With all that being said, when I stumbled upon this "new" foundation, I was instantly intrigued. Let me put it right out there, I was mostly intrigued by the face of this organization. Ian Somerhalder. For those of you who have no idea who he is, he's an extremely attractive actor from the show Vampire Diaries. For those that don't know me, I feel it important to state that I don't follow Hollywood stuff. I don't care. I barely watch TV and I really don't give a crap about what people with gobs of money are spending it on. But, again, he's hot, so I clicked a link. I honestly can't remember what it was that I was clicking on, but it brought me to the Ian Somerhalder Foundation (IS Foundation,#isf) To be honest, I really thought it was fluff when first glancing through it. I mean there is no way this guy is that smart or that willing to part with his money. Cynical, yes, but I have pretty low opinions of, well, everyone. I started reading over the stuff though, and the more I read, the more interested I became. This foundation is doing good things, and it's opening the eyes of an untapped resource...our youth. This is definitely geared towards getting teens and college-aged students more involved in helping our planet.
Since I'm horrible at research that isn't solely based around education, I got my research analyst on this. He was less than impressed and had some very valid points, but, after digging, he truly believes this foundation is legit and trying to do good work. His one frustration with it was one of the reasons I thought it was great....it's all encompassing. There is something for everyone. Maybe you are more of an animal lover and the use of coal doesn't really interest you. Well, there's something for that. Is that statement flipped? There's something for you, too. Maybe you're a little, or a lot, interested in it all. Guess, what? There's totally a place for you! That's what appeals to youth....choices! I remember my teen years trying to be involved in animal rights groups and nature conservatory groups and ocean awareness groups, etc, etc. It was a lot. There really wasn't any good way of supporting it all. The IS Foundation makes that part of it easy. One group does it all. Being that I'm older now, I do see my RA's point. The older you get the more you like focus, but this isn't for us. It's for future generations. It just so happens that my children are aware of many environmental concerns, but so many of today's youth are not. This is a great way to get youth thinking about different issues facing our planet's well being. True, the majority of people are clicking for the same reason I did...the face behind it. But if it gets you there, who cares what road you took? Again, for people like my RA (I'm talking about you, Steven and Mikey, who will agree with my RA), this is geared toward a younger generation than ours! Don't discount it for that, though. Look it over. My kids are younger than the target audience, but they still like the articles. Monster could sit and read through it all day. There are things we have to discuss, like the meatless push, but he's pretty good at understanding that we can all have different opinions and ideas and still have the same overall goal.
They just put out a cute video about the birds and the bees, #Time4theTalk. I found it cute and pretty funny, mostly because I could see Monster doing this. He's extremely passionate about the environment. Monster liked the video. Sunshine was a bit confused at first and asked what pesticides were (I think that's actually a parenting win since we grow an organic garden) and then after explaining the whole thing to her, she thought it was funny, too. Husband wasn't impressed, but it takes a lot to impress him. I think it's a cute way to get people thinking about the importance of bees in our society. Most people see them as a problem. Obviously those people never watched the Bee Movie...that's right, I get my facts from cartoons at times. But I digress. It was a cute way to get people to think about how our world would be without bees. That's just the latest thing the foundation has put out. There's also a link with summer reading suggestions that look like interesting reads for Little Miss Sunshine (Monster is beyond most of them or has read them).
I'm still not 100% convinced this is a fantastic foundation, but I'm going to keep an eye on it. I'm wary because, well, I'm cynical by nature, but also because I'm not one to jump on the bandwagon. I believe in getting the facts and finding out as much as I can about something before I put 100% of my support behind it. I'm about 75% at this point though, which is pretty darned high for me. If nothing else, it has interesting articles for the kids to learn more about different environmental topics, which I'm in favor of 100%!