posted by Ian Summers on November 2nd, 2010
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I hear from Nancy Santullo every year or so and each time she nourishes my heart as she does with all the people she touches. Nan makes the world a better place. I want to share Nan and her worthy labor of love with you. Please give generously.
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Hi Ian, How are you? I wanted to share a 5 min film on my work here in the Amazon– Interesting when we did my two days workshop together back in the early 90′s, some of my loves were, clouds, water to name a few… Ya just never know where your workshops will lead people. Know I’d be grateful if you share the film with colleagues and friends, help me raise awareness and funds for this labor of love in union with humanity. I hope you’re well, Lots of love, Nan
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Founder, Nancy Santullo, Manifests Love!
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Nancy Santullo, Founder and Executive Director of House of the Children, first visited Peru in 1999 because of her interest in the medicinal healing properties indigenous to the region.
“What interested me about Peru, was that the indigenous people there still lived so connected to nature. I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of their natural medicines and traditions.” Nancy, a successful freelance fashion and advertising photographer for over fifteen years in Los Angeles, has shot national print campaigns for corporations such as Levi Strauss, Warner Brother Records, Toyota, NBC Television, and Walt Disney Pictures.
Touched by the needs of the children of Peru, Nancy returned three months later with family donations and began working with a small group of homeless street children in Cusco and, later, with a group of native children in the village of Huacaria in the Manu Rain Forest.
As she was helping them Nancy realized, she was no longer looking at these children as poor. Their spirits were rich and their wills strong. She became inspired to support these children from their place of strength.
Nancy’s love of the rainforest drew her back to spend more and more time with the children of Huacaria. Working with the village teacher, she established trust among the children and the villagers. She helped teach basic hygiene practices, and created an art workshop for creative activities, supplying art materials, as well as needed school supplies. The pencil sharpener was a big hit, because the children no longer needed to use their teeth to sharpen their pencil.
The children’s response was immediate and enthusiastic and she soon came to be known by them as “Senorita Nancy!”
Nancy observed that children were drinking contaminated water, suffering from chronic health problems and extremely limited educational opportunities. She also learned there were no organizations in Manu dedicated to creating opportunity for children.
Nancy knew in her heart that she had the capacity to do more and made the decision to focus her efforts on the children of Huacaria. With a small group of supporters, she established House of the Children (HOTC.) HOTC is a grassroots 501(c) 3 organization dedicated to creating support, inspiration and opportunity for indigenous children in the Manu Rain Forest of Southeastern Peru.
Nancy is often asked, “Why Peru, when there are children in America who need our love and attention?” She responds, “When I was guided to work with the children in the rainforest I didn’t really ask ‘Why?’. The children, native cultures, and the rainforest have offered me an opportunity to grow and contribute to life beyond all that I could have ever imagined. ”
“I believe that our lives are interconnected, and that as I help one child, I help all children.”
This is the beginning…
PLEASE join us for the next chapter…
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Visit the House of the Children Website
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posted by Ian Summers on October 24th, 2010
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Here is a worthy Kickstarter cause that makes the world a better place. This project is by Gail Mooney and her daughter Erin Kelly wo set out on an admirable quest together. Please watch this video. Then go to Kickstarter and make a pledge of $1 or more to help fund the next phase of Opening Our Eyes.
I know Gail Mooney and her husband Tom Kelly for over 25 years. We met at the Creative Black Book where I was Creative Director back in the mid-80s. Tom and Gail invited me to present a two day personal intensive Heartstorming Workshop about 23 years ago. I recall the dates because Gail was pregnant with their daughter Erin. During that workshop there was much discussion about their desire to make a difference in the world. This project is the evidence of making dreams come true.
For More about this project visit Gail and Erin’s blog: http://openingoureyes.wordpress.com/.
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About this project
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My daughter and I circled the globe on a 99-day journey to six continents, shooting a film about people who are making a positive difference in the world. We were inspired to make this film by Maggie Doyne, a young woman who my daughter went to high school with. Maggie is 23 years old, has built a home in Nepal for over 30 children and herself, and has recently completed the construction of a primary school for over 200 students. These children will have a better chance at a brighter future because of Maggie.
I knew that there had to be thousands of people like Maggie around the world who were creating positive change, and my daughter and I set out to tell their stories through film and photographs. We made the trip financially possible by cashing in all our airline miles, hotel awards and Amex points, along with some bartering – accommodations for video services.
In total, we filmed ten extraordinary people in Uganda, Poland, Russia, Nepal, Thailand, Australia, Peru and Argentina. We have one more story to tell in North America. Our intent is to create short videos on each subject for their foundations’ websites, as well as a feature length documentary that will include all ten of these incredible people.
Our trip was the journey of a lifetime. Not only did we witness the power of the individual and what one can do to “make a difference,” but we experienced this together. In the process of making this film and this journey, we learned about each other as the people we are – not just as a mother or a daughter. We formed a bond that will last a lifetime, and that in itself was perhaps the most rewarding part of the journey.
Our ultimate goal for the film is that it is seen by as many people as possible in the hopes that they too will be inspired and motivated to create positive change in their own communities.
Please note: Any additional funds received after our goal is met, we will use 50% of the overage to promote the film (the more people that see it, the more change-makers we can create), and the other 50% of the overage will be donated to our subjects’ foundations.
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posted by Ian Summers on October 8th, 2010
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Creating a Sustainable Photography Studio
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What does a sustainable photography studio look like? How do you create one? Jason Lindsey worked hard for several years to make our studio sustainable. In the process, we’ve encountered some unexpected challenges and reaped some surprising rewards.
It all started when we relocated our studio to a 2200-square-foot brick building that was constructed between 1890 and 1900. We knew we had our work cut out for us. The building was drafty. It had an earthen crawl space, no insulation, including the attic, and a few loosely fit, single-pane windows. An inefficient, dilapidated natural gas-powered, forced-air HVAC unit was used to heat and cool the building. It was lit with energy-guzzling T12 fluorescent, incandescent and halogen lamps. The owner of a store located in the front half of the building was paying $350 in winter for electricity and heat. Since we’d be using the entire building, we realized that if we did nothing, we’d be paying a staggering $700 per month for the same services.
We planned to rent out the front half of the building for retail use, and remodel the back half, dividing it into two rooms that would serve as the office, studio, and gallery. To plan the project, we asked for help from the Smart Energy Design Assistance Center (SEDAC), a division of the University of Illinois that helps business owners improve energy efficiency. Their staff completed an energy and cost analysis, and suggested several improvements, most of which we followed.
First, we weatherized. We added insulation to the walls and attic. SEDAC recommended that the attic floor be insulated to R-30, potentially with 9.25″ of fiberglass batt insulation or 9″ of cellulose. We decided on a formaldehyde-free fiberglass insulation made from 25 percent recycled glass. On SEDAC’s recommendations, we insulated the attic hatch with rigid insulation on the attic side of the door and installed weather stripping around the edges. We sealed drafty spots in our brick walls by tuck pointing filling in crumbling mortar between old bricks. This also reduced moisture and bolstered the structure of the building. To reduce humidity in the basement, an earthen crawl space, we installed a sturdy cross-laminated polyethylene plastic vapor barrier to the earthen floor of the crawlspace and replaced an old energy-guzzling dehumidifier in this space with an Energy Star dehumidifier.
We created two zones with different HVAC and thermostat settings for each, which allowed us to spend less energy heating or cooling the rental space in the front of the building if it is not in use.
Drafty windows waste tons of energy, and so we replaced ours with double-pane windows. Specifically, we installed low-e, well-sealed, windows with non-metallic sash and a U-value less than 0.4.
We also overhauled the lighting, replacing T12 and halogen lamps with high-efficiency T8 and Compact Flourescent Lighting (CFL) lights. We also installed light-emitting diode (LED) undercabinet lights in kitchen, replacing 25 percent of the incandescent lights and 20 percent of the halogen bulbs with LED lights. (More recently, we replaced our interior CFL with LED lights, which are more expensive but last for many years. We also replaced our outdoor lighting with solar-powered motion detection lights.)
Finally, we slashed our use of fossil fuels by installing a five-ton vertical geothermal system. Such systems circulate fluid through tubes sunk deep into the earth, where it equilibrates with the soil around it, which remains at a relatively constant 55 degrees, regardless of season. Then that fluid circulates up to cool the building in summer and warm it in winter, slashing the need for fossil fuel-based heating. Although we installed our geothermal system to reduce our impact on the environment, we knew that investing in this technology was a smart business decision as well. This investment will reduce our operating costs for the next 20 years. For example, we now pay just $250 per month to heat and provide electricity for the entire building, as opposed to $350 the previous owner paid to operate half of it. These savings come despite the fact that we operate three Mac Towers, a refrigerator, and an array of lights in space that was formerly unused.
In all, we spent $23,000 up front on energy efficiency improvements. We paid some of it up front, and rolled other improvements into the mortgage. The bank was fine with that because they knew our improvements would increase the value of the property.
There’s more to greening a studio, however, than simply making it energy efficient. To reduce our environmental footprint, we also sought to reduce our water use. Consuming bottled water is hugely wasteful, and includes the oil and electricity it takes to produce, fill and ship the plastic container. We installed a Britta water filter on faucet so can filter water instead of drinking bottled water. We also replaced an old toilet that used 5 gallons per flush with a new one that uses 1.5 gallons per flush.
We kept in mind the environmental mantra: reduce, reuse and recycle. We chose to redo our aging hardwood flooring rather than replace it. Two of the three contractors we invited in gave us estimates only to replace the floor, while the third said he could redo it. We hired him. He ended up using reclaimed wood to replace areas of the existing wood floor that needed repair. We also recycled the wood studs and lumber from a torn out wall and reused it as we remodeled the building. And, as mentioned earlier, we bought insulation with recycled glass. Such purchases promote recycling by helping create a market for recycled products.
As we remodeled our interior space, we also tried to reduce our use of toxic chemicals. As a guideline, we used the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System. LEED principles recommend using paint and floor coatings that do not contain any volatile organic compounds (VOC), which can, at high enough doses, irritate eyes, nose and throat, cause headaches and nausea, damage the liver, kidneys and brain, and heighten cancer risks.
We asked our flooring contractor for a zero-VOC floor sealer. He had never used one, and we did the legwork to help him find a citrus-based product to strip the floors and a water-based, low-VOC clear coat to seal the floors and wood trim. Afterwards, he told us he loved not having to breathe the nasty chemicals in ordinary floor sealer all day, and he was going to recommend it to all his customers. Similarly, the painter we hired had never used zero-VOC interior paints. Afterwards, he said, “This is awesome. It doesn’t stink all day when I’m in here painting. By insisting on greener products, we helped educate several contractors about the products available, and we had a broader impact then we could have foreseen.
Finally, we’ve considered sustainability when planting greenery around our studio. This year we converted about one-third of the grass into native prairie plants, and we’ll complete the conversion to native prairie over the next few years.
In the five years since we began to green our studio, contractors and suppliers have become much more knowledgeable about sustainable practices and materials, which has been surprising and rewarding to see. Also rewarding is the satisfaction that comes from having created a workspace that’s good for our bottom line, good for the health of everyone who works or visits there, and good for the planet. You, too, can green with your space by choosing sustainable practices and making a reasonable investment in your future. In doing so, you’ll create a greener workspace, one that’s a pleasant and positive place to work.
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Written by Dan Ferber
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