Rock | Make It Right

Irie Magazine CA #01-01 | Rock | Make It Right - Katrina + 10

Make It Right

By Nicholas Da Silva, IRIE

August 29, 2015 marked ten years to the day Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast, killing 1,833 people and destroying 5,363 homes in the Lower 9th Ward alone. Back in August 2007, two years after Katrina, Hollywood actor and architecture enthusiast Brad Pitt made a visit to New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward, one of the areas hardest hit by Katrina. He was shocked to see the city’s lack of rebuilding progress in the historic, working-class community. Pitt made a commitment that day to help rebuild, giving those who were still struggling to recover a sense of hope. With the help of a group of world-renowned architects, Brad Pitt launched Make It Right (MIR), a nonprofit agency committed to rebuilding 150 safe, sustainable and affordable homes for families devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Pitt believed that if they could build safe, sustainable homes in the most devastated part of New Orleans, they would prove that high-quality, green housing could be built affordably everywhere. Volunteering their time and work, construction began in June 2008 and within two months, six homes were completed. Though they were faced with many challenges along the way, Brad Pitt and the Make It Right foundation never gave up as they continued their efforts to rebuild the community.

Katrina +10

To date, Make It Right has built 109 homes in the Lower 9th Ward. Each home is powered by renewable energy and are LEED Platinum certified, the highest level of certification offered by the U.S. Green Building Council. The home designs are inspired by Cradle to Cradle thinking. This unique approach to design and science is created by architect William McDonough and chemist Dr. Michael Braungart and described in their book,  Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things.

Cradle to Cradle design is characterized by the following:

• Materials are defined as biological and/or technical nutrients for safe use and reuse
• Products are designed for disassembly/recovery
• Uses renewable energy
• Maintains and enhances water quality
• Honors social fairness and human dignity
• Improvement is continuous and aspirational

Make It Right didn’t stop at homes. They also manage to bring back playgrounds, community gardens and sustainable streetscapes to the neighborhood. The sustainable-playgrounds are solar-powered for children to play physically-active digital games.

The streets, sidewalks and driveways in the neighborhood are paved with pervious concrete which allow rain water to seep through the pervious concrete, reducing flooding and recharging the groundwater below.

Make It Right even helped design, build and power New Orleans’ first sustainable skate park.

How to Help

As we remember Katrina 10 Years later, the somber anniverary is an important reminder that there is still much to be done and many, many families in need to help. You can help Make It Right bring affordable, green homes to communities in need around the world by making a donation. Your tax-deductible donation will help build healthy, solar-powered homes for communities in need.

“The message of Make It Right is to take this spot that was emblematic of such human failure and to make it a human success story of how we can build in the future, how we can build with equality, how we can build for families.”

BRAD PITT, MAKE IT RIGHT

Green Gifts

Make It Right also offers Green Gifts that help disabled veterans, seniors and disadvantaged families by providing healthy, beautiful, affordable homes. With Green Gifts, you can give a light bulb, a toilet, a community garden, even a whole house! The following sustainable gifts reflect Make It Right’s current needs.

Donate Training in Green Construction – $100

Training local laborers in green construction methods gives workers a new set of skills and helps spread green building practices throughout a region.

Support A Community Garden – $25

Community gardens give people in need access to free, nutritious food for their families. The neighborhoods where Make It Right works are known as ‘food deserts’, urban areas with little or no access to grocery stores that offer fresh and affordable foods. Community gardens bring
neighbors together to grow the food they need for healthy and delicious meals.

Give A Led Light Bulb – $10

LED light bulbs use at least 75% less energy than incandescent lighting and lasts 35 to 50 times longer, making them the clear choice for sustainable homes.

Give A Solar Panel – $200

A solar panel is the gift that keeps on giving – renewable energy reduces CO2 emissions, pollution and dependence on fossil fuels and significantly lowers power bills for homeowners.

Donate Playground Equipment – $500

Our eco-playgrounds are constructed with sustainable materials and landscaped with native plants. The playgrounds are solar-powered and feature digital, physically active games for children.

Plant A (Native) Tree – $20

Native landscaping – using trees, shrubs and plants indigenous to the local region – provides a low-maintenance, low-cost and environmentally-friendly approach to landscaping. Native plants and trees don’t need pesticides, fertilizer or sprinkler systems, since the plants are already adapted to their environment.

Give Tools To The Lending Library – DONATE $30

Tool lending libraries save homeowners money and reduce consumption and waste. Help communities in need keep their homes beautiful by donating a hammer, drill, shovel and other tools to a tool library.

Donate A Gallon Of Paint – DONATE $60

A solar panel is the gift that keeps on giving – renewable energy reduces CO2 emissions, pollution and dependence on fossil fuels and significantly lowers power bills for homeowners.

Give A Dual Flush Toilet – DONATE $60

Dual-flush toilets conserve water and aid overtaxed sewage systems.

Give Financial Counseling – DONATE $100

Financial fitness is essential to becoming a homeowner – but the process can be overwhelming for many of us. Help a family get financially fit through one-on-one sessions with a trained homeownership counselor.

Hire A Local Artist – DONATE $500

Support local artists and beautify Make It Right’s community spaces with this gift. We’ve hired local artists like New Orleans’ Lionel Milton to paint beautiful murals inside our parks and community centers. Help us keep these places beautiful with artists’ murals that represent and
reflect the communities where we work.

Give A Pervious Concrete Sidewalk – DONATE $100

Pervious concrete is porous and allows water to flow through it, reducing flooding, stormwater run-off and pollution. Make It Right uses pervious concrete on sidewalks, driveways and residential streets. Give this gift to pave the road home with this environmentally-friendly concrete.

Give Energy-Star Appliances – DONATE $500

Make It Right uses only ENERGY STAR rated appliances in all our homes. Typically ENERGY STAR certified products use 20%-30% less energy than conventional products. This gift supplies an energy-efficient refrigerator, dishwasher, microwave, washer and dryer to one family.

The Ultimate Gift… A Whole House – DONATE $150,000

Want to give the ultimate present? Change a family’s life by giving them a new home. Make It Right builds healthy homes for people in need – disabled veterans, disadvantaged families, victims of natural disaster and seniors. You can change someone’s life by donating $150,000 – the cost of a single-family Make It Right home.

Join IRIE Magazine and make a gift pledge today, visit: http://makeitright.org/give/


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