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Leading the Next Generation Clean Energy Revolution
Posted by on November 7, 2011 at 10:25 AM EDTEd. Note: Champions of Change is a weekly initiative to highlight Americans who are making an impact in their communities and helping our country rise to meet the many challenges of the 21st century.
On November 3, I was honored with a Champions of Change award and invited to hold a dialog with key Administration leaders regarding the importance of fuel cell technology in enabling a transition to clean energy for the US market and in creating of thousands of jobs in manufacturing, installation, operation, and servicing throughout the United States and around the world.
Fuel cells represent a key, growing sector of the next generation of energy technologies. They produce clean, efficient, quiet, and reliable electric power 24/7, and can do so while operating on a variety of domestic fuels. Currently, there are over a dozen US companies leading the world in the development, manufacturing, and deployment of stationary fuel cell systems.
The National Fuel Cell Research Center (NFCRC) was established at the University of California – Irvine in 1998 for the U.S. Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission with the goal to accelerate the development and deployment of fuel cell technology. Since that time, stationary fuel cell technology has entered the commercial market, is now cost-competitive with other power generation technologies with incentives, and is projected to be cost-competitive without incentives in less than five years. To reach this point of technology maturity, the NFCRC has engaged American industry, government agencies, and policy leaders to enable the development, demonstration, and market adoption of American based stationary fuel cell products. At the same time, the NFCRC has involved scores of undergraduate and graduate students in these activities as a way to educate and train the next generation work force with the tools and perspectives required to maintain the lead in fuel cell technology, and worked with university engineering programs around the country to establish fuel cell courses and mission-oriented research.
Learn more about Economy,For the Win: The Language of Acceptance
Posted by on November 4, 2011 at 5:46 PM EDTFor the Win is a guest blog series featuring the remarkable initiatives that young Americans are advancing to win the future for their communities. Each week we highlight a new young person and learn about their inspiring work through their own words. Submit your story to appear in the For the Win guest blog series.
Clay, a 17 year-old from Lake Park, Ga., is a member of the Youth Advisory Council at generationOn, the youth enterprise of Points of Light. Clay, a homeschooled high school senior, combined his interests in the Spanish language and reading to develop a bilingual reading program for elementary school age children at local libraries and schools in his community. The program, Bilingual Adventures in Spanish and English, or BASE, encourages literacy and inspires cross-cultural communication among youth in his community.
Joshua Clayton Hurdle ("Clay"). (Photo from Points of Light Institute)
What is the one thing humanity has tried to achieve, but has yet to obtain? The answer: world peace. Why does it seem to always slip through our fingers? Perhaps the answer is a lack of understanding between cultures. We acknowledge the presence of other cultures and customs in our world, but do we accept them? Some do and some most certainly do not. I have always strived to not judge people by their skin color or their beliefs. It doesn’t matter whether you are a Christian or a Muslim. It doesn’t matter whether you are Vietnamese or Mexican. It’s about your character and the actions you take throughout your life. In the past few years, I certainly feel that I have become more culturally aware. With a little faith and curiosity, cultural acceptance (world peace), could be just around the corner.
Proud to be a Part of the Green Economy
Posted by on November 4, 2011 at 5:13 PM EDTEd. Note: Champions of Change is a weekly initiative to highlight Americans who are making an impact in their communities and helping our country rise to meet the many challenges of the 21st century.
I am truly honored to be included with such a prestigious group of innovators who are making it in America.
At Viridity Energy, we are proud to be a part of the green economy. Viridity Energy enables large electricity customers to serve as “virtual power plants” that can earn substantial revenues from wholesale electricity markets while directly benefiting from energy supply cost savings through efficient energy use. Our continued growth is based on the strategy that grounds all successful business models—first defining and then answering customer needs. Most businesses know that they want to manage their energy more efficiently to reduce costs and meet sustainability goals. But what many don’t know is that there are opportunities to not only reduce their energy burden, but also to tap into opportunities to earn revenues from wholesale markets that would otherwise have gone unused. It is connecting all of these goals with the tools to immediately take action that truly allows for an opportunity for comprehensive change.
Learn more about Economy,Providing an Environment that Promotes Healing and Wellness
Posted by on November 3, 2011 at 12:53 PM EDTEd. Note: Champions of Change is a weekly initiative to highlight Americans who are making an impact in their communities and helping our country rise to meet the many challenges of the 21st century.
Han Mitakuyapi!
Cante waste nape ciyuzapi ye! Anpao Mnibojan de miye. Wasicu ia Misty Thomas emakiyapi. Damakota. Santee, NE hematanhan. Social Services Director hemaca.
(Hello my relatives. I shake your hand with a good heart. My Dakota name is Misty Dawn. My English name is Misty Thomas. I am Dakota and I am from Santee Nebraska. I am the Director of Social Services for the Santee Sioux Nation of Nebraska.)
I swore to myself that I would never get involved in a relationship that was violent or controlling, but once I got in, I couldn’t get out. I made that promise to myself because of the violence that my mother endured during a time when domestic violence was not a police issue, and so they didn’t get involved. She had nobody to protect her and lived 1,000s of miles away from her home, her family, and her support. It is still really difficult to talk about and it was hard to come to terms with the fact that I was in that type of relationship. Many people still do not know what I have gone through. There is always that question that you ask yourself of “why me” and the best conclusion I could come up with was- I went through what I went through so that I can give a voice to those that cannot find it. I can help those that need it because I understand.
Learn more about WomenPreventing Bullying and Empowering Our Communities
Posted by on November 3, 2011 at 12:23 PM EDT
Panelists listen to a speaker at the Bullying Prevention Summit, organized by the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and held in New York City on October 30, 2011. October 30, 2011. (by Akil Vohra, White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders)
Like too many of the participants in Saturday’s Bullying Prevention Summit in New York City, I experienced bullying and harassment in school. I remember vividly a classmate’s repeated threats over a semester to “beat me up” and the sense of paralysis it created for me. What remains less clear is why. Did this classmate single me out because I was one of only a handful of Asian Americans in my school? Or was it because he had sensed some difference about my sexual orientation, even if I had not come out at the time?
Saturday’s Bullying Prevention Summit, put on by the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, created a space to explore this important issue and shine a spotlight on bullying and harassment in this country, in particular directed at AAPI and Muslim American communities. According to newly released statistics, Asian Americans reported the highest rate of bullying in classrooms, nearly 20% higher than any other racial or ethnic group. For bullying outside on school grounds, the rate was 10% higher for Asian Americans than for other racial groups.For lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students, we know the statistics are just as appalling. More than 8 in 10 LGBT students participating in a survey conducted by the Gay Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) reported verbal harassment based on their sexual orientation, and 4 in 10 reported physical harassment. Nearly 64% of LGBT students reported verbal harassment based on their gender expression.
Working to End Domestic Violence
Posted by on November 2, 2011 at 5:38 PM EDTEd. Note: Champions of Change is a weekly initiative to highlight Americans who are making an impact in their communities and helping our country rise to meet the many challenges of the 21st century.
On October 20, I along with 13 others I attended the Champions for Change event in Washington D.C. for advocates, educators, and activists against domestic violence. It was humbling to take part in the discussion and round table event with so many individuals who devoted their careers to this issue, in many cases longer than I have been alive.
My name is Nicole DeSario; I am 16 years old, and I a junior at Montgomery High School in Skillman, New Jersey. I am a student advocate and educator in teen relationship abuse awareness and prevention.
I began working diligently for the cause over a year ago; however, I was motivated largely by personal experience. This I found to be a common theme amongst the panel. As one person so poignantly remarked, “scratch an advocate, find a survivor”. Regardless of the impetus, we all dedicated our time and effort because of a desire to end some aspect of domestic violence.
Learn more about WomenEnding Violence Against Women at Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Generating a Movement
Posted by on November 2, 2011 at 5:21 PM EDTEd. Note: Champions of Change is a weekly initiative to highlight Americans who are making an impact in their communities and helping our country rise to meet the many challenges of the 21st century.
Last Thursday, I was honored to have been recognized by the White House as Champion of Change for my work with The Wright Group (TWG) in launching Ending Violence Against Women (EVAW): The HBCU Project--an initiative developed to assist Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) expand their institutional capacity and action plans to ending violence against women.
I willingly admit that this work is more challenging than any project I have undertaken, however it is also more rewarding and fulfilling than I could have ever imagined. For me this work is not just what I do every day as a professional but this is a personal commitment. Because of my dedicated energy on this issue many people often ask me why am I so passionate about ending violence against women---as they often suspect that I myself am a survivor. However, to their surprise I am not---I am proud bystander. As a teenager, college student, friend and family member I have been in arms reach of resilient women and young girls who are survivors and as a bystander I do this work because ‘this is the change I want the next generation to see in the world’.
Learn more about WomenAn “Eco-Renaissance” Woman
Posted by on November 2, 2011 at 5:05 PM EDTSomething my mom used to tell me when I was little kid, “great things come in small packages.” She’s right and it’s also true that great change often comes in the small acts we commit ourselves on a daily basis. College students across the country embody this very spirit and are making a difference in their community every day. Whether it’s a campus initiative to install energy efficient light bulbs in dorm rooms, a student founded campus women’s center that provides free education and professional resources, or an innovative mentorship program helping high school students graduate, change is achieved by taking small steps forward toward a greater goal.
One such individual that has taken and run with this idea is 20-year old NYU student Erin Schrode, a dynamic, passionate and ambitious young woman committed to creating big change everywhere she goes. A self proclaimed “eco-renaissance” woman, Erin's latest venture has brought much needed school supplies to over 14,000 children in earthquake ravaged Haiti. Here’s an excerpt from a great profile written by our friends at HelloGiggles:
Erin told me she’s constantly asked how she does so much. Her response was simple, “How can you not? How can you stand by and watch what’s happening in the world and not step into action?” I think we can all take a cue from Erin and try a little harder to do more within our own lives and the lives of others.
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