A Guide to Environmental Non-Profits
I was not aware of specific environmental non-profits that supported protection of the ocean... I’d heard of some of the “big” names like Greenpeace - which I was happy to see wasn’t listed in this reading! Greenpeace annoys me. I’m appreciative of the measure of awareness that this reading encourages us to employ. Many of the organizations really do have ‘misleading’ names that don’t lend themselves to the real agendas.
McKenzie Watershed Annual Report (Oct. 1, 2007 – Sept. 30, 2008)
Two major things impressed me about this reading. First is the McKenzie Watershed’s mission statement. This statement is extraordinarily clear and concise – describing in great detail what the Council will do, how it will be done, and with whom. It’s refreshing and easy to get behind an agency with this kind of transparency. Secondly, I’ll quote a portion of the article:
“Of the total FY 2008 expenditures, over 85% was spent within Lane County through the use of local contractors and ground crews and the purchasing of restoration materials and other program supplies from local suppliers.”
I know that on its own, evaluating a non-profit solely on how it operates fiscally is not a real determination of the agency’s agenda. However in this case with the additional information we have in this annual report, I find the 85% figure impressive and righteous.
The picture below is one that I took myself on the McKenzie River in 2009. I attend a retreat every year in March which is held at St. Benedict’s Lodge – located approximately 45 miles up the McKenzie River from Springfield.
Paul Hawken’s Commencement Address to the Class of 2009 – University of Portland – May 3rd, 2009
Sorry for the long quote, but here it is:
“You join a multitude of caring people. No one knows how many groups and
organizations are working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change,
poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights, and more.
This is the largest movement the world has ever seen. Rather than control, it seeks
connection. Rather than dominance, it strives to disperse concentrations of power.
Like Mercy Corps, it works behind the scenes and gets the job done. Large as it is, no
one knows the true size of this movement. It provides hope, support, and meaning
to billions of people in the world. Its clout resides in idea, not in force. It is made up
of teachers, children, peasants, businesspeople, rappers, organic farmers, nuns,
artists, government workers, fisherfolk, engineers, students, incorrigible writers,
weeping Muslims, concerned mothers, poets, doctors without borders, grieving
Christians, street musicians, the President of the United States of America, and as
the writer David James Duncan would say, the Creator, the One who loves us all in
such a huge way.”
Idealistic? Yeah. Possible? Sure. Happening now? Hell yes. Count me in.
This reading was easily the best out of the four for this week.
Why Mr. Gore Chose Venture Capital and Not the Non-Profit World
I’m not going to have a lot to say about this one – I really don’t know enough about it. What I do know is that any time a Politician gets involved, my skeptical hackles go up. I have a hard time believing that anything Mr. Gore is doing is purely for the good of ‘the people’ – but please let me be wrong. I just need to see it before I will buy it.
That is a great picture. I have some good pictures of the McKenzie River are myself. I love how the water is different shades of green in the summer.
ReplyDeleteI really like the Hawkins speech too.
Most hackles of sane self-preserving folks go up these days when the government gets involved, but we have to cut this Pavlovian response somehow and make our government more accountable to the people's best interests and wishes. I think that the doubt people have in Gore is reasonable. How can a POLITICIAN, almost a swindler by DEFINITION actually do the right thing? Well, what if the right thing was also the best thing, the most sensible thing, and the most moral thing? That's the world I want to live in one day.
ReplyDeleteI hope Paul Hawken is right. Yes there is countless people out there working. The sad part about all this, is that we as a people/public don't really know that kazillions of nonprofits exist and how much money floats around in that arena, and how many oodles of people are rollin up the sleeves. Nonprofits need to get louder. We need leaders. Americans are fat and lazy, but I also think they are the first to jump up on the chair, and say yeah! let's do it! They need good leadership though, and to know that working for the public good is working for your own good as well.
ReplyDeletebtw- no surprise, Republicans want to end ALL FUNDING FOR NPR AND TELEVISION, so go to the OSPIRG site or wherever and just say no way!!
What a beautiful photo. I am impressed your openness to the Hawkens address. Many would dismiss it as being too idealistic, but your outright support for it was radical.
ReplyDeleteThere really is a place for the members of greenpeace and other environmental organizations whose methods of recruitment or largely unfavorable to the general public. I hope they will find a happy medium soon where recruitment can still be achieved with a more successful public rating.