I always liked the idea of a company that operated with the mindset of… “Do no harm.”
Then there are the companies that don’t like the idea of sharing with their customers what their political outlook on life may be, let alone if they provide funding to causes who their customers may disagree with.
My sense is that people who are attracted to the beauty and peaceful aspects of HDSereneScapes® films understand and care about the environment and appreciate that we are all on this spaceship earth together. We can’t hide from the fact that we all need to learn to get along or perish. It’s just getting too crowded and polluted out there every day. So for that reason, I openly share the following.
As human population continues to grow more everyday, our natural resources are becoming more and more taxed and our use of many of those natural resources for economic growth create added pressure on our environment and our economic sustainability.
We all need to find ways to work together to support a more local, sustainable, renewable and humane means of living on this amazing planet. I also believe that the vast majority of people on the planet feel the same way.
As such, our company chooses to support organizations that work to improve people’s lives, preserve the health of the planet and fight the economic and democratic means to create a sustainable future for ourselves and future generations.
In the environmental area, we intend to donate a portion of our profits to the following organizations for the work they do to fight for this vision of environmental concern.
The National Resources Defense Council which works to safeguard the earth — its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends.
My friend Andy Lipkis started the Tree People when we were in High School and I am so proud of all he is doing both locally and nationally to educate the public on sustainable environmental issues. The TreePeople inspires and supports the people of LA to come together to plant and care for trees, harvest the rain, and renew depleted landscapes. They unite with communities to grow a greener, shadier and more water-secure city at homes, neighborhoods, schools and in the local mountains. Working with volunteer leaders using a unique Citizen Forester model, and influencing government agencies for a healthy, thriving Los Angeles, they are truly an organization that has had an amazing impact on the City. Planting over a million trees and teaching kids every day to be concerned about their environment is nothing short of brilliant.
350.org is building a global climate movement coordinating activists in over 188 counties working to preserve a livable planet through grassroots efforts. They believe that a global grassroots movement can hold our leaders accountable to the realities of science and the principles of justice. That movement is rising from the bottom up all over the world, and is uniting to create the solutions that will ensure a better future for all.
The Sierra Club Foundation, The Conservation Fund and The Wildlife Conservation Society all operate with a similar mandate as the groups above and I applaud their goals and intentions. Along with the online publication grist, an intelligent and irreverent source for environmental news and commentary, these organizations are having a real impact on improving life on earth as best they can.
Our other avenue of concern is economic. We live in a society that has grown to praise wealth and greed to a point of drastic economic imbalance that can not be sustained without significant upheaval and pain for all. We see it already impacting so many areas of life both here in the U.S. as well as around the world. The influence of money in politics, lack of good wages and economic fairness have destabilized the lives of millions and it can not be sustained.
That is why we also intend to support the following:
Like grist, ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. Their work focuses exclusively on truly important stories, stories with “moral force.” They do this by producing journalism that shines a light on exploitation of the weak by the strong and on the failures of those with power to vindicate the trust placed in them.
Then there is Public Citizen, an amazing organization that successfully wrestles with critical issues of health care reform, climate change, abusive practices by pharmaceutical, nuclear and other corporate industries and undemocratic trade agreements that advance the interests of mega-corporations at the expense of citizens worldwide.
Fairness in economic situations require both perspective and actions. On the perspective side, The Center for Progressive Economics has laid out a wonderful vision of economic sustainability that defines good governance while keeping balance and growth in perspective.
On the action end, the National Alliance to End Homelessness is committed to preventing and ending homelessness in the United States by improving policy, building capacity and educating opinion leaders.
Finally their is the real bull in the china shop that directly effects all the above areas directly. Money in Politics! The influence of money in our political system has not only corrupted our politicians, it has brought apathy to many voters who feel their voice is worthless. But we can’t lay down without a fight to get both transparency in political funding, and the goal of removing money from influencing the political arena all together. The California Clean Money Campaign‘s vision is achieving an open and accountable government that is responsive to the needs of all Californians. (And we all know, as California goes, so goes the Nation). This non-profit, non-partisan organization’s mission is to pursue that vision by building statewide support for public funding of election campaigns. (Full disclosure, I am a Board Member of the CCMC, an organization my late father helped start.) As my father used to say, Clean Money, i.e., full public funding of elections, is the reform that makes all other reforms possible.
I hope you appreciate my perspective and will find your purchase of our products a positive investment both in yourself, your well being, the well being of the planet and a positive vision for generations to come.
