#earthworker

Demisexual Name Association of Georgie for @broken-birds-still-fly

One of the best resources Australia has been blessed to receive from Mother Nature is the amount of sun we experience here Down Under. While it’s important to have sunsense and never forget your SPF, Australians have proven they also have sense of how beneficial the sun really is. Solar Water Heating (SWH), a system used to heat the water for your house naturally, first came to reality in the US before 1900; but Australia is one of few countries to really use the technology on a national scale. Not only do we value our largest star for relatively free hot water, soon a visionary group of Australians will translate the sun’s brilliance into a sustainable network of “green” jobs. The unionist environmental group Earthworker Co-operative is transitioning to a more sustainable economy by introducing worker-owned co-operatives.

What started as a vision in the 1990’s by Dave Kerrin and Bob Higginson is now evolving into the project they both dreamed of; providing workers with secure manufacturing jobs producing sustainable products. Earthworker is raising funds to aid in the process of launching a factory in Morwell, VIC where a green-workers co-operative will be manufacturing solar hot water units. By offering local communities the opportunity to buy into the concept of these worker-owned co-ops, Earthworker is shaping the future as “A vision of a better world and not merely a bigger share of this one at the expense of others”. The factory, Eureka’s Future, will begin to serve as an inspiring reminder that harvesting naturally renewable resources will pay off in the long-run.

Energy here in Australia has been cheaply fueled by locally-mined coal-fired electricity. Earthworker’s plan to combat this situation is to produce renewable technologies, which will not come without some financing of solar proportions. Overall the factory in Morwell will cost around $2 million (AUD) to establish a fully functioning operating system. The organization’s very productive campaign is funding their Licence to Co-operate to finance the first run of solar hot water units under licence from Australian manufacturer Douglas Solar. Now they have 25 days to raise additional funds for the cost of licences, equipment, and further establishment of the costly factory. This is Australia’s chance to demonstrate how to empower workers and produce meaningful technologies for a globally sustainable future.

Nick Kovaleski

conservative conservationist, environmental innovator, lost in translation, @babson educated, trying to @addmoregreen. a connecticut native who followed his intuition to his current home in australia. here to share my insight on sustainability and green living in an effort to re-educate mankind. avid runner, healthy vegetarian, green-thumbed gardener, meandering life’s path.

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Let’s Celebrate! Recently Tipped Campaigns…

Earthworker is a practical, innovative approach to begin constructing a new economic system that respects the environment and its workers. Earthworker aims to establish Eureka’s Future, Australia’s first green workers’ co-operative to manufacture solar hot water units. By establishing Australia’s first workers’ co-operative for sustainable manufacturing, Earthworker can produce the first run of solar hot water units under license now that it has raised its $9895 tipping point goal. Thanks to all you amazing supporters, we've given Earthworker a License to Co-operate.

The FIGMENT Geelong Festival is an outdoor interactive arts event and social experiment in Johnstone Park, Geelong Victoria. Miss Dinkles would like to attend and spread the word through interactive reading about the energetic balance between human and environment. She wishes to perform an interactive reading of “Celeste, Nick and the Magical Tea Party” in order to teach the philosophy of collective energy and the concept that many people thinking the same thing at the same time can change the environment. Now that Miss Dinkles has reached her $175 tipping point goal, her travel expenses will be covered and she can purchase props. Her total funding goal will allow her to purchase Tea Party props like tea samples to give away, a storytelling chair, and a coffee table.

Market Forces helps Australians drive change by keeping their money out of projects that harm the environment. Market Forces is working with other Australian NGOs and grassroots groups to have fossil fuel subsidies phased out. They are using the Freedom of Information laws to uncover the truth about which companies are receiving fossil fuel subsidies, how they can be phased out, and how the environment will benefit. Market Forces has successfully raised $700 to put a deposit down on this information, which will give the government 30 days to start releasing it. Once the information is released to Market Forces, they will share it with the public through media.

More like people wants social change organizations to be more like people.More like people is publishing the book Anarchists in the Boardroom, a book that inspires new ways of organizing for good. It teaches how to organize so we can change the world. Its aim is to be the start of a global conversation about finding ways to organize ourselves for social change that manifest the values we are trying to create in the world. With a tipping point goal of $4,050 already accomplished, there will be, at the very least, a limited print run of 300 and a more limited budget for promotions, web development, and editing time. The total funding goal of $7,700 will expand the budget to allow for 500 printed copies and more promotions, web development, and editing.

Shawn D. Ross

I am a Northwest Native living in Washington State. A graduate of Washington State University and University of Phoenix with degrees in Architecture and Education I write about social, cultural, and personal improvement on the StartSomeGood Blog and SDRinspire. I am also a filmmaker and owner of Giraffe and Penguin Productions, a single daddy of two beautiful children, avid reader, writer, and hat wearer (Not in that picture but believe me, I wear ‘em). I am currently at work on my first feature length documentary. Follow me @shawndross and visit my websites: sdrinspire.tumblr.com and giraffeandpenguinproductions.tumblr.com.

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Let’s Celebrate! Recently Tipped Campaigns…

Project Whole Sky, People to People’s newest program, focuses on developing Nursing Leadership and securing academic partnerships to improve healthcare in Ethiopia. The mission begins by joining People to People in Ethiopia in March to build programs and set up academic partnerships. Funds raised will support a mission trip to Ethiopia to begin building bridges and help infuse more nursing providers in Ethiopia.  The $6,115 raised to date will cover travel related costs for Director of Nursing, Chris DeWilde, and her videographer and the costs related to the initial work they set out to accomplish. With three days still left in the campaign, anything raised beyond the tipping point will help establish a nursing education scholarship fund, solidify a partnership between a western institution and an Ethiopian nursing school, and develop a health training program for orphan girls in Ethiopia.

CleanBirth.org has partnered with Our Village Association, a Lao non-profit, to train village nurses in the use and distribution of AYZH Clean Birth Kits. Presently, there is an extremely high rate of infant and maternal mortality in the country of Laos. CleanBirth.org seeks to prevent these pregnancy and birth related deaths by distributing these kits and further educating local nurses on how to equip women with the knowledge of safe, hygienic birthing practices. Just $5 gives one mother a life-saving Clean Birth Kit

Brand New Good! StartSomeGood’s Newest Campaigns... 

The Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Association (ARCAS), a non-profit formed by a group of Hawaiian citizens concerned about their native wildlife in Guatemala, Hawaii, is raising funds to reconstruct the sea turtle hatchery in this rural Hawaiian town. The Leatherback and Olive Ridley Sea Turtles are both endangered. To make matters worse, their nests in Guatemala are poached and the eggs are sold as an aphrodisiac. To counteract this trend, the government started requiring local residents who collect these eggs to donate one dozen eggs per nest to a local hatchery. ARCAS operates one of these local hatcheries, increasing the number of eggs rescued each year from 5,000 to 50,000. Unfortunately, the main Hawaii Hatchery is over 18 years old and severely deteriorated. There is an urgent need for reconstruction because the hatchery can’t accommodate the increasing number of eggs that ARCAS collects. This is where you can step in to help rebuild a hatchery and save a species. Reaching the $2,500 tipping goal means ARCAS can purchase the most essential materials needed to begin building the initial structure for the hatchery.

  Earthworker is a practical, innovative approach to begin constructing a new economic system that respects the environment and its workers. Earthworker aims to establish Eureka’s Future, Australia’s first green workers’ co-operative to manufacture solar hot water units. By establishing Australia’s first workers’ co-operative for sustainable manufacturing, Earthworker can produce the first run of solar hot water units under license with the tipping goal of $9,895. Let’s help give Earthworker a License to Co-operate.

    Shawn D. Ross

I am a Northwest Native living in Washington State. A graduate of Washington State University and University of Phoenix with degrees in Architecture and Education I write about social, cultural, and personal improvement on the StartSomeGood Blog and SDRinspire. I am also a filmmaker and owner of Giraffe and Penguin Productions, a single daddy of two beautiful children, avid reader, writer, and hat wearer (Not in that picture but believe me, I wear ‘em). I am currently at work on my first feature length documentary. Follow me @shawndross and visit my websites: sdrinspire.tumblr.com and giraffeandpenguinproductions.tumblr.com.

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