Tucked back in the Community Action tent that the Green Festival last month, it was easy to miss the collection of over 30 local and national non-profits. It could stand to be argued that this small collection of tables was the most important at the entire event, yet they were relegated to a tent outside. Bestowed the title of "the heart of the Green Festival", many visitors did not even know they were there. To help give them the attention they deserve, the following is a bit of info about these vital organizations, in their own words:
Bay Localize
We are building a more self-reliant, sustainable, and socially just Bay Area. We work to catalyze a shift from a globalized, fossil-fuel-based economy that enriches a few and weakens most, to a localized green economy that strengthens all Bay Area communities. We develop tools that identify local opportunities, connect grassroots groups and policymakers, and advance projects that enhance regional self-reliance, sustainability, and equity.
We are working to build a cooperative, inclusive movement toward regional self-reliance. To help prepare our region for the coming end of cheap oil -- and the progressive decline in long-distance imports that will follow -- we are developing flexible tools and models that area groups and municipal governments can implement in their own locales to bring the production of food, energy, and essential goods and services closer to home.
The Breast Cancer Fund
Breast Cancer Fund is the leading national organization focused on identifying the causes of breast cancer and preventing the disease. The Breast Cancer Fund believes that most breast cancer can be prevented, and has adopted the bold mission to eliminate the environmental causes of the disease. Through public education, policy initiatives, outdoor challenges and other innovative campaigns, the Breast Cancer Fund mobilizes the public to secure the changes needed to stop this devastating epidemic.
California League of Conservation Voters
The California League of Conservation Voters is the non-partisan political action arm of California's environmental movement. CLCV's mission is to protect the environmental quality of the state by increasing public awareness of the environmental performance of all elected officials, working to elect environmentally responsible candidates, and holding them accountable to the environmental agenda once elected.
Changemakers
Changemakers is a national public foundation that models and supports community-based social change philanthropy. We work within the philanthropic sector to shift WHERE money is directed -- to address root causes of social and environmental problems -- and HOW it is given, urging individual donors and philanthropic organizations to become more accountable, strategic, inclusive, collaborative, democratic, and creative.
We envision a just society that is truly democratic and participatory; where everyone is given opportunities to live, work, play, create, interact and think with dignity, in a culture of respect and love; a society that is economically and ecologically sustainable, where people have global purpose, true interconnectedness, and appreciation for their diversity.
Changemakers' role in manifesting this vision is to assure that the people and organizations working for social and economic justice at the grassroots level are well funded and are included in philanthropic decision-making. In order to ensure a strong progressive philanthropic sector that will support positive social change beyond our lifetime, we must build its infrastructure now. To this end, Changemakers' mission is to transform the values and practice of philanthropy in order to assure a more equitable and accountable distribution of resources for creating positive social change.
CODE PINK: Women for Peace
CODEPINK is a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the war in Iraq, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into health care, education and other life-affirming activities. CODEPINK rejects the Bush administration's fear-based politics that justify violence, and instead calls for policies based on compassion, kindness and a commitment to international law. With an emphasis on joy and humor, CODEPINK women and men seek to activate, amplify and inspire a community of peacemakers through creative campaigns and a commitment to non-violence.
CODEPINK-Central serves to connect CODEPINK groups with the international network of global peacemakers. By placing a contact email on the CODEPINK website, local CODEPINK groups make themselves accessible to those in their area who would like to get involved. CODEPINK Central also supplies groups with a range of CODEPINK merchandise to increase visibility: pink scarves, buttons, bumper stickers, and tee-shirts. CODEPINK Central also provides local CODEPINK groups with organizing tips, overarching national campaigns and initiatives. By tapping into the network CODEPINKers coordinate our energies and efforts. More than 30,000 people currently receiving the weekly CODEPINK alert.
Besides grassroots organizing Stateside, CODEPINK women have traveled to Iraq where they helped to establish the Occupation Watch Center. CODEPINK co-creator Gael Murphy has been key to the development of the international coalition of organizations and the management of Center staff. The first all-women CODEPINK peace delegation went to Iraq in February 2003. Another delegation traveled to Iraq in November, December and January and February 2004. CODEPINK members were also in Jordan in 2004 to deliver humanitarian aid to the refugees of Fallujah and another delegation traveled to Iran in April of 2005.
FishWise
We seek to educate consumers, restaurants, distributors, and retailers on sustainable fishery issues, with the goal of decreasing unsustainable fishing practices, while improving the livelihoods of people who fish, fish populations and ocean ecosystems.
Sustainable Fishery Advocates (SFA) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that was founded in 2002 to promote sustainable seafood. It was founded by Shelly Benoit and Teresa Ish, graduate students in the Department of Ocean Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Our flagship project is FishWise, an innovative, comprehensive seafood labeling system for grocery stores and direct marketers that makes it easy for consumers to choose seafood that is healthy for them and healthy for the environment. In addition, to address the concern many consumers have contaminants in seafood, FishWise has partnered with Environmental Defense so we can also provide consumers with a list of species that have been tested to be low in mercury and PCBs.
Protect ocean health when you're grocery shopping! FishWise™ labels makes it easy to choose seafood that is healthy for the oceans and healthy for you. FishWise is healthy for the oceans because it identifies seafood from sustainable sources, meaning that the seafood comes from a healthy population and is caught using methods that do not harm the surrounding ecosystem. FishWise identifies healthy choices for you because seafood is a source of lean protein and omega-3 fatty acids, plus FishWise provides information about those species that are tested to be low in mercury and PCBs. Look for the FishWise™ program to promote healthy seafood in your community. If your favorite store does not have FishWise, ask for it and drop off an "I Want FishWise" card today! In the meantime, you can use one of the Seafood Pocket Guides to make good choices.
Food & Water Watch
Food & Water Watch challenges the corporate control and abuse of our food and water resources by empowering people to take action and by transforming the public consciousness about what we eat and drink.
As a spin-off from our former parent organization, the national consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, Wenonah Hauter, our executive director, and 12 former Public Citizen staffers moved into our new headquarters in January 2006. Our existing campaigns will expand with new resources, and because we carried all of our institutional memory and knowledge with us on these issues, we are picking up where we left off at Public Citizen. We’re the same team that helped develop these programs over the past eight years.
We will continue our work on food safety, agriculture, fisheries, and water rights in a four-pronged effort: public and policymaker education, lobbying, media, and Internet activism. We want citizens to speak up, get involved at the grassroots level, and push for change in their communities. We remain devoted to maintaining the existing partnerships that we cultivated while at Public Citizen with other non-governmental organizations, journalists and citizens.
Garden for the Environment
The Garden for the Environment (GFE) is maintained by a handful of dedicated staff gardeners, volunteers, and students. Formerly the Education Department of the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners (SLUG), the staff gardeners now operate as Garden for the Environment. Garden for the Environment is under the fiscal sponsorship of the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council. HANC is a non-profit organization dedicated to the resolution and voicing of issues involving San Francisco's Haight - Ashbury neighborhood. HANC has been serving the Haight Ashbury community for over 40 years. We receive most of our funding from the San Francisco Department of the Environment. We are grateful for their ongoing support as well as their collaboration on our school education and outreach programs.
Garden for the Environment educates about urban gardening and composting in a variety of settings and capacities. Our energy is divided into the following 5 main areas: School Education Program, Resource Efficient Landscape Education, Gardening & Composting Educator Training Program, Urban Gardening Internships, and the Home Composting Education Program.
Indigenous Permaculture
Indigenous Permaculture, or Cosmovision, is a way of thinking and living by following the original instructions we were given to live in balance with the world. These teachings assist people in achieving a symbiotic sustainable life within their environment by utilizing indigenous agricultural practices.
Permaculture reconnects human beings and the natural world in an effort to restore balance and natural law that will heal the earth and its people. Indigenous Permaculture is not new, it is wisdom from the past that tells us how to follow our original instructions from the Creator. By doing this we ensure our existence and a future for generations. OUR MISSION is to provide training to native and non-native people utilizing indigenous methods of land stewardship and to help re-establish wellness to Mother Earth and her people.
In Defense of Animals
In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization dedicated to ending the exploitation and abuse of animals by raising the status of animals beyond that of mere property, and by defending their rights, welfare and habitat. IDA’s efforts include educational events, cruelty investigations, boycotts, grassroots activism, and hands-on rescue through our sanctuaries in Mississippi and Cameroon, Africa.
IDA's campaigns and programs cover animals around the world, through investigation, rescue and rehabilitation, public education, political and consumer advocacy, and litigation. From working to protect the rights of America's companion animals, to rescuing feral goats on Catalina Island, to fighting to end the horrific trade in dog meat in Korea, IDA's campaigns reach far and wide.
International Rivers Network
International Rivers Network protects rivers and defends the rights of communities that depend on them. IRN opposes destructive dams and the development model they advance, and encourages better ways of meeting people’s needs for water, energy and protection from damaging floods. Read quotes about IRN
IRN seeks a world in which rivers and the ecosystems they support are valued, and the importance of the links between healthy environments and healthy societies is understood. We envision a world where development projects neither degrade nature nor impoverish people, and where all people have a voice in decisions affecting their lives and livelihoods.
IRN’s mission is to protect rivers and defend the rights of communities that depend on them. IRN opposes destructive dams and the development model they advance, and encourages better ways of meeting people’s needs for water and energy and protection from destructive floods. To achieve this mission, IRN collaborates with a global network of local communities, social movements, non–governmental organizations and other partners. Through research, education and advocacy, IRN works to halt destructive river infrastructure projects, address the legacies of existing projects, improve development policies and practices, and promote water and energy solutions for a just and sustainable world. The primary focus of IRN’s work is in the global South.
IRN has adopted a two–pronged approach, combining work on changing global policies with campaigning on specific key projects around the world. We do this because we understand that effective lobbying for policy change must include specific project examples, and that fighting successive individual projects without addressing root causes is not an efficient use of our resources nor will it decelerate the pace of destructive project construction.
We work with environmental and human rights groups around the world in cooperative campaigns for community–based river development. Our involvement depends on our services being independently requested by credible, like–minded non–governmental organizations or by individuals from project–affected communities. In all our work, we rely on the leadership provided by the people directly affected by dams and other large water intervention projects.
IRN undertakes in–depth research and provides project critiques, analysis of alternatives, and activist briefings. We monitor and critique the policies of financial institutions including the World Bank and provide substantial analysis and recommendations for reforming their practices. We mobilize international support from our network of activists and experts, assist in fundraising for campaigns at the local level, and generate publicity through industry, alternative, and mainstream media.
IRN was established in 1985 as a nonprofit all–volunteer organization of activists experienced in fighting economically, environmentally, and socially unsound river intervention projects. Aware that similar projects and struggles were happening in other countries, IRN opened a communication channel with local river activists worldwide. In 1989, IRN began to develop a staff of experienced activists trained in economics, biology, engineering, hydrology, anthropology, and environmental sciences. Over the years, IRN has increased its permanent staff to more than fifteen and created a worldwide network of supporters, funders, advisors, interns and volunteers.
MediCann
MediCann is an organization of integrative medicine clinics committed to providing a stress-free, holistic environment where patients in need of medicinal marijuana receive a cost-effective, expert evaluation by a licensed medical professional. Qualified patients receive a physician's recommendation allowing them the legal use of Medical Marijuana under California Proposition 215, also known as the California Compassionate Use Act of 1996 Health and Safety Code Section 11362.5, and under SB420, section 11362.7.
Our trained, board-certified physicians, working closely with attending physician and company founder Dr. Jean Talleyrand, allow MediCann to provide our patients with convenient, reliable medical advice and evaluations at an affordable cost. MediCann provides an environment where patients are treated with the compassion and understanding they deserve. We want to make the process as simple and informative as possible.
Our goal is to assist patients whose lives can be improved by the therapeutic use of medicinal marijuana, in conjunction with traditional medical care and/or alternative therapies including: acupressure, Chinese herbology, tai-chi, acupuncture, massage, qi qong, and yoga. We at MediCann strive to provide the highest quality safe and legal solutions for healthy living at the convenience of patients instead of doctors.
MediCann helps patients take an active role in their health by offering up to date information on alternative therapies and practices, as well as on medical research and current legal events regarding medicinal marijuana. By working closely with our legal team, we are able to provide a safe and reliable service for qualified patients in need of a physician's recommendation for medicinal marijuana.
MediCann’s licensed physicians use the best standards of care in compliance with the California Medical Board. MediCann has every confidence in the skill, experience and best judgment our physicians use to evaluate patients for health conditions that may benefit from the use of medical marijuana.
Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives
The Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives or NoBAWC (pronounced "no boss") is a grassroots organization of democratic workplaces dedicated to building workplace democracy in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.
As the name implies, NoBAWC is comprised primarily of worker cooperatives. A worker cooperative is an enterprise that produces goods, distributes goods and/or provides services and is owned and controlled by its worker-owners. Ownership of a worker cooperative is vested solely with the worker-owners on an equal basis. Moreover, worker-owners control the resources of the cooperative and the work process. Each worker-owner has equal decision-making power and ultimate authority rests with the worker-owners as a whole. Worker control can be exercised directly or indirectly by worker-owners. If exercised indirectly, members of representative decision-making bodies (e.g. a Board of Directors) must be elected by the worker-owners and be subject to removal by the worker-owners.
In addition to worker cooperatives, NoBAWC includes many Bay Area workplaces that incorporate democratic principles even though they do not satisfy the above definition of a worker cooperative. These include workplaces in transition toward becoming worker cooperatives and those that are democratically run but not worker owned. This latter category includes consumer cooperatives and non-profits that are democratically run by their staffs.
NoBAWC is comprised of small and medium-sized workplaces employing from a few to over 200 workers, representing diverse industries and sectors of the economy (see the Members Page of this website for a listing of our member workplaces). Although all are democratic, their legal and organizational structures vary. Most are for profit while some are non-profit, most provide a living for their workers while some are volunteer-run and many utilize direct democracy while others use both direct and representational structures. A number of these workplaces have been operating successfully for many years, with some celebrating more than 30 years in business.
Pacific Environment
Pacific Environment protects the living environment of the Pacific Rim by promoting grassroots activism, strengthening communities and reforming international policies.
We put our mission into action by:
Supporting Local Environmental Struggles - We dedicate over one-third of our budget each year to funding grassroots organizations on the front-lines of the environmental movement.
Holding Banks and Corporations Accountable - We confront tax-payer funded banks that back oil, gas, mining and timber extraction and the companies that profit from these often environmentally-devastating projects.
Promoting Best Practices - We support and encourage sustainable fishing, renewable energy and other initiatives that put environmental protection and communities first.
Building a Global Movement - We forge coalitions and partnerships with environmentalists and other community members around the Pacific Rim—building a united movement to deal with the global threats we face.
In the last two decades, Pacific Environment and our grassroots partners have: protected tens of millions of acres of wilderness; spearheaded efforts to protect endangered species like the Siberian Tiger, Amur leopard and Western Pacific Gray Whale; stopped the construction of environmentally-damaging oil pipelines, mines and dams; and forced international financial institutions to adopt higher environmental and social standards for their lending.
Rainforest Action Network
Rainforest Action Network (RAN) works to protect the Earth's rainforests and support the rights of their inhabitants through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action. RAN accomplishes its mission through dynamic, hard-hitting campaigns that work to bring corporate and governmental policies into alignment with popular support for rainforest conservation. RAN works in alliance with environmental and human rights groups around the world, including indigenous forest communities and non-governmental organizations in rainforest countries.
Our campaigns:
Global Finance – The goal of the campaign is to bring social and environmental accountability to all aspects of global financial business practices.
Old Growth – Works to preserve the Earth's remaining ancient forests by driving old growth wood products out of the marketplace and by promoting the use of sustainable alternatives.
Zero Emissions – Works to stop global climate change by convincing the auto industry to eliminating greenhouse gases by 2020. Ford Motor Company is the biggest brand and worst polluter in the industry.
Our programs:
The 12-Step Program – From extraction to pollution, our oil addiction is a common thread in all of our campaigns. We need to get off this toxic chemical today, and RAN has put together a 12-Step program to do it.
Rainforests in the Classroom – Our Rainforests in the Classroom program educates and inspires students to take an active role in protecting the Earth.
Protect-an-Acre – Protect-an-Acre is a small grants program which contributes directly to forest communities struggling to protect their rainforest homelands and the natural-resource base on which these communities rely
Planet Drum Foundation
Planet Drum was founded in 1973 to provide an effective grassroots approach to ecology that emphasizes sustainability, community self-determination and regional self-reliance. In association with community activists and ecologists, Planet Drum developed the concept of a bioregion: a distinct area with coherent and interconnected plant and animal communities, and natural systems, often defined by a watershed. A bioregion is a whole "life-place" with unique requirements for human inhabitation so that it will not be disrupted and injured. Through its projects, publications, speakers, and workshops, Planet Drum helps start new bioregional groups and encourages local organizations and individuals to find ways to live within the natural confines of bioregions.
Regenerative Design Institute
The Regenerative Design Institute (RDI) is a non-profit educational organization focusing on hands-on skills development. RDI is currently working in collaboration with the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) and Commonweal, a cancer healing and retreat center. RDI emerged out of the work of the Permaculture Institute of Northern California and is committed to re-establishing a collaborative connection between humanity and the Earth.
Achieving this goal requires a new model of education. RDI’s model of ecological education & training creates multi-disciplinary practitioners skilled in the art and science of regenerative design and construction practices and is offered through the Regenerative Design & Nature Awareness (RDNA) Training Program.
By providing skilled designers, farmers, trades-people, educators, facilitators & community leaders, our goal is to spread the awareness that we can design & build development models worldwide that address human needs while simultaneously regenerating the surrounding environment to become more fertile and diverse in the process.
Electric Auto Association
The Electric Auto Association (EAA) was formed in 1967 by Walter Laski in San Jose, California. The EAA is a non-profit educational organization that promotes the advancement and widespread adoption of Electric Vehicles.
Electric vehicles (EVs) are a clean, quiet alternative to conventional automobiles, which are powered by petroleum derivatives that, when burned, emit noxious gases into the environment. Electric Vehicles not only keep our Earth cleaner, their use preserves the earth's natural resources. EVs are a smart and efficient choice for personal transportation. The EAA's mission is to act as a public source of information about developments in electric vehicle technology, to encourage experimentation in the building of electric vehicles, and to organize public exhibits and events of electric vehicles to educate the public on the progress and benefits of electric vehicle technology.
San Francisco Vegetarian Society
The San Francisco Vegetarian Society (SFVS) is a non-profit organization that has been working in the Bay Area for over 25 years promoting a vegetarian diet as a healthful and humane way of life. The Society is run entirely by volunteers. We always appreciate help, whether it is available once in a while or on an ongoing basis. You can volunteer to help with a variety of activities, from coordinating our programs to helping at our events. If you are interested in getting involved, please contact us. The Society hosts events throughout the year such as vegetarian potlucks, picnics, dining out and lectures. Monthly meetings held most months. Please check our hotline, 415-273-5481 for details.
Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program
Monterey Bay Aquarium developed a list of sustainable seafood as part of our 1997-1999 "Fishing for Solutions" exhibit anticipating visitor questions about making better seafood choices. Our Portola Cafe restaurant and husbandry department also adopted a "sustainable seafood" policy. The list evolved into the Seafood Watch pocket guide for consumers. Today, we have a dedicated staff to create and distribute regional Seafood Watch pocket guides across the United States and Canada.
The choices we make as consumers drive the seafood market place. Your purchasing power can make a difference by supporting those fisheries and fish farms that are better for the environment, while at the same time relieving pressure on others that are not doing as well.
Some of the key problems that help us evaluate whether a fishery is sustainable include the level of bycatch observed, the fishing methods and their impact, if it is farmed—how it is farmed, and how well the fishery or aquaculture operation is managed. With nearly 75% of the world's fisheries either fully fished or overfished, these issues are more important than ever. By using the Seafood Watch pocket guide you are making choices based on the best available information and supporting environmentally friendly fisheries and aquaculture operations.
We believe that seafood from sources, either fished or farmed, that can exist over the long-term without compromising species' survival or the health of the surrounding ecosystem is sustainable. We favor conservation of the resource in the face of scientific uncertainty.
Our Seafood Watch guides reflect what is sold in the regional market. To create each regional guide, we establish partnerships with regional zoos and aquariums. Our staff does most of the research, collecting government reports, journal articles, and making personal contact with fishery and fish farm experts to create a Seafood Report. After a thorough review process, the information is run through our criteria for sustainability and a recommendation is developed. Our regional partners assist with choosing the species to be researched and distribute the pocket guides to their guests.
Sustainable Harvest International
Central America has lost more than half of its rainforests in the last 50 years, contributing to mass extinctions and global warming. Rainforest destruction also wreaks havoc on local populations who depend on the rainforest for their survival.
Sustainable Harvest International helps farmers reverse rainforest destruction with sustainable land-use practices that allow them to take control of their environmental and economic destinies.
Since 1997, SHI has worked with more than 850 families and 900 students in Honduras, Panama, Belize and Nicaragua implementing alternatives to slash-and-burn farming, the leading cause of rainforest destruction in the region. Working with local field personnel trained by SHI, our participants have:
* Planted more than 1,900,000 trees
* Converted 5,000 acres to sustainable uses, thereby saving 25,000 acres from slash-and-burn destruction.
* Improved nutrition through the establishment of more than 200 organic vegetable gardens
* Increased farm income by over 450%
* Built 165 wood-conserving stoves (saving 1,650 trees per year)
Ocean Conservancy
For centuries people have exploited the oceans with little thought to the future. Clearly, we can't afford to neglect them any longer. They provide much of the food we eat and the oxygen we breathe — our very existence depends upon healthy oceans. The Ocean Conservancy promotes healthy and diverse ocean ecosystems and opposes practices that threaten ocean life and human life. Through research, education, and science-based advocacy, The Ocean Conservancy informs, inspires, and empowers people to speak and act on behalf of the oceans. In all its work, The Ocean Conservancy strives to be the world's foremost advocate for the oceans.
Pachamama Alliance
he Pachamama Alliance is a U.S. based not-for-profit organization that was born out of a relationship developed between a group of people from the modern world and the leaders of remote indigenous groups in the Amazon region of Ecuador. This relationship was actually initiated by the indigenous elders and shamans themselves who, out of their deep concern for the growing threat to their ancient way of life, and their recognition that the roots of this threat lay far beyond their rainforest home, actively sought the partnership of committed individuals living in the modern world.
The Pachamama Alliance is based on the recognition that those of us in the modern world share a deep connection with the people who call the rainforest their home-each of us having a critical stake in the health and well being of this vital element in our global life support system. We also recognize that indigenous people are the rainforests' natural custodians, and therefore, key strategies of our alliance focus on strengthening their culture and empowering their ability to stand for and represent their own interests.
Another underlying principal of our alliance is based on the recognition of the pervasive role economics plays in the fate of our rainforests. It is generally agreed that the Earth's tropical rainforests are its most valuable ecosystem. Yet, in the economic equations which shape decisions regarding the use of the Earth's resources, rainforests seldom show up as adding any value simply remaining in their natural state. Also, the direct costs to society of having to use technology to replace the environmental services nature provides are seldom considered. Pachamama has a commitment both to develop tangible, real-life projects through which rainforests provide more direct economic benefit standing than cut as well as to broaden the general economic view so that the value of standing rainforests and the costs associated with their destruction are measured and counted. Our work takes place in two distinct program areas: social and economic development projects in the South and education and awareness building in the North.
TURN
As your utility watchdog, we stand up for consumer rights, affordable rates and a more livable California. For more than 30 years we have challenged California’s powerful energy and telephone companies, saving consumers and small businesses millions, and demanding reliable service and environmentally sound policies. We advocate for better utility policies, provide consumer assistance, and mobilize people statewide to take action for change.
