The
Campaign for a Sustainable Planet
is
a worldwide call-to-action
to protect Earth's natural
resources for future generations.
The Campaign will enable
The Nature Conservancy
to achieve
significant, global conservation results in
each of the world's major habitat
types —
forests, oceans and coasts, lakes and rivers,
grasslands, and
deserts and arid lands.
The Campaign will also equip the Conservancy to work
effectively on global conservation strategies, climate change and gaps in
the world's conservation capacity. Conservation work on this scale is
unprecedented. But so are the risks of doing nothing.
Local Harvest
is America's #1 organic and local food website. They maintain a
definitive and reliable "living" public nationwide directory of small farms,
farmers markets, and other local food sources. Their search engine helps
people find products from family farms, local sources of sustainably grown
food, and encourages them to establish direct contact with small farms in
their local area. An online store helps small farms develop markets for some
of their products beyond their local area.
The richness, variety, and flavor of our communities, food systems, and
diets are in jeopardy. The exclusive focus on economic efficiency has
brought us low prices and convenience through large supermarkets chains,
agribusiness and factory farms, while taking away many other aspects of our
food lives, like our personal relation with our food and with the people who
produce it. More and more people are realizing this and actively working to
turn the tide and to preserve a food industry based on family-owned, small
scale businesses. They are our best guarantee against a world of
styrofoam-like long-shelf-life tomatoes and diets dictated from corporate
boardrooms.
The Biomimicry
Institute is a not-for-profit organization that promotes the study and
imitation of nature’s remarkably efficient designs, bringing together
scientists, engineers, architects and innovators who can use those models to
create sustainable technologies. The Biomimicry Institute offers short-term
workshops and two-year certificate courses in biomimicry for professionals,
and helps to develop and share biomimicry-related curricula used in a range
of educational venues, from K-12 classrooms to universities, as well as in
non-formal settings such as zoos and museums. The Biomimicry Institute does
not conduct its own research; rather, it serves as a clearinghouse and
resource for those who do.
Biomimicry is the science and art of emulating
Nature's best biological ideas to solve human problems. Janine Benyus,
author of Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature states: "If we want to
consciously emulate nature's genius, we need to look at nature differently.
In biomimicry, we look at nature as model, measure, and mentor. "
Everybody Eats : How a Community Food System Works
It begins with small farms working with natural cycles and ends with fresh food
and stronger communities in nearby cities.
Click on the images to see
How a Community-Based Food System works.
Community Supported Agriculture consists of a community of individuals who
pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes, either legally
or spiritually, the community's farm, with the growers and consumers providing
mutual support and sharing the risks and benefits of food production. Typically,
members, or "share-holders", of the farm or garden pledge in advance to cover
the anticipated costs of the farm operation and farmer's salary. In return, they
receive shares in the farm's bounty throughout the growing season, as well as
satisfaction gained from reconnecting to the land and participating directly in
food production.
