A 15-year old New Yorker by the name of Avery Hairston is quickly making a name for himself and his pro-environmental organization, relightNY, by signing on high profile corporate sponsors and picking some nice ink. His organization's mission is simple and to the point: "to educate and inspire people to take action and live in ways that protect the earth's environment for current and future generations. One of Avery's initial objectives is to lower carbon emissions released into the atmosphere. To accomplish this, he proposes using a light bulb that requires less electricity than a regular old incandescent bulb. Through donations and corporate sponsors, relightNY plans to first distribute the energy efficient CFL light bulbs to lower income families in New York City. As the organization gains awareness and additional partners that can provide expertise and value, I would think they would look to repeat the action in other large U.S. cities. This is an incredible illustration of a social trend we've now been tracking for the better part of the year: instead of all lame nicknames bestowed on Gen Y (think the "me" generation, the unwired generation, hey, even our lame tag line, the digital generation) given the overwhelming social, political and economic importance of environmental-related issues, these guys and girls might just end up being most commonly referred to as the Green Generation, which is more than fine by me, because at some point in the not so distant future, someone will have to save our planet and who better than this 15 year old New Yorker to be our steward.
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