As Danny mentioned in his previous post, this Saturday is 350.org’s Climate Impacts Day all over the world! Here in Vermont, not only will people be taking part in this event, but they will also be celebrating Green Up Day. Annually, on the first Saturday in May, people from all corners of Vermont will flood into roadside ditches, lake shores and fields with a mission of picking up trash, planting trees and keeping the state beautiful! Here in Waitsfield, just outside our office doors, Hurricane Irene did quite a number on our community. All of us at 1% for the Planet we will be helping green up our community and then later in the day joining people from 350.org to “connect the dots between climate change and extreme weather.” We hope to see some of you there, or if you are from out of town, find an event in your area!
Continuing with this theme of connecting the dots, I challenge you to connect the dots between the following businesses around the world….
I’m sure that by now you have guessed that these are April’s 40 new 1% members! Welcome to our network, and I wish you all a very happy Green Up Day and hope you all find a way to get involved with cleaning up your local natural landscape!
It’s Tuesday, which means it’s already time to start looking ahead toward the weekend and make sure you have something fun planned! So do you have any big plans this weekend? And, have you ever been whale watching? Whether you have or have not, I would definitely recommend going! There is nothing quite like seeing a massive creature swimming so close to you! Read on to learn more about a great donation opportunity taking place with one of our newest members this weekend in British Columbia.
We are pleased to welcome Eagle Wing Tours to the 1% community – as our first whale watch touring company! Brett Soberg and his business partner, Don Stewart, founded Eagle Wing Tours in 2005 and incorporated a deep respect for the marine environment. They believe that by educating the public about whales and the wonders of the Salish Sea, they are able to inspire people to consider more environmentally-responsible choices in their everyday lives.
Eagle Wing Tours goes to great lengths to minimize the environmental impact of every aspect of its operations. They are Canada’s first and only carbon neutral whale watching company, offsetting all greenhouse gas emissions. Their clean Volvo diesel engines meet the strictest international standards and provide the lowest emission rating of any whale watching company in Victoria. The unique scarab and catamaran design of their three vessels incorporate the latest marine technology to reduce engine noise, minimizing underwater sound, wake and shoreline erosion.
This weekend, to celebrate Earth Day, Eagle Wing will donate $25 from every adult whale watching tour between Friday and Sunday to The Land Conservancy’s campaign to protect Brooks Point Park on South Pender Island. These waters are frequented by the southern resident killer whales and must be protected!
Environmental stewardship is at the heart of everything they do at Eagle Wing and their customers take pride in knowing that their tourism dollars are leaving a positive impact on the whales and the entire marine environment. Eagle Wing will continue working with the Victoria Foundation to administer its 1% for the Planet pledge to support local non-profit groups dedicated to the pursuit of sustainability and the environment. We want to extend a warm welcome to Eagle Wing Tours and wish we could get out to BC this weekend for one of your tours!
We are excited to introduce ioby, an innovative non-profit partner, to the 1% community! ioby – the opposite of NIMBY – was created to get people who want to do something meaningful for the environment involved with local projects. Read on to learn more about a great opportunity to support ioby!
ioby’s crowdsourcing platform exemplifies the local connection that we encourage all of our community to take part in! ioby.org combines the tools of social media with citizen philanthropy to power environmental action in urban centers. Since their founding, they have seen the successful completion of nearly 150 community-driven, neighbor-funded projects in NYC’s five boroughs. Their web platform is a groundbreaking tool for change and has been written up recently in Fast Company, Outside Magazine, Wall Street Journal and Mother Nature News.
On ioby, anyone with a good idea for change in their neighborhood can post their community gardening, bicycling, park or waterfront project online to collect tax-deductible donations, connect with local volunteers and share ideas in the likeminded community. On average, micro-donors contribute $35 to projects and live within 2 miles of the project site.
ioby is growing. This Earth Day, April 22, ioby is running a dollar-for-dollar match campaign for all donations to projects, in increments up to $22. There are currently 97 (and counting!) live projects on ioby, where organizations are fundraising for all kinds of local environmental projects, from open streets to park festivals to urban farms in vacant lots. This past Valentine’s Day, ioby ran a Neighborhood Love match campaign and raised $42,000 in matched micro-donations in 24 hours, these funds helped fully fund more than a dozen great projects.
ioby is looking for a business partner to help sponsor their Earth Day match, and they hope to work with a company who cares about the same mission, who loves the planet and its people and wants to help catalyze thousands of citizen projects in cities across the country. Ioby is seeking sponsors who can contribute $5,000-$20,000 to this campaign. Businesses that helped sponsor their Valentine’s Day match received a huge amount of publicity because of the almost 350,000 followers of ioby’s social media networks!
If you’re a business member and still looking for non-profits to give your 1% to, partnering with ioby would be a great way to support a broad range of projects that make a huge difference, and to get some great visibility too! Drop Erin (ED at ioby, erin@ioby.org) a line for more information about being a cosponsor.
We are excited to welcome ioby to the 1% Team and wish them a very happy (early) Earth Day!
Imagine a place where there are no roads, and instead people travel by water. A place where bears and wolves roam the land, while killer and humpback whales swim around the sea. This place, the Great Bear Rainforest, is home to communities whose cultures stretch back many millennia on this coast. This intact temperate rainforest is punctuated by mountains and fjords, and strewn with hundreds of islands along the western coast of British Columbia. Today, ecotourism is one of the leading elements of the emerging conservation economy in the Great Bear Rainforest and 1% member Maple Leaf Adventures has been leading the way since the early 1990s.
Tour companies in the region, like Maple Leaf Adventures, take small groups of guests for multi-day trips by boat among the fjords and islands. Bear viewing and whale watching with expert guides are key features, as is walking the rainforest and learning about the area’s natural and cultural history. This area is so rich with wildlife because of all the work conservation organizations do. Conservation focused businesses and scientists have a symbiotic relationship, because conserved areas allow ecotourism to bloom. At the same time, conservation groups benefit when coastal businesses can generate incomes without clear-cut logging, mining or otherwise destroying the Great Bear Rainforest.
One of the most instrumental organizations in this effort is 1% recipient Raincoast Conservation Foundation, which has made some substantial scientific discoveries regarding the Great Bear Rainforest. They have done research on the salmon-eating, ocean-swimming wolves of the area, the abundance of marine mammals in its waters, the discovery of hundreds of salmon spawning streams, and much more. Raincoast scientists are willing to meet Maple Leaf guests in the field and take time to discuss their research. Maple Leaf (and many of their guests) donate money to support the scientific, education, and policy work Raincoast does, along with its advocacy work.
Connections, like the one between Maple Leaf and Raincoast, are very important to this region because they help protect the land from potentially detrimental projects. There is a proposal to run massive oil tankers through the treacherous waters of the Great Bear Rainforest to “more easily” transport tar sands oil from northern Alberta to Asia. It is essential to the region that this does not happen because of the high likelihood of an oil spill that could be much worse than even the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989.
By signing up for a trip with Maple Leaf Adventures, you are helping Raincoast document what is at stake on this beautiful coast, educate the public, and evaluate and intervene in the process for this proposal! For every person who books selected* adventures from now until April 30th through 1% for the Planet, Maple Leaf will donate an additional $400 to Raincoast**! How can you say no to the possibility of seeing a bear in the Great Bear Rainforest or spectacular whales in Haida Gwaii?
Although I do not share an extreme interest in cycling with many of my co-workers at 1%, Cycle The Sierra sounds like a great event and even I would consider doing it! As you make your summer plans, you should consider taking part in 1% member event Cycle The Sierra from June 23rd to the 27th. It sounds like an awesome trip and surely should not be missed by all of you adventurers out there!
Cycle The Sierra is an annual cycling event that takes place in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California. This fully supported, five-day journey takes riders on a 300-mile loop through breathtaking country, beneath granite peaks, through evergreen forests and to alpine hot springs. The ride meanders through iconic locations like Lake Tahoe and the area where gold was discovered starting the California Gold Rush, over the 4th highest bridge in the US, and through numerous unique and historical communities along the way.
Each day cyclists will ride around 70 mountain miles for one of our non-profit partners like, 1% for the Planet, the League to Save Lake Tahoe, the American River Conservancy and SYRCL. At night, everyone will camp together under the stars. Camps will feature delicious food, live music, a beer and wine garden, massage therapists, bike mechanics and other cyclists letting loose on vacation from all over the United States. If you like truly beautiful mountain scenery, good food and live music, relaxing with a cold beer after a great ride, spending time with old friends and meeting new, Cycle The Sierra is an event you don’t want to miss! Space is limited, so visit their webpage to register today!
Five years ago, Andrew and Elske Daigle made their first test batches of soda in their kitchen. Even back then, they knew that they would later join 1% for the Planet.
There are so many reasons to join 1%–marketing value, connection to Yvon (one of Andrew’s heroes), and amazing business/non-profit community—but that’s not what motivated Pop Culture. Instead, Andrew and Elske wanted their business to amplify their already strong connection with the natural world. While working with 1% for the Planet, they plan on focusing their energies on a few key environmental issues to start and allow it to grow organically: wolf reintroduction & protection, dam removal, and watershed restoration & conservation.
Andrew and Elske look forward to hearing about non-profits focused in these areas and are excited about being part of the 1% team!
Pop Culture’s founders lived on an organic farm in the Santa Ynez Valley of Santa Barbara County, California, when those first test batches were made. They hauled bushels of fruit back to the house and experimented with every rudimentary assortment of home brew equipment on the market. They wanted the sodas to taste like fresh fruit and didn’t want to cook the fruit in kettles. Fresh fruit is refreshing and cooked fruit is, well… cooked! And jam belongs on toast!
With that in mind, they developed their first beverage: a fresh pressed Strawberry soda unlike anything on the market and it unknowingly changed their lives. Since almost every other fruit juice based soda on the market is made with concentrates, they wanted to offer an alternative. Soda from concentrate does not have the same fresh flavor they were looking for, so ultimately they decided to make a commitment to use only fresh, certified organic and/or certified Non-GMO ingredients and packaged in glass bottles.
Their model has been very successful and their business is growing rapidly. Pop Culture has just launched a Kickstarter.com campaign to raise the capital it needs to meet the growing demand for its sodas.
Kickstarter is a crowdsourcing platform where individuals & businesses “Pledge” in exchange “Rewards” from Pop Culture. Check out their t-shirts, custom logo glasses, limited edition Pop Culture rock posters, and bulk discounts at below wholesale costs for your store or business; Pop Culture needs your support to ensure its campaign will be an enormous success!
Thanks to the hard work from two of our non-profit recipients, Campbell’s Soup Company has decided to phase out the use of the toxic chemical Bisphenol A (BPA) from its cans! 1% recipients, Healthy Child Healthy World and the Breast Cancer Fundhave put pressure on the company to make this change, and we are happy to announce that their hard work has been a success!
Campbell’s is an iconic soup manufacturer, as well as our number one target for consumer action; nearly 20,000 Healthy Child supporters have signed a petition to Campbell’s CEO demanding that their products made for children be made in BPA-free cans. Another 70,000 people sent letters to Campbell’s CEO by supporters of the Breast Cancer Fund’s Cans Not Cancer campaign.
Healthy Child Healthy World is concerned about the use of BPA because exposure to the chemical, used to make the epoxy-resin linings of metal food cans, has been linked in lab studies to breast and prostate cancer, infertility, early puberty in girls, type-2 diabetes, obesity and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Childhood exposure is of concern because this endocrine-disrupting chemical can affect children’s hormonal systems during development and set the stage for later‐life diseases.
We know that parents want to be sure when they serve Campbell’s Soup to their kids that it is free of toxic chemicals that contribute to disease. And there is still work to be done. Campbell’s has yet to release any details on which products currently contain BPA alternatives, which BPA alternatives are being and will be used, and what timeline they will use for completion of the phase-out.
We are proud of the work that Healthy Child Healthy World and the Breast Cancer Fund have done to convince Campbell’s to make this change! These two organizations commend Campbell’s for taking this first step—as well as the concerned parents and consumers who made their voices heard in the boardroom and at the checkout counter. Join the Cans Not Cancer campaign to help support this mmm-mmm good cause! Thanks to everyone involved!
Since starting at 1% for the Planet, I have been introduced to hundreds of awesome non-profits and businesses. Each time I find one, I announce to the office how great they are, and we look through their websites, generally tempted to either donate or purchase something. Many non-profits seem to know that if you put a picture of a cute and fluffy animal on their “donation” page, it’ll work! Or if you have an attractively unique product, I’m likely to buy it. Anyway, when I was introduced to 1% member, Smock Paper, I knew I needed to get some cards!
Smock is a sustainable stationary company based in Syracuse, NY. They have come out with a new line of stationary, called the “Save the World” card series. These unique letterpress cards are made out of bamboo paper with 100% wind energy. The bamboo is grown without pesticides or fertilizers and is non-GMO, so it is a sustainable material to use in the paper making process. The first card is the series is the honey bee-inspired sunflower card, which is absolutely beautiful! I have already bought a set of six and used four of them! Anyway, back to business…
As a 1% Member, Smock donates 1% of sales annually to environmental initiatives but (lucky for us) they’ve added some beautiful cards to get their customers involved as well. Smock donates 100% of the proceeds from the “Save the World” series go straight to environmental initiatives. The money raised from the sunflower card goes straight to the Pesticide Action Network of North America (PANNA). PANNA is a 1% recipient who works to replace the use of hazardous pesticides with ecologically sound and socially just alternatives. They know how detrimental these chemicals are to many insect species and want to eliminate the use of them.
Honey bees are one of many species that are adversely affected by the use of pesticides. As a key indicator species, their health provides early warning signs for biologists regarding greater ecosystem health. These busy-bees play a crucial role in our global food system with 30% of our food supply depending on them. These important pollinators are in trouble, because many commonly used pesticides are toxic to them. One way we can help save the bees is to support PANNA in their movement to eliminate the use of these toxic pesticides! Another way is to grow certain plants (like sunflowers) that attract bees, so that their populations can grow in your region. Smock has done a great job to create a card that encompasses these ideas and best of all the funds raised go directly to PANNA. Check out their website to order a set of the sunflower cards that will support the reduction of pesticide use that is eliminating honey bees worldwide!
These are the guys who started Stewart Charley Ventures LLC a few years ago, after deciding to leave their jobs and do something they were truly passionate about. They wanted to invent unique kitchenware; they came up with the Salsabol, which I will explain momentarily! Tom is a designer who loves to surf and Michael is an economist and skier. The snow they slide on and the waves they surf all come from the same source – the ocean. They’ve joined 1% for the Planet so they can give to Oceana, a charity dedicated to helping preserve the world’s oceans. Since 2001, Oceana has protected over 1.2 million square miles of ocean and innumerable sea turtles, sharks, dolphins and other sea creatures. Tom and Michael are excited to support such a wonderful non-profit that is making a huge difference in protecting our natural water resources.
Their first major project is the Salsabol. This is a (genius) bowl that eliminates the opportunity for your salsa to fall onto the table as you scoop it up with a chip. We love it! This bowl will save you from washing tons of tablecloths, and also wasting your delicious salsa! We salute you, the inventors or Salsabol, for making sure that we never embarrass ourselves at the snack table again! Check out Uncommon Goods, where you can buy your very own Salsabowl today! According to Brodie: “I’m always that idiot licking salsa off my hands and shirt (and sometimes the tablecloth) at parties. This is what I need to get my social life back on track!” So thank you guys for making the social scene at 1% more comfortable for everyone!
Now, meet Katya and Natalie:
They are the founders of, Greyslater, a Chicago-based eco-boutique dedicated to supporting local artisans, small businesses, and manufacturers of made in the USA products. Founded in 2011, Greyslater features hand-picked, sustainably-made reusables that are as beautiful as they are functional. Katya and Natalie decided to let their 500th Facebook fan decide who would receive their first year’s donation. They chose the North Carolina Rail-Trails, which is a state-wide land trust that focuses on preserving rail corridors and creating rail-trails.
They sell a number of American-made water bottles, utensils, bags and soaps that we love and know that you guys will too! My personal favorite is the mason jar cozy, which allows for you to drink tea out of your favorite rustic cups without burning your hands. This is perfect for all of you (including my roommates) who believe that pint jars can be used for so much more than just canning fruits and vegetables! Check out the rest of their products which are all for sale online!
Welcome, and we are excited that both of these partnerships have become 1% members! I would personally like to thank you both for giving me birthday present ideas for my co-workers and roommates! Keep up the good work!
The South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL, pronounced “circle”), was formed in 1983 to oppose the construction of two dams on the river. Along with successfully halting the construction of the dam, 39 miles of the South Yuba has since been permanently protected. Although SYRCL started as just a small group of concerned citizens, it has evolved into a vibrant community organization. SYRCL’s mission is “to protect and restore the Yuba River and the Greater Yuba Watershed.” They do this to support the native fish that have lived in the river for many generations and also to make sure it remains a clean, recreational area for many years to come. SYRCL sponsors many events and programs annually, including one that we’re excited to highligh today: the Wild & Scenic Film Festival!
The Wild & Scenic Film Festival is the world’s largest environmental film festival. This year is the Festival’s tenth year in existence and will include over one hundred films! The festival kicks off every January in Nevada City, California where they show environmental films for three straight days. Last year, 1% for the Planet released [one percent] of the story at this festival, and it was a hit. Our video was well received, received the 2011 Award from EthicMark Certificate, showed at numerous Wild & Scenic Film Festivals around the country and was the reason for a large amount of new membership inquiries. Thank you Wild ‘n Scenic! If you’re wondering if your nonprofit is a fit for this festival, take note that these films encompass a wide range of environmental topics – adventure, conservation, wildlife, climate change, environmental justice, community activism and agriculture, just to name a few.
After the festival’s first year, SYRCL was so pleased with the turnout that they decided to take the show on the road and offer it in communities across the country. Throughout 2012, the festival will take place at over one hundred venues, including Antarctica! Eighty percent of the venues are hosted by community organizations that have applied for grants through Wild & Scenic, with help from Patagonia. The basic guidelines require that grant recipients use the festival as an outreach tool to increase membership. This allows for smaller communities to increase involvement and learn about a number of environmental issues without doing all of the organizing themselves. Wild & Scenic will supply the films, PR materials and planning guides, while the organizations just need to secure the venue and organize the local marketing.
(The previous video features The Edible Schoolyard Project, which is a 1% recipient!!) Check out the Wild & Scenic Film Festival’s calendar to see if any venues are nearby, or apply for a grant to host one! We’re thankful for all of the hard work that SYRCL and Wild & Scenic have done over the last decade and are proud to be part of the movement!
