This post is taken from the article by Elaine Markoutsas, on Elemental Green.
MEET THE WOMEN HELPING TO MAKE THE PLANET SAFER AND HEALTHIER
It takes a village to tackle global environmental concerns. But it starts with individuals, and we want to celebrate them. With gender equality listed as number 5 on the list of UN Sustainable Development Goals, we’re highlighting women who are ushering in a new era of sustainability. These women come from different sectors with different focuses—recycling paint, ecological planning and building, and helping businesses contain their environmental footprint. But what they all have in common is their passion for sustainability and making the world a healthier, more mindful place. Join us in meeting these trailblazers who are paving the way toward a greener future.
TANIA KEEBLE RECOLOR PAINT
Tania Keeble co-founded Recolor Paints in 2009 as a way to combat the 70 million+ gallons of latex, oil and acrylic paints that end up in the landfill and our waterways every year. The paint recycling and remanufacturing company, based in Hanover, Massachusetts, breathes new life into unused, post-consumer paint and post-industrial paint. Everything is rigorously screened, sanitized and filtered in the recycling process to ensure high quality, durability and superior coverage. Since 2012, the company has partnered with Habitat for Humanity, and its 100 percent recycled content paint is available under the Recolor label at Habitat for Humanity Restore thrift shops. The “Grab and Go” color palette includes 16 colors plus White primer, White trim in a semi-gloss finish, White in a flat finish, and Ceiling White. There’s a Chalk finish paint available in 20 colors, especially suited for decorative painting on furnishings, as well as three colors of exterior paint. In addition, there’s a DIY paint made with a minimum of 50% post-consumer paint available online at Lowe’s and Amazon. Recolor Paint is one of the founding members of the International Paint Recyclers Association (IPRA), a consortium of high-quality recycled latex paint vendors. And in a male-dominated industry, Keeble serves as the only woman on the board. Every gallon of 100% recycled paint saves 13 gallons of water and 13.74 pounds of CO2 emissions while preventing 250,000 gallons of water pollution. Here, she paints a picture of the brand’s eco efforts. Paint swatches and images courtesy Recolor
“EVERY DAY, I LIVE MY DREAM OF REDUCING THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT THAT LEFTOVER PAINT HAS IN THE UNITED STATES AS MUCH AS I CAN AND, GRATEFULLY, I GET TO CHIP AWAY AT MY OWN ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT AS WELL.”
—TANIA KEEBLE
ANNI TILT ARKIN TILT ARCHITECTS
Anni Tilt, AIA, is an architect and one half of the award-winning ecological planning and design firm Arkin Tilt Architects, which she co-founded with her husband, David Arkin. Along with their team, they design residential, commercial, park, and educational facilities that integrate into the natural environment using alternative construction methods like rammed earth and straw bale. Renewable energy systems, greywater, and salvaged and nontoxic materials make their way into Arkin Tilt projects as well. Tilt received her Masters of Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley. So it’s only natural that she’d serve on the board of the West Berkeley Design Loop, promoting local, sustainable design and collaboration. And, she’s one of the founding members of the California Straw Building Association. She also is a member of her local People’s Egg Coop—members share 17 egg-laying chickens. Read on as Tilt waxes poetic on all things that relate to sustainable building. Images courtesy Arkin Tilt Architects
“WE NEED A GROUND-SHIFT IN THE WAY WE ARE BUILDING, AND WE NEED IT FAST, AS VAST AMOUNTS OF BUILDING WILL HAPPEN IN THE NEXT 50 YEARS. REALLY, WE NEED TO MOVE BEYOND THE CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABILITY AND INTO REGENERATION.”
—ANNI TILT
VAL FISHMAN BONNEVILLE ENVIRONMENTAL FOUNDATION
Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) focuses on restoring freshwater ecosystems and catalyzing renewable energy for all. As a nonprofit organization, BEF relies on revenue-generating products and services as well as contributions. Strategic partnerships have included Natural Resources Defense Council, National Geographic, Participant Media, and the Green Sports Alliance. Their programs include BEF Watersheds, which serves as an advisor and funder to a wide range of foundations, watershed organizations, community groups, government agencies, tribal nations and water stewardship nonprofits; BEF Renewables, which advances creative solutions that deploy renewable energy at scale; and Business for Water Stewardship, which works collaboratively with businesses, community and policy stakeholders to advance solutions that ensure people, economies and ecosystems have enough clean water to flourish. BEF co-created the Change the Course water sustainability campaign, which won the 2017 US Water Prize in the nonprofit category; supported the Flint Community Water Lab project, which marked the first project in the Great Lakes region for Change the Course sponsors Delta Air Lines and the Detroit Airport (Wayne County Airport Authority); and collaborated with Plumas Corporation on multiple meadow restoration projects, the first of which was the Upper Dotta Meadow Habitat Restoration project, which helps to sequester carbon and improve the hydrologic cycle. BEF has helped businesses keep more than 9.5 million metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere, generated more than 6 million megawatt hours of clean energy and launched more than 250 renewable energy education projects across 20 states. Thanks to their efforts with the community, 28 billion gallons of water have been restored to critically dewatered rivers and streams by supporting over 111 water restoration projects across 19 states and Mexico.
“REDUCING OUR CONSUMPTION IN GENERAL CAN MAKE AN EVEN BIGGER IMPACT THAN JUST REDUCING THE DIRECT WATER USE IN YOUR HOME.” —VAL FISHMAN
Read the article and interviews by Elaine Markoutsas, on Elemental Green here.
And read about more women leading the way in green building here.
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