Workshop at Austin Museum of Art!

Posted by: Circe!

If you didn't know, the Teenage Eco Warriors care deeply about the children.


That's why we recently participated in a Saturday children's workshop at Austin Museum of Art!


Among other things, we showed people how to make the plastic bag tutu, a signature work of the Teenage Eco Warriors

Here are a few examples!





and some tutus in progress...





and some people got super creative and invented their own fashions using the scraps too!

those are bag scraps on her shoes!

ankle decorations!


another variation on the shoe decoration

We were particularly impressed by the girl above because she is a plastic activist! Her name is Taylor, she is seven years old, and she made a video about the harm that plastic is doing to the Earth!

Here, check it out:

Good job, Taylor!




Well, we saw some pretty awesome things come out of that workshop, and successfully recycled hundreds of bags that would have otherwise been thrown away

We Thought you would like to know...

Check out more2girls magazine!!!

NOT because we are interviewed in this month's issue and NOT because we make a special video appearance as well...

DO check it out because it is a great online magazine that is fun and inspirational and it happens to be absolutely free! That's right free inspiration, games, music, advice and even recipes. Oh and by signing up they enter you into a draw for a cool Canon

digital video camera!


Click here for their link!

Here what they say on their website:

This is an information age. Your generation of Teen girls is computer and tech savvy, with multimedia skills that rival those of many information arts professionals. This, combined with a heart for making the world a better place, shameless idealism, and boundless energy, makes you a force to be reckoned with. In so much as knowledge is power, your ability to acquire and disseminate information has the potential to be the proverbial lever that moves the world. More2girls Inc wants to help you move it.

More2Girls' mission is to awaken you to a fuller realization and acceptance of your potential power and then to help you to leverage that power to effect positive change in your homes, schools, communities and the world.

RAKING FOR A CAUSE

Raking it in for Kiva!

here we are practicing the ancient art of "rake fighting"

Our Inspiration:

 the inspirational Mr. Loewenstern (not in class)

In Mr. Loewenstern's Geography class we look at different regions of the world, identify their inherent difficulties and evaluate them from a problem solver's point of view. As we study different regions we take on the role of it's leaders and try to solve the problems of that region. So in a typical class period we might be negotiating with  mock leaders of a bordering country or a mock European Union or UN!  After we had finished a unit on poverty Mr. Lowenstern introduced us to some aid organizations that had been very effective in some of the most impoverished regions of the world.  We learned about operation BUZZKILL (that's another post!) but most importantly the Kiva website.-circe

What is KIVA?

Kiva is the world's first person to person micro-lending website that empowers individuals (like us!) to make small loans directly to entreprenuers working in impoverished regions throughout the world.  When you make a micro-loan you are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can relend to someone else in need. We definitely wanted to get involved in this progam but we didn't have any money!

HOW TO raise money...

It was Autumn, there was an immense pile up of leaves around the neighborhood... we saw opportunity! People might pay us to remove their immense piles of leaves. We started by making up a flyer -we sent it out via email to our neighbors. To our surprise several people took us up on our offer to rake.-sadie

Here is what our flyer looked like. Feel free to copy it. We charged about 2.00 per bag, most yards had between 25 and 30 bags worth of leaves

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“RAKING IT IN” FOR Kiva.org

Does your yard need raking? A group of teenagers from your neighborhood (Circe, Sadie and friends) have formed a service organization that enables them as a group to volunteer and raise funds for environmental and humanitarian causes that they care deeply about. They call themselves The Angsty Teenage Eco Warriors.  These “Angsty Teens” would like to rake your yard and donate 100% of the proceeds to Kiva.org. 

What is Kiva.org? 

Kiva is non-profit micro loan organization that is doing great things: Kiva.org allows individuals to make $25 loans to low-income entrepreneurs in the developing world. By doing so, individuals like you provide affordable working capital for the poor (money to buy a sewing machine, livestock, etc.), empowering them to earn their way out of poverty. 

Here’s How it Works 

• Angsty Teens will rake your yard, put the leaves in paper yard waste bags and place them at the curb for City of Austin pick up. (You supply the bags and the City will compost the yard waste) 
  
• Angsty Teens will invest the leaf raking money at Kiva.org- you can track the investment online at the Kiva website. As the loans are paid back Angsty Teens will continually reinvest the money to Kiva.org 
  
• Angsty Teens are parent supervised. To make a raking appointment or to get an estimate on leaf removal call us 
  

Click the links below to learn more about Kiva:

http://www.kiva.org  

micro loans are a Nobel Peace Prize winning idea! Click below to learn more: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/10/061013-nobel-peace.html  

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RAKING DAY!

mentally preparing for the task

Ahh, the fresh scent of autumn. Cool mornings, blustery days and most importantly, leaves!

Whether the smell of leaves bring sweet maple memories, or just give you the sniffles, raking is something that any able bodied person can do, and some good can come of it if you are willing to roll up you sleeves! 

a steep learning curve: What goes in the bag?

Grabbing our "garden" variety household rakes and claws, a bunch of us got together and tackled those immense piles of leaves. With nimble hands and feet we deftly maneuvered the tall mounds of leaves into huge paper sacks (not without some trouble though, somehow some of us ended up inside the bags, too). It was quite a fiasco. The piles of leaves everywhere seemed endless, but that didn’t stop us. After a couple of weekends spent in many yards, we had earned $275.00. We thought that amount was a good start for a micro-loan. Just by being willing to rake our friendly neighbor’s lawns, we ended up “raking” in the dough for a micro-loan that will change someone's life. -sadie

done!

Their Angsty Mission

Displaying their typical cheekiness, sense of fun and zeal, This small group of high school students, friends since childhood, christened themselves The Angsty Teenage Eco Warriors and committed themselves to using their considerable superpowers for good. They also committed to coerce their friends, by any means possible, to join them.

The concerns of The Angsty Teenage Eco Warriors are humanitarian and environmental issues worldwide. Their twofold mission is to identify and evaluate critical environmental and humanitarian situations and to take action with engaging, effective volunteerism. Secondly, they seek to invoke power of the internet by blogging about their Angsty Teen activism. The ATEW blog is a chronicle of their ideas, actions and outcomes that serves as an interactive template to guide and inspire other small groups of like-minded teens to take action, with the belief that their combined efforts will make a difference in the world. Their blog will chronicle all ATEW projects as well as the efforts of other teens that have been inspired by their example, creating a forum for the exchange and innovation of teen activism ideas. Additionally the blog contains informative how-to’s and comedic craft tutorial videos.

It is their ambition to be continually inspired by their world to make a difference, and to inspire the world through their own “Angsty” brand of humanitarian and ecological activism while encouraging others to do the same.

see our photo set on flickr !

see our intro video post!

The Angsty Teenage Eco Warrior are high school students in Austin, TX at The Liberal Arts and Science Academy, an urban public magnet school that educates sociallyresponsible leaders, problem solvers, and thinkers through a nationally recognized, rigorous, innovative, interdisciplinary curriculum. 

Angsty teenage eco warriors video

WHO ARE THE ANGSTY TEENAGE ECO WARRIORS

AND WHAT ARE THEY DOING?

 

This video made by our friend Lowell, (thanks Lowell!!!) features Sadie, Circe, Roz, Katie and Emily. Special thanks to an Angsty Mom for providing the "laugh track"!