Striving for a Better Tomorrow with EarthShare Nonprofit Partners

March 27, 2023

It isn’t a unique observation that the internet can feel like an abundance of bad news. We all know it; we all see it. With so much bad news out there, the impulse to throw in the towel can be strong. That’s why we have to remember to celebrate the good—the remarkable things about our planet and the relentless work being done to protect it. To help bring some of this good to light, we spoke with Nonprofit Partners throughout the EarthShare network to discuss what we love about the planet and what amazing, positive, and hope-fueling work is being done to ensure a safe, healthy, just, and sustainable tomorrow.

Question: What is your favorite fact about our planet?

It’s our experience that the more we know about our planet, the more there is to love! So, we asked our nonprofit partners to send us their favorite environmental facts—the weird, the creepy, the amazing, the awe-inspiring… and boy did they deliver!

Bird Conservancy of the Rockies

“Our favorite fact about the planet is how nature adapts. For example, peregrines [often] substitute skyscrapers in urban areas for their normal nests on high cliff faces (you go, ‘grines… eat all those pigeons!).”

People and Pollinators Action Network

"One almost incomprehensible fact is the sheer number of living insects that inhabit this Earth. Entomologists have discovered over one million species of insects but suspect there are many more millions that we have yet to discover! And the majority of these insects and the ecosystem services they provide are [not only] beneficial, [they are] key to our planet's health!"

Northeast Resource Recovery Association

“Nearly 75% of all aluminum ever created is still in use today! The wonderchild of recycling, aluminum can be recycled over and over again without any quality loss. Plus, recycling aluminum saves more than 90% of the energy needed to create NEW aluminum.”

Strategic Energy Innovations

"Linguistic diversity is correlated with biodiversity! More biodiverse ecosystems and regions have more linguistic diversity in terms of Indigenous languages. (And as a bonus fun fact, half of all California sea lions are born on June 15!)"

Zero Foodprint

“Farming can be climate beneficial and making [the] switch [to sustainable agriculture] on billions of acres [of existing farmland] is one of the biggest climate solutions. If society shifted just 1% of GDP to climate solutions, we'd be on track to lower temperatures (so let's do it!).”

Children’s Environmental Health Network

"Time spent in safe green spaces can improve symptoms of children’s asthma and attention disorders, as well as increase physical activity! It has also been shown to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, and increase self-confidence in children...More than 10 million kids are diagnosed with asthma, but those in neighborhoods with more trees have lower levels of the condition. "

Question: What is the #1 thing you want people to know about your nonprofit?

EarthShare is home to a network of nearly 500 environmental nonprofits across the U.S. and around the world. Many of our organizations are local, serving communities just like yours to help create a sustainable future for everyone. We asked a few of our nonprofit partners to introduce themselves so you can get to know them and the work they do.

Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative

"The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y) vision is an interconnected system of wild lands and waters stretching from Yellowstone to Yukon, harmonizing the needs of people with those of nature. In short, it is connecting and protecting the landscape so people and nature can thrive."

People and Pollinators Action Network

"The most important message that we want to convey is the connection between the health of people, pollinators, and planet earth. In short, our own health and ability to survive as a species depends on the health of our ecosystems, which in turn is dependent on the critical role that pollinators play in sustaining those healthy ecosystems."

Children’s Environmental Health Network

"[It is our mission and] our moral obligation to protect and nurture our children’s health. We believe that their health is a state of physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease...[E]very child has an inalienable right to play and learn, to breathe, eat and drink, and to dream safely cradled by their families and communities."

Strategic Energy Innovations

"SEI is an ecosystem of empathy, inclusion and innovation, and our team is made of passionate individuals pursuing purposeful partnerships to achieve more for our planet. We're building leaders to drive a sustainable future."

Northeast Resource Recovery Association

"The Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA) is the oldest and largest cooperative-model recycling nonprofit in the United States, [partnering] with over 450 municipalities, businesses, and individuals...to make recycling strong through economic and environmentally sound solutions. We are one of a select few nonprofits in the country that enables communities to manage their own recycling programs."

Earth Day Initiative

"We aim to bring the spirit of the first Earth Day into the 21st Century. Twenty million people turned out for the first Earth Day in 1970 (10% of the population of the country at the time). People across the [U.S.] called for environmental action and [as a result] some of the environmental protection institutions that we take for granted today [were established], including the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Environmental Protection Agency."

Question: What is your organization's biggest environmental goal?

And, finally, we’re wrapping up today’s questions with an exciting one—what’s next? These days, looking to the future of the environment can feel overwhelming, even frightening. But the dedicated organizations in our Nonprofit Network are working every day to create a healthier and more sustainable tomorrow. We asked them to describe their goals for the future and what a “better tomorrow” looks like for us all.

CalWild

"Our biggest goals for 2023 are [to advance] multiple National Monument proposals such as adding Molok Luyuk to the Berryessa-Snow Mountain National Monument and designating the Chuckwalla National Monument as part of our Protect California Deserts campaign. [We also want to continue our work for the 30x30 initiative to showcase how public land conservation is crucial to mitigating the climate crisis."

Bird Conservancy of the Rockies

"One of our biggest environmental goals is to work with our partners—from landowners to government to indigenous nations and everyone in between-- in a way that elevates the land, people and birds. Relationships take time. It will take more than one year, but we’re in this for the long run!"

Northeast Resource Recovery Association

"Our goal is to provide ongoing technical assistance, education, and cooperative marketing to support everyone from our small, rural communities to our larger cities, so they can recycle MORE and recycle WELL. Mitigating solid waste through reduction, reuse, recycling, composting, and other means of waste diversion is essential."

Oceana

"Some of our biggest goals for this year include establishing new marine protected areas, reducing ocean-polluting single-use plastics, stopping the expansion of dirty and dangerous offshore oil drilling, reducing the use of destructive fishing gear like bottom trawls, and implementing science-based fish catch limits."

People and Pollinators Action Network

"Our lifetime goal? That's easy: healthy species on a thriving planet Earth...and a world without pesticides. [In the meantime, one of our goals] is to restore the authority of municipalities (i.e., local communities) to adopt more stringent laws over pesticide use and application...in order to protect their unique ecosystems and vulnerable community members."

Strategic Energy Innovations

"In 2023, SEI is partnering with and learning from other organizations committed to rapidly scaling up our workforce [in green jobs], and we are bringing our 25 years of experience working with people from kindergarten to career. SEI’s lifetime goal is a resilient, equitable world where all communities thrive."

Thanks a Bunch!

A big thank you to the following nonprofits for talking with us and helping us celebrate Earth Month. Learn more about these organizations and the incredible work they’re doing to care for our planet!