The Broward County Environmental Protection and Growth Management Department will recognize several local businesses for their outstanding environmentally-responsible business practices. Each business will receive an Emerald Award for their exceptional efforts in protecting the environment. The program recognizes businesses for their voluntary efforts in four areas: waste reduction, recycling, improved operating practices, and other “green” strategies that reduce pollution and waste. Both large and small businesses are eligible. One business is also honored with the title “Environmental Business of the Year,” which will be announced at the ceremony.

The Broward County Board of County Commissioners will present trophies to the winners at a special ceremony; followed by a brief reception:

As I speak with people, I try to put down what ties us together and come up with a unifying mission of GreenFtLauderdale.com. Simply put, we speak to diverse segments of the community that care about our collective future. We speak to groups who share a passion for our unique quality of life.

�Quality of Life� is the buzz phrase for the 2000’s. I see mention of it everywhere, from real estate ads to not for profit brochures, from city websites to radio spots.

As ONE members, we care. We care about the child orphaned by HIV/AIDS. We care about the village that lacks access to clean water. And we care about the millions of people throughout the developing world who will go to bed hungry tonight. For many of us, that caring is borne of our faith.

Last week, the ONE campaign asked students to take action on our challenge: to make poverty history. Now, ONE is reaching out to people of faith and engaging traditions that say that when you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness. (Isaiah 58:10)

I recently discovered I was an idealist. Well, I’ve always been passionate about many aspects of life. I’ve always volunteered and worked with many non profit groups to make my community a better place. Yet it wasn’t until recently that someone labeled me as an idealist.

Webster says an idealist is “one guided by ideals; especially one that places ideals before practical considerations.” It leads that an idealist is “an adherent of a philosophical theory of idealism; an artist or author who advocates or practices idealism in art or writing.”

Dr. King is an inspiration–and shows us how great America can become if we work together towards the common good. So much is in place to divide us. We need to build bridges–and there is a group working to build a monument in our nation’s capital that does so.

The mission of the Memorial Project, is to commemorate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by leading a collaborative funding, design, and construction process in the creation of a memorial to honor his national and international contributions to world peace through non-violent social change.

As 2005 draws to a close and we look forward to the new year, I found this information on Citizens Against Government Waste. CAGW is the source of information on government waste and, backed by our members, CAGW works tirelessly everyday to win cuts in wasteful spending.

Bruce Wilkinson’s recent bestseller The Prayer of Jabez shined the light on an obscure Old Testament character who unleashed a powerful petition to the God of Israel that had a dramatic impact upon his life. A key portion of the prayer was Jabez’s request that God would “expand his territory.”

What this meant, explained Wilkinson, was that Jabez sought broader and deeper opportunities to be of service to God and to humankind.

The ONE Campaign grew out of the Heart of America tour in 2002, in which a busload of citizens and celebrities toured the mid-West in support of a new U.S. initiative on global AIDS. The success of that trip insured that a new constituency of Americans were raising their voices for Africa and needed to be heard. Together with the Better Safer World Campaign, representing nine of the largest, most effective private aid agencies (with 3 million supporters) working together to fight global poverty, and Bread for the World, a Christian voice for ending hunger for more than 30 years, the ONE campaign got off to a great start.

Is abstinence until marriage a totally foreign concept to you and your teen? And why shouldn’t it be? Everywhere teens look their society, culture and media are giving them one clear message. Sex is great. Do it now. Do it often. Plus there’s the constant pressure teens face from their peers to grow up, join the party, and act like an adult.

So if they want to have any fun, they’d better start having sex now, right? Small wonder so many teens are cashing in their virginity for sexual activity. What they’re missing is an understanding that temporary pleasure of having sex before marriage can bring long term consequences.

We usually get in trouble with our to-do’s when we over promise. We put too much on our plate, we make far more commitments than we have the time, resources, or ability to deliver on.

There are many reasons for this. For example, having a full plate may be a part of the company culture, or you may be piling on tasks to create the perception that you’re a go-getter, or you were raised with a strong work ethic. Whatever the reason, I invite you to explore it further with a coach. In this section, however, we will examine how “promise management” (explained later) can be used to restore some sanity into your work life.

Though Children’s Home Society (CHS) has provided adoption services for 102 years, our role in “special needs” or foster care-related adoptions is more recent. As a result of Community Based Care (CBC), CHS is providing adoption services for children in foster care in many parts of the state. By June 30, CHS expects to be involved with more than 500 adoptions involving children in the foster care system, compared to just 150 in 2001-02.

I felt honored last month to be recognized along with many others as a Brevard County “Emerging Leader” under the age of 40. Leadership Brevard sponsored the awards, organizing and throwing a great banquet complete with videographies and an improv comedy troupe. It was neat to look around the room and celebrate the accomplishments and potential of so many younger persons, both teenagers and adults.

I certainly appreciated the persons who chose to pay $50 per ticket to come out and be part of a very special night. It really gave me a sense that the larger community does value its emerging civic nucleus, that it wants to encourage the younger crowd to stick around, plant some roots here and make a difference with a long-view perspective.

Should we send the children to the large, public elementary school, or to a smaller but expensive private school? Should I accept an offer for a higher-paying managerial job and give up the hands-on involvement, or stay at my current level and salary, but do work that I love? Should I go to graduate school now and finish in 18 months, or enter the workforce and go to grad school at night, but finish in 3-4 years?

What does it mean to be an “ethical” person of faith?

I have wrestled with this for many years, ever since spending three seasons at Asbury Theological Seminary and earning my M.Div. I saw fellow students, and at times myself, hiding out. And then I immersed myself in church leadership as an associate and then senior pastor, and I saw my parishioners, and at times myself, hiding out.

Ethics seems to be a complicated subject for many. I define it simply as the “long view.” When I care about my workplace, my employer, my client, myself and others, when I think about my future, I choose the long view.

Many of us live in the past, but can we change the past? Of course not. Yet if you dream of the future all day long, you’ll never get anything done. We need dreamers, but a dream without execution is just smoke; it is vapor. We can affect the present. We can act in the present and this moment is where all the action takes place. What we do now, and how it will affect our future, is the key to a healthy, ethical perspective.

Like most teens, I immersed myself in the world of music as a 15-year old. I delved into the previous generation’s classic rock, and enjoyed the contemporary flavors of heavy metal and Top 40 pop as well.

My goal was to gather as much music as possible. The early 1980s was the last era before the advent of the compact disc, and cassettes of my favorite artists filled my room and whatever cars I regularly occupied.

We committed to helping preserve and improve the quality of life available to all residents of the State of Florida. Our mission is to help individuals, families, businesses and organizations reach their fullest potential and accomplish their evolving goals. This mission is expressed through eight quality of life aspects that are held in dynamic tension: Art, Balance, Ethics, Faith, Fitness, Nature, Teamwork and Sustainability.