HANCOCK - Thanks to their green efforts, Rick Loduha and Barbara Hardy got some green, $1,000, to donate to their local non-profit of choice.
The couple was this year's recipients of the Heart & Hands Award, an annual award given each July by the Martha and Floyd Heart & Hands Society to a Copper Country resident, or in this case, residents, who have given of their hearts and hands to promote peace, justice or the environment.
The winner of the award chooses a local non-profit organization to receive $1,000 from an endowment started in 1998 from the estate of Martha and Floyd Kinzel. This year, Loduha and Hardy chose the Sustainable Keweenaw Resource Center, which they facilitate. The couple said they are honored to win the award, but noted there are many others who deserve the award as well.
Society member Terry Kinzel said the couple's sustainable efforts include their work with the SKRC, but he also noted Loduha designs items with sustainability in mind and Hardy is a permaculture designer.
The pair designed the SKRC, which has an online presence at skrconline.net and an "on-the-ground" presence in room 315 of Finlandia University's Jutila Center. The university, where Loduha is associate professor of art and design, supports the project, Loduha said.
One of the center's goals is to connect consumers with sustainable businesses, Hardy said. The center's Web site has a directory of locally available, sustainable products and services to help community members find local businesses and organizations that support sustainability.
"There are so many different groups of people doing sustainability, but they don't know about each other," Hardy said.
The center also aims to connect ideas, Loduha said.
"We really believe that the way out of our various environmental problems is creativity," he said. "No one person's ideas are the answers, it's when everyone's ideas are brought together."
Loduha said the center wants to document all sustainable efforts in the Keweenaw because they are important.
"We don't think sustainability is going to come about on Earth because of some globalized model, we think sustainability is going to be a mosaic of sustainable communities," he said.
To facilitate the sharing of ideas, the SKRC features a large bulletin board on which people can post their answer to the question, "What is sustainable Keweenaw?" The board is covered in notes scribbled on pieces of paper and clippings from newspapers.
"There's always something new on there," Hardy said.
One of the center's next projects is a map of the Keweenaw on which colored pins will be placed to indicate sustainable endeavors.
"I'm hoping that the pins get so crowded that you can't possibly get the information without looking at a key," Loduha said.
The center's physical space also features books about green living, a computer and a table for groups to have meetings.
Hardy said they would like to use the award money to conduct community workshops and demonstrations during the next academic year.
For more information about the SKRC, visit skrconline.net or visit the center, which is open during the Jutila Center's business hours, except when the room is being used for meetings.
Layla Aslani can be reached at laslani @mininggazette.com.
