Sundancechannel.Com Launches Original Web-Series “Eco-Heroes”

Sundance Channel has launched the original 13-part web series, “Eco- Heroes,” hosted and created by Majora Carter, an environmental activist and host of network’s eco-destination, THE GREEN. The web-series was announced today by Sundance Channel Senior Vice President, Digital Media and Business Strategy, Christopher Barry. “Eco-Heroes” will also air interstitially as part of THE GREEN each week on Sundance Channel on Tuesday nights.

Each “Eco Heroes” piece is a two-minute webisode in which Majora Carter interviews one person who has been an inspiration to her and her work.

The subjects of “Eco-Heroes” take advanced, cutting-edge environmental thinking and break it down in a manner that makes the information accessible to the general public. The video pieces are available to view at www.sundancechannel.com/thegreen and further information about the subjects are also available within Eco-mmunity, Sundance Channel’s online environmental forum featuring blogs, news and discussions, located at www.sundancechannel.com/ecommunity. Also featured on the Sundance Channel micro-site for THE GREEN are blog posts, discussion boards, extra footage and photos.

“‘Eco-Heroes’ continues Sundance Channel’s commitment to create original content for our digital platforms,” said Barry. “Majora Carter is an inspiration to so many people and to feature the people that inspire her is a great addition to our website.”

Eco-Heroes Subjects

Ira Ehrenpreis – General Partner Technology Partners
Ira leads the firm’s Cleantech investment practice, investing in Energy Technology, Water Technology, and Materials Science opportunities.

Shai Agassi – Founder and CEO Project Better Place
Shai is working to take the entire country of Israel of all oil.  View the video here.

Jerry Fiddler – Chairman Salazyne
Solazyme is a synthetic biology company that unleashes the power of marine microbes to create clean and scalable solutions for the renewable energy, industrial chemical, and specialty ingredient markets.

Sarah Gitlin – Student Activist
Sarah is working to make her highschool, Dalton Highschool in New York City, more environmentally friendly.

Zem Joaquin – Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Ecofabulous.com
Zem is a promoter of Cradle to Cradle design, meaning that everything that comes from the earth (and what doesn’t) should go back to the earth either as a biological nutrient or should include a plan for the next incarnation of the technical nutrients.

Adam Green – Founder and Director Rocking the Boat
Rocking the Boat is a boat building and environmental education program for students in the southwest Bronx.

Sherry Strong – nutritionist
Sherry is a chef & nutritionist who teaches people that what’s good for the body is good for the planet while still pleasing the palate.

Jonathan Demme– filmmaker
Majora and Jonathan discuss the representation of environmental issues in feature films.

Robert Thurman – Buddhist
Robert Tenzin Thurman is co-founder and current President of Tibet House U.S., a cultural institution dedicated to preserving and promoting the wisdom and the arts of the distinctive and endangered Tibetan civilization.

Zena Nelson – Founder South Bronx Food Cooperative
The South Bronx Food Cooperative is a green shopping alternative to what is generally offered in
the Bronx providing healthy and affordable food available to all who want it.

James Wells – South Bronx Greenway Steward
After spending ten years in jail for armed robbery, James graduated from Sustainable South Bronx’s Ecological Stewardship Training (B.E.S.T.). He now works as one of their Greenway Stewards tending to the trees and plants and installing green roofs in the South Bronx.

Morgan Simon – Co-Founder and Executive Director of Responsible Endowment Coaltion
The Responsible Endowments Coalition works to foster social and environmental change and to promote corporate reform through university endowments by educating and empowering a diverse community of university members and allies.

Joanna Opot – Executive Director of Starting Bloc
StartingBloc provides socially conscious undergraduate students and young professionals with the education, career opportunities and networks necessary to drive social, economic and environmental change through their careers and lives as engaged citizens.

THE GREEN, Sundance Channel’s Tuesday night programming destination devoted entirely to the environment, offers entertaining sources of information and inspiration about the planet we call home. THE GREEN original programs and interstitial segments provide viewers with ideas and tangible opportunities for all facets of their lives, demonstrating how to work green, play green, eat green, dress green and live green. THE GREEN can be found online at www.sundancechannel.com/thegreen; also find other green resources at Eco-mmunity, Sundance Channel’s online environmental forum featuring user-generated eco information, located at www.sundancechannel.com/ecommunity and on the Eco-mmunity Map, Sundance Channel’s green map tool that features local green resources throughout the world, located at www.sundancechannel.com/map.

Here is an ECO HEROES video with ADAM GREEN

Source: CSRwire

Orrin Hudson - working to help 1 million kids

Orrin Hudson of BeSomeone, Inc has blazed the trails throughout America teaching youth to “be someone.”  He has been a source of inspiration for many and has also used chess as a stimulus for children to believe in their own ideas and to learn from the decisions they make in life.  A chess champion, U.S. Air Force veteran, and former Alabama State Trooper and entrepeneur, Hudsom points to his own life as proof that every move counts and that winning is a choice.

Orrin was interviewd by Spark Plug Radio in Atlanta about his philosophy and work with kids.  Listen to that here:

Angela Hines - super mom becomes lawyer

Meet Angela Hines, the once-struggling mother of five and public-housing resident from Queens who put herself through hell, and law school, while lavishing the kind of affection on her children that would make any loving parent proud.

Whoever said, “You can’t have it all,” hasn’t met Angela  Hines. “I never really thought of it in those terms,” she says. “But I just knew that if I kept moving forward one step at a time, eventually I’d reach my goal.”

Hines graduated from CUNY Law School and was admitted to the bar in January, fulfilling a lifelong dream. Her professional life as an attorney will cap a career trajectory that includes earning her bachelor’s degree in law and paralegal studies at New York City College of Technology (City Tech), working at various jobs, including spending months as a bus driver at JFK International Airport, and successfully completing her studies at CUNY Law School.

These accomplishments are all the sweeter because during this time Hines struggled as a single mom to bring up a family of five — that’s right, five children! Three were born while she was an undergraduate at City Tech and two while she was working as a paralegal before attending law school.

“Growing up African American in a low-income Queens housing project, I realized early on that getting an education would be my only way out. Often, luck was not on my side,” she explains.  “My Mom died the day before I was to take my placement test for college.” Taking out loans became a way of life for her, a strategy she says she looks at as an investment, “even though I feel like I’ll be paying back forever.”

It’s clear that Hines has imbued her children with her love for education. Today, they are all well on their way. Her 19-year-old is a sophomore at Virginia State; her 17-year-old attends the School of Art and Design; her 14-year-old is studying at Taft, a boarding school in Connecticut; and her seven- and eight-year-olds are both enrolled in the Gifted and Talented program at P.S. 106, their neighborhood elementary school in Far Rockaway, Queens.

“My kids struggled along with me,” she explains. “I realized that I had to stay focused. And I always knew that if I succeeded, they would succeed. It was that simple.”

Succeeding, for her, always also had something to do with helping others. As a resident of Far Rockaway, for example, Hines became familiar with the difficult life situations of immigrants.  She translated that knowledge into becoming the chief administrator of City Tech’s Immigration Clinic for the past four years.

“The clients love her,” says Concetta Mennella, chair of City Tech’s Department of Law and Paralegal Studies, explaining that Hines’s main duties involved supervising work-study students and volunteers. “She’s accomplished wonderful things — like working doggedly to overcome obstacles faced by people whose citizenship applications were first denied by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.”

Hines, who happily states that she married her longtime boyfriend in 2006, says that she plans to devote her legal career to working in the public interest. “Her story is an inspiring example of how an individual can break out of a cramped environment, make positive life decisions, tackle the challenges of earning a bachelor’s degree, move on to complete law school, pass the bar and finally enter a career with the goal of serving the community,” Professor Mennella says.

“Through it all, being a mom didn’t stand in the way of her career moves. And her educational and vocational journey didn’t interfere with her determination to nurture her family. Angela did it all. She’s one of our great against-the-odds success stories,” Mennella says.

New York City College of Technology (City Tech) of The City University of New York is the largest public college of technology in New York State. The College enrolls more than 13,500 students in 57 baccalaureate, associate and specialized certificate programs. Another 15,000 students enroll annually in adult education and workforce development programs, many of which lead to licensure and certification. Located at 300 Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn, City Tech is at the MetroTech Center academic and commercial complex, convenient to public transportation.

Angela was featured in the NY Daily News earlier this year.  You can read the article titled “Hero mom to be sworn in as lawyer” here.

Sources: NY Daily News, CUNY Newswire,  CUNY

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