VidMama

Children and Greenheart

The reality is that the climate is changing all over the planet. This requires people who initially may have over-consumed, to shift their perspectives and their consciousness, to change habits that have become very ingrained in popular culture. The goal of the Greenheart organization on Ibiza is to help people alter their understanding, of the needs of our planet and our place in caring and preserving it. They focus on the cyclic nature of everything that creates life on the planet, that gives life to the planet and to the planet itself. The four elements of nature, fire, air, water and earth are elements that must be kept in balance. Marine life, plants, insects, fungus and bacteria all must remain on a self-regulating cycle. And once humans realize the role they play in the destruction of the balance and the role that they are capable of playing in the reconstruction of that balance, it provides hope and help for the future generations.

The base camp for Greenheart on Ibiza is called La Casita Verde. Here there is a garden, fine vegetarian Ibiza restaurants, and their educational center and school. For three hundred children each year, classes and seminars are provided free of charge. The classes stress the importance of caring for the environment and the Mediterranean sea that surrounds that environment. What they are hoping is that the children will take what they have learned and incorporate into their everyday lives. For those children will grow up, and they hold the future of Ibiza in their hands. Children are taught about water conservation, alternative energy forms and the effects of pollution on the ecosystems they are surrounded by. This knowledge is meant to empower them to take into their own hands these things that they can change. The are given the mission of figuring out how to carry out cleaner ways of living in their own homes. Simple things as turning off lights when leaving a room, or buying fruits and vegetables from local farmers. They are then given the assignment to paint pictures of their commitments, which are sent to the Kids Call Campaign in Japan, presented by the World Future Council. Their last mission and final assignments are to write letters to their local government and politicians, to state their concerns. This is one way in which this small island is making a difference, and the way in which the children are well informed to enter the future they are about to create.

Tags: Ibiza, restaurants

Green Destruction

When New York restaurants, hotels and apartment buildings are torn down in the city today, the materials are being reused and recycled. This is a huge step for the city, huge in ideology and potentially grand in scale. Many buildings across the United States are being revamped with energy saving solar panels and water saving devices. And new construction is regulated by the same, if not more stringent standards. These green buildings have gained press and attention. This is an important aspect of construction, but is what is starting to gain importance and notice is the way in which buildings are torn down and the ways in which the materials are being disposed of. This addresses not only the concerns of energy management, but of waste management as well. Leading the way in the city of Manhattan, is of course the New York Botanical Garden. Long known as a staunch defender and protector of the environment, the Garden is in the process of renovation. Structures are being removed in order to improve the Garden on various levels. Waste from the demolition of buildings in the past has contributed to approximately sixty percent of the city’s solid waste. Concrete, metal, stone and glass account for over 35,000 tons being deposited in landfills each day. To cart the load, there are small dump-trucks taking the debris to transfer stations around the city. The debris is then put onto larger trucks and transported out of town.

By reusing materials on site, the pollution, from the trucks alone, is reduced. Not to mention what is not deposited into the already over-flowing landfills. Workers on construction sites all over the city, now organize and separate the debris into ‘piles’. Systematically categorizing materials for use in reconstruction, taking buildings down in way they were built, well…exactly opposite to the way they were built to be correct. This saves not only the environment, but money as well. Current calculations and observations estimate that over ninety percent of the materials are re-usable. This saves money, pollution related costs of local deconstruction, energy, materials and serves in minimizing trips to the transfer stations and land fills. Companies must pay to dump. Pay, to dump material that can be used to rebuild. The re-use of items saves more money and energy than the act of re-cycling. And in the city of Manhattan, it pays to rebuild, in many more ways than one.

I

Tags: new york, restaurants