“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
― Shel Silverstein
Movers and Shakers and Status Quo Breakers
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Ireland, Food Cloud
Iseult Ward & Aoibheann O’Brien
A locally and globally trusted partner driving food loss and waste solutions for a more equitable, inclusive, and circular food system.
United States of America
Walt Disney
Founded: The Walt Disney Company Latin America, Walt Disney Animation Studios, The Walt Disney Company, Disneyland, Inc., Walt Disney Records, Walt Disney World, Laugh-O-Gram Studio, Retlaw Enterprises, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Disneyland Resort.
More than a dozen types of materials are collected for recycling at the Disneyland Resort, and guests have access to more than 650 themed recycling containers. The Custodial guest services team helps to recycle 22 tons of material each day. Paper napkins and plastic merchandise bags used by guests are made from 100 % recycled content.
There are approximately 200 wild cats that live in Disneyland to help get rid of rodents. All of the cats were spayed and neutered before being re-released back into the park. When the cats can’t survive off of only hunting the rodents, there are feeding stations set up for them around the park.
Over 700 million people have visited Disneyland since its initial opening.
All of the plants in the Tomorrowland Ride are edible to represent the advancement of humanity.
Walt Disney would sometimes wait in line with park visitors just because he loved spending time with them.
Even after his passing, Walt Disney’s legacy lived on with the opening of Walt Disney World in 1971. and Epcot in 1982. As of 2024, there are a total of 12 Disney theme parks across North America, Europe, and Asia.
Source: https://ghanafuo.com/
Source: https://www.thefactsite.com/disneyland-facts/
Dec. 1901 – Dec 1966
US: Disney World’s biogas facility, a model for converting food waste into energy
“We’re able to turn all of the waste streams into productive products,” says Kathleen Ligocki, the chief executive of Harvest Power, a venture capital-funded clean-tech company that built the Florida facility. “This is our goal – pumpkins to power, waste to wealth.”
The trick is to generate enough revenue to repay the capital investment in a large-scale facility – the one at Disney World cost about $30m to build, Ligocki says.
“The Florida operation is profitable, and as we build the fertilizer business, it will be more profitable,” she said. The plant will process about 120,000 tons of organic material per year and produce 5.4 megawatts of combined heat and electricity, which is enough to fuel 2,000 Florida homes. That meets only a fraction of the energy needs of Disney World, which has more than 30,000 hotel rooms.
Source: https://www.europeanbiogas.eu/7119/
Oct. 17th, 2014
United States of America
Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton, the 78- year old country and rock star icon- selling over 100 million albums worldwide, is a lead to community and country with her track record of giving back. While music is the love of her life – she uses the proceeds she earns to help others in countless ways.
Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, USA , was created in 1986 with the purpose of providing jobs to families and creating a tourist attraction for thDolly’s hometown community to generate income for the community members. For 35 years this is exactly what it has done. This alone is amazing, but Dolly Parton has done so much more over the years.
Since 1990, Dollywood has been home to an eagle sanctuary, which is run in partnership with the American Eagle Foundation. Returning rehabilitated eagles back to the skies has been a fruitful mission.
In 2018, Parton celebrated sending 100 million books to children and she’s been the recipient of numerous awards for her work in literacy. She has funded band instruments, uniforms, and school scholarships, started a student peer mentorship program, purchased malls to build communities and the list goes on and on.
Dolly Parton is a cultural icon of our time as a singer, songwriter, and high-level philanthropist who uses proceeds earned from her music to give back: with world-wide funding of education, literacy, relief funds, wildlife rehabilitation, and much, much, more.
In a 2022 interview: Speaking to National Geographic, she said: “We’re just mistreating Mother Nature. That’s, like, being ugly to your mama, you know? That’s like being disrespectful, you know?”
She added: “So, I really think we all need to pay closer attention to taking better care of the things that God gave us freely and that we’re so freely messing up. We need to rethink that and do better.”
Source:https://mymodernmet.com/dolly-parton-charity-philanthropy/
Outstanding Research Teams
United States of America University of California
A team spearheaded by Yuan Yang and colleagues Matthew T. McDowell, Ariel Jackson, Judy J. Cha, and Yi Cui of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Seung Sae Hong of the Department of Applied Physics at Stanford University in California have been working on a special project.
The research, published in the journal Nano Letters (American Chemical Society, ACS), claims their design helps overcome issues in lithium-ion batteries — including poor electrical conductivity, instability, and volume expansion.
-Canadian
Organization: Community Futures Manitoba
Non-Timber-Forest-Products-Provide-New-Opportunities
If there is a single thing that sums up economic opportunity without major capital investment in Northern Manitoba it is non-timber forest products (NTFP).
Most northern communities are not close to major industries and high unemployment is always a concern. The innovative idea of developing the NTFP industry builds on the North’s long-standing tradition of living off the land and brings it into today’s context.
NTFPs are a varied and diverse lot. They range from mushrooms, to medicinals, to craft and landscaping products. Within the field, there is also room for value-added products, like ready-for-sale crafts, candies, and syrups or pre-packaged mixes of forest edibles.
Cedar Lake first began its effort to jumpstart the NTFP industry in 1999 and by March 2000, with the assistance of the equally committed Keewatin Community College (KCC), and Community Futures Cedar Lake Region held a conference in NTFP in The Pas.
Source:https://cfmanitoba.ca/about/sucess-stories/non-timber-forest-products-provide-new-opportunities
Founders:https://cfmanitoba.ca/cedar-lake
Outstanding International Company
Sweden
AirForestry is re-inventing forestry by harvesting from the air with high-capacity drones. Through its innovative thinning, the company reduces CO2 emissions from forestry work while increasing the forest’s ability to sequester carbon by freeing up to 20% of forest land that is currently used for forestry access roads.
Outstanding Research Teams
UK
University of Bristol
Research team working with Sea-kelp
A Bristol-led team of scientists has been using nanomaterials made from seaweed to create a strong battery separator, paving the way for greener and more efficient energy storage.
Canadian Royal Roads University
Dr. Ann Dale
Professor Dale brings extensive government experience to her teaching and research with expertise in the machinery of government issues, strategic policy development, and communication strategies. A former executive in the Federal Government she was one of the two civil servants behind the creation of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy; and worked on special assignments including the creation of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, the Privy Council, the Task Forces on Natural Resource Reform and Regulatory Affairs, and the Treasury Board.
Dale was recognized in: Canada’s Most Powerful Women, Top 100, Sun Life Financial Trailblazers, and Trendsetters in 2016. She was also profiled as one of the top 25 minds in British Columbia in the BC Business Magazine in June 2002.
Canadian – DMS Consulting
Dr. Denise Golden
Over the past fifteen years, Dr. Golden has worked in collaboration with Indigenous communities and organizations. The focus of the work has been on projects to protect the land. Accepting the position as Project Manager with the communities of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Fort Chipewyan Métis Local 125, McMurray Métis Local 1935, and Mikisew Cree First Nation Dr. Golden worked collaboratively to implement an innovative community-based environmental monitoring training program. The training curriculum is grounded in Indigenous knowledge and culture braided with Western science and monitoring skills. The training program received academic accreditation with Alberta Advanced Education in 2017.
Source:https://www.linkedin.com/in/denise-m-golden-ph-d-82199289/?originalSubdomain=ca
Canadian, Dialogue Design
Craig Applegath
Architect, urban designer, zero-carbon building pioneer, and biologist practicing at the intersection of the built environment and natural ecosystems. He is passionate about finding planning and design solutions that make sense in a world challenged by climate change and environmental deterioration.
Source: https://archipreneur.com/people/craig-applegath/
Canadian
Doug Kulba
Eleven years ago, Doug Kulba, while working as a conservation and reclamation inspector with the Government of Alberta, had a thought: what if technology and innovation could be used to shrink the oil and gas sector’s environmental footprint? “We wanted to create a center where people could visit to expand their understanding of industry practices and see first-hand the innovations that are born in Alberta,” Kulba says. “Our goal was to inspire others to become leaders in the quest to enhance our environmental reputation.”
As far as Kulba is aware, there’s no other place like the Evergreen Centre in North America. That might be why so many industry partners from across Canada have visited the center over the years, including staff from Natural Resources Canada, the National Energy Board (now the Canadian Energy Regulator), the AER, the Alberta government, Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance, and various energy companies and university groups. Kulba still believes it’s important that the center exists so that people have a place to learn and fulfill their natural curiosity, conduct research, and share practices that could benefit the industry’s ever-evolving needs. “What I have learned through this fascinating journey, is that we all care about our environment and want to model the way forward,” says Kulba.
Check out the Evergreen Centre’s website to plan your next visit, book a tour, and learn more.
Canada Multiple Companies
Peter Blanchard
Peter Blanchard is the founder of GoodWork environmental jobs, as well as FoodWork sustainable food and agriculture jobs and PlanetVolunteer environmental volunteer opportunities.
Peter is also the founder of EcoProperty.ca, Canada’s eco-friendly real estate listings; the Planet-friendly green events calendar; and Green Ottawa, Ottawa green directory & guide.
Peter is available to speak about reen jobs, career change, meaningful work, sustainable and organic farming.
Canada, International Science Consultant
Dr. Gina Mohammed
Dr. Gina Mohammed is an international science consultant & advisor and a pioneer in the development & uses of chlorophyll fluorescence technology. She has extensive expertise in research, applications, and commercialization of plant physiological science.
Source: https://www.pmtech.ca/Gina/
To read about additional inspiring people Source: https://www.ashoka.org/en-ca
