More than 1,200 people flowed through the doors of Old Town Hall last weekend for the Salem Living Green and Renewable Energy Fair...
At the other end of the hall, Marblehead High School sophomore Casey Ehrlich, 16, founder of Blanket the Globe, displayed a few of her quilts made from squares created by children around the world, each one on recycled cloth and bearing the maker’s feelings about the environment.
“I wanted to give kids a voice,” Ehrlich said.
The Upstander Award
Blanket the Globe founder, Casey Ehrlich, is the youngest recipient of the prestigious "Upstander" award this year from the Choosing to Participate program from the International organization Facing History and Ourselves. This video featuring Casey and the other awardees opened a reception at the Boston Public Library where Casey and the other Upstander award recipients were honored by Boston Mayor Menino. This event kicked off a 6 month Upstander exhibit at the Boston Public Library. The exhibit will next be on display at the Moakley Court House in Boston this fall.
MARBLEHEAD - A Marblehead teen is garnering international attention with simple scraps of cloth, a few decorations and lots of networking.
Casey Ehrlich, 16, is founder of the non-profit Blanket the Globe Inc., an organization that sews quilt panels out of squares with environmentally conscious themes submitted by children across the nation.
Ehrlich, who The Item first profiled in August 2007, was recently a guest speaker at the City Year event in Charlestown, which was attended by 100 teens from Massachusetts. The theme for the event was "City Heroes" and Ehrlich talked about her project and how it has grown since its inception. She said much of the growth is due to the Internet. She told the teens a class in Peru is working on the project and she is corresponding with a girl in Indonesia.
Ehrlich, who described herself as an environmentally sensitive artist, said she came up with the concept of making a quilt less than a year ago.
"It's a way to raise awareness about the environment and give kids a voice even though we can't vote yet," she said. "Square by square, voice by voice, we can build a beautiful blanket that will express our concern that our environment needs care and attention."
Ehrlich said kids 18 years old or younger send in fabric quilt squares that she sews into a panel and each panel is made up of 50 squares.
Each quilt square is 12" by 12" and Ehrlich said the squares could be made from used clothing or any kind of fabric. She said kids have been decorating the fabric and writing environmental messages with felt markers, buttons and other materials.
The messages on the squares range from saving the whales to using alternative energy sources, but the one thing all the squares have in common is a desire to help the environment and save the earth for future generations.
"Each person makes only one square," Ehrlich said. "I only made one square because it is one child, one voice."
In less than a year, Ehrlich has received more than 1,100 squares from around the world and right here on the North Shore. She initially worked on the project on the dining room table, but has since moved it to a larger room in the home.
"The blanket has a couch now," she quipped. "I have already sewed 500 squares together into panels of 50 squares each. I have about 600 more panels to sew together. I just got a box from Pennsylvania and I just got some great squares from the kids at Ford School in Lynn."
The recent City Year event is not the first notable invitation Ehrlich has received for her project.
In January, she was honored by the international organization, Facing History and Ourselves Choosing to Participate program, where she received an "Upstander: Portraits of Courage Award" presented by Mayor Thomas Menino. Ehrlich is the youngest of the 25 award winners this year and her work is on display at the Boston Public Library through May.
Anyone who would like more information on the project or would like to make a square, is encouraged to visit Ehrlich's Web site at www.blankettheglobe.com.
Casey Ehrlich, second from left, is joined at Saturday’s event by three City Year volunteers who also attend Marblehead High School, from left, ninth-grader Jasmine Clarke, and 10th-graders Shakila Taylor and Sabyne Damas.
Marblehead - Casey Ehrlich, 16, founder of the non-profit Blanket the Globe Inc., was invited as a featured speaker at a City Year event in Charlestown for about 100 teens from around the state Saturday. The theme of the day was “City Heroes,” and Ehrlich’s unique project, which involves youth from around the planet, was central to her discussion.
Casey with Troop #5890
On Friday evening, March 28th at the First Lutheran Church in Lynn, MA the amazing girls (and one boy) of Brownie Troop #5890 presented BTG founder Casey Ehrlich with their glorious squares that the girls had created over several of their last meetings. After the ceremony, Casey spoke with the girls about how important their voice was to protecting the planet and that their squares all sewn together convey something even more powerful than just their voice alone. The girls enjoyed telling Casey about their camping trips and their annual Earth Day cleanup of Lynn Woods before breaking for homemade banana bread and chocolate chip cookies.
Mayor Menino and Casey Ehrlich
Blanket the Globe's Founder, Casey Ehrlich, wins the award "Upstanders: Portraits of Courage" from International organization, Facing History and Ourselves' Choosing to Participate. The award was presented to her by the Honorable Mayor Menino of Boston at the Boston Public Library, where a multimedia display of her work will remain on display along with the work of 24 other Greater Boston award winners. Ms. Ehrlich was the youngest honoree this year.
Blanket the Globe is in the December Costco brochure. Something good to think about while you shop! Click here for the page from the circular. A similar version appeared in the European and Canadian version as well and the result has been a flurry of traffic and squares.
CNN Student News
The children's artwork is prominently featured on CNN today Monday, October 15, 2007, as part of their Student News Report! There's even a slideshow which features a whole bunch of the the children's artwork. These news segments are made for kids and even have podcasts which would be a great way to bring it into schools.
Rachel Gianatasio, left, and Casey Ehrlich are shown at South Station after the July 7 Live Earth concert created to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis caused by global warming...the girls got to experience the concert as the only two youth members of the press
It's a huge article all linked above but here's a little snipit:
Though the excitement of being so close to the action was an experience in itself, the message behind the concert also hit home.
For Ehrlich, founder of “Blanket the Globe,” a project that invites children to voice their concerns about the environment through the creation of individualized quilt squares, the concert helped to drive home a message she has already tried to display on her own.
For Gianatasio, she felt the message made her all the more aware of the problem.
“It was a lot to absorb, and though I felt I was aware, I realized there are a lot of things you don’t notice,” Gianatasio said. “Like when I went back to the hotel that night and brushed my teeth, I normally would leave the water running while I brush, but I made sure to shut it off.”
Ehrlich said that all of the performing artists showed dedication to the cause, but some stuck out in her mind.
“KT Tunstall said that she was currently having her flat insulated with sheep’s wool, which I didn’t even know you could do,” Ehrlich said. “It was clear that all of the artists really cared about the environment though, because they all offered their talents for free to support the cause.”
Though she knows that some of the people in attendance were there more for the concert than the message, Ehrlich said she felt everyone left with something to think about.
“Even if they were there just for the music, they still had to stay for Al Gore’s speech, and hopefully they were able to take something away from that,” Ehrlich said.
For now, Ehrlich said she is going to redouble her own recycling efforts, and she hopes the older generations will keep the environment in mind when they head to the polls in 2008.
“Voting is the most important thing you can do,” Ehrlich said. “You need to vote for someone who you feel will make a difference.”
Front page (!) of today's Daily Evening Item in Lynn, MA "Marblehead quilter tries to save world - a square at a time" by Debra Glidden It's a great article! Here's the link and a little snipit:
And the quilt has already been making the rounds, from Red Rock Park in Lynn, to the Farmers Market in Marblehead and backstage at the "Live Earth USA" concert on July 7 at Giant Stadium.
Ehrlich admits the project requires a lot more time and energy than she expected, but quickly added it's worth it.
"It's worth the time and energy," she said. "Everybody interprets it a different way but all the messages are positive."
Awesome article by Kaitlin Melanson of The Marblehead Reporter. Here's a sample:
There is a lot that a good blanket can do.
It can keep you warm during the chill of night, turn you into a superhero with a knot under the chin, and, according to Casey Ehrlich, it may be able to change the world, one quilted square at a time.
The soon-to-be sophomore at Marblehead High School is the mastermind behind “Blanket the Globe,” a project aimed at giving the youth of the world a voice — through the creation of individualized squares — about the future of the earth’s environment.
For Ehrlich, the idea began to evolve this past April, as Earth Day was marked far and wide.
“I was thinking,” Ehrlich began. “Kids can’t vote, but they will someday inherit a planet that has evolved from the decisions which generations before them have made. This is their opportunity to be heard.”
(Our very first article--not linkable, unfortunately) Marblehead Teen’s Project Aims at Those Who Will Inherit the Earth
Bette Keva Jewish Journal Staff
June 1, 2007 The squares are starting to pour in from California, Minnesota, Germany and Canada, and 15-year-old Casey Ehrlich couldn’t be happier with what she has put into motion. The Marblehead High freshman gives kids a voice about the environment, and judging from the response, she has hit a nerve.
Youths under 18 years old are creating one-foot fabric squares of artwork showing how they feel connected to the natural world. Once the blanket is big enough, Ehrlich states in her website: blankettheglobe.com, “it will make a powerful visual statement.”
“The point is, kids can’t vote yet,” so this project is assuring that they will be heard.
A few of the messages on the patches from the Hebrew school class of fourth graders at Congregation Shirat Hayam where Ehrlich is a teacher’s aide are: “Stop smoking,” “Buy a hybrid, not a gas guzzler,” and “Save the polar bears.”
“We’re expecting a load of 50 squares from the fifth grade at the Marblehead Village School soon and about 30 from the high school, and some others, so it’s going to grow quickly,” said Ehrlich’s mother Lori, an environmental activist. She insists that the project was entirely her daughter’s idea.
Each square is 12” x 12” and can be made from used clothing or any kind of fabric, said the teenager. Kids have been decorating the fabric and writing environmental messages with felt markers, buttons and paper. She was thrilled that Zimman’s in Lynn donated three yards of green fabric for the project and several people sent in money.
“I made $40 online so far,” Ehrlich said. “I wasn’t asking for money, but I’ll use it to buy materials.” She’s not sure what she’ll do with the blanket when it’s done, and as yet she has not set a deadline for submitting squares. But she envisions the blanket being displayed anywhere from local cities and states to the Washington Mall, or “even globally.”
