It all began on a boat, while Louraine Rudolph was cruising around one of Maine’s numerous bays.
“I was sitting there on the boat and looking at one of the most beautiful places in the world and knew we have to save this,” said Rudolph, a sophomore theater major.
That idea spurred a dream that is now becoming a reality. Rudolph is now the executive director of “One Blue Pearl,” a non-profit organization looking to save the world one person at a time.
“Our mission is to educate people about offsetting their carbon output,” said Rudolph.
The organization is still in developmental stages but was officially incorporated in Maine on January 3 of this year.
Next fall, Rudolph hopes to begin teaching students at USM.
Parts of her plans include “planned action profiles,” personalized plans to help both individuals and groups to reduce their carbon output.
Her primary focus will be to teach college students, but hopes one day to include high school and elementary education.
Reducing your carbon output doesn’t have to be costly or time consuming, something Rudolph wants people to know. It can be as simple as turning your car off instead of leaving it idling.
An excess of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases is one of the leading causes for global warming, the increase in the average temperature of Earth’s atmosphere and waters.
Another way to reduce your carbon output is to purchase carbon-offsets also known as carbon credits.
“A carbon credit is a stock in research and funding towards taking carbon out of the atmosphere or preventing carbon going into the atmosphere,” said Rudolph.
Many major companies, such as Expedia, are providing this option to customers to help offset the company’s carbon emissions.
Other organizations include the Chicago Climate Exchange, “the world’s first and North America’s only active voluntary, legally binding integrated trading system to reduce emissions of all six major greenhouse gases,” according to their website.
Right now, One Blue Pearl is made up primarily of Rudolph’s family members. But she has enlisted the help of friend and fellow student Kelly McCormick to create a marketing scheme.
“(Louraine) has a good heart, people will gravitate toward her,” said McCormick. “She’s always working for a good cause.”
Rudolph takes inspiration from the books she reads, the people she knows, the natural world around her, and a Native American proverb that says, “we don’t inherit the land from our ancestors but borrow it from our children.”
Interested? Rudolph wants your help. “It would be awesome to have anybody who cares about the world as much as I do.”
For more information, visit www.onebluepearl.org.