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Out To Lunch: Green Orleans

John Hopper, Christal White and Peter Ricchiuti.
Chet Overall
/
It's New Orleans
John Hopper, Christal White and Peter Ricchiuti.
John Hopper, Christal White and Peter Ricchiuti.
Credit Chet Overall / It's New Orleans
/
It's New Orleans
John Hopper, Christal White and Peter Ricchiuti.

“Green” used to be just a color. Now it’s a way of life. Everything from household trash to billion-dollar industrial plants can be “green” — meaning we undertake an activity mindful of the impact we’re having on our environment.

Out To Lunch: Green Orleans

We use the word “green” because it’s the most ubiquitous color in nature. In cities we’ve coined a term for urban nature — Green Space.

In New Orleans we have one of the oldest and biggest green spaces in the country. It’s home to an 800 year old oak tree. A carousel. A sculpture garden. A farm. Festival grounds. And much more. You’d think we’d come up with a grander name for such a grand domain but we simply call it: City Park.

John Hopper, Chief Development Officer and Public Affairs Director of New Orleans City Park, joins Peter on today's Out to Lunch.

Peter Ricchiuti and Greg Harris.
Credit Chet Overall / It's New Orleans
/
It's New Orleans
Peter Ricchiuti and Greg Harris.

One of the earliest elements of the green movement was recycling. Which is typically plastic, paper and glass. In New Orleans we also recycle houses. And paint. At The Green Project you can get paint that was otherwise headed for the dump, and almost any piece of building material, salvaged from demolished or renovated houses.

The Director of Development at The Green Project, Christal White, joins Peter and John.

In the You Heard It Here First segment of the show, Greg Harris introduces his entrepreneurial concept for resurrecting the spirit of community with a dash of commerce, MEUSU. You can hear a longer conversation about MEUSU here.

Copyright 2015 WWNO - New Orleans Public Radio

Peter Ricchiuti is the finance professor you wish you had back in college! His insight and humor have twice made him the top professor at Tulane University's A.B. Freeman School of Business. After a successful career on Wall Street, Ricchiuti served for five years as Assistant State Treasurer and Chief Investment Officer for the State of Louisiana. There he skillfully managed the State's $3 billion investment portfolio.