You’ve read the headlines. Twenty-nine workers killed in a West Virginian Massey Energy Company coal mine. More than 5,000 barrels of oil leaking a day in the Gulf of Mexico. Wildfires burn 100,000 acres of California forests. It’s enough to make you want to uncork a bottle of wine and down a glass or two just to keep calm.
Redwood Creek Wines understands this. They treasure the US environment and have granted $140,000 annually to various nonprofits in order to preserve our land and waterways. Now in its third year, they’ve selected 10 finalists with the help of a few judges, including Tonic columnist Ethan Zohn. The grand prize winner will take home $50,000 and the remaining nine will get $10,000 each.
Every week, we’ll introduce you to one of those finalists, and if you like what you read, head on over to the Redwood Creek Wines’ Greater Outdoors Project and vote for them. You have until August 31 to make a difference.
MillionTreesNYC
When New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg started this green initiative, the response was mixed. How are you going to plant one million trees in Manhattan, people wondered. But New York City is much more than the island of Manhattan; it includes four other boroughs: the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. Through public and private partners, MillionTreesNYC has already planted more than 250,000 trees and isn’t slowing down any time soon. If granted the $50,000 prize money, the organization will continue its arbor-filled dream and make the concrete jungle a little less concrete and a little more green.
Photos courtesy of Redwood Creek Wines.