My Confessions to Mother Earth:

Though every generation has new problems to confront and opportunities to take hold, it's obvious that ours is standing at a kind of turning point; we are not only more aware that policies and practices need to be reconsidered but have also reached a time when our livelihood depends on that change. In class we throw out words like “green housing,” “clean energy,” and the favorite, “sustainability.” They are the words on the tip of our generation’s tongues because we know we’ll be using them later as we enter green jobs or as the severities of global warming and effects of the world’s depleting acts increase. Yet I often ask myself just how much I really understand about the issue. Though I love nature, hiking, kayaking, wandering you name it, my feeling of personal connection and future involvement to the environmental movement is limited (even if I consider it an urgent issue). I'm starting to think that my feelings of detachment stem from the sense that to be a leader in this movement, I have to have a knack for science. But what I've finally realized is that environmentalism and sustainability are not just about serving the earth, but about serving people. The challenge is to make the issue not feel as inconceivably large as the earth and climate but make it a national, local, household, and virtual topic of practice and discussion.

As we learned in class there are 27,000 environmental nonprofits in the U.S that span from organizations protecting wildlife, to recycling, to health, to clean energy—only the start of a long list. The breadth and the numbers clearly point to where the world’s mindset is. More and more people are starting to understand the relevance and urgency of environmental issues. However this understanding is not as widespread as the numbers reveal. Of the 42.9 billion dollars given through foundations in 2009, only 6 percent went to environmental nonprofits. I haven’t found information on whether or not this percentage has increased with the numbers of nonprofits, but I have heard the voices of people outside of the university and academia. As much as they will argue for the validity of global warming and the importance of recycling, the majority of people (including myself) do little more than care. Many people are content to leave saving the earth up to those 27,000 nonprofits, rebuilding the economy on clean energy to the government, and figuring out the changing environment to scholars and scientists. Environmentalism is an issue that most believe they either do not have the education or financial assets to be an important part of. This is a major problem—something that makes the movement especially difficult to become universal and inclusive. But evidently there is hope; for this disconnect is why so many nonprofit organizations are stepping up to make the facts, the procedures, and the opportunities more clear and available to all people.

Nonprofits are acting as the bridge between science, technology and the people—especially those who cannot afford green products and housing but whose lives depend on it. The Home Depot Foundation supports multiple affordable green housing projects who are making simple adjustments to houses to make a big impact. Some ideas include building houses in clusters to prevent cutting down trees, making sure they are in walking distance of schools and grocery stores, and thinking about water and energy efficiency when building. We also see non-profits like Envirofit whose mission is to provide houses in third world countries with clean cookstoves as an alternative to burning biomass fuels that are hazardous to health. The longer it takes to switch to green, clean alternatives the longer people will suffer the consequences (usually without even being aware of it). In my global policy class we watched a video that interviewed families living and working near a coal mine in China. The river flowing through the mine and into agricultural villages was reddish-brown and described as having a putrid stench. The families who worked near the river and ate the crops cultivated in its waters were suffering from diseases and quickly dying. Meanwhile nothing was being done. Evidently its the rural communities who often cannot afford green alternatives that will be feeling the effects of our decisions long before anyone else.

Nonprofits have already done an extraordinary job of trying to reverse these effects and spread awareness about easy solutions. Our generation faces the great challenge and exciting opportunity to continue what they have started—to make environmentalism into a movement where people do not just care, but know, discuss, prevent, and act.