GREEN GUARDiANS

Two non-profit organizations, Global Exchange and the Global Citizen Center , are working to develop a standing corps, known as the Green Guardians, who will receive training and tools to enable them to become highly visible public champions of environmental stewardship and peaceful urban living. The program will enjoy the collaboration of reputabl... e non-profits, green enterprises, and city government agencies with specialized expertise that will be shared with the Green Guardian recruits. They will also get connected to green career courses and professors at City College of San Francisco . The apprentices will receive special training in areas such as: Public outreach and education, especially on energy and environmental issues; Urban Greening practices; Promotion of recycling and composting programs; Green building technology and building energy audits; Urban agriculture at Alemany Farm ; Volunteer recruitment, training and coordination; Volunteer safety procedures; and Nonviolent conflict resolution. In addition to their training activities, each apprentice will be tasked with: Organizing activities in their neighborhood which can become the basis for neighborhood-based Green Guardian chapters Liaising with the citywide Green Guardian headquarters at the Global Citizen Center Recruiting volunteers for future expansion of the program. Examples of Green Guardians work will include: Street clean-ups and tree planting in collaboration with SF Green Connect and Friends of the Urban Forest; Publicly interactive recycling/composting programs, including the dissemination of surveys to understand why people compost and recycle or why they fail to do so, in collaboration with the SF Department of Environment ; Public education actions and trainings in collaboration with the SF Urban Alliance for Sustainability; and Participation in the large volunteer program that runs the SF Green Festival, an event that achieves a 96% diversion rate of waste; Parties and recreational outings for youth to build a strong positive ...Read More