The environmental health movement believes in fairness. Large amounts of money from a handful of wealthy people or corporations should not be the key factor in deciding elections or protections from harmful chemicals. But at this moment, the cards are stacked in favor of those who can finance politicians and their campaigns. The cards in that deck affect not only environmental health, but also legislation to control gun violence and other policies that would provide reasonable protections to citizens from harm. For me, the time has come to address the forces that have created this situation: the influence of money in politics.
I learned about many new ways to lessen our impact on the planet, and that job is never done. I’ve been inspired to think about alternative materials to our plastics. Hearing what San Francisco is doing made me think about initiating my company’s own Corporate Sustainability Report, and I hope that it will encourage others to follow suit, not just to say they did it, but to truly gauge their impact on the environment.
Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, spoke with Rachel’s Network members about the work As You Sow is doing to promote environmental and social corporate responsibility. We recently followed up with Andrew to learn more about his work.
ClientEarth is the first public interest law firm in the European Union. It was launched in 2007 by philanthropist Winsome McIntosh and her husband Michael with support from the Rachel’s Network Fiscal Sponsorship Fund. The fund fosters the development of independent nonprofits by providing public charitable sponsorship. ClientEarth is now a registered charity in England and Wales and was recently named by Greenwire UK as the most effective environmental organization in Europe.
Judith Robinson, Executive Director of Coming Clean, spoke with Rachel’s Network members about how Coming Clean has built an effective coalition of nonprofits, policy makers, business leaders, and scientists to work together to reform the chemical and fossil fuel industries. We recently followed up with Judy to learn more about her work, and what makes her optimistic about chemical policy reform.
