Clean Agency

"Everyday Earth Day " is closer than you think.

Clean's recommendation to both individuals and organizations looking to create positive change is to marry an environmental commitment to other priorities . For example, if the goal is to reduce your personal carbon footprint and you also want to support local businesses, a good way to start is through buying organic produce from a local farmers market. If the goal is to reduce ocean pollution and you have a previous commitment to exercise more, a good option would be volunteering with a clean up organization to remove litter from around coasts and waterways. The allure of this approach is three-fold:

1. Because many of these activities have other positive benefits, it's easy to strenghten the commitment.

2. Different approaches designed around the same goal can be combined for maximum effect.

3. These choices are easy to share (and enjoy) with family, friends and colleagues!

A good first step is to pick one action or behavior that you want to ripple throughout the rest of your year!

Our new space is finally functioning! We've effectively doubled our square footage by taking over the suite next to ours. Pictured below is Christian Del Maestro, Research Associate and the sliding door that bridges our two spaces.

In the expansion process, we reclaimed a few leftover materials from a television pilot (Edgar Floats) shot in our building. This included several large pieces of dark plexi which function perfectly as writeboards. These new writeboards have quickly become indispensible and have brought about the age of a new Clean favorite tool: the "liquid chalk" marker.

These markers are also perfect for writing on ANY smooth surface, including the glass surroundng our conference room.

In true "think tank" fashion, our team has turned almost every corner of the office into impromptu meeting and brainstorm hubs. Our expansion couldn't have come at a better time.

SEE MORE OF CHRIS JORDAN'S IMAGES>>

From the artist's statement, on Midway, Message from the Gyre :

These photographs of albatross chicks were made just a few weeks ago on Midway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking.

Jordan has also posted a YouTube slideshow of the images.

Ocean Conservancy's A Rising Tide of Ocean Debris and What We Can Do About It is a great snapshot of what's currently being picked up from our coasts and waterways. According to Ocean Conservancy, the report " ...presents data recorded by nearly 400,000 volunteers in 104 countries and locations and 42 US states at the 23rd annual Cleanup."

Check out additional charts and tables or download the complete report .

Also check out the breakdown transparency of the garbage patch in the North Pacific Gyre, created by Good magazine. Of special note: 90% of the floating trash in the world's oceans is plastic .

View the full transparency .

JOIN CLEAN in the Coastal Cleanup Day this September 19th!

Register through Heal the Bay and participate in the largest volunteer day on the planet with over 70 sites in Los Angeles county alone. Not in Southern California? Find a site near you via Ocean Conservancy.

Heidi Luko, Sales Account Exec, proudly stands with her bountiful prize after entering AND WINNING(!) first place in the 30 Years and Growing salsa contest in downtown LA yesterday. The contest was part of a schedule of events commemorating the 30th Anniversary of Los Angeles Farmer's Markets.

The local and organic salsa was a Clean team effort: Heidi credits her win to Seri 's homegrown tomatoes, Candace as lead salsa handler, and Danita as general radish rosette counsel.

(click on the image above to visit projectpotico.org )

Original Beans, a chocolate company that blends production of premium chocolate with restoration of some of the world’s most ecologically threatened regions, has announced a partnership with the non-profit foundation, Wheels4Life.

Our email newsletter routinely includes links to content and resources our team finds helpful. Included below is a collection of articles focused on the emerging green economy. For more, sign up to our newsletter by clicking on the SUBSCRIBE option in the upper right hand corner of this page.


VIDEO & PODCASTS

Green Collar Jobs
NOW on PBS

Green 'Czar' Pushes Jobs,
Community-Building
Morning Edition , NPR

On Paper Series
(via iTunes )


ONLINE RESOURCES

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Green for All

Green Collar Blog

ARTICLES / BOOKS

Jumping into the Green Job Market
GreenBiz.com

Top Green Jobs: Five Ways
Living Green

Switching To Green Collar Jobs
BusinessWeek

Clean is currently reading:



The Green Collar Economy
by Van Jones

NewPage Corp., North America’s leading coated paper company, participated in last month’s second annual Fortune Brainstorm: GREEN, April 20-22, 2009 at the Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel, Calif., and recorded interviews with global leaders from international industries, encouraging dialogue on sustainability issues.