News
Q&A with Rachel’s Network Founder Winsome McIntosh
This week, ClientEarth, a small environmental nonprofit and the first public interest law firm in the European Union, won a huge victory in the EU courts that will drastically reduce air pollution in the UK. ClientEarth is the brain child of Rachel’s Network Founder Winsome McIntosh, who established the organization in 2008 with assistance from the Rachel’s Network Fiscal Sponsorship Fund. Coutts recently talked with Winsome about her tireless work to protect the environment through her philanthropy.
Kef Kasdin Joins Third Way’s Board of Trustees
Kef’s appointment was facilitated by the Rachel’s Network’s Board Placement Program, which matches environmental and social justice nonprofits with their talented membership of women environmental funders.
11 Ideas to Support Water Conservation
After our Fall Retreat on water issues in Milwaukee, we reached out to influential figures — including activists, authors, artists, and business leaders — to share how they would like to see more funds directed to water issues. Their responses show how water touches all parts of our life, and point to the importance of building coalitions and citizen power to protect this vital resource.
The Women’s Congress for Future Generations
It’s clear that we need new tools and policies that will afford those who come after us the chance for a healthy world. Rachel’s Network Advisor Carolyn Raffensperger calls on every woman to raise her voice and claim her authority in the conversation about the future of our planet. Her Women’s Congress for Future Generations will crowdsource their wisdom and ideas.
Expert Q&A with Nicole Silk, Rivers Advocate
Rivers and lakes supply the majority of the water we need in our daily lives, to produce the goods and services we rely upon, and to provide places for recreation and reflection. But these waters are in trouble. Nicole Silk, executive director of The River Network, spoke with Rachel’s Network members about the role of grassroots empowerment in driving large scale protection of our waterways, and answered these questions for us.
Getting Started in Impact Investing with Annarie Lyles
Each year for the past four years Rachel’s Network Member Annarie Lyles has been shifting 2% of her assets away from conventional stocks to businesses that align with her values. Here’s how she got started in impact investing, and how you can too.
Extreme Energy’s Threat to the Great Lakes
The Great Lakes of North America form the largest group of freshwater lakes in the world, holding more than 20 percent of the world’s surface freshwater and 95 percent of North America’s. Despite the incalculable value of this resource, they’re in serious trouble. Climate change, invasive species, and wetland loss all taking a terrible toll on a watershed that provides life to so many people and species. Now, companies are using the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway as a carbon corridor for a newly aggressive North American energy industry. This poses the greatest threat yet to these waters.
Conserving Water One Farm at a Time, One Million Strong
The agricultural sector is the single largest user of water, representing 70 percent of global freshwater withdrawals and up to 90 percent of national water use in some countries. An estimated 40-60 percent of that water is wasted through inefficient irrigation systems and other substandard practices. To address this, the Rainforest Alliance helped to create the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN), an international body that manages a comprehensive sustainability certification program for more than one million farms.
Collaborating for Cancer Prevention on World Environmental Health Day
More than 50 years ago Rachel Carson noted how chemicals could travel through soil, water and air, accumulate in creatures’ bodies and impact their health. On World Environmental Health Day (September 26) we need to look at our landscape in the way Rachel Carson did — through a systemic lens. The Breast Cancer Fund is partnering with other organizations to move our economy away from hazardous materials and technologies.
Rachel’s Network Joins the People’s Climate March
This month, world leaders will travel to New York City for a United Nations summit to begin negotiating a global climate agreement. Rachel’s Network is proud join over a thousand organizations rallying with the People’s Climate March on September 21st to show the UN that people are ready for action on climate change. To demostrate that solutions are within reach, we will march with tens of thousands of others wearing our “Women Funding Climate Action” buttons. Here some of our members share their reasons for participating in the People’s Climate March.