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/2013/01/ioby-sandy/ http://onepercentfortheplanet.org/blog/2013/01/ioby-sandy/#comments Thu, 31 Jan 2013 22:30:35 +0000 pauline http://onepercentfortheplanet.org/blog/?p=6971 Thanks to 1% FTP recipient ioby for sharing the following article that was featured in The Atlantic Cities on January 21, 2013. The article’s author, Sarah Goodyear, has done a great job of illustrating the hard work that ioby has done in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

 A man makes his way through flood waters on a bike in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York, October 29, 2012. (Reuters/Keith Bedford)

A little over a week ago, the NYS 2100 Committee, formed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to recommend a post-Sandy course of action, released its report. As Eric Jaffe noted here at the time, the document drew some criticism for the vague and all-encompassing nature of its recommendations. If you’re looking for more specific solutions to improve resiliency, disaster preparedness, and climate change mitigation in New York City, you can turn instead to a report from ioby, a nonprofit fundraising organization dedicated to environmental issues.

The people at ioby polled a group of more than 380 people immediately after the storm to get their thoughts on how the city could be better prepared for similar events in the future. Participants, who weren’t constrained by the political considerations that a government group faces, included “engineers, architects, energy experts, policymakers, artists, lawyers, business owners, nurses, activists, planners, academics, media and more.” The results were released last week.

So what do the people on the ground in New York’s neighborhoods want to see? They came up with some “big ideas,” including updating the region’s electrical grid; making flood insurance more expensive to discourage building in vulnerable areas; expanding protected wetland areas to create a bigger buffer zone for storm surge; building floating boardwalks along coastlines. (Yes, the oft-discussed oyster reefs are in here, too.)

But it’s their smaller ideas – many of them clearly born of practical experience – that are the most intriguing. A lot of them are cheap and relatively easy to implement. Here are a few of the group’s nuts and bolts suggestions:

-Secure out/indoor pulley systems to deliver food, water and medicine to residents living in the top floors of tall buildings in lower Manhattan.

-Offer emergency training in Russian in Coney Island.

-Install rainwater harvest systems in Red Hook.

-Establish bike “brigades” that can deliver supplies to areas where roads have been washed out during and after an emergency. (Portland, Oregon, is already researching how best to incorporate cargo bikes into its disaster preparedness plans.)

-Distribute solar-powered water heaters after an emergency.

-Educate youth about extreme weather events and vulnerability.

-Create “buddy” programs to account for everyone in an apartment building during and after an emergency.

Several of the recommendations — such as the cultivation of alternative energy sources and an increase in the number of urban gardens — don’t apply only to emergency situations. And maybe that’s the most important message the ioby group is sending. The conclusion of the report puts it this way:

There was a clear sense that resilience during an emergency is closely intertwined with the longer-term strength of communities. That what is good during an emergency is also good for everyday life. For example, the distribution of food from urban farms was discussed as a way to help feed citizens after an emergency. But it was equally discussed as a service to people that live in food deserts that do not have regular access to healthy food, thus reducing poverty—and vulnerability—across the NYC Metro Area.

In other words, we don’t need a disaster to benefit from being a more connected, resilient community. New York, are you listening?

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!

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!