Be a Philanthropist! 10 Fantastic Eco-Minded Projects In Need of a Kickstart

Creative thinkers are everywhere and they have countless projects that can inspire others and improve the world...if only they could get the funding needed to make it happen. That's where Kickstarter steps in. Think of Kickstarter like a Kiva - tiny loans for people in need. Only rather than loaning funds for a business venture, you're giving money to fund really neat projects! From documentaries to urban farms, from sustainable buildings to teaching kids, the projects are all over the board, and all in need of a little help to get going.

Kickstarter allows a person or group to post about their project, state how much they'll need to make it happen, and accept donations from backers. However, there's a catch. The funding only goes through if the entire requested amount is reached. If not enough money is raised for the project, no money is exchanged. This helps protect backers so that they aren't handing money over to a project that will never have a hope of coming to fruition.

It is easy to search Kickstart to find a project you feel passionate about. But knowing you're a green thinker, we found some really interesting, diverse, and environmentally themed projects in need of your help. Check them out and see if any spark the philanthropist in you!

1. From Grass to Cheese: A documentary about the Nolan family dairy farm

Goal: $28,000

Green Angle: "From Grass to Cheese is a feature documentary that chronicles the ups and downs of a family-run dairy farm in Ohio during it's first year of cheese production, telling the story of Nick and Celeste Nolan, their five children, and what it's like to start up a family farm in the age of industrial agriculture." Cheese has a big environmental footprint because of dairies run factory farm-style. Artisan farms like the Nolan's are one solution for shrinking the footprint of cheese and dairy, promoting local foods and businesses, and bringing the focus back to well run small farms.

2. Green Kids: Ebb & Flo

Goal: $10,000

Green Angle: "Green Kids has never been more relevant, timely or necessary. As the challenges facing our environment emerge to the forefront of global consciousness, it is imperative that we teach children about our environment and the positive impact they can still have on the future of our planet. With all of the talk in the media about global-warming, extreme weather and other environmental crises facing the world, the negative news can be scary for children. For Green Kids, the goal is to see the next generation of children growing up with 'green dreams' on their mind, not nightmares. Green Kids seeks to empower children by providing them with facts about environmental issues in a positive manner, and then equipping them with simple but effective tools to live 'greenly'."

3. Gear Up a Geek Art/Green Innovators Festival to Change the World

Goal: $2,500

Green Angle: "Also called the GA/GI (or GAHgee), this festival will juxtapose a unique blend of talents, individuals and leaders in the "green" and technology fields who do not normally cross paths. At the same time, GA/GI seeks to give the average citizen a view and a voice in "what's coming next," by placing the mix of demos, exhibitions, displays and installations in an artistic format--the community festival--the idea being that if you put the best of all possible worlds together, something great is bound to happen!"

4. [url='http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ecolabs/ecomag-no2-visualizing-ecological-economics?pos=1']EcoMag No.2 | Eco-Economics

Goal: $7,500

Green Angle: "EcoMag aims to foster whole systems thinking and help create an alternative cultural vision that can drive transformational change to meet the goals of a fully sustainable society. The theme of the second issue will be 'Ecological Economics'. How can design inform our understanding of macro-economics, the nature of money, the role of cheap energy as economic driver and the economic mechanisms that drive carbon intensive lifestyles and waste resources? How can we use the skills in design to respond to systemic economic challenges in building sustainability into our communities? EcoMag No.2 will engage a global community of designers and artists in working on problems and create a magazine and a traveling art exhibition with the end results."

5. A Solar Powered, Eco Friendly Recording Studio

Goal: $12,500

Green Angle: "Mission: To build the first solar powered, "green" recording facility in New England, and maybe even the East Coast. I already own a 2,000 sq ft barn, its solar panels have already been installed, and now it's time to insulate, frame, build walls, soundproof, install flooring, install plumbing, heating, doors, and windows as well as purchase audio gear. My wife and I have spent the past six months updating our 250-year-old home with all new, low demand, energy efficient appliances - from the hot water heater and dual flush toilet down to energy rated light bulbs. Now it's time to bring that approach to the barn. I want to build it using recycled materials wherever possible - insulate with recycled denim and BioBased spray foam, purchase used furniture and equipment (which keeps it out of landfills), rely on renewable resources like cork and bamboo and use low demand, energy efficient heaters and electronics as much as possible."

6. Refined Eco-Clothing Line Designed for Active Commuters.

Goal: $3,000

Green Angle: "Nonetheless is a purpose-driven clothing company. You can move from your daily commute to client meetings and seamlessly celebrate life without compromising mobility, performance, or tailoring. Every piece is environmentally sound with touch points that provide a fluid pathway of considered pieces based on the 'less is more' philosophy. All funds for this project will go to taking our designs from the prototype phase to actual production. If funded through Kick Starter, we will produce these unique pieces right here in the U.S.A.. Better yet, in our home city of Chicago. Our collective already has the prototypes, fabrics, manufacturing resources, and provisional patents on a few utilitarian designs."

7. Witness Kenya's Single Mothers Become Successful Backpack Eco-Farmers

Goal: $18,430

Green Angle: "The Backpack Farm Agriculture Program team has planned the launch of a new pilot program to support 20 single mothers in Meru, Kenya. By using the right agriculture inputs (including drip irrigation), training and support each woman will double the amount of crops produced on her own shamba (plot of land) and begin working as an out-grower for an established, commercial farm. If you didn't know, 80% of the food produced in East Africa is produced by women. The pilot will be a 1-year pilot program in partnership with Rosemary Muthomi from Mt. Kenya Gardens Limited. She is already working with 7,000 rural out-growers, predominately women. She will ensure each woman will sell their crops at an equitable price into a dedicated value chain. The program will be financially administered by Kenya Women's Finance Trust (KWFT) to ensure transparency and financial capacity of the women."

8. Smell The Roses: A Sustainable-Eco-Docu-Series

Goal: $99,021

Green Angle: "The goal is to make a series of documentaries about me riding my bicycle across the United States of America conducting interviews with B Corporations, DIYers, environmentalists, sustainable living experts, natural farmers, and others to show where business, technology, nature, and culture meet and move us forward. The main objective is to find some of this country's unknown national treasures (culture, architecture, and nature), to experience as many new things as possible, and to meet many new people that are shaping their communities and this country into what they want and need right now and interview them about how and why they do what they do."

9. Expedition Organica: A Family Farming Adventure in Central America

Goal: $10,000

Green Angle: "We are working on a documentary film project that follows our family as we head south to Central America in our well-equipped Land Rover Discovery to work as volunteers at various organic farms for one year. Sort of a reverse migration... We're a young family preparing to move to a 350-year-old family farm in Virginia and we want to educate ourselves and our children on how family farms in other parts of the world work. We're particularly interested in learning about organic farming practices in hopes of bringing the knowledge home and building upon a thriving operation that can sustain our family for generations to come. The best way to learn it, we think, is to get out there and do it. So we're hitting the road and heading for Central America where there's been a huge increase in organic family farms willing to take in and feed families in exchange for help on their land."

10. The Guarani Project: a multimedia documentary about water in Latin America

Goal: $14,500

Green Angle: "We are producing a documentary about the challenges facing the Guarani Aquifer in South America. The Guarani Aquifer is one of the largest aquifers in the world and contains enough water to sustain the world's population for over 200 years. As water shortages affect us all in the future, the Guarani Aquifer could be a lifeline for millions. But increased commercial interest in the aquifer's water, and bickering between the countries that share it, is threatening to throw this region into conflict. We need your help to get us down to Latin America for our first research trip. We are planning to spend at least 2 months in Latin America, talking to experts, lawyers, NGOs and the indigenous population who live on the aquifer, to find out from them what the real story is. "