php ), who has brought together two shows with the rapper Brother Ali & DJ BK One of Rhymesayers Entertainment.

The first show is tomorrow at the Anchor pub and is 21 +, the friday show is at Club Millenium on 3rd street and is all ages. We are working with Club Millenium on the carrotmob theme. Synapse (Heather) and I spoke briefly about this: the idea is to plant the seed for future full fledged "carrotmob" campaigns with this first event on Friday. We hope to work with local businesses in Girdwood to execute this type of campaign in conjunction with the June show Synapse is organizing. Tomorrow Lily from Greenstar and I are meeting with Millenium re some simple adjustments / improvements their business can make to become more environmentally friendly and energy efficient.

The "Carrotmob" concept acts like a reverse-boycott. It rewards businesses who committ to become more environmentally friendly and socially responsible by organizing "mobs" of consumers to buy the products or patronize venues from the companies that are taking steps to improve the world.

The Millenium has committed to take some steps to become more Green and environmentally friendly as a result of friday's show. Both Synapse Presents (Heather) and The Last Frontier Eco Alliance (yours truly) are planning on building on this 1st Alaska Carrotmob event in the future for more campaigns. The idea is leverage the power of Hip Hop as a tool for engaging youth as primary players in social activism: cultivate fun and innovative crowdsourcing that yields positive local results for both people and the planet.

I have been on the water a lot. Sometimes rowing out as far as Fire Island and exploring the inlet around Point Mackenzie. Sometimes coming back in the dark under the stars with the city lights glittering and the waves tossing the 17' canoe around like it is a leaf in a stream, sometimes with it perfectly calm and watching spectacular sunsets merged with the steam plumes from Mt. Redoubt. I like the birds, the water, and the sun.

The Redoubt Volcano Eruption has shut down the Drift River Oil terminal, possibly for the summer. Perhaps the Earth is telling us that we need to shift our focus to renewable power: turn off the engines and pick up the pace as we collaborate to build a sustainable future. My camera battery died as I wrote this post... so you will have to wait for pics until tomorrow.