Image via @greenpeaceusa. This isn’t a shot from a horror film. This is real life in

 Oregon and the West Coast of the U.S. right now. This is what a climate emergency looks like.

 

 

Protecting the environment is a major concern for all of us, and so many of NYXT’s partners are doing their part to create a better, healthier world. In this two-part guide, we’re going to highlight organizations that are working to benefit the environment and point out ways that you can help.

 

The first part of this guide is focused on international organizations: Amazon Watch, Greenpeace, Earth Day Network, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). 

 

The second part will be focused on organizations that work locally: Animal Outlook, Green Bronx Machine, New York Botanical Garden, New York Restoration Project, and Prospect Park Alliance. 

 

During the last five years we have seen the scale of the climate and biodiversity crisis going beyond even some of the most extreme predictions. Some examples of the environmental disasters that our planet went through and is still suffering this year are the Australian Bushfires, the oil spill in Russia’s Arctic region, the  Uttarakhand forest fires, spring tornadoes in the US, the currently active fires in the West Coast of the US, and the COVID-19 crisis were all available evidence suggests that SARS-CoV-2 has a zoonotic source. And experts say that the worst is yet to come.

 

But we all have a role in this! Volunteering, spreading awareness through social media, writing letters to politicians, marching, and inspiring others with your own actions are all ways you can collaborate with all these organizations and help make a difference. In this article, we are going to highlight some of the specific issues that these groups are working on. 

 

 

“In the next three years, we want to change the way we humans relate to nature and to each other. We’ll dismantle the broken systems and global power structures that have failed us.”

Greenpeace

 

 

Amazon Watch

 

 

With global deforestation contributing 20–25 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, Amazon Watch creates awareness to provide a service to all of humanity as they seek to defend the rainforest. Knowing that we may be the last generation that has a chance to protect the Amazonia, Amazon Watch partners with Indigenous and environmental organizations in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability and the preservation of the Amazon's ecological systems.

 

Image via amazonwatch.org.

Some of their current campaigns are:

• Demand an Amazon Ceasefire: Tell BlackRock to Stop Financing Amazon Fires.

• Tell European Banks to Stop Financing the Amazon Oil Trade.

• Stand up for Women Defenders of the Amazon!

• Join the Call for a Moratorium on the Invasion and Destruction of Amazonian Indigenous Lands!

• You can see more of Amazon Watch’s campaigns here.

 

Greenpeace

 

 

Greenpeace was founded in 1971 by environmentalists Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe. For more than fifty years the organization has succeeded at communicating and reporting the human damage that the Earth is absorbing, even before when it was rare to be an environmental activist talking about climate change. The organization affirms on their website “Greenpeace exists because this fragile earth deserves a voice,” and they have been leaders protecting and inspiring courageous, peaceful action on the environment for decades now.

 

 

There so many ways you can participate in their mission. Some of their main campaigns include: 

 

• Tell Your Story, where you can inspire others to protect the environment by sharing your experience of how you are changing or being changed by environmental activities.
• Protect the North Sea, to demand a safe, fair, and green transition for a North Sea free of fossil fuels.
• Together for Forests, where you can act now to tell the EU to pass a strong forest protection law, and stop European consumption driving global forest destruction. 
• You can read more about their current campaigns here.

 

 

Image via greenpeace.org.

 

 

Earth Day Network

 

 

 

Earth Day Network’s mission is to diversify, educate, and activate the environmental movement worldwide.  With this in mind, this organization knows that every single person counts. With our voice, actions, and vote, we can all be a positive influence as consumers and community members. 

 

 

• Some of their current campaigns include:
• Plant a forest with the canopy project.
• Become a citizen scientist.
• Advocate for climate action at your university.
• You can read more about Earth Day Network’s initiatives here.

 

 

 

“Don’t underestimate your power. When your voice and your actions are united with thousands or millions of others around the world, we create a movement that is inclusive, impactful, and impossible to ignore.”

Earth Day Network

 

 

 

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

 

 

PETA’s first case in the 1980’s resulted in the first arrest and criminal conviction of an animal experimenter in the U.S. on charges of cruelty to animals, the first confiscation of abused laboratory animals, and the first U.S. Supreme Court victory for animals in laboratories.

 

Image via @peta.

 

Whether by working with universities and government institutions to implement non-animal test methods, sparking a boom of “cruelty-free” product marketing and a nosedive for the fur industry, or promoting the mass availability of meat alternatives at grocery stores and gourmet restaurants, PETA has been the driving force behind many of the largest cultural changes that produce a better impact on the environment, while protecting the species. 

 

 

Some of PETA’s active campaigns include:

 

• 3 Actions From PETA to Make Your 'ThanksVegan' Festivities Fun

• Tell Conquest Air Cargo to Stop Sending Monkeys to Laboratories!

• 10 Reasons Why You Should Say No to Cruel Elephant Rides

• Here you can see all PETA’s current campaigns. 

 

 

Wildlife Conservation Society

 

 

 

WCS uses science to discover and understand the natural world. Over the past century, the organization has established long-term conservation presence in the last wild places across the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania, built strong and trusting partnerships, and acquired a depth of knowledge that ensures effective conservation action.

 

 

WCS goal is protecting regions that are biologically outstanding and where the long-term conservation of species and ecological processes is viable. From whales and dolphins, to elephants and big cats, from apes to sharks, they emphasize conservation to save different species. The organization partners with indigenous and local people in achieving their vision for a more secure and resilient future, where wildlife remains a visible and culturally valued part of the wild places where they live.

 

 

 

Image via wcs.org.

 

Some of their priorities include stopping climate change, working with businesses on what is the impact that they are making on the land and oceans, and connecting the private sector with governments, communities, and consumers to develop policy options and scientific solutions prioritizing health. Here you can see all the species and areas where they are working on, and they also share updates on COVID-19.

 

 

“We target large, iconic, wide-ranging species because of their intrinsic value and because they are vital to ecosystem health. By saving them, we protect all other biodiversity that shelters under their conservation canopy.”

Wildlife Conservation Society