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Posts Tagged ‘new york’
Sunday saw the first ever youth led National Summit on Youth Programs and Participation in the Outdoors. 500 young people from each of the 50 states were chosen as ambassadors and they set the agenda, lead the conversations and developed action plans. The North Face, the Conservation Fund and Camelbak pledged $350,000 to fund the top 10 programs that the kids came up with. We can guarantee more money will pour in from other companies to fund the fresh perspective and harness the mind-blowing energy of this group. They voted on many important topics and their perspective will go straight to the oval office to help inform decisions made by the current administration. Government dignitaries in attendance included Rhea S. Suh (Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget U.S. Department of the Interior), Harris Sherman (Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment Department of Agriculture), Jane Oates (Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training Department of Labor) & Amy Salzman (Associate Director for Policy Outreach at the Council on Environmental Quality).
prAna was proud to be a part of this historic event as our founder Beaver T. sits on the Outdoor Foundation board. The foundations main purpose is to inspire more kids to get out and enjoy the outdoors. Led by Executive Director Chris Fanning, the foundation and it’s staff pulled off an incredible event in New York’s beautiful Central Park. Saturday saw interviews on the CBS Early Show followed by an outdoor adventure playground and entertainment festival with nature based activities all celebrating the great outdoors in the park.
For more information please visit the Outdoor Foundation & Outdoor Nation
Check out the pics…
On August 7th 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire illegally rigged between New York’s twin towers, then the world’s tallest buildings. After nearly an hour dancing on the wire, he was arrested, taken for psychological evaluation, and brought to jail before he was finally released.
Following six and a half years of dreaming of the towers, Petit spent eight months in New York City planning the execution of the coup. Aided by a team of friends and accomplices, Petit was faced with numerous extraordinary challenges: he had to find a way to bypass the WTC’s security; smuggle the heavy steel cable and rigging equipment into the towers; pass the wire between the two rooftops; anchor the wire and tension it to withstand the winds and the swaying of the buildings. The rigging was done by night in complete secrecy. At 7:15 AM, Philippe took his first step on the high wire 1,350 feet above the sidewalks of Manhattan…
James Marsh’s documentary brings Petit’s extraordinary adventure to life through the testimony of Philippe himself, and some of the co-conspirators who helped him create the unique and magnificent spectacle that became known as “the artistic crime of the century.”
Professor Muhammad Yunus’ never wanted to be a banker and he certainly never imagined winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Yet his quest to help the working poor invest in themselves led to both. Known as the father of microcredit loans in Bangladesh, Yunus spent years developing the Grameen Bank, and in 1983 it became a fully licensed bank with a twist-it was owned by its borrowers-mainly poor women. Yunus is famous for saying that in developing Grameen he deliberately did the opposite of what a conventional bank would do. Today, the success of Grameen Bank has changed the lives of 7.5 million Bangladeshi borrowers and their families (in 38 countries worldwide.- delete- it women in Bangladesh they added other countries and now there are 100million mc loans world-wide. But why stop at Bangladesh and poor nations? As the global financial industry struggles with plummeting markets and job loses, Yunus holds steady with his latest banking initiative in New York. Under intense scrutiny from international press and academics, Grameen America opened for business in a nondescript office building in Jackson Heights, Queens in late 2007. As the U.S. credit market crumbled and the giant banks of Wall Street faltered one by one, Grameen put 500 potential women borrowers into groups of five, with loans of up to $3,000 dispersed for small business ideas each of them (wanted to try) had developed. Following the Bangladeshi model, each group of five became its own loan committee, with the women making weekly payments and contributions to a mandatory savings account as they built their income generating activity. In one year, the Jackson Heights branch of Grameen America grew to loan over $1.5 million to 550 women. Just twelve months after opening, they’ve added two more branches in Brooklyn and Manhattan, with the plan to open as soon as possible (dozens of) other US cities in (the coming years) 2010. TO CATCH A DOLLAR follows the journey of two of these women borrowers and the changes their lives undergo over the course of a year. Working with borrowed money for the first time, they begin to realize their own potential and the power that comes with it. This is the inspiring, logic-defying yet true story of one man’s idea, a strange new kind of bank, and the millions of lives it changed.
Written by Gayle Ferraro
Thanks to Jim Butterworth @ Naked Edge Films
Why move or demolish the boulder when you can incorporate it into your living room?
“Since he was a boy, John Carson, a New York City builder and real estate developer, dreamed of building a house around a giant stone. He and his wife, Sharon Slowik, estimate that they looked at 75 properties before finding this one in Margaretville, N.Y. At left, the boulder in its pre-construction surroundings. The 250-ton bluestone boulder, measuring 8 feet high, 15 feet wide, 22 feet deep, dominates the living space in the two-level glass-and-copper house that the couple built around it. When searching for the right boulder, Mr. Carson, at left, said that he told a broker: “I want something massive — I want something the size of a train car. I want something bigger than would ever be appropriate.” A rock ledge stood 20 feet to the side of the boulder, which meant the house would have to be built on two levels. So Mr. Carson designed a home that was essentially two interconnected boxes on two separate foundations. Mr. Carson and Ms. Slowik wanted a home that was not only airy and open, but also was, as Ms. Slowik puts it, a collaboration with nature. They created a glass-walled “light well” — essentially a three-foot-square courtyard open to the sky — between the master bath and a hallway, from which they can watch the snow and rain. New York City subway grating is used as a bridge from the second-level dining room to the living room and an outdoor deck. “There’s just something inviting about being able to rub against nature in your living room,” said Mr. Carson.
Cross Posted from NYT
If you are anywhere near NY today, check out Ken Burns, Alison Krauss, Carole King, The Counting Crows, Augustana and many more artists at the premiere of what looks to be a great film!
On 9.23.09, we invite you to New York City’s Central Park, East Meadow for Feel Free, an event that celebrates and pays tribute to the National Parks. Feel Free is designed to engage you in celebrating what has been described as one of America’s best ideas. Join Ken Burns, Alison Krauss, Carole King and many more artists for an evening of song and film. NO TICKETS REQUIRED.
