Paul Hawkins tells us, in his book Blessed Unrest, that there are some two million organizations working to make the world a better place. Handprints created by the organizations listed below are particularly noteworthy. Most are featured in Our Environmental Handprints.
INTERNATIONAL NON-PROFIT, NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
Arbor Day – Their Rainforest Legacy Program puts your money where it will keep on giving for a century or more. https://www.arborday.org/
As You Sow – As You Sow researches and proposes socially- and environmentally-responsible shareholder resolution to be backed by Ceres, the ICCR and others. www.asyousow.org
Carbon Fund – This is a good place to calculate how many earths it would require if everyone lived like me. More important this is a place to voluntarily offset our air travel, conference carbon footprints, and other amenities of living the developed world. https://carbonfund.org
Central Asia Institute – Girls are welcome at CAI-sponsored schools in Afghanistan, Pakistan Turkmenistan. Educated girls are essential to sustainable development. http://www.ikat.org/
Ceres – For 25 years, Ceres has been making the business care for sustainability. Ceres mobilized the insurance industry to confront climate change. Ceres pioneered shareholder environmental activism. www.ceres.org .
Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment – Here one can find over 250 investment advisors and companies engaged in socially responsible investing. www.ussif.org
Friends of the Earth – FOE member groups from around the Earth consolidate their energy to demand environmental justice for vulnerable people. www.foe.org
Greenpeace – No source of toxicity is immune to Greenpeace’s sophisticated engagement. Chemicals in children’s clothing. Cadmium in rice. Nuclear power in Austria. Oil drilling in the Arctic. www.greenpeace.org
Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility – The ICCR impacts industry by representing the combined investment of some 300 faith and value-based organizations. www.iccr.org
Nature Conservancy – Once TNC only bought land to protect its biodiversity. More recently, TNC negotiated with both the herdsmen and the government of Mongolia to create environmentally sustainable national policy. www.nature.org
Plant for the Planet – Children learn about trees. Children become ambassadors for trees. Children plant trees – especially in the developing world. https://www.plant-for-the-planet.org/en/home
World Wildlife Federation – Among other things WWF manages campaigns to conserve nineteen sanctuaries for endangered species around the world. www.worldwildlife.org
NATIONAL & REGIONAL NON-PROFITS (outside the Pacific Northwest)
350.org – This organization motivates citizen action against Climate Change. Author and activist Bill McKibbon is a founder. www.350.org 1000 Friends of Florida – The se Floridians work to protect natural lands that cleanse and store fresh water. The state’s highest point is 345 feet (105 meters). http://www.1000friendsofflorida.org/
Bonneville Environmental Foundation. BEF offers voluntary carbon and water offsets, primarily to businesses. www.b-e-f.org
Free Cycle – Post on-line what you want to give away; see what others have that you may need. It works, whether you are talking about a like-new water heater or a collector’s edition bottle of Coke. www.freecycle.org
Chesapeake Bay Foundation – Fighting pollution with science-based solutions. www.cbf.org
Sierra Club. I think of the Sierra Club as the world’s largest environmental lobby. They engage the political process to get things changed. They are not tax deductible. http://www.sierraclub.org
TimeBank Santa Cruz – A skills exchange network. When our time is valued equally, I give you dignity and you give me respect. (One of numerous time banks.) www.timebanksantacruz.org
Union of Concerned Scientists. These people make sure that sound science informs international climate change agreements. http://ucsusa.org/
PACIFIC NORTHWEST NONPROFITS
Columbia Riverkeeper. They serve a coordinative role in slowing fossil fuel exports. They have proven effective in organizing resistance to coal trains in small towns. www.columbiariverkeeper.org
Ecology in Classrooms and Outdoors (ECO) – What an investment in our future: scientists in elementary schools helping kids get to know the environment. http://ecologyoutdoors.org/
Green Lents Community Tool Library – Lending tools is an environmental no-brainer. A tool library is a community asset. http://tools.greenlents.org/ Johnson Creek Watershed Council – A twenty-five-year effort to restore a 26-mile watershed aligns thousands of people around the importance of a healthy eco-system. http://jcwc.org/
Leach Botanical Garden – Seventeen acres of myriad well-tended plants and a manor house set the stage for educational activities for children and adults. (Just upstream from my Portland home.) www.leachgarden.org
Oregon Citizen’s Utility Board – As mandated by voters, CUB engages the regulatory and legislative process. They helped negotiate the phase out of Oregon’s only coal plant. https://oregoncub.org/
Oregon Conservancy – This abiding voice archives and shares legal proceedings against nuclear power. They go back to the 1970’s. http://orconservancy.org/
Wisdom of the Elders – Indian stories about how to live in community are not just anachronisms; they are teachings that we all need. http://wisdomoftheelders.org/
