SEVEN TIPS TO GREENING YOUR WORLD, ONE INDUSTRY AT A TIME

On Thursday, February 14th love was in the air at the United Nations, #EarthLove that is.

Start Local, Go Global! Bridging Sustainable Practices Across Industries: A Focus on Food, Film & Waste​ briefing
(Lto R) Ms. Hawa Diallo, Ms. Tama Matsuoka Wong, Mr. Max Lerner, Ms. Judith Abebe-Long, Ms. Duygu Celik,
Mr. Jeffrey Brez, Ms. Christina Delfico, Ms. Akari Tomita, Ms. Claudine Marrotte, Ms. Erycka de Jesus. (Photo: Victoria Gorelik)

Energetic filmmakers alongside youth, farm, food, and urban design experts descended upon
the United Nations on Valentine’s day to spark earth love and share waste reduction tips at the
Civil Society Department of Global Communications briefing ​Start Local, Go Global! Bridging
Sustainable Practices Across Industries: A Focus on Food, Film & Waste.

​Photos: Julia Ferguson @JeffBrez

“We are here to show our love to each other and to the Earth,” said Civil Society Chief of
Advocacy and Special Events, Mr. Jeff Brez, as he welcomed a full United Nations audience
from a variety of professions. He reports that according to the UN Environment, (UNIP), the
increasing volume of waste associated with our modern economy is posing a serious risk to our
ecosystems and human health. Poor waste management causes air pollution, water and soil
contamination. And the good news is reducing waste creates jobs, employing 12 Million in
Brazil, China and the United States combined. “We are here to listen, learn and do, not just
listen and think that’s nice, but listen, learn, do, and to tell others.” Mr. Brez continued by
pointing out that the Civil Society’s newly named Department of Global Communications is one
of the key entry points for civil society to engage with the United Nations to expand their impact.

“Today is simple, we are going to ask you to rethink everything and take a conscious look at the
life cycle of every item we touch, how we make, use, and dispose of it, and question if we even
need it at all,” says Emmy Nominated Executive Producer, Producers Guild Green Chair, and
Founder of iDig2Learn, Christina Delfico, who was invited to moderate and present at the
Sustainable Practices briefing. Not thrilled with the description, Sustainable Practices, she
prefers we think about it as finding creative ways to keep our air, water and land clean and
partnering across different industries to do so. ​“Change is easy to start where we have
influence,” says Delfico who added, “No matter what your expertise, profession or interest, what
unites us is our mutual goal to Do No Harm to the Earth.”

“Being informed is important,” Ms. Hawa Diallo, Chief of Civil Society, Advocacy and Special
Events Unit and her colleague from the Outreach Division, Ms. Judith Abebe-Long agree, “As
consumers, we need to know the impact we have on the environment and especially on the
local and global communities producing the goods and food we consume.” And their upcoming
August 2019 Sustainable Communities Conference in Salt Lake City will showcase solution
oriented action.

​Photo: Julia Ferguson

 Seven Tips to Show Your #EarthLove.

TIP 1 - Include Youth

- Akari Tomita @UNISNYC
“Youth are creative, enthusiastic and responsible, all traits that are helpful to environmental
activism,” says eighth grade United Nations International School (UNIS) student and middle
school Environmental Club member, Ms. Akari Tomita, whose school club also encouraged the
revival of the Parent Sustainability Group. She adds, “Young people can create change at
home, school and in their community, we are capable of doing all of this independently with just
some guidance from adults. Children and teenagers thrive when they have purpose and
support, one or the other may not be enough. You can help youth by building onto their current
work and interests and by opening doors to new partnerships. Everyone counts. Youth can be
your partners, we want to help because we have everything to gain and everything to lose.”
Results:​ Early exposure to the Green Team, which mentors children in youngest grades,
engaged students to volunteer with the Million Trees organization, participate in student made
recycled craft sale for an orphanage in Hanoi, and collect donations for City Harvest. The UNIS
Middle School Environmental Club has monitored water fountain filters and conducted waste
audits of school recycling bins and hosted schoolwide zero waste events. Outside of school,
students were encouraged by teachers to attend the Sustainability Through Student Voices
Conference and have made significant changes to school progress and attitudes by partnering
with the Parent Sustainability Group.

Photo: Franta Nedved

TIP 2 - Start Local, Go Global! Support Nature and Get Outdoors
- Christina Delfico @iDig2Learn @pga_green @producegreen
“Start locally, form partnerships, and celebrate wins together. We can not do this alone, starting
where you have influence works. Try to consciously make a change in your household,
community, industry, university, city or country. If over 7 billion people woke up and decided to
invest in nature, support urban green space, stewardship education and reduce waste we
wouldn’t be having these conversations. Good ideas come from everywhere and anyone and
inviting a diverse range of voices to participate locally can scale up globally,” says Christina
Delfico, Founder of iDig2Learn, a nonprofit which encourages children to explore science and
the origin of food through plant life. While presenting a case study of how local community
success educating youth to grow their own food jumpstarted partnerships to restore natural
habitat and waste reduction efforts she stated, “Neighborhoods are powerful and when people
get outdoors to improve their surroundings it fosters stewardship. When locals join forces with
businesses and municipalities the partnerships are in place to tackle bigger issues like waste
reduction and hunger.” Her work with the Producers Guild has helped reduce waste across the
media industry. And through her work with iDig2Learn, a project of Open Space Institute, a
nonprofit public charity, children and their grown-ups have supported a school green roof
through the Participatory Budget Process with city and state funding, planted trees, restored
habitat for Monarch butterflies by building corridors of pollinator-friendly plants, learned about
science through plants, and even held a community SWAP where residents exchanged food,
toys and clothing for free. She welcomes connections on LinkedIn and invites everyone to watch
the entire briefing and to use the hashtag #EarthLove #UNwithCivilSociety tagging @iDig2Learn
to share your eco-friendly habits.
Results:​ Thousands have graduated from iDig2Learn programming appreciating science and
the origin of plant food. Together with local groups, residents, and city and state partnerships
helped divert 100,000 pounds of food scraps from landfill which NYC Compost Hosted by Big
Reuse transformed into compost. In a three hour free GrowNYC Stop N’ Swap event local
residents delivered 4,800 pounds of good quality items with nearly 70% returning directly to the
neighborhood and the rest donated helping to divert those items from going to landfills.
Suggested:​ ​Open Your Eyes - Plastic Prevention Coalition​ and ​Extraordinary Life & Times of
Strawberry - Ad Council​ and ​Greening Madam Secretary​ ​Sesame Street Goes Green​ ​HBO's
Divorce Goes Green​ ​Manhattan SWAB NYC Free Residential Recycling & Reuse Guides
Participatory Budget Funding for NYC Community Projects​ ​NYC Compost Hosted by Big Reuse
 Photo: Franta Nedved
TIP 3 - You Are the Powerful Marketplace.
- Duygu Celik @DuyguCelikUN
The Food Industry will deliver to the marketplace what the marketplace demands. Before food
arrives to our table 30% of the food is wasted from farm production to fork. Change is needed
in the global food and agricultural system and you are capable driving change by choosing what
you eat. “One in nine people in the world go to bed hungry. There is enough food in the world to
feed the 821 million hungry people,” says Ms. Duygu Celik, Partnership Adviser, International
Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), who conveyed that “food waste and loss is both
alarming and tragic and accounts for nearly 1 trillion US dollars per year, and one quarter of all
water used on agricultural production. Agriculture is the single largest employer in world, a
source of income for 40% of today’s global population, and the largest source of income for poor
rural households. 500 million small farms worldwide provide up to 80% of food consumed in a
large part of the developing world. And studies have shown if women farmers had the same
opportunity as men the number of hungry people in world could be reduced by up to 150 million
people. If you demand good wholesome food you will get it.”
Results:​ ​Between 2013 and 2016 IFAD has approved the disbursement of at least $433 million
to upgrading post-harvest infrastructure, equipment and capacities that are essential to enable
poor farmers and entrepreneurs to minimize food losses along food supply chains.
Suggested:​ ​State of Food Security Report, FAO, 2018
 Photo: Victoria Gorelik

TIP 4 - Communicate to Help People Make a Shift to Green Practices

- Claudine Marrotte @holisticproducr
Creating films is like running a city. The wardrobe department similar to the fashion industry
and feeding the cast and crew daily like the restaurant industry. “Introducing Sustainable
Practices is really setting the tone for mutual respect and when you respect each other it is easy
to bring in principles of how to respect the earth as well,” says Filmmaker, Director and
Executive Producer Claudine Marrotte, she continues, “Teams want to work together and share
in successful action, so communicate at the start of a project and throughout that you are going
green and spotlight joint waste reduction achievements along the way.” In addition to assigning
a eco-steward on set to help manage waste reduction, Marrotte provides three easy steps you
can do in an office setting, on a film set, and everywhere in between. ​1. Reduce paper use​ by
defaulting to digital copies and only print upon request. “On my film sets, 90% of the people
opted out of printing,” says Claudine Marrotte, “and with a typical script between a 100-120
pages with as many as ten revisions and over a hundred crew members, not printing makes a
huge difference.” ​2. Buy reusable water bottles​. A small expenditure up front unites the team
and ultimately saves money by not having to purchase single-use items that create waste and
additional cost. Marrotte reminds us to “Have patience with people, let them ease into it,
because it is not easy to change a habit.” ​3. Actively repurpose​. “Donating extra food to the
hungry or composting are good examples,” says Marrotte, “there are companies out there that
come and repurpose your extra food to places that need it, and you can find out where your
industry donates or swaps items no longer needed. Recognize intention, not perfection, is the
goal. Compassion to the earth and the humans, works.”
Results:​ Marrotte’s last film had 23 shooting days and averted using 4,000 single-use plastic
water bottles and 35,000 pieces of paper.
Suggested Resources​: ​Rock n’ Wrap it Up​, ​Green Production Guide Free Cost-Benefit
Analysis Report​ ​NYC Film Green initiative​ and ​Green Slate Digital Payroll and More​.
 Photo: Victoria Gorelik

TIP 5 - Utilize Accessible Channels Available to You

- Max Lerner @NYCParks
“The field of sustainability is a powerful and important one for people and the earth.
Environmental science is a very social science, it’s a living, breathing science. It’s as much earth
science that we know as it’s also our interests and our passions” says Max Lerner, Sustainability
Project Development Coordinator for NYC Parks. He continues, “sustainability meets our goals
as a society to make our cities more resilient, environmentally sound, and more efficient to meet
our food, housing and jobs needs. It is incredibly important to elevate the voices of future
generations because they are the ones who will be inheriting this earth.” Lerner’s program
empowers emerging leaders by giving them tangible experience in the sustainability field,
working with thousands of interns anywhere from middle school to returning into the workforce
from retirement, they all share a common sentiment of wanting to get involved in a field that is
growing and has impact. Through his team, NYC Parks is putting green roofs on buildings,
dynamic green infrastructure in public spaces, installing solar panels, wind turbines, growing
food, using cutting-edge composting systems and diverting waste from landfill with green
salvage efforts and has just released the 2019 manual. His team pilots emerging ideas at a live
public site that the community can visit and learn from by exploring systems and hearing about
their performance from an unbiased organization to help fine tune their own best practices.
“NYC Parks is the city’s largest land holder,” Lerner reveals, “if we strike gold in one system we
can expand it across our land inventory. And we go beyond our borders joined by international
students and diplomats to learn about best practices.” Most exciting is that the youth who
graduated from his program have joined the UN as interns, and implemented their knowledge to
build a green roof with solar panels on the UN headquarters facility. In addition to other
agencies adopting systems, they are even going to expand the educational program to Japan.
Lerner invites us to contact him at ​max.lerner@parks.nyc.gov​ to receive the newly released
2019 NYC Parks’ Innovative Green Roof Design and Sustainable Technology Manual​ and
utilize all accessible channels available to the public, and partner with him to find ways to make
this city more resilient and sustainable together. Max adds, “This city belongs to all of us and it’s
really important to bring all our voices together and actually enact all our amazing ideas
together.”
Result​: Thousands of people have graduated through the Emerging Technology Program and
are spreading their knowledge both locally and globally.
Suggested Resources: ​NYC Parks Department

Photo: Franta Nedved

TIP 6 - Vote with Your Time, Vote with Your Dollar and Ask Questions
-Erycka de Jesus - @justsoilnyc
Working to help others connect with their “Inner-Sustainabilist,” Erycka de Jesus, the co-founder
of worker owned Just Soil, a STEAM based youth action group focused on youth justice through
soil science, looks to the power of community to make change. Acknowledging that some of us
may not understand what being sustainable truly means, she believes it is all in the way you
look at it and thinks it is important to ask questions. “Sustainability is thinking about how we are
going to effect change. First things first, know that you vote with your dollar,” she says, “if you
don’t believe in a company or you think they use too much packaging, they need to hear from
you. And think about how you can work in your community. Vote with your time, volunteer.
Many companies encourage you to volunteer and even reimburse you for hours spent doing so,
and if your company doesn’t do that, inquire about that and ask them to start.” She encourages
us to “question our actions, how do we start our day? Do we use a plastic toothbrush? Maybe
that’s okay because hard plastic can be recycled and recycling is great, but is there anything
better than that? Trust yourself and ask how can I be more sustainable? How can I connect?
How can I create less waste? How can I rethink waste? By always questioning these things that
will put us on the right track. We can all contribute in a way that makes sense for us. Writing
letters, volunteering, joining local community boards, creating legislation, think about what is
right for you and that will put us on track for ourselves and the earth."
Results: ​ Trained hundreds to understand food scraps are not trash and the value of
transforming those food scraps into healthy compost to return to the soil.
Suggested Resources:​ ​NYC Compost Project Hosted by Big Reuse​, ​Department of
Sanitation’s History of Trash “Hidden Cities”

Photo: Franta Nedved

TIP 7 - Flex Your Buyer Awareness and Seek Out More Diverse Plant Produce to Eat
- Tama Matsuoka Wong @meadowsandmore
“Be aware of what you are buying. Try to seek out more diverse plant produce that are grown
and harvested closer to the local source. This tip is easy because it does not require any
investment. ​Before you throw out food from the refrigerator, stop and think about how you might
use it still. A wilted carrot is fantastic in a stew (peels on of course) and romaine lettuce ends as
well as wilted lettuce can make an amazing part of a meal (see resources below with recipes in
Scraps, Wilt and Weeds.) If you do have a community garden or vegetable plot, try to look at
the weeds that are growing there (you can post ID questions to me on @meadowandmore or on
the website ​meadowsandmore.com​),” s​ ays Meadows and More founder, author, entrepreneur
and food forager, Tama Matsuoka Wong, who adds ​“locally NYC’s Union Square farmers
market will offer lambsquarters as well as purslane in season from local farmers (try to make
sure it is harvested from organic or non-spray farms). ​The next time you go to the supermarket
look at how many plants are represented there, because 60% of food in the United States is
provided by only four plants - corn, wheat, soy and rice, because of that lack of plant diversity
you may find several corn chip food-like substances. And an estimate of the variety of plants
we eat averages to only 25 different kinds per year. Our food supply is fragile, and the United
Nations also encourages a global focus on food plant diversity, and an important study on
biodiversity was just released by the​ UN Food and Agriculture Organization (see resources
below). The study also shows how in other countries they are losing their local indigenous wild
food sources because they are being "educated" or incentivized to grow western "crops".​”
Matsuoka Wong illustrates how fragile our food system is recalling that one banana type, which
is sold prevalently worldwide, suffered blight nearly removing it from the market entirely. “We
have focused on food bred for sugar and high yield yet are losing our common food knowledge
as humans. There are thousands of delicious and more edible foods out there,” notes Matsuoka
Wong who mentions, “Wild foods are more nutrient and flavor dense than cultivated foods that
have been coddled, for example with a wild plant, when a bug bites it or that plant is subject to
drought, it sends out chemicals to combat those attacks and those chemicals are rich in
antioxidants and contain phytonutrients that are good for us and that our bodies evolved eating.”
She questions why we are only offered certain parts of the plants in the grocery store, like just
the floret of the broccoli when the rest of the plant is delicious. She suggests we try foods like
purslane, a worldwide “weed”, with one of the highest sources of Omega 3 and a delicious crisp
lemon flavor. She concludes sustainability includes resilience, resourcefulness and diversity. If
we ask for more diverse foods we can strengthen our food resources and that can grow impact
well beyond our communities.
Results:​ Meadows and More supports conservation efforts to protect wild spaces, and offers
wild edible weeds seasonally such as nettles, lambsquarters and purslane through Fresh Direct
and Foodkick.
Suggested Resources:​ ​Michael Pollan's book Omnivore's Dilemma​ ​UN FAO Study: Growing
Threat to Food from Decline in Biodiversity​ ​Jo Robinson's book Eating on the Wild Side​, ​Tama
Matsuoka Wong; Eddy Leroux’s book Foraged Flavor ​, ​Mads Refslund; Tama Matsuoka Wong's
book Scraps, Wilt & Weeds: Turning Wasted Food into Plenty

Thanks to the Civil Society Department of Global Communications and webtv.un.org you can
watch the entire United Nations briefing here for even more speaker tips: ​Start Local, Go Global!
Bridging Sustainable Practices Across Industries: A Focus on Food, Film & Waste

Please continue the conversation by sharing your eco-friendly habits or those you wish to start
with the hashtag #EarthLove and #UNwithCivilSociety and @UNDGC_CSO

Join the upcoming Civil Society Unit’s August 27-29 ​Sustainable Communities Conference​ in
Salt Lake City, Utah.

This article was created by Christina Delfico to offer a summary of tips shared at the briefing.