Earth Advocacy

We see a world full of people who care about the environment and its fragility. In this world the population is aware of its effect on their earth, and actively seeks to mitigate any damage and to bring balance back to the Earth, in the best possible and most effective ways.

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Sustaining and enhancing Earth’s life-support systems means taking on the responsibility of Earth stewardship and its advocacy, just as indigenous peoples have done since the very origins of our human culture. Earth advocacy involves reshaping the trajectories of social-ecological change, from the local-to-global scale, and enhancing ecosystem resilience and human wellbeing. Earth advocacy also requires awareness-raising across many sectors; including academic institutions, societies, agencies, and non-governmental groups; seeking to foster communication and collaboration between natural and social scientists, students, the general public, policy makers, and other practitioners to form a new ethic of environmental citizenship.

We at NNF understand the overwhelming facts about the global environment and the complicated solutions requiring political support. In order to do our part, NNF has made the decision to support non-profit organizations that are leading the climate movement and catalyzing resistance to catabolic capitalism. We draw from author and social activist Naomi Klein’s wise words to articulate the paradigm shift embraced by many of the earth advocates we support.

“To nurture the transition toward a thriving, just, ecologically stable society, all of these struggles must be interwoven and infused with an inspirational vision of how much better life could be if we freed ourselves from this dysfunctional, profit-obsessed, petroleum-addicted system once and for all.” – Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate

Our focus area of Earth Advocacy seeks to support initiatives with this kind of holistic understanding of these causes and effects, pioneering new and creative approaches toward sustainable development and environmental stewardship from the grassroots level, up.

Amazon Watch
Art/Act: Youth
Nature Bridge
RE-volv
The Marine Science Institute
TreePeople

Amazon Watch is a nonprofit organization founded in 1996 to protect the rainforest and advance the rights of indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. AW partners with indigenous and environmental organizations in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability and the preservation of the Amazon’s ecological systems.

Rainforests sustain us. They help regulate the global climate and are vital to maintaining the earth’s fragile balance. The Amazon rainforest is the world’s largest and most biodiverse tropical rainforest, covering an area larger than the continental United States. It houses one-third of the Earth’s plant and animal species and produces one-fifth of all its flowing fresh water.

Nearly 400 distinct indigenous peoples depend on the Amazon rainforest for their physical and cultural survival. At current rates of deforestation, nearly 50 percent of the Amazon could be lost or severely degraded by the year 2020, and the vast majority will no longer be in a pristine state.

With global deforestation contributing 20–25 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, Amazon Watch and their indigenous partners are providing a service to all humanity as we together seek to defend the rainforest. Each of us can take action. We may be the last generation that has a chance to protect this precious gem of our world’s cultural and ecological heritage – an irreplaceable source of life and inspiration.

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The David Brower Center is pleased to present Art/Act: Youth, an exhibition showcasing work by current Berkeley High School students that examines the intersection of environmentalism and art.

In the future, practices and decisions concerning the environment will be made by the youth of today. The chosen body of work for Art/Act: Youth gives insight into what young dynamic minds perceive about the current and future state of our planet. The exhibition underscores the Brower Center’s vision to nurture young environmental artists, with the goal of creating a community to support and inspire each other’s work, and become a force for educating the general public on environmental issues.

Art/Act: Youth closes Friday, September 15 with a free public celebratory reception from 6-8 pm.

Participating Artists: Aiko Yoshitani, Alex Lafetre Thompson, Alexander Spevack, Amelia Smyth, Anna Insun Reed, Carmin Jin, Chesline Miller, Chiara Biasi Batchelder, Chloe Wanaselja, Cindy Tran, Desiree Minkler, Ella Newton, Elle McDougald, Elijah Liedeker, Emily Levenson, Madison Zarate, Gabi Cirne Lima, Hector Muñoz-Guzmán, Jaya Nagarajan, Julia Pew, Kelajah Allen, Kimiro Kikon-Sautman, Maayan Ziv, Mai Li Spencer, Maria Fong, Marcus Leitner, Marikit Mayeno, Marli Anglim, Maya Monroe, Mayorie Ovalle Rojas, Moriah Godes, Moses Mascuch, Nakiya Stewart, Nat Kolligs, Nattie Copeland, Orr Goldberg, Rayna Carter, Robert Lopez, Ronia Jackson, Rosa Meigs, Ruth Calderon Polo, Sabrina Pimentel Sadjah Nasir, Sergio Ramirez Denelaton, Shira Anisman, Sophie Maras-Gillet, Talia L. Mermin, Zahara Sifaf

Curator and BHS Instructor: Kimberley D’Adamo Green

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NatureBridge provides hands-on environmental science programs for children and teens.  Its multi-day programs take place outdoors in the magnificence of nature’s classroom, where students are immersed in the wonder and science of the national parks in Yosemite, Golden Gate, Olympic, Santa Monica Mountains, Channel Islands, and Prince William Forest.

Founded as Yosemite Institute in 1971, today NatureBridge welcomes more than 700 schools and 30,000 students and teachers each year to its six campuses.  After more than 40 years of teaching and inspiring students, NatureBridge has provided life-changing experiences for more than 1 million participants and is a national leader in the field of environmental education.

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RE-volv is a nonprofit organization with a mission to empower people and communities to invest collectively in renewable energy. Through crowdfunding, RE-volv lets individuals who support clean energy chip in a few dollars to help create solar powered communities around the United States.

 

RE-volv provides solar financing to community-based nonprofits and cooperatives around the country without access to traditional solar finance. These organizations save money on their electric costs while paying RE-volv back through a 20-year lease with interest. The lease payments are reinvested in a revolving fund, the Solar Seed Fund, which continually finances community-based solar projects. Over time, each dollar donated to an individual solar project will go towards financing three or more solar projects.

We want to see people-funded renewable energy in every community across the country. That’s why we started this pay-it-forward model for solar energy: so every donation can go further, build more solar, and strengthen more communities around the United States.

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The Institute’s mission is to cultivate a responsibility for the natural environment and our human communities through interdisciplinary science education. MSI was founded in 1970, around the time that the issue of water resources was becoming a major concern for many Bay Area inhabitants. The Institute’s philosophy was based on the idea that putting students in direct physical contact with their local bay environment will help cultivate their natural sense of curiosity, enrich their understanding of science, and foster a responsibility to protect the environment. Prior to 1970, few opportunities existed for students to get hands-on experience with the flora and fauna of San Francisco Bay, and bridge the gap between environmental concerns and education. As one Bay Area professor remarked at the time, “On a clear day we can see the Bay, but there is no way for my students to get their hands wet–in real water.”

The Discovery Voyage was Marine Science Institute’s first program, and was met with great success. Students were taken aboard a small vessel and out onto the water where they came into contact with live animals, used scientific equipment, and participated in hands-on science. In 1992 the Institute created land-based programs to accommodate more students and welcome younger participants. These included the Shoreside, Inland Voyage, and Tidepool programs. Over the following decades MSI has continued to grow—expanding programming to include new topics and themes, and keeping up with ever-changing educational standards.

In its first year, the Discovery Voyage program served about 4,000 students. Today, Marine Science Institute educates roughly 50,000 students and adults annually through all of its programs. It has become a leader in environmental education, and to this day stays true to its philosophy of inspiring respect and stewardship through experiential learning.

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TreePeople is an environmental nonprofit that unites the power of trees, people and nature-based solutions to grow a sustainable future for Los Angeles. TreePeople inspires, engages and supports people to take personal responsibility for the urban environment, making it safe, healthy, fun and sustainable and to share the process as a model for the world.

To achieve this, TreePeople trains and supports communities to plant and care for trees, educates schoolchildren and adults about environmental issues, demonstrate sustainable solutions to urban ecosystem problems, work with government agencies on critical water issues, and operate a beautiful public park in Coldwater Canyon Park.

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