How could light bulbs and coffee possibly be related? Well, they are both making headlines with connection to global warming… and your choice in light bulbs might just affect how you start off your mornings.
"Lightbulb" image courtesy of Matthew Hardingham
Are you a coffee connoisseur? Do you need a cup o’ Joe to start off your day? If so, you will likely be saddened by the fact that heat waves and unpredictable rain in Latin America have destroyed much of this year’s harvest. The culprit? Global warming.
Few countries in the world have the right climate to grow coffee, and it doesn’t take rocket science to see that a drastic change in the rain patterns poses a serious danger to coffee production. This will mean a lower supply of quality coffee beans this year, and maybe even rising prices at your local coffee shop. Better stock up on it while it’s there!
While you are shopping around for coffee, you may also notice some changes in the light
bulbs being sold at the store. The good news: law makers are working hard to brighten your day, by passing stricter
regulations to increase the efficiency of light bulbs, so you can get more light with less energy. Small
changes like this can make a big difference, and potentially help stop climate change! Something coffee
and tea enthusiasts alike can celebrate.
Roozt.com & NFTE Partner to Teach Social Entrepreneurship!
In Los Angeles, in Mr. Jaquias’ 10th grade class at Downtown Magnets High School, there are a group of 35 students that are out to change the world — through business. These elite students were specially selected to take part in the first ever Social Venture Competition where they will learn the fundamentals of starting their own business through the lens of a social entrepreneur that is committed to making a difference in the world as well as a profit. Pretty amazing feat for a group of 14 and 15 year olds!
When I founded Roozt.com, I wanted to do something that made a positive impact on the world and helped inspire others to do the same. So when I was introduced to the Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), it was a match made in heaven. An established national organization that goes into low-income communities from all across the U.S. to teach entrepreneurship to youth, I saw an opportunity to harness their infrastructure, established programs, and inspiring student base to modify the curriculum to integrate social responsibility into the student’s everyday learnings and business models. The idea I proposed to the NFTE Chapter of Greater Los Angeles was simple: let’s make social responsibility a forethought instead of an afterthought. Let’s integrate it directly into everything that the students do, learn, and practice so that as they become entrepreneurs with their own companies or intrapreneurs within existing organizations, they will incorporate responsible business practices all along the way. The Executive Director of NFTE here in LA, Estelle Reyes, could not have been more excited and supportive of the idea and immediately we began the planning process.
The students spent the entire first semester of their year studying the basics of marketing, identifying opportunities in the market, learning how to develop a clear business concept, and going over the basic laws of supply and demand — all through the eyes of a social entrepreneur who is focused on people, planet, and profit.
Mr. Jaquias' 10th Grade NFTE Class at Downtown Magnets High School in Los Angeles with Roozt Founders Brent Freeman & Norma LaRosa (Center)
The second semester (which just began) is where it gets real exciting! We will be taking the students through a Social Venture Competition where they identify a problem in their community and develop a for-profit business model around helping solve it. Each student will write a business plan about their social venture, from concept statement to financial projections, then create a pitch to present to a panel of experienced social entrepreneurs and investors. To make this competition something real for the students, Roozt and its corporate partner, MyCorporation.com, have teamed up to create a Social Venture Launch Kit for the Grand Prize winner that will help eliminate some of the major barriers of entry to actually starting their business. This Launch Kit will include:
Free LLC or Incorporation filing (including state fees)
Corporate Name availibility check
TAX ID Number for the business
Business Consultation with a MyCorp & Roozt Business Professional
Elite Corporate Kit and Seal (with customized documents & certificates)
Free Logo Design
Free Domain Name
Free QuickBooks Simple Start
Free Website
Small Business Book Set
Company & Product Feature on Roozt Website, Email, and Blog
The Launch Kit for the winner of the Social Venture Competition was designed to break down the barriers of entry the students to turn their business idea into a reality at the end of the semester, so we are very excited to see where this goes! The whole idea behind this entire program is to teach, inspire, and mentor the young social entrepreneurs of Downtown Magnets High School here in LA to make a difference in the world through business. To make this happen, I personally join Mr. Jaquias and his 10th grade class once a week to help teach the students the fundamentals of using business as a vehicle to make the world a better place. Each week will be a new challenge, new lesson, and new step forward.
Mr. Jaquias’ 10th Grade NFTE Class at Downtown Magnets High School in Los Angeles with Roozt Founders Brent Freeman & Norma LaRosa (Center)
NFTE Teacher Mr. Jaquias & Roozt Founder / CEO Brent Freeman
Our Awesome Students Hard at Work! :)
We are extremely fired up to see what this upcoming semester holds, the ideas that the students come up with, and the social impact that they will make on their community.
Each week of this semester, I will chronicle a step of our journey in the DMHS Social Entrepreneur Pilot Program on the Roozt Blog, Roozt Twitter, Roozt Facebook, as well as the NFTE National blog for you to follow. We hope you enjoy reading about the amazing things these students are up to and that you become inspired by some of their incredible stories and ideas. I know I am. These students are the business leaders of tomorrow. These students are our future. I could not be more excited for what’s in store!
Enthusiastically,
Brent Freeman Founder / CEO, Roozt.com
To learn more about NFTE, go to www.NFTE.com or donate directly by clicking here.
Now is your chance to get cool shoes and be a humanitarian in the process, so mark your calendar and start 2011 right!
Oliberté "Rovia" Shoe in Navy
This Friday 1/14 – Sunday 1/16 only, 1% of every purchase made on Roozt.com will be donated to GiveRunning.org, an inspiring organization that puts shoes on children in need from all around the world!
This weekend’s Roozt Daily Deal will feature Oliberté Footwear. An incredible company that makes premium leather shoes for guys and girls, the company combines the heritage of African artisans with forward-thinking design and technique. All footwear is made in Ethiopia with 100% natural leather and constructed with over 1,000 stitches by men and women that are paid and treated fairly – all part of their belief that Africa is full of pride, power and liberty.
ROOZT DEAL: $100 value Oliberté Footwear gift cards will be sold for just $45. A savings of 55%!
Give Running is an inspiring nonprofit that collects, cleans, and donates new & gently-used running shoes (plus a set of brand new socks for each pair of shoes!) to disadvantaged youth both in Third World countries and inner city communities here in the United States.
In many Third World nations, it is required for children to wear shoes to attend school. Many children miss out on the opportunity for a quality education, solely because their families cannot afford to buy them a pair of shoes. Give Running changes that.
Give Running Founder Greg Woodburn distributes shoes in Mali.
Even in America, finances cause many living in the inner cities to miss out on the joys, freedoms, and opportunities that running brings. A member of the USC Track & Field team, Give Running Founder Greg Woodburn understands the healthy outlet that running can provide, and works hard to provide quality running shoes to disadvantaged youth and teens here in the U.S., as well as abroad.
Read People Magazine’s feature on Give Running in its “Heroes Among Us” column here
Watch Give Running’s Founder Greg Woodburn give shoes to the small village of Sikoro, Mali here.
Because Give Running’s mission is so closely aligned with Oliberté’s, providing hope, sustainability, and a better future for all Africans, we are thrilled to announce our Roozt Deal and urge you sign up and partake by buying the deal!
How You Can Make a Difference with Your Dollars Everyday:
Sign up for Roozt.com’s Deal Alerts by clicking here.
Purchase a $100 value Oliberté gift card for just $45 (saving 55%), from Friday 1/14 to Sunday 1/16. Exclusively on Roozt.com!
1% of your purchase will be donated to Give Running’s efforts to improve the lives of disadvantaged youth in Africa and the U.S. It’s easy as 1, 2, 3 (literally)!
So tell your friends, tell your family…heck, shout it from the top of a mountain if you want. The important thing is that, through your savvy purchase of Oliberté footwear, you will be making a material difference in the lives of so many children who need it.
No, they haven’t been featured in yet another nostalgic Coca Cola commercial (although we love watching polar bears and penguins frolic and drink carbonated beverages together as much as the next person).
If we were just given our own designated "protection area," we'd celebrate with a relaxing swim too.
Rather, this news is of the more long-term, sustainable variety: the Obama administration has recently designated an extensive “polar bear protection area” off the northern coast of Alaska.
Approximately 187,000 square miles, this special zone is comprised mainly of sea ice in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas: the critical element of a polar bear’s habitat, that in recent decades has been extremely threatened by the melting polar ice caps.
While the bears are currently listed as “threatened” under the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Endangered Species Act, it is estimated that unless some changes are made to stop global climate change, 2/3 of the world’s polar bear population could be gone by 2030.
The Chukchi and Beaufort seas stretch from Siberia, across Alaska's northern coastline.
The new protection area is contained in a scarcely populated region of our 50th state that makes its living through oil and gas exploration. Opposition groups are arguing that the zone will lose hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity and revenues for the state, as well as “disproportionally impact Alaska Natives,” the primary residents of the area.
Various interest groups, the White House, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are currently at odds over the extent to which the new ruling will slow job growth and economic recovery. As of now, economic development is not completely banned in the region, just required to analyze the impact on polar bears before it can be approved. But regardless of one’s political views, it is great news to see strides being made that will help ensure the survival of this incredible species.
And that’s something we’ll all crack open a Coke and toast to!
What does it mean to build healthy relationships in the world?
I think it’s safe to say that we all look for meaning in our lives in some way. We try to build relationships with other people that will ultimately bring meaning, purpose, and hopefully love into our lives.
NightLight offers intervention for those who have been exploited, and hosts programs to help them rediscover their dignity and value in the world. The organization works one-on-one with every woman and child, and helps them realize their true potential. One such example is teaching the women in the program to make handcrafted jewelry as an economic alternative to prostitution. With each ring, bracelet, necklace, there’s a story to be told.
This is how the folks at NightLight not only change the world around them, but change their personal world. Building empowerment and changing the world really starts within the individual. We should take the time to realize the unique value that we can bring into today’s world before we go out and try to change it.
What if were to discover something unique within us that can really contribute to the world? What if we developed a passion for a particular cause and invested our whole selves into that area? The truth is that there is something out there that makes us unique; there’s something that makes us stand out. What if we pursued that uniqueness, embraced it, and spread it to the whole world, whether it’s a story, an idea, a passion, or a desire?
Think of the positive change that we can see in the world today. Think of how powerful a movement we can create together. How do we live a life of meaning? Or how do we try to pursue it? Let’s start within ourselves and figure it out.
What do rabbits and algae have in common? If the word “prolific” popped into your head, you’re right on the Rooztbux. But what makes the abundance of this green slime so important is the fact that, within your lifetime, your car might be running on it. Certain species of this miracle plant suck in carbon dioxide and convert it to oil through photosynthesis (oh, the wonders of Mother Nature!). The future of gasoline? Maybe so, according to Ford.
“Ford has a long history of developing vehicles that run on renewable fuels; and the increased use of biofuels is an important element of our sustainability strategy now and moving forward,” said the technical leader with the Ford Systems Analytics and Environmental Sciences Department. “We look ahead from a technological, economic, environmental, and social standpoint at potential next-generation renewable fuels that could power our vehicles.”
As concerns regarding peak oil daunt politicians (and pretty much everyone in the developed and developing world), Ford is also looking into ethanol and butanol as alternative energy sources. But the problem remains whether these alternative fuel sources have high enough EROEI (energy return on energy invested) to become competitive and to allow us to continue with business as usual, i.e. blindly depending on technology and risky oil drilling practices so we can continue driving our gas-guzzlers.
Oh, but then there’s always global warming…
The best solution: pull that good ol’ fashioned bicycle out of your garage! Get some sun, take in the fresh air, and leave your fuel dependency behind.
Johnny Depp may be famous for his movies – and just being sexy in general – but these are not the only reasons that he has been on the radar these days. Johnny Depp has (like many celebrities) been going green!
Back in 2005, Johnny Depp bought a 35-acre island in the Bahamas, which he nicknamed ‘F*ck Off Island’ – a place where he could avoid paparazzi and have some privacy. To get there, you have to commute by boat. The place is so private, it’s an ideal location to enjoy nature and just relax. Depp told Vanity Fair in a recent interview, “I don’t think I’d ever seen any place so pure and beautiful. You can feel your pulse rate drop about 20 beats. It’s instant freedom.”
The actor has aspirations to keep his island paradise as lush, eco-friendly, and sustainable as possible, so using diesel generators to power the island’s electricity simply isn’t an option.
So he turns to Mike Strizki – an inventor that created the nation’s first solar- hydrogen house in New Jersey – without sacrificing any of the amenities he had in his 3,500 square-foot home. Depp wants Mike to build a grid-independent solar hydrogen system for his island, and – depending on the size of Depp’s home on the island – the cost is expected to run between $250,000-$500,000. Which – for someone who owns an island – isn’t bad for unlimited clean energy.
Depp is currently still third in line to receive his eco-friendly system, so before we start crossing our fingers hoping he will give the media a sneak peak of his home when it’s all done, we can watch Mike Strizki’s video about how solar-hydrogen homes work from his less exotic system at his New Jersey Home:
In this crazy post-recession world, what adjectives do you associate with the acronym “CEO”? For some, the word has been tarnished giving people the tendency to think overpaid, selfish, even greedy. Well, my friends, Brent Freeman is morphing the not-so-virtuous connotation of this acronym into one that conveys responsibility, impact, and holistic thinking. And he is doing so one university campus at a time.
On October 12, Brent engaged with students at LMU Late Night, one of Loyola Marymount University’s most highly attended weekly events. Late Night’s mission is to build healthy community and meaningful relationships among students on campus while inspiring them to pursue their passions and follow their dreams. How do they do this, you ask? The answer: examples.
Take Brent Freeman, a dashing and passionate young USC alum with a creative and inspiring vision: to inspire and empower social entrepreneurs to succeed. As you blog followers know, Brent set out to empower socially conscious entrepreneurs (and ishe ever!) who give back to humanitarian and environmental worlds through their businesses. 2 legit.
So who is Brent Freeman? Yes, we’re inspired, but what inspired Brent? Brent strongly believes that “if you can make an impact on the world—on just one person—then you’ve left your mark.” Better yet, he talks the talk. Check out the video of Late Night featuring Brent Freeman on our facebook page!
Creativity. Innovation. These are things that Social Entrepreneurs and Social Entrepreneurship hold as some of their highest values. They allow people to start companies and come up with solutions to make an impact on the world for the better. Using these two, Social Enterprise will continue to flourish in the future while the freshest ideas keep spurring even fresher ideas for the next generation of businesses.
Using creativity and innovation, Mexican designer Marco Castro Cosio found a way to add over 35 acres of plant-life in cities throughout America. How? Planting gardens on the roofs of buses. For every 4,500 bus gardens, 35 acres of gardening is achieved.
Seems like a ton of buses right? I mean how many could we possibly have? Well in the school system in the US alone, there are estimated to be over 480,000!! That means that those 480,000 school buses= 3,733 acres of gardens in the school system alone. Think about what impact this could have rolled out to an entire country.
The benefits are obvious:
- Aesthetic Value
- Mitigation of Urban Heat Island Effect
- Acoustical and Thermal Insulation
- Storm Water Reduction
- CO2 absorption
- Habitat Restoration
- Storm Water Management
- Public Education and Recreation
- Reclaiming Forgotten Real Estate
This type of guerrilla gardening could have a major impact on the health of cities across the US and the world. We’re already starting to see it in niche city communities like Fort Greene and Clinton Hill in Brooklyn, New York. But taking this ideology citywide and then nationwide would be incredible. Filling in every possible space with natural gardens would be a welcome change that would make any city feel a little cleaner. Like many of the self sustaining gardens that are popping up for gourmet restaurants in many cities, a whole new industry could emerge with cities providing locally grown produce in a sustainable manner.
Everyone wants to do good, or at least, they try to.
How many times do you hear yourself saying “I’m going to carpool everyday to reduce my carbon footprint!” or “ I’m going to start eating healthier!” but end up going back to your old ways after a week or so. At Roozt, we understand that we’re all busy people, and it’s hard to commit to doing good all the time when you don’t see results right away. Here is where Bolder comes in.
Bolder will challenge you to do something positive. You can sign up for the challenge, and as their tagline says, “Do Good. Get Rewarded.” If the challenge is met, everyone who participates gets rewarded! And I don’t mean you get a measly digital sticker or screensaver for your good work. After you complete the challenge and report back, you get free coupons and discounts to businesses like Seventh Generation, Sports Basement and Whole Foods. Talk about instant gratification.
NightLight offers intervention for those who have been exploited, and hosts programs to help them rediscover their dignity and value in the world. The organization works one-on-one with every woman and child, and helps them realize their true potential. One such example is teaching the women in the program to make handcrafted jewelry as an economic alternative to prostitution. With each ring, bracelet, necklace, there’s a story to be told.
Using creativity and innovation, Mexican designer Marco Castro Cosio found a way to add over 35 acres of plant-life in cities throughout America. How? Planting gardens on the roofs of buses. For every 4,500 bus gardens, 35 acres of gardening is achieved.
s type of guerrilla gardening could have a major impact on the health of cities across the US and the world. We’re already 
