Locals Share Green Action

The Food Group Minnesota is not your typical food pantry.  Yet that is where they started originally over 40 years ago.  They provide excellent examples of ways that community organizations can take a much larger role in addition to meeting immediate hunger-fighting needs.  The Food Group Minnesota grows, harvests, buys and distributes healthy foods with multiple programs.

Laura Mirafuentes is the perfect spokesperson for The Food Group. She has worked there for over eight years using her skills in fundraising, program management, and her 10 years of experience working in the food and agriculture sector to make a difference for local food systems and local food justice in the greater Minneapolis, MN area. She has worked with The Food Group since 2014, where she currently oversees fundraising for the organization and spent several years managing Big River Farms, a 150-acre certified organic incubator farm for beginning farmers of color.  

Laura has served as Project Director with multiple USDA awards and has helped various other organizations successfully attain their own federal grants as an independent consultant. Laura Mirafuentes currently serves as Vice President on the Board of Directors at Mississippi Market Natural Foods Co-op. She graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in 2009 with a B.A. in English and is bilingual in Spanish.

https://thefoodgroupmn.org

Podcast sponsored by: GOGREENLOCALLY ORG, 501c3 NV nonprofit

Hosted by: Jenny Nichols, Executive Director

Edited by: Avery Sigarroa, Communications Coordinator

Bainy Suri is the CEO and Founder of Eco Community Solutions. She is a grassroots activist, an attorney, and a mother to her son Kai. For the past eleven years, she has worked on social and environmental justice issues in Princeton, across Mercer County, and the State of New Jersey.

As a first-generation, Indian-American, female and the single parent of a special needs child, the environment, diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice are relevant, important issues in her professional and personal life. 

Bainy served as the Executive Director of the New Jersey Environmental Lobby until June 2022. Prior to working there, she volunteered with a number of community programs: combating a lack of diversity, holding social justice student exhibitions, co-chairing committees, sitting on nonprofit boards, starting new social and environmental justice industries, and serving soup in soup kitchens.

Bainy has been invited to speak across the State on her work to stop plastic pollution and authored the first plastic pollution draft ordinance in New Jersey in 2011. She has lectured at Pratt Institute in Manhattan and at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.

 http://eco.inforest.com/

Healthy Eating Education & Farming - Kerin Gould – Author of “Produce With A Purpose”

Kerin Gould has a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Health and a PhD in Native American Studies. She has worked with food-related non-profits, but eventually focused on developing her own sustainable, non-toxic, wildlife-friendly farm and exploring a new way to connect vibrant fruit and veggies with those who strive to enhance their health with delicious recipes using farm-fresh produce.

She is the author of “Produce With a Purpose” which has delicious recipes specifically geared to people recovering from cancer.  By honing in on the nutritional value of various types of produce while taking inspiration from recipes from some of the best gourmet food cultures in the world, Kerin gives hope and knowledge on how attainable it is to produce more abundant health and a greater quality of life, while enjoying delicious easy to prepare foods.  All this knowledge helps support the health of her community while supporting local farms farming with nature.

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/produce-with-a-purpose-kerin-leigh-gould/1140626686?ean=9780578327075

Amazon (Kindle and paperback): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KR8H1WB/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_0ZF9FZJK8EAG2546ZVS9

Indiebound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780578327075?fbclid=IwAR3wifQOAlLuNuDtpP-b7zEM1TrJuK_fMn3cojwg-g0MgAI_WwHhVSp9ke0

Bookshop.org (supports local brick and mortar stores) https://bookshop.org/books/produce-with-a-purpose-so-your-doctor-told-you-to-eat-more-fruit-and-vegetables-now-what/9780578327075%20/

Press kit:  https://bykerinleighgould.wordpress.com/media-press-kit/

Web site: http://producewithapurpose.net

Podcasts: https://producewithapurpose.podbean.com/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCraJWtD7VEwI-zS1mez4Ong/videos

Substack: https://kerin.substack.com/

Sacramento residents can find her column in their neighborhood ValCom newspapers and her articles for ValCom is online at https://www.valcomnews.com/?s=kerin+gould

Basil Camu is the co-owner of a local tree care company called Leaf & Limb located in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Basil is also the founder of a nonprofit volunteer-driven tree nursery that grows native trees sustainably to give away to the public at no cost.  The project is seeking to support restoration projects both in urban, suburban, and wild areas.

Basil loves all of the aspects of natural ecosystems from the trees, to soil, wildflowers, insects, bats, and fungi. He is a Treecologist, ISA Board Certified Master Arborist, a Duke graduate, and is committed to taking action that helps care for and restore the planet. Though trees are his passion and profession, he also loves cultivating flowers in his garden, restoring native meadows, and propagating plants from seed.

Project Pando website:  https://www.leaflimb.com/project-pando/

Leaf & Limb YouTube channel

Welcome to Project Pando:  A Volunteer-Driven Tree Farm that Grows Native Trees to Give Away for Free

https://youtu.be/wgKffg5b3B0

Project Pando in 8 Minutes – a Plan to Help Heal the Planet – TLC Wild Ideas

https://youtu.be/Jq37-ThXuyY

Don Pierce has spent nearly his whole life working to protect the environment. After decades of work as a professional environmentalist, Don concluded that a new approach––one focused on the environmentalist and not just the environment––was needed.

When famed conservationist David Brower asked him to write “a piece” to show environmentalists how to persevere, the result was a series of online courses that is good for both environmentalists and anyone seeking happiness and the preservation of nature. This series––the Heartwood Path––helps people to develop spiritually, helps people discover the benefits of communing with nature, and helps people find the abundant, abiding, and authentic happiness that comes from helping others, including natural beings.

Don formed his first environmental group––a tree planting club––when he was nine. After that, he was president of both his high school and college environmental organizations. After a few years as a professional river conservationist, he was hired by Brower to be the Midwest Representative of Friends of the Earth. Pierce has led numerous conservation groups, including the Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club. He was a governor-appointed member of the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission.

He has a Bachelor’s Degree in environmental science, a Master’s Degree in political science, and Master’s Degree in social work. When he was not working to protect the environment or guiding people down the Heartwood Path, Pierce––a qualified life coach and mental health practitioner––served those who needed his care––including those who are young, aged, mentally ill, or mentally disabled.

Don Pierce has been a professional environmentalist, drummer, printing executive, team-builder, and social worker.  He is an avid canoeist and a photographer. He has authored a lengthy guide to attractions along the Missouri River, numerous conservation articles, and his auto-biography (available at Amazon).  He loves to walk in nature with his dog. He divides his time between California and Missouri. He has two grown daughters: one, the mother of his two grand-daughters, in St. Louis;  and the other somewhere with her husband on a sailboat that is often moored in Santa Barbara. 

https://www.heartwoodpath.com/

https://www.instagram.com/heartwoodpath/

https://www.facebook.com/heartwoodpath

Winona Bateman is the director of Families for a Livable Climate in Missoula, Montana.  They are seeking to connect people for shared action through local family-friendly events that help take action that ensures a livable future for all.   Their vision includes a healthy home planet, connected communities, and a resilient, and equitable economy.

Winona has a background in communications and sees one-on-one conversations as part of the solution to build a community, to create more meaning in our lives, and to work on solutions that are a part of a more equitable and livable future.

8 ways MT families can engage on climate in 2022: https://livableclimate.org/new-and-inspiration/2021/12/30/top-x-ways-mt-families-can-join-the-climate-movement-in-2022

A guide to getting involved: https://livableclimate.org/new-and-inspiration/2021/7/12/friend-our-climate-needs-you-now

https://www.facebook.com/familiesforalivableclimate

https://www.instagram.com/livableclimate/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdtmynboHz5ZaPZ0GHvpZvA

https://twitter.com/livableclimate

Multi-media Stories – T. Addison Brown, Emerging World Co-Founder

T. Addison Brown creates multi-media stories as a fundamental and immersive form of communication that intends to engage on an intuitive and sensory level. Guided by Buddhist teachings her activities have emphasize on safeguarding all forms of life.

During her tenure as Director of Philanthropy for Levity Foundation she created the See Me Project, South Africa. A Kodak sponsored photography event that partnered with South African Organizations NOAH, LoveLife and the KwaMashu township. By giving cameras to children, this project allowed the children to become the storytellers. This project brought global awareness to the lives of orphaned children living with the impact of HIV/AIDS.

She directed and produced the documentary film “See Me” with Los Angeles based production company, Intuitive Entertainment. The film “See Me” was narrated by Academy Award-winning actress, Susan Sarandon. While enjoying the collaboration with Intuitive Entertainment, Addison created and served as consulting producer on the LifeTime Television series “Top this Party Los Angeles” and “Top This Party Las Vegas”.

Currently, Addison is directing her focus on the Emerging World Project, where she serves as co-founder and creative director. EWP is a transmedia storytelling project in response to the multitude of system changes we are seeing in the world today. Through immersive storytelling and conversations with some of the most incandescent minds, EWP is creating advocacy campaigns, documentary films & graphic novels that promote personal and collective transformation aimed at asking the hard questions about humanity; its past, present and future.

https://emergingworldproject.org/

Their first audio media project is the podcast “what are you doing here?” where Addison serves as its host and is joined by co-host 12yr environmental activist, Marley.

https://anchor.fm/whatareyoudoinghere

Lara Tomov has always been drawn to sharing experiences with others to connect people and place. She has worked in the film and television world for over a decade, primarily as a cinematographer. This work has taken her around the world, from peaks to ocean depths, for documentaries and television networks such as Discovery and Travel Channel. She has also worked with organizations such as The Nature Conservancy and Environment America. Last year she started up her own media brand, “Stories for Action”, with a mission to use visual and audio storytelling to create connections for healthy environments and communities to thrive.  She has since moved home to the mountains of Montana, where she is focusing her work for the next year. Lara has a BA in Film from Emerson College and a Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Systems from UCLA.