Eco Tuesday’s Nikki Pava and NRDC’s Jonathan Kaplan
Eco Tuesday founder Nikki Pava talks to John and Mike about her eco-inspired event, which gathers one Tuesday each month in cities around the country to promote green living ideals. More than just a social hour, Eco Tuesday provides an educational component that teaches participants how to live greener, more efficient lives.
Founded in 2006 in San Francisco, the initial Eco Tuesday event attracted about 60 participants. Now groups of up to 200+ show up every month to network and learn. Currently, Eco Tuesday is on the fourth Tuesday of every month in 10 cities across the U.S., in cities from Los Angeles to Detroit.
“I saw that there was a need for a forum where professionals can come together to talk about green issues,” Pava reveals. “They can learn from one another, collaborate and find great solutions to issues that are absolutely pressing.”
The NRDC’s Jonathan Kaplan speaks on the second half of the show about pesticides and organic food. Agriculture has a major impact on our lives — more than one-third of human-caused greenhouse gases come from the production of agriculture. At the same time, a few thousand acres of farmland are permanently lost in the U.S. daily due to a growing number of factors.
One innovation that the NRDC has created is the Growing Green Awards, raising awareness of those agricultural producers taking the necessary sustainability measures to be successful for years to come. The four award categories — food producer, business leader, thought leader and water steward — present a well-rounded group of agricultural advocates that are moving the industry forward.
Kaplan cites water scarcity, lack of stability and ongoing population growth as serious problems affecting food production — now one in three people around the world live in a region with water scarcity. With the agriculture industry consuming so much water, awareness of proper agricultural practices is more important than ever.
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