With the Academy Awards taking place on February 27, Suzi Amis Cameron, wife of legendary Oscar award-winning producer, director, and writer James Cameron, is calling all designers 18 and over with $75 in their pocket to think about creating a dress for her Red Carpet, Green Dress competition.

Not just any dress of course, but a sustainable red carpet stunner that Cameron will wear as she walks down the strip at the Global Green pre-Oscar Party in Hollywood, California on February 23. While none of James Cameron’s movies are up for an Oscar this year, he will be receiving a Milestone Award from The Producers Guild of America, so looking good this year is pretty important (no pressure young designer).

Last year’s winner, Jillian Granz, a Michigan State University senior majoring in apparel and textile design, was the lucky designer who was flown out to L.A. and set up in style, not to mention getting some face time with both Camerons.

The Red Carpet Green Dress contest is an international fundraising competition with all funds raised going toward the MUSE Global program and MUSE School Ca.The MUSE Global Program fully funds a school in Mae Sot, Thailand for children who have escaped the genocide in Burma (Myanmar). Approximately 50 percent of the children at MUSE School Ca. are on financial aid. This aid provides many children from under-privileged situations an opportunity to receive an education, which might otherwise not be possible.

To learn more about entering the contest and facts, you can continue reading here.

Top image from Red Carpet, Green Dress: Jillian Granz, a Michigan State University senior majoring in apparel and textile design, who won the Red Carpet, 2010 Green Dress competition.

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I was frustrated last night when sipping foul tasting water from my water bottle at Zumba class. Why did it taste like old whiskey? Since I was supposedly burning 1,000 calories, I was more thirsty than usual, and could have gone for water that didn’t taste funny. Then, I thought about Charity Water and its mission, and I was just grateful not to be forced to walk five miles to fetch fresh water, as is the case for a billion people on the planet.

“We invite you to put yourself in their shoes, follow them on their daily journey, carry 80 pounds of water in yellow fuel cans, dig with their children in sand for water, line up at a well and wait eight hours for a turn. They didn’t choose to be born into a village where the only source of water is a polluted swamp.  And we didn’t choose to be born in a country where even the homeless have access to clean water and a toilet.”

These compelling words are part of the mission statement of Charity Water, a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to the people described – people in developing nations. The activists behind the projects admit they are not offering grand solutions and billion dollar schemes, but rather things like freshwater wells, rainwater catchments and sand filters – all purchased with donations of a mere $20 a person. You can also sponsor a freshwater well in a village for $5,000 or fund a well and latrines at a school of 1,000 students for $20,000.

It’s a simple concept, really, all of us pitching in to get this life source to our fellow earthlings, and one that occurred to a young New York product promoter named Scott Harrison in 2004, when he took off his diamond Rolex and left the streets of NYC for the slums of civil war torn Central Africa. You can watch the video of his odyssey here.

Is the organization making a dent? In the past four years, it has raised more than $20 million and funded nearly 3,000 water projects, partnering with water organizations, the nation’s schools, big name celebrities, and hosting dynamic fundraising balls with top designers staging fashion shows to get movers and shakers on board. In other words, Harrison has done for water what he did for vodka and beer and other products, proving if your priorities are in the right place, you can literally quench a thirsty world.

A handful of other ways to get involved:

Start a campaign for your birthday


(Will and Jada Smith are celebrating their birthdays by taking three top fundraisers on a trip to see wells in Africa)

Wear charity by Purchasing Products from the Charity Water Store

Volunteer in New York City or Walk for Water Nov. 26

The post Whetting the World’s Whistle: $20 Million Drilled and Growing appeared first on EcoSalon.

In southern Vietnam, the population depends on healthy farming for its livelihood, but several factors challenge that goal: discharged animal agricultural waste into open gutters and community waterways, as well as using traditional fuels  – such as wood and coal for cooking – which causes deforestation, hurting land productivity through drought, flooding and erosion.

The solution? Biodigestion, a method for treating animal waste to produce a  methane-based biogas that can be used for cooking or lighting. This source of clean and renewable energy aimed at helping some 50 families is being funded by people like you and I through Ecodana.

The San Francisco-based for profit social enterprise is seeking to better the lives of the poor in rural areas around the world by identifying and facilitating funding for sustainable projects in their communities. In terms of acquiring the biogas systems, the funds raised will cover the subsidy ($11) and training provided with each installation ($9) bringing the cost per family at $20.

Ecodana has a number of ongoing sustainable grassroots projects around the world, and depends largely on the internet to spread the word and get people involved.

Recycle Plastic to Fund Scholarships: In rural Vietnam, this program was set up to reward schools for raising the environmental awareness of theirs students by collecting plastic waste and recycling it. Over 100 million tons of trash accumulates in the country each year with only a small fraction being picked up.

Building Dry Composting Latrines in Guatemala and Cambodia: Coming to the rescue of families who mostly rely on Pit toilets – shallow holes in the ground that are breeding grounds for disease-carrying flies, parasites and other microorganisms that spread cholera, typhoid and infectious hepatitis. The latrines are ecologically-sound and in high demand in areas prone to flooding during the rain season.

Ecodana was founded by filmmaker and photographer Marc Henrich in 2008, who was raised in five countries and speaks several languages which helps his international awareness. The idea for these grassroots projects was sparked when he moved his family to Laos and became involved with Sunlabob, a renewable energy company.

In creating his global grassroots mission, he located various partners in the areas he is helping. They include Thien Chi (Goodwill), an independently operated Vietnamese non-profit organization helping with the agricultural projects; the Cambodian-based charity MaD; and the Asociacion Amigas del Sol, a multi-ethnic women’s organization promoting communities in the southwestern coastal region of Guatemala. The projects chosen are often overlooked by larger organizations as too insignificant, but they can make a big difference in lives, according to Ecodana.

“We believe these small grassroots projects can be hugely influential and deserve to be supported,” says Henrich. “By harnessing the power of technology, we can bypass the issues of large institutional giving and get people directly involved with grassroots projects anywhere in the world.”

The post Ecodana Rural Project: Toilets and Clean Energy for the Cost of Coffee and a Donut appeared first on EcoSalon.