Santa Barbara High School senior Erik Choquette has won the 2009 Swackhamer Disarmament Video Contest for the second year in a row, and now he has a new line up of film festivals showcasing his work. You can watch his ground-breaking work here or on YouTube.
Sponsored by the Nuclear Age Foundation, the competition hosted 120 three-minute (or less) videos. The theme, Breakthrough: Putting the Nuclear Genie Back in the Bottle—How can we achieve a world free of nuclear weapons by the year 2020? was animated by Choquette to help get the genie back into the bottle.
One Percent for the Planet: The Weekend Hippie Way
When I conceptualized Weekend Hippie it was Yvon Chouinard’s 1% for the Planet model I had in mind, but on an individual scale. If my friends, and family, and distant friends, and future friends and supporters of Weekend Hippie could just give 1% of their time….it could really make a difference for them, and for mother earth.
When Chouinard hatched his brilliant idea, 1% For The Planet, in 2002, he asked corporations and non-profits to give 1% of their annual sales to environmental groups around the world. Just 1% was all he asked. Years later we can see how it has all added up: Chouinard’s 1% for the Planet now has nearly 1300 hundred business members worldwide that give 1% of their annual sales to just under 2000 environmental groups. One percent can make a difference.
And that’s how you can be a Weekend Hippie. Dedicate just 1% of your time, your life, to making a difference. Go ahead, make a small statement—change your light bulbs, wear TOMS shoes, give a micro loan to a Kiva entrepreneur, travel eco-mindfully, shop at your local farmers’ market, pick-up Patagonia clothes made from recycled plastic or an organic cotton t-shirt from Weekend Hippie! It works. Each small statement adds up… It is not important what you do: just do!
Want to join Chouinard’s 1% for the Planet, here’s how you can help.
For you—and your friends, and their friends—that 1% will add up
pretty quickly, and eventually you’ll find yourself living the Weekend
Hippie lifestyle not just 1% of the time, but 100%. The Weekend Hippie way!
One for One. TOMS gives shoes to children around the world who have no shoes. It’s that simple. For every pair of shoes purchased, TOMS gives a pair to a child in need.
Founded by Blake Mycoskie and inspired by an Argentine shoe (they call Blake the Chief Shoe Giver), TOMS gave 200,000 pairs of shoes to children across the United States, South African Argentina last year.
Once your closet is stock full of TOMS easy to wear canvas slides, you can volunteer for one of TOMS Shoe Drops, an opportunity for you to travel on location to provide shoes and other support to kids in need.
The styles are hippie cool. Pick up a pair today at local surf and skate shops, or order online.
Kiva is one of my favorite ways to give. Kiva makes it easy whether you have $25 or $25,000. I have $25, so it works for me. Kiva's concept? They makes it easy for you to loan money to fledgling entrepreneurs in developing countries. You can use your resources to help lift someone out of poverty. Plus they repay each loan, so you can reinvest the money in another aspiring entrepreneur.
By marrying micro-finance and the Internet, Kiva has created a global community of people connected through lending. Kiva's mission is to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty. Kiva will have facilitated loans totaling $100 million by 2010.
Here’s how it works:
You give money—as little as $25—to an entrepreneur of your choice. You pick the entrepreneur from their website. Scroll through the list and find someone you connect with, and sponsor that person.
The loan is combined with other loans made to the entrepreneur....allowing them to fulfill their dream, their goal.
Once the entrepreneur is successful, the loan is paid back, and you can then re-loan the amount to another Kiva entrepreneur or withdraw it from your Kiva account..
How can you be part of KIVA:
Visit KIVA Find an entrepreneur to help. Register.
Give.
Weekend Hippie
Welcome to Weekend Hippie: forays into realistic ways to live sustainabily in our busy modern world...because good food and a happy earth are good for everyone.
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