MiniMonos Friday Featured Friend -- Global Green USA

In 2008, I had the pleasure of meeting Matt Petersen, President and CEO of Global Green USA.  He was a guest of The Hillary Institute  and spoke at a dinner in Christchurch, New Zealand.  The dinner was incredible.  It included Dr Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the 2007 Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the President of Kiribati who brought tears to my eyes with his heartfelt plea for the future of his homeland with the impact of sea level rise and climate change.  (You can read an interview here where he says Polar Bears get more attention than his people).    The following year I was honored to speak for The Hilliary Institute myself, on the role of entrepreneurship.

Matt Petersen and his Global Green USA organisation are hugely  inspiring.  I must disclose that I am a member of Global Green USA, and proud owner of their organic “Respect your Mother” t-shirt!

Global Green USA has done amazing work, greening the clean-up and rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.  Last year Time Magazine said “No organization is doing more to green New Orleans than Global Green USA...". They raised $10m  and have used it well – providing technical expertise and financial assistance to New Orleans schools, housing groups, and city and state agencies, leveraging the money to impact hundreds of millions in reconstruction.

Imagine my excitement when I got an email from Leonardo diCaprio!  Sadly, it was to a list -- but he had great stuff to say about Global Green:  “In places like New Orleans, New York, Los Angeles and Youngstown, Ohio, Global Green is developing and implementing cutting edge solutions like “green” schools, which improve test scores and lower energy bills at the same time. They are also creating the first net-zero energy apartment buildings -- which meet all of their electricity needs from solar and energy efficiency -- for low-income families in the nation."

Now, Global Green USA is taking several of the lessons they learned in New Orleans and has responded to the tragic disaster in Haiti by providing expertise and creating partnerships to help sustainably rebuild Haiti's devastated homes, schools and communities.

Their goal is help create a more sustainable Haiti, with energy efficient, healthy, disaster resistant buildings which will make the nation more resilient to future electricity shortages, public health crises, and disasters.  Global Green USA is helping to provide solar flashlights and other ‘sustainable’ aid for lighting and water purification that can assist in the long recovery from this humanitarian crisis. 

You can donate to Global Green's efforts in Haiti here. Funds donated will be dedicated to helping create healthier, energy efficient, disaster resistant housing, schools and other structures in the months ahead, appropriate for Haiti.

You can also find out more about Global Green here or follow them on Twitter.