The San Diego Brotherhood Lions Club Greens The Block!

Clando Brownlee President & Founder of The San Diego Brotherhood Lions Club a newly chartered club of Lions Clubs International and the first African American club in the State of California attended the “Moving San Diego to a Clean Energy Future Rally” September 24 2011 with his Kool Climate Kids group, and was part of the worldwide rally organized by 350.org to demand solutions to the climate crisis with excitement building in over 2,000 events in 171 countries!!  And on that day we were able to share our Green The Block for clean air campaign with many who attended.

Over the past two years Kool Climate Kids / SD Brotherhood-campus club has provided their waste collection & recycling services on a volunteer basis at more than 60 local events, with their "separate at the source system" which reduces the weight and cost to haul waste. Benefits are: revenue stream from recyclables, lighter transport of waste, less emissions, and cleaner air! The money saved is shared with us & those funds are going to be used for eco-retrofits of low-income multi-unit housing complexes. The plan is that the free installation of faucet aerators, low flow showerheads, CFL light bulbs, and water heater blankets, as well as sealing cracks & drafts, changing out air & heating filters, and many other small home repairs will be voluntarily performed by the SD Brotherhood Lions Club campus club members, to foster a “we serve” attitude while creating a training environment for youth to be introduced to the entry level jobs of the future, the green collar jobs of our new economy.

Kool Climate Kids is conducting a series of E-waste events in the San Diego area to raise awareness, funding and support for San Diego Green The Block for clean air campaign. FREE - E-Waste Drop Off: Kool Climate Kids & partners.   Our partners have the breadth of services, depth of resources and nationwide alliances with facilities capable of serving the recycling needs of all industries they go above and beyond all EPA regulations / guidelines and honor the clean air act for handling e-waste. Our partners carry 3-5 million dollars in insurance coverage. All of the electronic products we handle are recycled and processed within North America using American owned processing centers and other responsible recycling partner facilities. They do not send anything to developing nations for processing! The more events we do the greater need to hire processors! Green Jobs now!!!

Electronic waste is a name given to electronic equipment that is at the end of its useful life. Some of these products can be resold, refurbished, or dismantled to reduce the need for virgin materials in manufacturing. In late 2007, there was 4.6 billion pounds of e-waste in the United States. But, less than 900 million pounds, under (20%) of that waste was recycled. Most of it still ends up in landfills in the United States or shipped to other countries such as Malaysia, China, India and Pakistan. September 2008, there was legislation introduced that would call for a ban on the export of toxic electronic waste to developing nations. The House adopted a similar legislation. “Domestic recycling of our own e-waste can create U.S. jobs and prevent contamination of the air at home and abroad.” According to the Commerce Department, as much as 80% of e-waste collected for recycling is still sent overseas.

We are working with Green The Block on this campaign targeted at indoor & outdoor air quality.  We are organizing mixers / workshops to educate hair and nail salon owners and their clients about how they can protect themselves from exposure to toxic air pollutants.  A lot of hair products, when used at high enough concentrations, for lengthy durations can increase chances of getting cancer or experiencing other serious health effects, such as reproductive problems, birth defects, and aggravated asthma. We teach stylists and clients how making small changes in the materials, processes, or practices can reduce or eliminate air pollution at the source. We are so pleased to be partnered with the Healthy Hair Project, which has developed a host of products with “Green Science” degradable cream technology, for the all natural California Green hair striating products that are safe green and healthy.