Sprouts Of Hope Present “Imagine A Sustainable Life” Quilt To The City Of Cambridge

On Monday, February 25th, at Cambridge City Hall, the Sprouts of Hope — a local group of Cambridge Public School students in Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots group — donated an exquisite quilt they made, as a lending gift to the City of Cambridge.

The Sprouts of Hope members — Eliza Klein, Maya Ludtke, Kaya Mark, Risa Paley-Zimble and Lilly Sandberg — are sophomores and juniors at Cambridge Rindge & Latin School, where they are active in various environmental clubs. They also work on sustainability projects with Kristen von Hoffmann, who is the Sustainability Manager for the Cambridge Public School District. These bright young women gave thoughtful testimonials at City Hall after presenting the quilt to the Mayor and the City. Each young woman spoke about the tapestry of environmental accomplishments the City has seen in recent years, and they also expressed their ideas about ways to improve and continue to build a sustainable city.



It was a quilt they conceived and created with the assistance of Cambridge resident and global quilt maker Clara Wainwright. With an abiding interest in contributing to the environmental health of their community, the Sprouts of Hope aim for their quilt to engage those who live and work in Cambridge in a community-wide effort to make their city “the most environmentally sustainable city in the world.”

“The Sprouts of Hope have dedicated a lot of time and energy into building a better world, both here in Cambridge and beyond, and their passion for improving the lives of others and preserving the environment is inspiring,” says von Hoffmann.

With an easy-to-use website that the Sprouts of Hope designed, residents of Cambridge will be able to sign up to borrow this quilt so it can hang in spaces where people of all ages can be see it — and be inspired to come with ideas for sustainable environmental policies and practices.

As the Sprouts of Hope explained, “We hope individuals and agencies across Cambridge will borrow our quilt — our gift to the city of Cambridge — to get people talking, to spur concern and to provoke action. Hang it from your walls. Start a conversation.”

In 2008, the Sprouts of Hope were recognized by the City of Cambridge as part of its Go Green Awards.

Children belonging to Sprouts of Hope, part of the worldwide Roots & Shoots program founded by Dr. Jane Goodall, were recognized at the annual GoGreen Awards ceremony held at the Cambridge City Hall annex. They went before the Cambridge School Committee last October to request that the schools stop using polystyrene lunch trays, sparking an ongoing investigation into alternatives. The Sprouts organized a waste-free lunch day in the schools as well. (Cambridge Chronicle and Cambridge Tab) 5/27/2008)

The Sprouts of Hope also wrote “Energy Lite,” a book that a family can use — with their children— to learn how to conserve energy use in their homes. They donated copies of their book along with Kill A Watt meters to the Cambridge Public Library system in June 2010 and the Boston Public Library system in November 2011. Families are now able to borrow “Energy Lite” along with the meters to measure energy use in their homes.

The Sprouts of Hope are available for interviews to talk about why and how they made the quilt and are donating it as a lending gift to the City of Cambridge.

The Sprouts of Hope write on their blog — about the stages they went through with Clara to create this quilt.

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