Written by Jessica Moore

 

Now more than ever, protecting the environment is of the utmost importance. What if we told you that you can support your favorite environmental causes at no cost to you?

Tobi Cares Donation Program is our philanthropic initiative supporting almost 300 local and national charities in the United States. Our partnered non-profits focus their efforts on environmental sustainability, advancing health care and research, securing human and civil rights, animal welfare, improving the lives of disadvantaged youth, and supporting community development through arts & culture initiatives.

 

source: tobi.com

Here’s how it works: select your charity here, or go to your Tobi Account under “Your Charity.”  Shop thousands of products on our site. When you checkout, we’ll donate 1% of your total purchases to the cause that speaks to your heart. Easy enough, right? You don’t pay anything extra–Tobi’s got your donation covered.

Almost 20,000 Tobi babes have selected their charities. Have you?

To celebrate Earth Day, we’re spotlighting three incredible organizations that are addressing environmental concerns in their own unique ways.

Great Old Broads for Wilderness

source: greatoldbroads.org

Led by older women who can’t get enough of the great outdoors and who are actively fighting the stigma that “wilderness is inaccessible to elders,” Great Broads for Wilderness is putting a new meaning to #goals for our generation.

“Great Old Broads for Wilderness is a national grassroots organization led by women, that engages and inspires activism to preserve and protect wilderness and wild lands….We bring knowledge, commitment, and humor to the movement to protect our last wild places on Earth.”

“Protecting national public lands” and “expanding racial, cultural, and gender diversity in the conservation movement” are among their cherished values.

From repairing trails in public lands to working with conservation partners organizing to urge Congress to appoint new wilderness areas and develop stronger policies to protect land and wildlife, Great Old Broads are doing meaningful work for Mother Earth. These old broads are an inspiration to us all.

Interested in volunteering? Check out volunteer and internship opportunities here.

Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO)

source: wedo.org

Co-founder of the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) Bella Abzug powerfully states that “All issues are women’s issues. We must each wear the hat of an advocate,” and it holds a significant truth: what we do to the environment not only affects women today but for future generations of women who will also be given the responsibility to care for the planet.

Women, compared to men, often have limited access to resources, more restricted rights, limited mobility, and a muted voice in shaping decisions and influencing policy.

WEDO is a global advocacy organization that focuses on national and international disaster risk reduction, climate policy, sustainable cities and transportation systems, and biodiversity.

WEDO highlights the intersection between environmental justice and gender equality, positing that the effects of climate change are not experienced equally: “Women, compared to men, often have limited access to resources, more restricted rights, limited mobility, and a muted voice in shaping decisions and influencing policy.”

It’s amazing how WEDO enacts positive environmental change by mobilizing women for the climate justice movement through comprehensive training programs, organizing a fund for women delegates to participate in climate justice forums, and calling for the cessation of land grabs for large-scale industrial agriculture causing biodiversity loss.

Kudos, WEDO. We stand with you.

You’ll find WEDO’s schedule for events and workshops here.

Rainforest Partnership

source: rainforestpartnership.org

Tackling climate change means protecting our dwindling rainforests. Why? Rainforests are complex ecosystems absolutely essential to our survival.

Rainforest Partnership works “to protect and regenerate tropical rainforests by working with the people of the forests to develop sustainable livelihoods that empower and respect both people and nature.”

Today, rainforests are being destroyed by animal agriculture, industrial farming practices, and the extraction of oil, which are all disrupting and displacing wildlife in record numbers. Here are a few staggering facts from Rainforest Partnership’s “Rainforest Facts” page:

• A fifth of all freshwater is found in tropical rainforests

• Though tropical forests make up just 2.5% of the Earth’s surface area, the Amazon Basin stores approximately 25% of all carbon on land and circulates 20% of the world’s oxygen

• About 200 indigenous peoples live in the Amazon Basin and speak over 300 different languages

• Rainforests are the source of more than 25% of all Western medicine

• 15% of global carbon emissions come from deforestation of rainforests

Rainforest Partnership tackles climate change by creating income-generating community projects for indigenous peoples of the rainforests in an effort to reject powerful outside interests that intend to perpetuate deforestation.

These projects include developing plant nurseries using advanced techniques to restore affected areas, beekeeping to help pollinate the flora of the rainforest, establishing a butterfly sanctuary to curb the illegal trafficking of butterflies, signing local law agreements for protected areas, and promoting ecotourism as a source of income for rainforest communities. Creating jobs and collaborating with indigenous peoples to protect the world’s trees, oxygen, and wildlife diversity? We’re all IN.

For upcoming events, go here.

Thank you to everyone who has participated in our Tobi Cares Donation Program and to our non-profit partners for making a difference every day! Let this fantastic quote from Dr. Seuss resonate with you this Earth Day:

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.