By the Numbers:

In just a year we’ve added 23 new members, who will donate an additional $700,000 to environmental causes this year alone. That brings us to more than $5M in giving to date from our Canadian partners. Boom. There’s a lot to be excited about.

In the last 12 months we’ve welcomed wonderful new member companies to the network, including Frogbox, Nature’s Path, and Salt Spring Coffee. They were joined at Power Plant by stalwart members Ascenta, MEC, Saul Good and Sunwolf and nonprofit partners like CPAWS, LOCO BC and West Coast Environmental Law.

The evening featured presentations from movers and shakers in the Canadian sustainability world who highlighted ways that business can be a part of the solution to pressing environmental challenges in Canada.

The night was chock full of great conversation, connections and good times; we left inspired by the Canadian team, knowing this is a group that will create enormous positive change for the planet.

Thanks to all who made it possible, keep up the great work, and we’ll see you in town again soon!

And if you couldn’t make it, check out our speakers in action at these links!

Melody Badgett (1% for the Planet)

Michael Ableman (SOLEfood Farms)

Kris Holm (1% Ambassador and Mountain Unicyclist)

Nature’s Path Foods “EnviroKidz” brand has announced their annual grant program. As a member of 1% for the Planet, each year, Nature’s Path donates 1% of the sales of EnviroKidz products to environmental organizations. If your charitable organization works in North America to support the environment, and educates youth about what they can do to help, then they want you!

Grants of up to $20,000 are available to qualifying projects. Applications are being accepted up to November 30^th through Nature’s Path’s Facebook page. Full rules and regulations can be found online.

Nature’s Path is excited to support innovative environmental leaders and they can’t wait to hear from you! It’s not everyday that you have the chance to partner with koalas, gorillas or lemurs, so get your application in soon!

Meet Ana.

Ana owns a grocery store in her home community of Mala, Peru – but her contribution to Mala goes much farther than her store.

In 2008, Ana became a Steward with Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture (MESA), a 1% non-profit partner dedicated to advancing the next generation of farmers through sustainable agriculture training and cultural exchange. As a MESA Steward, Ana trained with Terry’s Berries Farm in Washington state to learn more about organic food production and distribution. She returned to the U.S. in 2011 to complete MESA’s Next Level Program and spent the year learning about organic food marketing and store management with the Natural Grocery Company in El Cerrito and Berkeley, California.

Armed with these two experiences, Ana returned to her home community not only more informed and prepared to expand her business, but inspired to create positive change for her fellow farmers in Mala. During her time as a MESA Steward, she experienced working environments in which men and women can work side by side as equals and are given the same opportunities for advancement – not something she knew to be true in her home community. As many MESA Stewards choose to do, Ana decided to develop a Home Country Project – an initiative designed by the Steward and funded with the help of MESA and individual donors. Ana’s objective is to establish a women farmers association – Mujeres Unidas por Agricultura – to serve Mala and surrounding communities and improve organic production and local distribution. Check out her video about this project here.

Stories like Ana’s make up the roots of the sustainably-grown planet that MESA is working to realize. As an organization dedicated to global change, MESA is a proud part of the 1% for the Planet community. Learn more about MESA on their website!

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!

This Saturday we encourage you to drop all plans, grab your circle of friends and family, and join the big circle, our global community, in action for 1% for the Planet Non-Profit Partner 350.org‘s International Day of Climate Action. Voice, act, dance, paddle, ring, play, sing, whatever you can offer, in show of your support for the number 350, representing 350 parts per million, the scientifically backed “safe upper limit” for CO2 in our atmosphere. With creative events and gatherings across the globe, there are plenty of opportunities to get involved with this powerful message that affects us all. Click here to find out what’s happening nearest you.

How are we celebrating? You can find us at Vermont’s 350 Dance Party at Higher Ground in Burlington. Headlined by 1% for the Planet member Barefoot Truth (member since Jan. ’08) the show will be simulcast online and on cable throughout the state so all can join.

1% for the Planet will also have a presence in New York City, circumnavigating Manhattan Island with a group in kayaks stenciled by area students.

Calling all 1% for the Planet members, if you’re participating in a 350 action this Saturday, please write me at kate@onepercentfortheplanet.org. We’d be happy to share your support with updates to our blog post here!