Announcing the Launch of the GreenMicrofinance University Forum

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GreenMicrofinance Celebrates EARTH DAY 2009 – Launches Online University Forum edit

GreenMicrofinance™, a cutting-edge Pennsylvania-based triple bottom line company, has set Earth Day, April 22, 2009, at 5:00 PM EDT, for the launch of its online climate change and microfinance university network, the GMf University Forum™.

The GMf University Forum, its own social network with a structure similar to Facebook, provides extensive opportunities to maximize the flow of ideas. Members will be able to post and partake in discussion topics; create connections from all participating universities such as Princeton, Lehigh, the University of Pennsylvania, Kathmandu University, Nepal, and TISS, Mumbai, India; stay abreast of upcoming events, including conferences, seminars and talks featuring GMf leaders; upload their own documents and links to share; and post blog entries. These tools will support the development of an online community of like-minded individuals creating momentum to achieve GMf’s overall mission of knowledge building and creating sustainable solutions in the field of microfinance through social and academic networking.

The Forum aims to attract university students engaged in many disciplines which intersect microfinance and environmental sustainability, including Environmental Studies, International Finance, Area Studies, Public Health, Engineering and Technology, Climate Change Policy Studies, Biology and more. To participate, students can simply register through an existing university association link or through a specific discussion of interest.

The University Forum will work closely with the online open-source GMf Document Library™ and will offer an opportunity for peer collaboration. GMf gathers and annotates fully downloadable papers on scores of relevant clean energy and environmental topics available to anyone in the world. From working plans for bio-digesters to UN policy papers, the vetted materials have been downloaded by thousands of visitors. Added professional time will allow for a great expansion of GMf’s offerings and inclusion of more languages. GMf also maintains extensive links for assisting people in their research. This e-Library is used by professional practitioners in finance, engineering, environmental science, education, as well as by activists, students, journalists and researchers. There have been approximately 10,000 visitors interacting on the site.

In addition to the basic features of the GMf Forum, there are others in the works to enhance its function as a networking tool, such as an electronic bulletin board for job and volunteer project recruiting. The GMf Green Energy Tech Wiki is being developed by the Princeton Microfinance Organization and will allow end users to evaluate all models and types of clean energy technology, an invaluable resource to clean energy promoters and consumers the world over. As well, GMfC plans on launching ‘videos from the field’ to highlight clean energy initiatives supported through microfinance institutions.

About GreenMicrofinance

GreenMicrofinance (GMf), a pioneer in merging the environmental and microfinance sectors, has been working since 2002 to bring clean, affordable, renewable, locally generated energy to the two billion at the Bottom of the Pyramid. GMf‘s objective is to provide educational, technical and financial services to assist the global poor’s transition to a sustainable, affordable and healthy energy future.

For more information, please visit www.greenmicrofinance.org. To help support our growth on social networking sites, please join our groups on Facebook and LinkedIn, and follow us on Twitter.

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For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Betsy Teutsch, Director of Communications, at [email protected]

or +1 (267) 825-5445