This past weekend, Waitsfield, VT community members helped build sandbag barriers and secure plywood to window frames in preparation for Hurricane Sandy. While Vermont was lucky this time, our hearts go out to hard hit communities along the East Coast.
We’ve heard from many of our business members who want to use their 1% contributions to assist recovery efforts—and we’re here to help you connect with groups making a difference.
Until we can get a comprehensive list of organizations doing work on the ground, we encourage you to support our partners working to reduce the chance of storms like Sandy happening in the first place. Climate change is a reality that must be taken seriously.
Please consider donating to the following organizations, and if you know of others that can use our help, let us know!
350.org is building a global grassroots movement to solve the climate crisis (350.org/mission). 350.org is known for pulling together massive groups of people worldwide who want to fight against the fossil fuel industry- our largest carbon emitters. By solving the climate crisis, they are lowering the likelihood of storms like Sandy occurring as frequently. Along with asking for your support, they are asking Big Oil, Coal and Gas to help pay for the damage they have created.
Another organization that is doing great Sandy-related work is Climate Central, based in Princeton, NJ. Climate Central conducts scientific research on climate change and informs the public of key findings (climatecentral.org/about). Climate Central is not an advocacy organization; they are conveying the scientific facts so citizens and policymakers can work to stabilize the climate and/or prepare for the impacts it will have on us.
Please keep in mind that while you cannot count donations to unapproved organizations toward your 1% contribution, organizations like the Red Cross can always use your help during times like this. As news comes in we will be in touch via our Facebook and Twitter pages to share other ways you can help!
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’d be easy to let the state of the world get you down. We’ve got a polarized political system that makes rational dialogue seem impossible, a stagnant economy, freaky weather that brings floods followed by droughts and a skyrocketing global population thirsty for the material comforts that got us in this mess. And that’s not half of it.
Still, it’s hard to feel hopeless when you see people coming together to create the change we need so desperately. Yesterday, when news that the Keystone XL pipeline was once again a threat, 1% for the Planet nonprofit partner 350.org mobilized more than 800,000 people in just 24 hours to send Congress an emphatic NO. The message couldn’t have been clearer.
Last night Bill McKibben had the spotlight on The Colbert Report—check it out if you haven’t seen it yet.
The motivation that gets 800,000 to coalesce around something they care so deeply about is the same energy that motivates businesses to be part of the solution—they’re working hard to create a world that we all want to live in.
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!
Some like it hot, but tonight on The Colbert Report acclaimed author and 1% for the Planet Non-Profit Partner Bill McKibben of 350.org will teach us all a thing or two about how we really, really need to cool it down. We encourage you to tune in to The Colbert Report on Comedy Central at 11:30 pm ET and PST, (or you can see the taped version on The Colbert Nation website here). Two brilliant men with a knack for hilarity, addressing a planetary issue with a clear call to action, this promises to be a great show.
