#GivingTuesday is a global day of giving fueled by the power of social media and collaboration. Celebrated on the Tuesday-NOVEMBER 27-following Thanksgiving and the widely recognized shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday, #GivingTuesday kicks off the charitable season, when many focus on their holiday and end-of-year giving. We at John Muir Project are partnering up with the #GivingTuesday collective this year to be registered as one of the many organizations participating in this global movement of giving!
Donating to a charitable foundation or a favorite cause displays the best of human nature. Those blessed with a little extra can support a worthy cause, and the donation can be given in the name of a chosen person or entity.
People may be aware of the burden excess consumerism puts on the environment, and seek to balance these concerns with the expectation to give during the holidays. Many of us want to do something for positive change, and one way we can do that is to turn to organizations dedicated to protecting the environment and advocating for a greener, brighter future.
John Muir Project of Earth Island Institute is one such organization. Described as “a community of creative activists with a great track record and leading edge worldview,” John Muir Project fights on the front lines to keep our National Forests from being chopped down. We are at the forefront of scientific research on the intersection of forests, wildlife and fire ecology and provide science-based public education on how our forests are adapted to exist with and benefit from wildfires, as well as the harm that extractive industrial activities such as logging cause to our National Forest ecosystems. We lead field trips into post-fire habitat on National Forests, give presentations to community and environmental organizations and are active in Washington D.C. in order to keep our policy-makers informed, fight damaging legislation and promote the passage of progressive and environmentally beneficial bills. We work locally in California and the West as well as nationally, and have protected hundreds of thousands of acres of forest from destructive logging.
Thanks to the generous support from people like you, this year John Muir Project has continued to achieve success in our fight to protect our National Forests and bedrock environmental laws!
We’re proud of our many achievements over the past 12 months! Here’s a quick look at what we’ve been up to this year: In 2018, we embarked on a Social Media campaign to inform people of what is happening on our National Forests and to keep the public updated on the environmental and political news of the day. We currently have over 2K followers across our three platforms and that number keeps growing. Our staff presented over 50 programs, either individually or in panel form, on forest ecology, fire and wildlife to the public; we have led over 20 field trips into forests that recently experienced wildland fire to introduce birders, journalists, filmmakers and activists to the bounty, beauty and rejuvenation that follows wildland fire in our fire-adapted forests; we submitted comments and scientific information to the United States Forest Service on dozens of proposed logging projects on National Forests in California and Oregon as part of our continued effort to have our forests managed in line with principles of ecology and up-to-date science rather than the monetary interests of the timber industry; we joined others in filing three lawsuits on numerous timber sales being proposed in sensitive areas populated by California Spotted Owls, Black-backed Woodpeckers, and/or Pacific fishers; we launched our nationwide Stand4Forests campaign in conjunction with over 150 other organizations & scientists to promote the importance of keeping our forests standing as a necessary component of climate change mitigation; we continue to fight to protect the Rim Fire and its naturally regenerating forests and rich biodiversity from detrimental logging; and we have worked tirelessly with Congress to protect and strengthen existing environmental laws and to advocate for science-based, environmentally-conscious policies for our forests and native wildlife! Also in the past 12 months, John Muir Project has been working on new groundbreaking fire ecology research through our field work & professional research, resulting in five new scientific studies being published in peer-reviewed journals with an additional six studies in various stages of completion. Finally, our Director, Chad Hanson, Ph.D., has been featured in the LA times, the Washington Post, the New York Times and Sacramento Bee newspapers, as well as on numerous radio shows, discussing the most recent science and policy in an effort to create a new paradigm where we protect our communities from wildland fire while allowing fire to create diverse and resilient forest ecosystems to benefit native plants and animals and help to mitigate the effects of climate change.
John Muir Project of Earth Island Institute is a nonprofit organization (Charitable Tax Payer ID = 94-2889684), and we run a tight ship, working diligently to spend the money generously donated by our supporters wisely and with impact. But right now, in this political climate, with all of the threats and campaigns to increase logging and eliminate our most protective environmental laws, we can use all the support we can get. We cannot continue to fight this battle on all fronts without your support! So, if you are able, please help us in our quest to protect our National Forests by donating today.
Action Helps Too!
If you are unable to make a monetary donation, please consider taking the time to go through our links for online activism. Something as simple as adding your name to a petition or clicking a link to send an email to a legislator, or making a single phone call will be immensely beneficial to helping our work. If you’re more ambitious, and have more time and energy to devote to protecting our Nation’s forests, please contact us for volunteer opportunities at [email protected] .
With Giving Tuesday, a global day of giving, right around the corner, we at John Muir Project wanted to extend our gratitude to you, our supporters!
It’s a rich time of year to share gratitude for our blessings, nourish hope, and take stock of what’s truly important. It is not only our mission but our pleasure to support and protect our National Forests & Public Lands through our advocacy! But we can’t do it without your help. Offering your donation with clarity and purpose is like planting a tree whose fruit will nourish your great-grandchildren. Please consider making a gift today by donating to the John Muir Project of Earth Island Institute. Your donations will help keep our forests standing!
