North America 2017 Finalists

James Madhier

Rainmaker Enterprise

Rainmaker Enterprise is an award-winning, scalable and climate adaptive social venture committed to combating deforestation, food insecurity, water scarcity, chronic poverty, women and youth unemployment among other cross-sectional issues in rural South Sudan through provision of clean water using clean solar-energy. The initiative will install solar-powered water pumps and drip-irrigation systems across villages in South Sudan to achieve these objectives. The rest site installation will be in Tonj, South Sudan in December 2017.

Kaya Dorey

Closed-Loop Apparel Manufacturing Hub

Novel Supply Co. is a conscious local apparel company. Kaya created a fully closed-loop clothing line with no waste and automated manufacturing. She integrated a research and development hub to test leading-edge technology that decomposes fabrics and tests natural dyes. She also implemented an Extended Producer Responsibility policy by having a Take Back Program for the clothing she produces. Kaya works in partnership with local universities.

Lisa Curtis

Reforestation through Climate Smart Superfoods

The Moringa oleifera tree is one of the most nutrient-dense plants on the planet. It thrives in hot, dry climates with sandy soil. I first started working with the moringa tree six years ago as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Niger, West Africa. After conducting a community-needs assessment, I realized that there was an opportunity to support women in West Africa to plant more moringa trees on degraded land. My goal was to help them earn a sustainable income from selling the powdered leaves, in addition to eating them locally. Upon returning to the US, I founded Kuli Kuli, a mission-driven business that works with moringa farmers in Ghana, Haiti and Nicaragua and sells moringa products in over 3,000 stores across America. Access to UNEP’s resources and network would allow us to continue to scale up our moringa tree plantings and partnerships with farmers around the world.

Mark "Alex" Paullin

Conservation Music: Uniting Africa Towards Grassroots Sustainability Through Music

Conservation Music is a grassroots movement to foster a global culture of sustainability through educational music and lm. Our mission is to empower musicians to create memorable, emotional, and relatable stories about conservation and sustainability in order to teach and inspire communities. We outline specific steps to take to better steward the earth, as well as promoting a general environmental ethic.

In the era of climate change, rural communities are often most affected by the consequences of our global emissions, but least informed about these changes, and what they can do to adapt. We seek to empower the voices of rural musicians and celebrities alike to communicate the importance of the environment, reaching thousands of people through radio and television broadcasts, new media, and media partners. In collective harmony, we plant the seeds of a brighter future in the hearts and minds of each individual listener, musician, and partner.

Viraj Sikand

Sustainably Powering the Future of Feed

Kulisha works with food and beverage producers to convert organic waste into sustainable insect protein for use in animal feeds. Food and beverage companies such as breweries and juicers produce huge volumes of by products that are primarily being trucked to landfills as organic waste. We work with them to integrate black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) into their operations and metabolize the waste, rather than using inefficient and expensive disposal methods. We implement automated, retrofitted shipping containers that treat the organic waste and feed it to the larvae, which are then harvested and sold as protein for use in animal feeds. This provides a sustainable, high-quality alternative to fishmeal, thereby addressing a second problem: the demand for fishmeal in animal feeds that is driving the destruction of the world’s oceans. Ultimately, the intent of Kulisha is to reduce pressure on ocean ecosystems.