A convenient, affordable solution to purchasing and recycling batteries was the inspiration for Charlie Kawasaki to co-found BETTERY, the nation’s first kiosks for the responsible use and purchase of sustainable battery products. Kawasaki likens BETTERY kiosks, which are found at select Safeway and Whole Foods Markets locations in the Seattle and Portland metro areas, to Redbox kiosks, but instead of swapping DVDs and Blu-rays, it’s AA and AAA batteries. After an affordable one-time deposit to get started, customers can bring spent batteries back to the kiosk to swap them for new ones at a reduced cost.

“About 2.5 billion single-use batteries that end up in U.S. landfills every year,” Kawasaki says. “We get to reuse our batteries up to 500 times. You take that environmental impact [of single-use batteries] and you get to divide it by 500 for each use of our batteries.”

Hong Kong transplant Peter Lu opened Peacefood Café on New York’s Upper West Side in 2008 after fully converting to veganism in 2007. Lu and his business partner wanted to celebrate their newfound life choice, but also wanted to spread the word about vegan food to New Yorkers. The café’s menu of accessible vegan versions of American standards (and a spot-on menu of tasty baked goods) has been a major success. The second Peacefood Café outpost opened in 2013 near Union Square in downtown Manhattan.

“I think people are starting to open up about veganism,” Lu reveals. “It’s not a fad diet — it’s been there for years. Our purpose as a restaurant is to give [patrons] a reminder that these foods are really good for you and they are delicious. It’s an incentive to a go a little further and think about what veganism is about. People just really like the food — it doesn’t really matter that it’s vegan.”

The Girl Up campaign was created by the United Nations Foundation to address the needs of adolescent girls in developing countries. By empowering youth in the U.S., Girl Up helps these underserved girls get educated, stay safe and accounted for and be positioned to be leaders. Currently, Girl Up supports programs in Liberia, Guatemala, Ethiopia and Malawi, with more potential locations on the way.

Rachel Wisthuff, a Grassroots Associate with the campaign, has helped organize Girl Up’s partnership with Electronic Recyclers International to donate gently used electronics for young women in need. Rebecca Ruvalcaba, a high school student, is President of one of Girl Up’s clubs in Southern California. She is tasked with helping to raise funds for Girl Up’s efforts and spread awareness amongst her peers. Girl Up currently has about 450 of these clubs across the globe.

“Each year, we’ll get increasingly more clubs around the world, ” Wisthuff explains. “Being able to connect those clubs around the world — so that Rebecca’s club in Southern California can talk with a Girl Up club in South Africa — is what we’re really looking to do. We want to make sure that pathway of communication toward supporting girls is clear and ever-present.”