LOHAS Kaleidescope
Published: Wednesday, November 01, 2000
Also at Expo East, the winners of this year's Socially Responsible Business awards were announced: Horizon Organic (HCOW) of Boulder, Colo.; Bethesda, Md.-based Honest Tea; Northeast Cooperatives of Brattleboro, Vt.; Peace Works of New York; Seven Bridges Cooperative, Santa Cruz, Calif.; and Paradise, Idaho-based Trinity Springs.
Washington-based World Resources Institute (WRI) awarded $25,000 to each of four winning companies in the organization's first New Ventures Business Competition during its Investor Forum, held Sept. 25-26 in Rio de Janeiro. Honored for their ocial and environmental value as well as their business savvy were Colombian organic-coffee maker Café de Mesa de los Santos; Ecuador-based bio-inputs provider Greenaqua Ltd.; sustainable hardwood flooring company JOLYKA Bolivia S.R.L.; and Mexican charcoal maker Noram de Mexico, S.A.
Green Mountain Coffee (GMCR) on Oct. 13 was recognized by Forbes magazine as one of America's 200 best small companies. Additionally, six of Green Mountain's certified-organic coffees received fair trade certification from TransFair USA, which guarantees small-scale coffee farmers a fair price for their crop.
This fall the San Francisco-based Sierra Club recognized two environmentalists, a politician and a reporter with awards honoring their work: The John Muir Award went to Carla Cloer for her 20-year effort to protect giant sequoia trees in California; the Edgar Wayburn Award was given to Rep. Maurice Hinchey,
D-N.Y.,
honoring his governmental service to the environment; the David Brower Award for environmental journalism went to Washington Post reporter Michael Grunwald; and the Chico Mendes Award was awarded to imprisoned Mexican anti-logging activist Rodolfo Montiel Flores.
The Goals for Americans Foundation in Washington announced that Peter
H. Raven, Ph.D., director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, is this year's recipient of the Lady Liberty Award for Nature and the Environment.
BB King, Los Lobos and Michelle Branch played a benefit concert for Sedona Ecofest 2000 on Oct. 21 in Sedona, Ariz. The event raised money for the Save Long Canyon Project, Nature Conservancy, Center for Biological Diversity, Resource Center for Environmental Education, Humane Society of Sedona, and the BeneFest Foundation.
Denver Broncos quarterback Brian Griese seems to have taken a page from the playbook of an unlikely gridiron mentor, the Dalai Lama. The young QB has had a bumpy ride during his first years in the National Football League. He suffered through a difficult season last year as the designated replacement for retired NFL legend John Elway. Subjected to boos and hate mail, Griese picked up The Art of Happiness, the Dalai Lama's best-seller.
“For me to go on with my life and to deal with all the pressures and anxieties that I have, I need to understand what I'm here for, the things that make me happy. It's not fame and it's not money and all those things,” Griese told the Denver Rocky Mountain News. Griese's new perspective seems to be working for him on the football field. He's currently rated among the top quarterbacks in the NFL.