I stumbled across Mountainfilm in Telluride in the spring of 1998, a few weeks after I moved to Telluride, Colorado.

A door opened. For a few magical days I felt like an initiate to whom secrets and magic were being revealed. It became my favorite event of the year. Fifteen years later it still is.

I have often tried to explain Mountainfilm to Those Who Do Not Know. I tell them about the mechanics: the ice cream social, the growing number of screens, the fact that you’ll have a conversation with the photographer Aaron Huey or the artist Chris Jordan and it may change your life. But I am unable to convey the ineffable aspects, those things that are both the most evanescent and the most essential to Mountainfilm. They are the qualities that make the festival more than the sum of its parts. Trying to describe them is like trying to explain sex.

For the first few years I was a devoted attendee, living on PowerBars and Cowboy Coffee and too little sleep at that magical green-white moment in May when Telluride is slipping off winter. A decade ago joined the staff and tried to help, with debatable results. Somewhere in there I started to see the 1% for the Planet logo—maybe it was on the screen, or in the program, or on some gear in a local shop. It was just part of the ecosystem.

Then I moved East, had kids, missed a few years.

But the wheel turned. My business partner in Take One Creative, Jason Houston, hung a photography show here in 2009. He returned to Massachusetts with a distinct and recognizable look in his eyes and a similar inability to explain what he had partaken. We were working together at a magazine and so we started teaching ourselves to make videos there because nobody told us we couldn’t.

Our first video didn’t pass muster with the Mountainfilm selection committee (thank you, David, for saving us from ourselves). But for each of the last four years we’ve been able to premiere something on a Telluride screen. In doing so we are putting our creative work before the community we most admire. It feels like BASE jumping. Each time I do it I want to vomit. Then I want to do it again. The cash we give Mountainfilm through 1% is an offering, like the stone you place on a cairn at a mountain pass—just something for the next human to come through.

Last year at the biggest venue, The Palm, on the last morning, the film director Tom Shadyac preached – there’s no other way to describe it – to a packed house of 600. He began by summing up the afterglow we individually experience in the wake of Mountainfilm: We ask ourselves, in the best possible way, “What the hell just happened?”

I may not be able to answer that question, even for myself. But I know it’s important. It’s essential. And every year I can’t wait for it.

Other 1% FTP supporters of Mountainfilm include: Patagonia, Klean Kanteen, Outside, CLIF Bar, New Belgium Brewing, Felt Soul Media and Max Davis Company. 

1% for the Planet member, The Greenfield Group, has recently switched its focus towards internet marketing.  The Greenfield Group is known for its carbon negative marketing programs, in which small environmentally friendly companies can utilize their marketing services to increase sales and help reduce carbon emissions.  By focusing on SEO and social media management, The Greenfield Group is now able to reduce the CO2 generated from plastic room key cards and the harmful effects from shipping products across the country.

During this transition, The Greenfield Group was able to donate to two 1% for the Planet recipients: Guitars in the Classroom and Below the Surface.

Guitars in the Classroom trains, equips and empowers classroom teachers to transform learning every subject into a creative, musical process that engages students and promotes learning.  Founded in 1998, participants in their free programs learn to play guitar and ukulele, sing and write songs for learning, and to lead singing, songwriting and hands-on music making with students of all ages as an integral part of lessons.  They have trained over 9,000 educational song leaders so far and their regionally based programs serve well over half a million students each week.

Rob met Jessica Baron, the founder of Guitars in the Classroom, at a sustainable brands conference and Rob was looking for a solution to recycling his old hotel room key cards.  Jessica came up with the idea to turn them into guitar picks, and Picks for the Planet was formed.  Since then, The Greenfield Group has created and supplied thousands of recycled guitar picks to Guitars in the Classroom and other groups.  Rob has also funded them through his adventures and is currently learning ukulele and guitar in some of their classes.

Below the Surface is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploration of and education about the issues surrounding water.  Since 2008, Below the Surface has presented its field observations to groups from Chicago to New Orleans, Redding to San Diego and many points in between. Inspired by Google’s Streetview maps, motivated to rapidly show the general public how water pollution impacts rivers, and driven by a sheer passion to protect our waterways; Below the Surface has put together a team of organizations to bring life to the Riverview Project! Be sure to read more about their Riverview Project and leveraging of the private sector to address water sustainability issues.

Rob introduced Below the Surface to 1% for the Planet and has been working with the founders Jared and Christian on the Riverview Project.  The Greenfield Group is also their official sponsor for their biodiesel truck.

Along with a partnership with these two great non-profits, The Greenfield Group is dedicated to different types of Green Initiatives.  In 2012 they donated over 400 CFL bulbs to their free CFL bulb exchange in which they partnered with CALPIRG Energy Services.  As compared to their incandescent counterpart, over the life of these 400+ bulbs, over 82,500 KwH will be saved and 130,350 lbs of CO2 emissions will be prevented from entering the atmosphere throughout the city of San Diego.  Along with their Green Bulbs program, The Greenfield Group partakes in company trash cleanups, picking up roughly a thousand pounds of trash around San Diego in 2012.

The owner (and new 1% FTP Ambassador), Rob Greenfield, has dedicated his life towards improving the environment.  He left last month on a coast to coast cycling adventure where he will be living completely off the grid and will be promoting and educating individuals on sustainability.  You can learn all about his off the grid adventure, and follow him pedal by pedal all summer by visiting Greenfield Adventures.

We look forward to seeing Rob in Vermont on August 1st!

A lot of people see Nevada as a desert wasteland – full of brown sagebrush and dirt.  But at R&D Events, we see our home a bit differently. We see it as a wild and fun adventure of expansive trails, challenging hikes, gorgeous vistas, and a thriving ecosystem of native plants and critters. We need to give back to the Nevada wilderness that has given us recreational sanctuary and personal fulfillment exploring its lands.

To date, R&D Events has donated more than $16k to our partners, Friends of Nevada Wilderness, through 1% for the Planet. We care passionately about keeping Nevada wild and look forward to a thriving partnership beyond the dollars donated by getting our hands dirty through volunteering – always making sure to steer clear of the prickly pear cactus.

To learn more about R&D Events: www.rndevents.com

To lean more about Friends of Nevada Wilderness: www.nevadawilderness.org

Grounds for Change joined the 1% for the Planet community in October of 2003, as member number thirty, and since that time has cultivated long-lasting relationships with numerous nonprofit organizations across the country.

Migratory bird habitat, the health of our oceans and marine wildlife areas, clean energy, livable wages at home and in coffee producing countries, clean drinking water, access to medical technology, microlending in disadvantaged communities and healthy environments are all issues that Grounds for Change supports through our 1% for the Planet nonprofit partners. Their mission, “To support social equity and environmental sustainability through fair trade, organic, shade grown coffee,” has, at its foundation, the idea that businesses partnering with nonprofit organizations, working toward common goals, can indeed change the world.

In these times, faced with some of the most pressing social and environmental issues ever, it will take collaboration, community and creativity to come up with solutions. These valuable partnerships through 1% for the Planet are a means for this change.

Cheers to Stacy & Kelsey for their continued support of our network! Check out their Facebook page for updates, giveaways AND to enter their haiku contest today! Here’s mine…

Member since 03

Giving back year after year

Thanks for your support

As a company started by a woman, mostly run by women, and selling predominantly to women, they feel breast cancer awareness is an important issue to highlight.  The Keep A Breast Foundation does a great job of educating people, especially youth, about cancer-causing toxins in our everyday environment to help with prevention, early detection, and, more importantly they do so in a fun and engaging way.

They also generously donated a large portion of their 1% commitment directly to us! Thank you Fine Featherheads! This type of support above and beyond membership helps us to broadcast the 1% for the Planet message, increase the size of our network and the amount of funding for environmental causes, and deepen member relationships and impact with their 1% FTP non-profit partners.  1% for the Planet leads the movement to harness the strongest force in our time, commerce, with the greatest need in our culture, sustainability.

We are extremely appreciative for the support that Fine Featherheads has offered in the past to both Keep a Breast and 1% for the Planet. We’re thrilled to be Loving Blue alongside them and look forward to increasing our impact together.

We gave to 5 different charities this year. We chose to support the Coral Reef Alliance and The Sea Turtle Conservancy because the oceans are just so crucial and face so many challenges. When we do have a chance to get away from work and from the New England winters, we love to go down to the Caribbean and enjoy the beautiful weather and waters. We love to snorkel, dive, and view all of the amazing ocean life.

Another charity we gave to was the Adirondack Council which helps protect the Adirondack Park in upstate New York. Being in the Rustic/Adirondack furniture business, we are very tied to the beauty and culture of Adirondack’s.

We also gave to the Rainforest Alliance and to Save the Redwoods. We feel that it is incredibly important to find ways to protect the vital rain forests from abuse and degradation. The redwoods are a magnificent tree that deserve to have protection from irresponsible logging, so that future generations can witness their greatness.

Check out Mark’s Rustic Furniture Gallery to see his amazing work! My personal favorite is the barrel sauna….

I decided to join 1% for the Planet after thinking about how I could make more of a difference as a corporation. Of course, Arcadia Home creates jobs and helps individuals in the countries we produce in but I wanted to do more locally.  In looking at the many options it seemed that by aligning Arcadia Home with so many fantastic companies that are part of 1% for the Planet, there could be a multiplier effect  for the organizations I support. For many years I have personally donated to organizations that I believed in, but the discipline of sitting down and making sure the dollars I have committed to 1% has been spent by the time the auditing comes up is a great exercise for me.

Arcadia Home supports some fantastic local organizations. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden is an oasis of calm and beauty in the middle of NYC with an amazing Japanese Garden and wonderful community education programs. At the other end of the scale AH supports the Gowanus Canal Conservancy which is a non-profit dedicated to cleaning up one of the most polluted waterways in the country. The canal is walking distance from my house and their work has resulted in some amazing transformations including the return of some native species to the canal, a big composting initiative for area Farmers Markets and the greening of the neighborhood around the canal. Transportation Alternatives is another local organization we support. Living in Brooklyn, many of us love our bike lanes but there are lots of people that don’t seem to feel the same way. TA works hard to convince the naysayers. They also work to make the city more walkable and get people out of their cars.

On the international front, Arcadia Home supports the World Monuments Fund which is an organization dedicated to preserving the worlds important architectural and cultural heritage sites, helping the local community to maintain and preserve the sites that are often neglected and deteriorating. Once these sites are gone, they can never be replaced. Check out their site and see the fantastic work they do in the US and around the world. Lastly we support the American Museum of Natural History- both a local and international institution – promoting education and scientific research about people, cultures and environments around the world. A must see when visiting NYC.

Thanks for sharing these wonderful organizations with the 1% for the Planet members. Please let me know if you need any help reaching organization in the NY area. I would love to help spread the word about 1% for the Planet.

Thanks for your kind words Dawn- we look forward to seeing you again soon in NYC!

]]> http://onepercentfortheplanet.org/blog/2013/05/i-wanted-to-do-more-locally/feed/ 0 http://onepercentfortheplanet.org/blog/2013/05/sea-kayaking-for-a-cause/ http://onepercentfortheplanet.org/blog/2013/05/sea-kayaking-for-a-cause/#comments Tue, 07 May 2013 19:17:13 +0000 pauline http://onepercentfortheplanet.org/blog/?p=8085 Breanne Quesnel, the owner of Spirit of the West Adventures, explains why they became members of 1% for the Planet….

From a selfish perspective, we all need healthy and functioning ecosystems for our own survival, to have clean water, air and food. As an eco-tourism business, our livelihood is also directly connected to beautiful wild places, open spaces and plentiful wildlife. We try our best to be a sustainable business and to consider the environment and the ramifications of our choices and actions in all that we do, but we also need to give back. We are able to generate revenue by sharing sea kayaking trips on the beautiful British Columbia coast with people from all over the world. We feel it is only right to direct some of that revenue back to organizations and groups that help to protect these wild spaces and wildlife.

We became 1% for the Planet members in order to help raise the profile of the need for all businesses to give back to the environment. While quietly donating to environmental charities gets money where it is needed, 1% for the Planet helps to encourage all businesses to share their success with environmental charities and highlights the fact that together we can make a greater impact. The brand recognition helps customers to make informed decisions, supporting companies who support the environment. I know when I see the 1% for the Planet logo at other shops or businesses, I feel better about purchasing their product or service. My dollar spend has the capacity for a greater positive environmental impact.

The mainstay of our business is providing tours which allow people to sea kayak with whales and a variety of other wildlife in wild and untouched spaces. It is for this reason that over the years as 1% for the Planet members we have chosen to donate to groups which help in protecting the marine environment, the food sources of the whales as well as our local community in which we operate our business. Past donation recipients have included (plus others who still need to apply to become 1% FTP approved nonprofit partners);

- Cetus Research and Conservation

- Save our Salmon

- The Wilderness Tourism Association of British Columbia

- West Coast Environmental Law

- The Sierra Club of BC

- Raincoast Conservation Foundation

- Quadra Island Salmon Enhancement

Donating 1% of all sales is a small contribution to a very worthy cause.  I heard a great quote once which helps to sum it all up nicely, “The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of nature”.

Like so many successful American businesses, Paleo Treats started after dinner with an idea.  While the focus has been on providing high quality desserts to folks who follow the Paleo diet, we’ve always thought of this company as promoting more than just desserts, we’re really about promoting values.  Hard work, joyous intensity, the wild abandon inspired by high winds and heavy seas; all those and more guide us not just during our cookie making but in customer service, packaging up boxes, and thinking of what impact we have on the world.

From the beginning, we’ve been inspired by companies like Patagonia to go beyond just making a profit and to use some of the abundance we’ve encountered to help others and take care of our planet.

At Paleo Treats we’re big believers in doing your own thing; employee autonomy is a strong contributor to our success.  As part of that, we divide our giving between all of us equally (employees and owners) and allow each person to support the 1% non-profit partner they want using a share of company profits.  Other than making sure the partner is 1% approved, we don’t place any restrictions on where to give.  In 2012 we managed to support an aquarium, a local river, ocean discovery, and clean water.  Pretty obviously, water is important to all of us, but we each approached it in our own way.

We’re committed to 1% For the Planet as a way to help protect this planet we’re all sharing, and we’re stoked to have a mission bigger than building a business or creating a great cookie.

Keep on chargin’, and thanks for putting together such a good framework for helping out Mother Earth!

Launched by three graduates of the Taft School in Watertown, CT, La Matera offers a line of belts handcrafted in the USA with fabric imported from Argentina.  Distressed patterns, quality leatherwork, and a gaucho heritage dating back hundreds of years lends to a truly handsome look that is already turning heads.

The decision to be a part of 1% for the Planet couldn’t have been easier.  Our look evokes memories of the Argentine countryside for those who have made the trip and inspires people to continue to seek out new, interesting experiences.  Now, we are even more excited that our company gives back to a movement designed specifically to protect the resources and spaces for which we all care deeply.

Have fun out there,

Brook, Alex & Hank