Why we need 1% For The Planet
Global Environmental Issues
As the most influential species on Earth, with the ability to reason and to some extent shape our environment and our future, we have the responsibility and the power, both individually and collectively, to choose to affect our planet negatively or positively. There is irrefutable evidence that since the industrial revolution, humans have had an increasingly negative impact on the natural resources that sustain us and on systems of a planetary scale. The litany of degradation is becoming all too familiar: pollution of our air and water resources, loss of productive agricultural lands, devastation of forests, reefs and fisheries, diminution of the biological diversity of natural ecosystems, increases in devastating diseases, destruction of the Earth's protective ozone layer, and an accelerating rise in aberrant weather patterns and global temperature.
When we think about the enormity of our impact and the complexity of the challenges we face, it is easy to become cynical or to feel overwhelmed and helpless. 1% For the Planet offers a tangible, proactive way to become part of the solution.
Because the needs are immediate, now is the time to take action. A growing number of philanthropists are advocating donating more money now, rather than later. These donors are applying business practices to their giving, analyzing the "time value" of their money and concluding that a dollar donated now can be worth far more than one spent later. As the Women's Funding Network reported in the December, 2003 article "Giving While Living," these donors understand that just as financial returns need to be more heavily discounted the further in the future they are likely to occur, so must social returns that are delayed by conservative spending policies. Delayed donations, they argue, translate to a tremendous cost to society in missed opportunity, increased costs, and compounded problems. 1% For the Planet members take action today to solve problems now and prevent additional ones later.
1% For The Planet members support those nonprofit organizations that are engaged in efforts to minimize our negative environmental impact and work toward restoring the health of our home. These organizations work at local, regional, national or international levels on behalf of all of us. With continued support, their efforts will make a difference and can serve as a model for all of us as agents of change. These efforts can be broadly categorized under the following areas fostering environmental and human health and well-being:
- Promoting Healthy Food Systems: sustainable practices in agriculture decrease environmental degradation and pollution of land and waterways and can lead to improvements in ecosystem and human health and welfare. Food-related problems plague humankind: obesity and related diseases in rich nations, famine in poor nations, imbalances of trade, subsidies of industrial agriculture, conversion of natural landscapes to agribusiness, decreases in agricultural and biological diversity, proliferation and contamination of genetically modified foods and seeds, and more.
- Stopping the Chemical Experiment: there is increasing evidence that the discovery, manufacture and proliferation of thousands of chemicals in this century have opened a toxic Pandora's box. The effects of endocrine disruptors and other long-lived toxins, whose affects are apparent in our children only long after their introduction, are becoming increasingly recognized. Other pollutants have direct, insidious and protracted impact on entire ecological systems, affecting our water, air and soil resources.
- Sharing the Earth: The biological richness of the earth is apparent everywhere. Humans are embedded in a natural richness that supports us and countless other species. To ensure that we have a future rich in biological diversity, we must protect the living matrix of forests, waterways, wetlands, reefs, and oceans, not just by setting aside parks and designated areas, but also in the way we live and utilize our life-supporting matrix. We need to identify the systemic pressures on our natural world and address these challenges head-on, while examining ways to improve urbanization and development efforts to minimize the human footprint on the Earth.
- Promoting A Civilization and Economy Fit For a Finite Planet: Globalization has imposed immense environmental challenges ranging from introduction of alien invasive species to global warming. At the same time, it offers enormous opportunities to exchange information about and understanding of best practices that can lead to sustainable industries, more equitable societies, and fair finance and trade institutions that support a healthy planet.
The challenges are enormous. The need is great. We invite you to become part of the solution.
For more information visit 1% for the Planet at:
www.onepercentfortheplanet.org
