Niagra Conservation: Saving Our Oceans One Flush at a Time

When you think about it, a life of a toilet is really quite an unappreciated one. With its stationary lifestyle, dirty vocation, and monotone scenery (the wall), the toilet lives a life of loneliness and self-pity. To top it off, it is often blamed for wasting water, even though it sits helplessly akin to its over-indulged and much taller neighbor, the shower.

However, the lowly status of the toilet is promptly transforming with the unmasking of Niagra Conservation’s revolutionary Stealth Toilet. This innovative piece of bathroom technology steeply reduces water that is needed to “do your business.” For example, it uses a meager 0.8 gallons per flush compared to the EPA maximum of 1.6 gallons.

‘How does it save more than half a gallon of water per flush,’ you ask? The secret in designing such a green toilet is in the air bubble. After the Stealth Toilet is flushed, a special tube transfers air to the trap way below the tank. That air bubble displaces the water in the trap, which then pushes the water up into the bowl. This results in a dramatic reduction in water usage, and as you flush the air creates a vacuum that effectively and efficiently discharges the bowl.

The Stealth Toilet isn’t the only green weapon in Niagra Conservation’s arsenal. Headquartered in Cedar Knolls, New Jersey along with satellite offices scattered worldwide, Niagra Conservation is the only company in the world that manufactures efficiency products and administers turnkey programs. Many of their products have been featured worldwide in a wide array of media, and that’s certainly nothing to turn your nose at. Have YOU helped save the world today?




For more information, visit: niagraconservation.com, inhabitat.com

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San Francisco: Home to Rice-A-Roni and Free Bank Accounts

You don't always have to be a mobster to stash your savings under the mattress. While this previous tactic held its advantages, when random guests needed a place to crash, “sleeping with one eye open” brought on a whole new meaning. All jokes aside, many families throughout our nation are literally living “paycheck to paycheck.” For this reason, the city of San Francisco, California, along with several other financial institutions launched the campaign Bank on San Francisco.

The city’s initiative highlights one main focus: granting citizens access to bank accounts and financial education. When the pilot began in September 2006, over 50,000 unbanked households existed in the city. After only two years, more than half of those households had signed up for accounts.

The primary reason for the lack of household checking accounts was that many of the families lacked government-issued U.S. IDs. Under the Bank on San Francisco program, however, the seventeen participating banks and credit unions must accept Mexican and Guatemalan IDs. Now, people have the opportunity to keep their money in a safe place instead of having to use check-cashing services that often usurped more than 5% of their net income each year!

The program also offers money-management training which helps its participants to spend and invest their money wisely, in addition to granting them access to professionals who can help them get out of debt or plan ahead. Free classes and seminars are also available to those who are enrolled in the program.

Bank on San Francisco has become such a success that Governor Schwarzenegger signed a bill to expand the program statewide in California. With it’s tenacious social service programs available to its citizens, the city of San Francisco is paving a way to equality one bank account at a time. In doing so, it has not only created a unique opportunity for its citizens, it’s shifting social responsibility to a more local-friendly level, which we think deserves an ‘A’ credit rating. Have YOU helped save the world today?






For more information, visit: www.fastcompany.com, bankonsf.org

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NBA Cares: Leadership On and Off the Court

In light of the highly anticipated battles between the Lakers and the Celtics for the coveted NBA championship title, we at Brushfire thought it was only necessary to highlight the league’s helpful organization, NBA Cares.

NBA Cares is the league’s global community outreach initiative targeting social issues such as education, youth and family development, and health and wellness. As a part of their mission to demonstrate leadership in social responsibility, NBA Cares extends its reach to children and families worldwide through philanthropy, hands-on service and legacy projects.

Since its launch in October 2005, NBA Cares (which entails the league, its players and teams) has raised more than $140 million for charity, provided more than 1.1 million hours of service from its players, and built more than 484 places where kids and their families can live, learn, and play peacefully through communities all around our globe.

The NBA’s global reach has helped to grant a unique opportunity to support community partner campaigns that are working to combat current issues that plague our international society. The league harnesses NBA Cares as its portal to address these current situations. NBA Cares has supported initiatives that address a wide array of social issues such as the promotion of literacy, the eradication of malaria, and HIV/AIDS education.

Through the help of some esteemed and well-respected players such as Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash, along with their teams and the league itself, NBA Cares is able to make plays that benefit society as a whole. Whether it’s Ron Artest teaching your kid to read, or Lebron James cleaning up your community, NBA Cares uses its key assets, (its players) to help make the world a better, and more equal level playing field. Have YOU helped save the world today?







For more information, visit: http://www.nba.com/nba_cares/

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Greener Innovations Give Us a Better Reason to Fly the Friendly Skies

In a generation where cell phones are getting smarter and technology getting brighter, the air travel industry has proved to be a great disappointment. From increasingly cramped personal space to overpriced space food, commercial aviation seems to almost be traveling, well, backwards. That is until now.
In an effort to break the monotony, few airlines are striving for a more, greener approach to air flight. Airlines such as Southwest and Continental have implemented fuel efficiency improvements, waste reduction programs and increased recycling, and are investing in newer and thus more fuel-efficient airplanes.
Always ahead of the game, Virgin Atlantic has become the first major carrier to test the use of biofuels on passenger flights. Following suit is also Air New Zealand, Continental, Japan Airlines, JetBlue, and Lufthansa.
Boeing is breaking ground with its development of a carbon-neutral jet fuel made from none other than algae. In fact, Boeing’s newest jet, the 787 Dreamliner, boasts 20% more fuel efficiency than its now archaic predecessors.
By far the most avant-garde thinking is coming from a Mississippi-based company named Hunt Aviation. These creative optimists are dreaming up a fuel-free airplane. Yes fellow social firestarters...you heard right! Hunt Aviation is working on fabricating a prototype small plane that harnesses the natural forces of buoyancy (thanks to helium-filled pontoons) for lift-offs and gravity for landings. Coupled with that it contains an on-board wind turbine and battery to power everything in between. This my friends, is the future of our skies. With all of these new and improved green innovations in aviation, it will sure make flying the friendly skies, that much more enlightening (in every sense of the word). Have YOU helped save the world today?




For more information, visit: www.thedailygreen.com, www.fuellessflight.com

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The Power of Perseverance: An Inspiring Story on Dr. Benjamin Carson

Some people are simply destined for greatness. When all the cards are stacked up against them and overcoming seems to be a matter of impossibility, they somehow manage to make it through to the end, completely unscathed. They are those people whom we can only dream of meeting, but hold far too much weight on their shoulders for us to emulate. Dr. Benjamin S. Carson is no different from one of these few people.
Growing up in downtown Detroit, Carson was raised by his single mother, along with his younger brother in an environment that mapped out only a path of failure. It wasn’t until his mother, who only had a third-grade education, challenged her sons to strive for excellence by setting study times each day and keeping their television time to a minimum. After graduating from an ivy league college and becoming a leader and innovator in science and medicine, Dr. Carson not only met, but far surpassed his mother’s challenge.
Some of his career highlights include the first separation of craniopagus twins joined at the back of the head in 1987. In 1997, he also laid claim to the first completely successful separation of type-2 vertical craniopagus twins in South Africa. In 2001, he was named by CNN and TIME Magazine as one of the nation’s twenty foremost physicians and scientists. That same year, he was selected by the Library of Congress as one of the eighty-nine “Living Legends” on the occasion of its 200th anniversary. Even Hollywood took the chance to capitalize on his lifelong achievements by creating a movie starring Cuba Gooding Jr. in his place, called “Gifted Hands.”
In addition to his perennial list of accolades, Dr. Carson went on to create his foundation, the Carson Scholars Fund in 1994, which awards students who have embraced high levels of academic excellence and community service with $1,000 college scholarships. Today, over 800 Carson Scholars have been named and have received over $800,000 in scholarship funds to help finance their ongoing education.
Dr. Carson is helping heal people on a multitude of levels. When he’s not in the classroom enlightening inquisitive minds, he’s in the ER granting second chances in life. When he’s not traveling around the world learning from his past failures, he is gifting money to a youth in need, paving a way for them to be a success. At Brushfire, we hold people like Dr. Carson in our highest respects. Have YOU helped save the world today?




For more information, visit: carsonsholars.org

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One Man's Trash Has Become The Ocean's Treasure

Ever wonder what happens to the debris that you spot randomly floating aimlessly about in the ocean? Does it become home to curious sea life or provide shade for a wandering star fish? We think not. When it’s not being hoisted into land fills, that unwanted ocean trash is now being transformed to expensive furniture...go figure!
Inspired and designed by world renowned architect, Eugenio Menjivar, LOTO is an organically inspired lamp series that takes its characteristics from the lotus flower. The stories of the lamps and the flowers also parallel one another. Similar to the immaculate lotus flowers that grow within muddy swamps, LOTO lamps are born from the unwanted plastic debris from our world’s oceans. The LOTO series is an eco-experimental body of architectural artwork that transforms abandoned household materials into precious and sought-out items, allowing plastic to be reborn to educate consumers and engineers about sustainable design.
It’s not that we are giving you the green light to start dumping your trash into our great oceans. However, it’s nice to see things that were once forgotten, now become a center piece for ingenuity, idealism, and innovation. Have YOU saved the world today?



For more information, visit: inhabitat.com, eugeniomenijivar.com

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Lebron Isn't the Only One With a Field Goal

When describing Cleveland’s “cool factor”as a city, most would omit its endless nightlife or sprawling skyscrapers. However, not every city has to be a busy metropolis in order to be considered progressive. Although many would boast that it’s home to one of the world’s best (and highest paid) basketball players, truth be told, Cleveland is a trend setter when it comes to keeping it’s streets clean (literally and figuratively).
Last winter, Cleveland was ranked twelfth in the “Most Creative Cities” nationally. Although it has been hit hard by rustication and foreclosure, it also plays host to some of the loveliest urban initiatives, a plan to create acres of tree nurseries, oases of native plants, and bountiful community gardens filled with bees and chickens. This “green” strategy was formulated at Kent State University’s Urban Design Collaborative and is funded by the city and the Surdna Foundation.
The main purpose of this new initiative is to primarily boost property values and community morale in neighbors burdened with vacant lots and condemned buildings. To top it off, the city has proposed a “Mow To Own”program that encourages neighbors to maintain nearby lots to push for a more symbiotic relationship between the city and its inhabitants.
So what if Cleveland is the so-called ugly duckling of the mid-west cities? With it’s new push for greener initiatives, it is carefully paving its transformation into becoming this country’s swan. Have YOU helped save the world today?



For more information, visit: www.city.cleveland.oh.us, www.fastcompany.com

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