10 women making positive strides worldwide.

It is clear that the more power women have, the more positive change we will see on a global level.

“If you empower women, you can change the world,” said actress-activist Meg Ryan while trekking across northern India on a third world humanitarian mission with representatives from the international aid organization CARE. The goal is to break through barriers keeping so many women in poverty and without rights.  Like Ryan, the women on our list tap their armories to confront, protest and articulate what it takes to improve lives and the planet at large.

1. Kavita Ramdas

Leader of The Global Fund for Women, Ramdas has garnered unprecedented support for international human rights for her sisters by tripling grant assets during her tenure from $6 million to $21 million. Fluent in Hindi/Urdu, English, German and conversational Tamil, Spanish and French, she speaks the language most activists care about today: The wide ranging exportation of good will. The Fund’s grants have ranged from several hundred to kick start a business to $800,000 to halt human trafficking of females and sexual  abuse. In an interview with journalist Lynn Sherr, Ramdas says this is the moment for women in making a difference and an impact on poverty, ongoing war and militarization, which perpetuates a culture of violence against women: “Violence against women continues to be condoned on some level,” she shared. “Why is it that you have statistics like a woman being raped every six minutes in this country, in the United States?”

 2. Hillary Clinton

“Obviously, we and many other nations are quite hopeful that these ‘flickers of progress’ as President Obama called them will be ignited into a movement for change that will benefit the people of the country,” the 67th Secretary of State Clinton articulated upon arriving in reform-ready Burma as the first senior American diplomat to visit in 50 years. Taking the high road in standing by her man-boss, Clinton’s brilliance and measurable experience makes many wonder what if she had been elected president? Hillary-speak ranges from talking gay rights at the UN to gauging parliamentary elections in Russia and passionately seeking an end to the horrendous treatment of women in post-revolution Egypt. The always eloquent and former first lady proves resourcefulness and resiliency are DNA advantages which allow women like her to lead, shine and earn their very own spots in history.

3. Rachel Maddow

Demonstrating the growing popularity of the MSNBC talk show host was her edging out Michael Moore in an Alternet poll of the Most Influential Progressive Media Figures of the year. A charismatic, somewhat androgynous counterpart to the neo-conservative women of Fox News, Maddow clearly holds her own sans the biting wit and sarcasm of John Stewart or shameless flirtatious fluttering of a Piers Morgan. She’s real – the Christiane Amanpour of her time who doesn’t need to risk life and limb in wartime to gain worldwide attention. The Rachel Maddow Show is the second highest-rated program in its time slot ahead of Larry King Live, behind only Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity Show. Whether or not they dig the liberal pundit, viewers who tune in certainly are enlightened on why crucial change in jobs, healthcare, housing and hunger are occurring so slowly – with a mirror held up to the GOP.

4. Asmaa Mahfouz

Call it the vlog that sparked a revolution – and it was delivered by one Egyptian woman who had had enough. Thousands fled to Tahrir Square, the Egyptian government tried to block Facebook and you know the rest. One of  five recipients awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2011, Asmaa Mahfouz went from relative obscurity to overnight becoming a hero, credited with spurring on that mass uprising. So many who watched her on YouTube were moved by her bravery. As one wrote: “Asmaa, you have inspired the whole world with your strength of spirit and courage. As you know, governments don’t speak for the people; Governments usually speak only for the rich and powerful. ” Hopefully, she can lend the same courage to combating the systematic violence against women in post-revolution Egypt – where journalists and protesters are stripped and brutalized in the same streets where women risked their lives to effect change.

5. Maude Barlow

“Do not listen to those who say there is nothing you can do to the very real and large social and environmental issues of our time,” warns Maude Barlow, a charismatic Canadian who serves as national chairperson of the Council of Canadians and the Washington-based Food and Water Watch. She also founded the San Francisco-based International Forum on Globalization and a Councilor with the Hamburg-based World Future Council. Barlow practices what she preaches when it comes to water woes and climate change issues – earning 11 honorary doctorates and countless awards including the 2005 Right Livelihood Award (alternative Nobel) and the 2009 Earth Day Canada Outstanding Environmental Achievement Award. More recently, she was named the U.N Senior Advisor on Water Issues – the ideal person to convince governments that clean water is a fundamental legal human right that must be preserved through laws and immediate action.

6. Meg Ryan

It would be cliche to describe this former “Sally” as the quintessential girl next door (since it has been done repeatedly) as now she is a full fledged woman, who seeks to empower the disadvantaged – exporting good will to the third world. Ryan’s four-day trip across northern India with CARE signaled she has entered another phase of stardom, getting comfortable in her own skin to “hold hands” with some of the world’s most disadvantaged women. Ryan, like other Hollywood do-gooders (Oprah, Sandra Bullock, Angelina Jolie, Christina Applegate, Isabella Rossellini) has the gift of visibility; wherever she goes the cameras follow and that leads to public awareness.

7. Michelle Goldberg
 

Former Senior writer for Salon and current author and Senior Contributing Writer for The Daily Beast and Newsweek, Goldberg counters the radical extremism of the Michelle Bachmann’s of the world in pushing for reproductive freedom for women and affordable healthcare for all – in addition to other progressive platforms. Her first book, Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism was a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the 2007 New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism. More recently she made a solid platform in her Feminist Case for Flawed Reform - penning a manifesto of sorts  which puts forth the inequities of the health-insurance system and how legislation will further erode abortion coverage for women – a major step backward for reproductive rights. Yet feminists should support it anyway, she argues: “More than 17 million women are uninsured, and millions more are under-insured. Women are more likely to rely on their spouse’s insurance coverage leaving them vulnerable if they’re divorced or widowed, if their husband becomes old enough to qualify for Medicare or if their partner’s employer decides to drop dependent coverage, which is happening with increasing frequency.”

8. Kate Stohr

Grassroots design for the greater good is what Architecture For Humanity envisions. So with that, Stohr and co-founder, Cameron Sinclair, endeavored to direct $4 million in disaster relief and rebuilding in post-Katrina New Orleans and tsunami ravaged Southeast Asia. What started as a humanitarian non-profit has expanded into an international force with 40 chapters on five continents which networks with local partners to develop innovative models in sustainable and humanitarian design solutions. No wonder she was named one of the great green giants by Tree Hugger as well as being honored as the recipient of Wired magazine’s 2006 Rave Award for Architecture. A former journalist, she has tapped her background in project management, website development and deep understanding of urban planning issues as managing director of AFH. Smart urban planning might be the very thing that saves cities, as well as denizens who will be facing increasing shortages in resources as the U.S. continues to be late to the plate when it comes to taking action.

9. Anita Acevedo

Warm healing hands as insight into the body over western meds and cutting? Acevedo is booked months in advance as word has spread that this rolfer and former family therapist offers the integrated alternative approach to modern medicine with a track record of healing patients with herniated disks, pinched nerves, drop foot injuries, and all other debilitating neurological and physical impairments brought on by activity or age. She also has aided infants suffering from chronic earaches and colic and children with ADD, scoliosis and autism as well as teens dealing with anxiety and hormonal shifts. The fact the southerner practices in Marin County is further testament to her positioning herself in the hub of the naturopathic and homeopathic revolution in health care – teaming with psychotherapists and other well known practitioners like Dr. Todd Maderis to take away acute pain. It all was born of her own healing when she was an endurance athlete in Alaska competing in 100 mile adventure races that took a toll. “My body was compressed, achy, tight and off balance with chronic pain in my low back and my jaw was so tight I was experiencing migraines,” she recalls. “Through Dr. Rolf’s life study of manipulating and organizing connective tissue, I became taller, more flexible and graceful. Many of the unresolved childhood traumas I had been processing began to be uncovered as my body unfolded and opened.”

10. Laura Kimpton

Her mammoth Burning Man installations  go beyond her highly collected montages and encaustic works to spread messages such as “MOM” and “LOVE” and “OINK.” Her book Who Gave Birth that came out in 2010 was described by the Northern California artist as “a celebration of all MOMS and the feminine energy that comprises the true understanding that the original MOM is the earth.” Kimpton salvages recycled objects for her mixed media – found objects, bird skulls, original photos, picture frames, books and resin to let her creativity take flight. If you consider art to be effective communication, then you can see how one persuasive Kimpton picture is worth a thousand words.

Image: Perfecto Insecto, Lilianwagdy, Laura Kimpton, CARE, Architect, Council of Canadians, Paulagordon, RolfingMarin, NYDailyNews

The winds of change are always blowing.

With Occupy Wall Street serving as a gauge for U.S. contentment, it’s not hard to see we just aren’t a very happy nation. As with any cause, however, there are always bands of people who do more than walk the talk – they shout from the rooftops and actively work to move us away from the negative and into the positive.

In Seeing The Gulf From Above, Anna Brones writes, “A picture is worth a thousand words. The expression may sound cliche, but in the conservation movement, it couldn’t be more true.” In her story, Brones highlights Tom Hutchings, who takes Gulf of Mexico visitors up in his Cessna 182, knowing very well the visual power of seeing the Gulf oil spill’s environmental catastrophe from above. Giving people the ability to see outside of their immediate life circle to see we’re all very connected? Now that’s what we’re talking about.

Occupy Wall Street is giving people a voice to express their frustration with the status quo. But who are the leaders and participants and who are they to think they can rally and invigorate when they themselves lack social skills? In Sex by Numbers: What We Can Learn From #occupywallstreet, columnist Abigail Wick writes: “It is my conviction that the quality of our relationships – how we engage with and support one another – can have profound societal implications.”

Vacant spots as eyesores? Seed bomb ‘em. That’s what groups of guerrilla gardeners are doing to forcefully create change in their neighborhoods. In Flowers of War: Seed Bombing Gets Political, London writer Sarah Lewis-Hammond quotes seed bomber Vera Zakharov, “Seed bombing is activism. It allows us to continue a relationship with the spaces around us, even if the law says we can’t.”

Writer Scott Adelson did a series for EcoSalon on Angel Investors “examining equity investment’s relationship with businesses that have traditionally been out of its mainstream, including women-owned, green and long-term-growth-oriented.” What Adelson uncovered in his series VC’s, Angels and Investing in Women: What Are They Not Thinking? was pretty startling and worth the read on how successful women are running businesses with little investment from Angels (and how that should change).

Remember the food pyramid when you were little? Well the triangle has changed quite a few times over the years and it’s because food and diets have actually gotten very complex. Writer Anna Brones interviews Dr. Marion Nestle who weighs in on how food guidelines have changed in Foodie Underground: Dr Marion Nestle On The Complexity of Food Issues.

 Learn the basics of being a food activist.

Dr. Marion Nestle was right when she said:

Vote with your fork. Every time you make a food choice, you are voting for the kind of food system you want. More voting for sustainable, local, organic would be game changing. It doesn’t have to be 100% one way or the other, just more. But I also think people have to vote with their votes. Join organizations, write representatives, run for office!

Activism comes in all shapes and sizes, and if you care about food, you can take action three times a day. Interested in food activism? Then you might want to check out Civil Eats‘ Kitchen Table Talks.

Civil Eats is hosting another round of its Kitchen Table Talks tonight, Tuesday September 20, in San Francisco, and it’s all focused on food activism, which will culminate one week later:

We encourage participants to take their newly learned skills the following week to a free San Francisco mayoral candidate forum on Monday, September 26, sponsored by the San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance, San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance, and Bay Area Water Stewards. There you can engage candidates on their perspectives on issues related to urban agriculture, schoolyard greening, and the city’s management of water resources.

When: Tuesday, September 20, 2011, Food and drink at 6:30 pm; Discussion at 7:00 pm

Where: 18 Reasons, 3674 18th Street (@ Dolores), San Francisco

Joining in the conversation will be special guests San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar, Eli Zigas, co-coordinator of the San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance, and Stephen Burdo, Political Director for Kathleen Russell Consulting.

Check out Civil Eats for more info.

Image: Civil Eats, Rick Bradley

Honey appreciation? Alpaca fur gratitude? Tinnitus awareness? Start Googling and you’ll soon find every month is everything month.

Dearest,

It’s September, my birthday month, provenance of the astrological Virgin (oh, hilarity), inaugural back-to-school bane of parents everywhere, potential promise of a sliver of summer in San Francisco, most likely the arrival of some constellation I cannot identify, and so much more. So very, very much more.

September, for example, is not only the annual celebration of my own fabulous existence, it is also Recycle Glass Month. According to a presser from one Ed of Recycle Glass Month, who would like us to know that “Recycle Glass Month was created following the success of Recycle Glass Week in 2010, which resulted in 55 events in 20 states generating 22 tons of collected glass,” glass recycling gatherings are kind of a big deal.

I like this. Geek debates over the true environmental cost of recycling glass versus plastic aside (and I’m firmly in Camp Glass, if you care), I had no idea there was a glass recycling tour going on strong the likes of your reasonably profitable ’80s hair band. Kudos, Ed.

But then I learned from our marketing manager and resident foodie, Anna Brones, that it’s also National Honey Month. And that while our savvy and sassy beauty editor, Katherine Butler, will be dishing green beauty tips in Boulder with our Yoga Journal pals and EcoSalon readers at an organic wine ‘n cheese soiree later this month (don’t worry, we’ll post details soon, Boulder babes), she’ll be missing out on the celebration of National Alpaca Farm Days. As will I, because while I am all for local, natural fibers from the obviously cuter versions of camels, it’s also Chicken Month, Baby Safety Month, Self Improvement Month, Better Breakfast Month, and National Courtesy Month. Frankly, I find the last to be eminently conscious, if foregone. I could be focusing on the wrong priorities, however, because it’s Blueberry Popsicle month, and who am I to argue with antioxidants?

It’s also Piano Month and Classical Music month; lovely. The fact is there is simply no shortage of awareness one can have no matter which month one is currently ambling, consciously, semi-consciously or unconsciously through. There’s probably even a day for celebrating prepositions at the end of sentences. Which I excel at.

It goes on:

September 3rd: Labor Day, just past (I labored, how about you?)

September 9th: Grandparents Day

September 11th: Patriot Day (They really couldn’t think of something more appropriate? No. This is Congress we’re talking about.)

September 16th: Stepfamily Day

September 17th: Constitution Day and Week (Sure to delight Michele Bachmann; perhaps she’ll set aside some time to read the Constitution during this sacred period.)

September 21st: International Day of Peace (Sounds cool.)

September 22nd: First Day of Autumn (Possibly the advent of summer in San Francisco, fingers crossed!)

September 28th: Native American Day (Why isn’t this a federal holiday?)

September 30th: Gold Star Mother Day (Grant me a millenialism: OMG WTF.)

I’m not saying we shouldn’t have appreciative holidays, and events about appreciative holidays, and lots more awareness generally. If we can have entire conferences devoted to furries and trekkies and porn stars, by all means, bring on the alpaca and honey. Or peat and loam. Maybe gojis and hypermiling? The possibilities are infinite, and I’m, like, deeply aware of this. So I’m not complaining. But while we’re at it, why can’t September be National Sara Without an H Month? Think about it.

Image: sudhamshu

Does it take a celebrity to speak for the majority of Americans?

Oscar-winning actor Matt Damon has been in the news quite a bit lately, and it’s not because he’s promoting a new movie. Damon, who is low-key about his personal life, comes on strong when he’s passionate about a political issue or a philanthropic cause. He has lit up the blogosphere, YouTube, print media and even late night television with his recent, high profile interviews on his philanthropy, Water.org, and his opinions on the state of education in the U.S. today and the recent U.S. debt agreement.

How much weight should we give celebrity opinions? People (and especially children and teens) are often swayed by celebrity endorsements and strive to emulate them, so when celebrities talk, many people listen. As a society, we eat up what they are wearing, what they are doing and who they are doing it with. Sometimes that means we are treated to diatribes about tiger’s blood, an episode of couch-jumping, or homophobic jokes during a stand up comedy act.

Celebrities don’t have to worry about being re-elected; they can simply say what they believe, whatever that may be. Damon’s opinions have gotten so much attention that outspoken Democrat Michael Moore has commented that he should run for president.

The July/August issue of Fast Company profiled Damon and the nonprofit organization Water.org that he co-founded with Gary White. Water.org is working towards providing safe drinking water to people in developing countries. Ellen McGirt described Damon’s immersive involvement in the organization as far and above the level of normal celebrity cause spokesperson. Damon has turned himself into a “development expert.” McGirt explains that, among other things, Damon can talk knowledgeably about microfinance with rural bankers, give reports from the field at the annual Clinton Global Initiative, and has personally thanked donors like Pepsi’s Indira Nooyi. Damon has also put in the time researching, studying and listening to experts in the field and visiting the very people it affects. This has garnered him a level of quiet respect.

Damon has been in the spotlight before for his opinion. A staunch Democrat, he supported President Obama during his campaign, but recently professed his disappointment in Obama’s handling of some key issues, including education, the Afghanistan exit strategy, and the Wall Street crisis. “I no longer hope for audacity,” he told Piers Morgan in a March 2011 appearance on his show.

On July 30, Damon gave an inspiring speech during the Save Our Schools march in Washington D.C. referencing his mother, a professor of early childhood education, and his public school education growing up. He described how he learned because he wasn’t taught to perform well on a standardized test, but was taught by teachers who were “empowered to teach.”

“This has been a horrible decade for teachers. I can’t imagine how demoralized you must feel. But I came here today to deliver an important message to you: As I get older, I appreciate more and more the teachers that I had growing up. And I’m not alone. There are millions of people just like me.

So the next time you’re feeling down, or exhausted, or unappreciated, or at the end of your rope; the next time you turn on the TV and see yourself called “overpaid;” the next time you encounter some simple-minded, punitive policy that’s been driven into your life by some corporate reformer who has literally never taught anyone anything, please know that there are millions of us behind you. You have an army of regular people standing right behind you, and our appreciation for what you do is so deeply felt. We love you, we thank you and we will always have your back.”

Following this speech, a journalist and cameraman baited Damon and his mother, saying that teachers needed incentive to put in effort and that ten percent of all teachers were probably bad. Damon shot back, “Ok, but maybe you’re a shitty cameraman.”

Soon afterward, Damon was back in the news after the debt crisis was resolved, voicing his disappointment with the result.

“The wealthy are paying less than they paid at any time else, certainly in my lifetime, and probably in the last century,” he said. “I don’t know what we were paying in the roaring 20′s; it’s criminal that so little is asked of people who are getting so much. I don’t mind paying more. I really don’t mind paying more taxes. I’d rather pay for taxes than cut ‘Reading is Fundamental’ or Head Start or some of these programs that are really helping kids. This is the greatest country in the world; is it really that much worse if you pay 6% more in taxes? Give me a break. Look at what you get for it: you get to be American.”

Is Damon a rich celebrity? Yes. Should his opinion mean more because he has a high profile? Maybe not, but in a time when people who aren’t lobbyists or wealthy donors have a hard time being heard by those in government who are supposed to represent their interests, it’s what we’ve got.

Image: JustJared

ColumnYou care because you’re awake.

When it comes to Big Issues and Serious Problems and Matters of Cultural Import, I’m more what you’d call crust than cupcake. So in sitting down to bang out a fresh column, the opportunities for righteous ranting were everywhere I looked. For example, last Thursday I learned there’s a whole happy movement around a woman whose contribution to food culture is Semi-Homemade recipe products made from processed and packaged ingredients that are, apparently, fabulous. And that she’s being hailed as the next Martha Stewart (not to mention the next first lady of New York). Friday morning I learned of a woman, Barbara Reich, who makes $150 per hour – and she’s booked – to help affluent families organize their stuff into stuff boxes with stuff labeled instead of stuff piles just lying around on top of stuff. We learn that she’s helped her own family sort their Crazy Bands into the appropriately orderly clusters, e.g. “Animals”, “Sports”, “Rare”. Crazy Bands commentary alone could fill an iPad app.

And then Saturday happened. A deeply disturbed young man opened fire on U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and dozens of others at a political gathering in Tuscon, Arizona. Six are dead, 14 are wounded and Giffords is in stable but critical condition after being shot at near-point blank range with a semiautomatic weapon. The media frenzy and Twitter stream since have exploded in everything from grief to fresh debate about issues such as terrorism and gun control and bigotry – to Sarah Palin caught in her own crosshairs, so to speak. The incident is tragic, yet for many, it was inevitable. There’s blame, and counter-blame, and accusations of politicizing, and whining about accusations, too. What if the shooter had been Muslim? What if the political affiliations were reversed?

About those issues. Gun control, mental illness, violent rhetoric in politics, the environment, immigration, bigotry and above all an unconscious rage: it’s all before us, encapsulated in one sickening, surreal and yet unsurprising event in a grocery store parking lot. Dismayed as I was over the all-but-instant – with a side of gleeful – Palin slamming on Twitter over the weekend, the heaping of attitude doesn’t undermine the valid and painful point. We have steeped ourselves in a culture of violence so that we’ve almost forgotten the bitterness of the taste.

It’s not just political jargon or the fact that parents will take children to see an action flick but dither over a nipple. It’s not just pain porn and casual misogyny. It’s not just police abuse and the highest industrialized rate of adult incarceration. It’s that our leadership believes, wholeheartedly, that violence can solve problems – that it can solve anything at all. It’s that so much of our leadership is terrified to confront what we may dread in a conscious way. So many quaking cocks of the walk.

And of course, we react to pain in predictable ways: inflicting pain right back, numbing ourselves, erecting vast and expensive theaters to aggression and security with 24/7 ticker tape showtimes.

We all have a library of pop wisdom picked up as impressionable children. I remember watching the ’94 Olympics where Dan Jansen finally won his gold. In the obligatory fawning profile piece, he recounted his struggles with anger and how he finally learned, with the help of his therapist, not to sweat the small stuff. He gave his favorite practical example: not getting so worked up at other drivers, even when they cut you off. I wasn’t anywhere near driving age but somehow that stuck in my mind. So, thanks Dan, I’m not a road rage babe. Rush Limbaugh, of all people, drove one thing into my young mind that sticks to this day (yes, I grew up in a Republican home, and no, Mr. Limbaugh didn’t succeed with much else): “Words mean things.” Well. Rush is right. Words mean things. And I hope we’ll take a long look at our words and what they’re saying about us.

Despite all of this, I don’t share the bleak views of some. I don’t think our culture is jumping the proverbial shark, in spite of the success of The Jersey Shore and the excitement about only partly homemade foods and wacky rubber bands. We have terrifying problems, yes. We’re standing at the crumbling edge of global warming devastation, still unsure if we should turn back. We’re involved in expensive, protracted, ugly exploits and wars around the globe. Economic uncertainty and basic security still tease us through the fog. And yet: You care. You care because you are awake, and your heart aches.

There is a beautiful line from the African music group Tinariwen’s song, Assouf: “What can I do with this eternal longing?”

You can do a lot.

This is the second in your editor’s new column for 2011, The Insider’s Guide to Life, exploring topics such as media, culture, sex, politics, and style. If she’s got the strength for it, there will be more to come. Cheers and spellcheck!

Image: lil_miss_wit

Great movements must constantly reexamine themselves if they are to evolve and survive over time. They must self-generate their own “waves” – like feminism’s First, Second and Third – to progress in an often hostile, reactionary world, to “make it” into popular culture. To count outside the cult.

It’s time to ask what this means to the Green movement.

While others have spoken about “third wave environmentalism” in different contexts, the way it makes the most sense is to look at it in terms of the feminist model. Beginning with woman’s suffrage, that movement’s First Wave took on many “officially mandated” inequalities, its Second added to the mix “unofficial” inequalities and lifestyle issues, and its Third is now embracing diversity within the movement and has taken a hard look at some of the shortcomings of earlier incarnations.

Consider First Wave Green to have been 20th century activity surrounding basic environmental laws and practices, such as the establishment of national parks and the advent of wildlife preservation, addressing the most easily identifiable deadly chemicals and carcinogens in the environment, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The current, Second Wave has targeted the consumer, focusing on lifestyle issues such as green consciousness and health choices made by individuals. It has also included the radicalization of the “Green left” and the rise of independent green media. But the evidence shows that green still hasn’t fully tapped into the mainstream; indeed, 2010 has seen consumer and political backlash. For scientists, progressives and the everyday citizens who read sites like this one, it’s both maddening and mind-boggling. Why? Is it time, if not money? Or something else?

It would serve us well to begin to discuss what a Third Wave would look like.

Why now? As we enter the second decade of the new century, many green assumptions are coming under increasingly brighter lights of scrutiny and (sometimes justified) attack. This is in part due the movement’s successes, which  are heroically generating such harsh and determined backlash from the very greatest powers that be – a money- and power-motivated science-denying corporate and pseudo-religious axis that would have the movement die at the next turn.

And here’s some more Why Now: Because green is still niche and has failed to grip the national consciousness in a thoroughly broad-based, mainstream way – something that needs to happen to manifest the kind of change required to “save” our planet. And ourselves.

So what makes a third wave work?

Third Wave Feminism provides an excellent model: It works when a movement has the courage to both embrace its diversity and look critically at previous incarnations and current paradigms – and then has the courage to evolve. This means accepting gains made and respecting the zeitgeist of past efforts, while – and here’s the tough part – deconstructing assumptions to find more resilient truths.

What we’re talking about is taking a look at some of our closely held beliefs and asking ourselves some hard questions: Are things what they appear to be? Have we been making assumptions that might not be based on objective reality? Are we taking important conclusions for granted? What Third Wave Green would embody is the examination of the movements “truths” about what’s good for ourselves and our planet and ask if they are, well, true.

The are many examples of “Green conclusions” that call out for reexamination to help the movement inch closer to more accurate and, if you will, sustainable truths. These sacred cows include environmentalist bedrock, from organic food to green technology, from no fur to no nukes, from recycling to “buy local.” Not even the movement’s core supposition of “environment-first” action should be spared scrutiny. While many of these ideas will hold up to a second look, the reality is that each of these now iconic assumptions have their counterintuitive antitheses that need to be addressed – and in some cases be invited into the Big Green Tent.

Mature movements, like feminism, can withstand unflinching self-examination and criticism from within. Otherwise, it’s a toddler with a tantrum, and the adults are bound to shut the door.

If the Green movement is to survive its continued savaging from the outside as a result of its progress, and in fact enjoy a Third Wave, it must open its arms to diversity of thought and practice from within, even to those points of view that might be outside the norm – for now.

Next week we will look at 10 of the most common green assumptions and their counterintuitive alternatives.

Image: Davichi

They’re building national parks, protecting endangered species, revealing environmental injustice and making crucial decisions that will affect the future of our planet. Or, maybe they’re just making it cool to be vegan. But in all their varied contributions, these 20 women – from global environmental leaders to community activists – are using their power, fame or sheer will to make the world a greener place.

Vandana Shiva

Perhaps no woman alive fights harder for the rights of female farmers than Vandana Shiva, an Indian philosopher, physicist, ecofeminist and environmental activist. Shiva is an outspoken critic of industrialized globalized agriculture and proponent of traditional, sustainable farming methods, and has written about the impacts of corporate international trade agreements in books like Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution and Profit as well as Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply. She founded the Navdanya movement to counter corporate seed control in 1991.

Lois Gibbs

In 1978, Lois Gibbs’s picture-perfect suburban life in Love Canal, New York turned into a nightmare when she realized that her neighborhood was built on top of a toxic dump, making residents sick and causing birth defects. Outraged, Gibbs organized a community effort against local, state and federal governments, leading to the evacuation of Love Canal and the creation of the EPA’s Superfund program, which locates and cleans up toxic sites around the nation. Gibbs later founded the Center for Health, Environment and Justice and wrote several books about the effects of toxic waste.

Daryl Hannah

No Hollywood armchair activist, Daryl Hannah isn’t afraid to get dirty – or arrested – for environmental and social causes. She was jailed for chaining herself to a walnut tree to protest the demolition of the nation’s largest urban farm in South Central Los Angeles, drank biofuel to prove its safety, got arrested again for her role in a protest against mountaintop removal mining and dipped her hands in oil-contaminated water in Ecuador. Hannah, who lives on a sustainable farm in Colorado, vlogs about sustainability weekly at her website DHlovelife.com.

Simran Sethi

Simran Sethi is a familiar face in the world of environmental journalism, appearing to give green tips and discuss sustainability on programs like The Oprah Winfrey Show, the Today Show and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. She’s also a contributing environmental correspondent at NBC News, co-host and writer for the Sundance Channel’s The Green, creator of Sundance web series The Good Fight and co-writer of Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy.

Wangari Maathai

The first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. Wangari Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, a grassroots environmental organization advocating for human rights, good governance and peaceful democratic change through environmental stewardship. The Green Belt has assisted women in planting over 20 million trees on farms, school properties and church compounds and spurred a tree-planting initiative across Africa. The former Kenya Parliament member has gained much-deserved worldwide recognition for all of her hard work.

Frances Beinecke

Frances Beinecke might not be a household name, but she’s more influential than you realize: she’s the president of the National Resources Defense Council, and has been involved with the organization for three decades. Beinecke has helmed some of the NRDC’s most ambitious and successful campaigns, fighting to protect polar bears, preserve our offshore environment and safeguard the health of children.

Majora Carter

Not so long ago, Hunt’s Point Riverside Park in South Bronx was an illegal dumping ground. Now, it’s a beautiful place along the Bronx River for local residents to enjoy green space and fresh air – thanks to Majora Carter, an environmental justice advocate and writer, producer and co-host of several radio and television programs. Carter founded Sustainable South Bronx (SSBx), a non-profit organization that spearheaded a number of Bronx cleanup initiatives and started a green collar job training program. She’s now an environmental consultant.

Sylvia Earle

She’s been called “Guardian of the Sea”, and says she’s happier in a wetsuit than on land. Legendary oceanographer Sylvia Earle is 74 and still actively exploring the oceans, recently getting an up-close-and-personal view of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence has led more than 400 undersea research expeditions and was named Time Magazine’s very first ‘hero for the planet’ in 1998. Author of a cornucopia of books on the sea, Earle is also executive director for a number of environmental organizations including The Conservation Fund and Ocean Conservancy.

Jane Goodall

Nobody in the world knows more about chimpanzees than Jane Goodall, who spent 45 years in the jungles of Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Park observing their lives and challenging conventional notions about their diet and behavior. Goodall pioneered the belief that chimps were capable of rational thought and emotions and has since become a global leader in the effort to protect them and their habitats.

Laurie David

A longtime trustee on the Natural Resources Defense Council, Laurie David is most renowned for producing the Academy Award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth, which played a big role in focusing America’s attention on global warming. David also produced the HBO documentary Too Hot to Handle, and regularly plays a large role in environmental projects like the Stop Global Warming Virtual March.

Mei Ng

“What kind of world will we leave to coming generations?” That was the question that led Hong-Kong born Mei Ng to enter the world of environmental activism, a path that has led to her current position as director of Friends of the Earth. Ng’s volunteer work as a housewife in the 1970s brought her into contact with victims of childhood cancer, sparking a passion to protect children from environmental toxins. Her work earned her a spot among the United Nation’s Global 500 Roll of Honor in 2000.

Julia Butterfly Hill

Can you imagine caring so much about a single tree, that you’d spend two years of your life among its branches, your feet rarely touching the earth below? Julia Butterfly Hill did just that in 1998 and ’99 for the love of “Luna,” a 200-foot redwood tree that was in danger of being felled by loggers. She didn’t come down until an agreement was reached with the logging companies to give Luna a 600-foot buffer to protect her from destruction. Hill’s dedication brought nationwide attention to the problem of deforestation.

Alicia Silverstone

The lovely Alicia Silverstone – perhaps best known for her role in iconic ’90s flick Clueless – is much more than just a model and actress. This animal lover, who lives in an eco-friendly solar-powered home in Los Angeles, is an avid animal rights activist and appeared in a memorable 2007 ad for PETA. But these days, Silverstone has been winning a lot of converts to the vegan lifestyle: her book, The Kind Diet, topped the New York Times bestseller list.

Marina Silva

She was the 2010 Green Party candidate for President of Brazil, gaining an impressive 19.4 percent of the votes cast. She was a colleague of renowned environmental activist Chico Mendes, who was assassinated for defending the Amazon Rainforest. But Marina Silva’s work for the environment is what really makes her stand out, earning her a place among the United Nations’ Champions of the Earth in 2007. Silva, a native Amazonian, fought for environmental protection of the Amazon during her time as a senator and as Brazil’s Environment Minister and remains one of the country’s top activists.

Carol Browner

Few people have more say in some of America’s most crucial decisions about the environment than Carol Browner, current Director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy and former head of the EPA. Her pragmatic approach to environmental issues has won both praise and criticism from environmentalists, but there’s no doubt that she has and will continue to make a big impact. As EPA administrator, Browner started the Brownfields Program which cleans up contaminated land and facilities and brings them back into productive use.

Alice Waters

Crusader for organic and local foods, chef Alice Waters pioneered the fresh style of California Cuisine and has been hailed as a ‘foodie hero’. Owner of Berkeley restaurant Chez Panisse, Waters successfully launched the bid to start a food garden on the White House lawn and created the Edible Schoolyard Project, a hands-on educational initiative teaching kids to raise, grow and prepare their own food using fresh ingredients. Waters is often credited as a major driving force in the current popularity of pesticide-free, fresh, healthy foods.

Habiba Sarabi

In 2005, Habiba Sarabi made history when she became Afghanistan’s first female governor, appointed by President Karzai to run the province of Bamiyan. It was a bold move, but Sarabi had no intention of meekly maintaining the status quo despite her country’s views on women in power. Knowing that Bamiyan is one of Afghanistan’s most beautiful areas, known for the massive Buddha statues that were destroyed by the Taliban, Sarabi has campaigned to turn the natural charm of her home into a money-making tourist attraction. Her work includes the establishment of the Band-e-Amir National Park.

Lisa Jackson

Fighting against the big businesses that pollute our air, waterways and communities is no easy task, especially when they’ve got billions of lobbying dollars on their side.  And whether you agree with her even-handed approach or wish she would take a bolder stance, Lisa P. Jackson, the current head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is one of our most important allies. With nearly 25 years of environmental leadership under her belt, Jackson looks for ways to compromise with corporations and is without a doubt one of the leading female influencers in our nation.

Sangduen Chailert

Known as Thailand’s Elephant Queen, Sangduen ‘Lek’ Chailert developed a deep love for endangered Asian elephants as a child when her grandfather adopted a baby elephant named Tongkum, or ‘Golden One’. So it’s no surprise that she is now one of the most prominent advocates for the animals, which are threatened by poaching and habitat encroachment. Lek’s conservation work has been highlighted in documentaries by National Geographic, Animal Planet and the BBC.

Images: wikimedia commons,  ohio citizen, dhlovelife.com,  simransethi.com,  center for neighborhood technology, treehugger, mospeaks,  noaa.gov,  wikimedia commons,  lauriedavid.com, women of china,  juliabutterfly.com, peta, wikimedia commons, wikimedia commons, david sifry, white house archives, wikimedia commons, mikka22

There are a lot of ways you can measure the scope of the BP Gulf spill crisis. Size is one of them. To help you get some personal perspective on just how vast the footprint of the eco-carnage is, or if you just want to upgrade your present FUD-factor, take a visit to If It Was My Home – Visualizing the BP Oil Spill Disaster.

Created by Andy Linter of Royal Oak, MI, ifitwasmyhome combines Google map software and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration maps to give you an idea of how the disaster might look had the center of the action been in, say, your basement. Simply type in your hometown and take a look at the view from Gulf Zero translated into “in your face” - or go nuts, type in London (as in BP p.l.c., St James’s Square, London SW1Y 4PD; Tel +44 (0) 20 7496 4000).

Now scroll down – yes, past the “About the Spill” fun facts paragraph – and Andy gets to the good stuff: a short and sweet “What Can You Do?” section that provides some excellent links to help you consider taking some action instead of just saying “wow.” Right?

The world will be saved by western women.  Or so says the Dalai Lama. But feminism in the 21st century can be problematic. That is, unless you’re watching Sex and the City 2, where formerly relatable post-feminist characters enthusiastically embrace an outstanding materialism and emotional mediocrity. In this world, even burkas are just fun gift-wrapping for Gucci and Prada! Right?

Wrong – and it was never more wrong than a recent breezy day in Los Angeles. Saturday, June 12th saw the first-anniversary of the Women of the Green Generation with a one-day interactive event dedicated to green women. Founded by eco-preneuer Kris Willey in 2009, Women of the Green Generation aims to create a space where women can share their ideas and passions for solving social problems with economically viable eco-solutions.

Kris Willey, Founder of Women of the Green Generation

Over 300 women and 50 green businesses came together last Saturday to inspire, motivate and empower women in the green world. The event was hosted at Evo-South, the only LEED silver certified eco luxury high-rise in down town Los Angeles. Along with the other guests, I had the chance to check out the latest in eco design, green lit, beauty, fashion and more.

But what was way more impressive that the goods displayed were the women speaking about them. I spoke with green fashion activist Jennifer Miller of Mission Savvy. Marilyn King of Tia’s Bakery offered up her gluten-free cakes. At a panel discussing women in green business, Siel Ju, aka GreenLAGirl, shared tips with the likes of Micki Krimmel of NeighborGoods. Randi Ragan of Green Bliss Eco Spa gave green beauty tips.

And the reoccurring theme of each speaker? We need to get educated. Tata Harper of Tata Harper Skincare stressed the importance of green knowledge. “I won’t put anything on my body that I wouldn’t eat,” she told a crowd of guests and reporters. Randi Ragan of Green Bliss Eco Spa pointed out that the greenwashing in the beauty industry is so bad that many of it is just “bald-faced lies.” Consumers need to teach themselves to read labels and turn to the Skin Deep database for their best information on healthy products. And as Ragan concluded about this gathering of green women, “Everything I see here today is a feminist issue. It’s not about what’s on the surface.” High five, green sister!

Check out Randi Ragan of Green Bliss Eco Spa giving her best tips on how to keep it green: