Updates

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<p><strong>Update &#8211; Dividend #2, July 2020</strong></p>
<p>We’ve issued the second Tree Dividend to all our subscribers. 275,523 additional trees have been purchased and distributed equally to everyone’s forests.</p>
<p><strong>Dividend #1, March 2020</strong></p>
<p>It&#8217;s with great pleasure that today we&#8217;ll be issuing our first ‘Tree Dividend’ to all our subscribers.</p>
<p class="p1">But why? Most for-profit companies when they have surplus cash, issue dividends to their shareholders, but for us it&#8217;ll be issuing trees to all our subscribers instead.</p>
<p>We&#8217;ve purchased an extra 369,764 trees to be planted in Madagascar. That means all our subscribers will have an extra 115 trees on their profile.</p>
<p><img style="width: 100%;" src="https://cms-assets.offset.earth/app/uploads/20200302161829/Blog-intext-image-tree-dividend.png" /></p>
<p>If you’re an Ecologi subscriber, check out your <a href="http://ecologi.com/profile">profile now</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Where does the money come from?</strong></p>
<p>The short answer is the cost of things we spend your money on varies over time, but we wanted to ensure a minimum percentage is always going to climate action. So there will always be a gap, and a Tree Dividend is our way of closing it. Read on if you want to get into the weeds.</p>
<p>Last year we drew a line in the sand to having a minimum commitment to spending a percentage of your money on climate action. For individual subscriptions, and one-off purchases of tree and carbon offsets our platform fee is 12.5%. For our business customers we add a further 10% to handle to cover the extra features and management (22.5%).</p>
<p>When any account signs up to Ecologi, we purchase the stated amount of climate action within 60 days, e.g. 12 trees and 1.5 tonnes of carbon offsets per month. The cost of this is near to, but not entirely, the full amount of our percentage commitment to you e.g. 87.5%.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s a few reasons it&#8217;s not bang on: The projects we support are subject to market price fluctuations; we recently got confirmation from our tax office we won&#8217;t need to add extra tax (VAT); international currency fluctuations; and lower than expected fees.</p>
<p>The Tree Dividend today encapsulates our first six months of trading (March ’19 &#8211; November ’19). And in another three months we&#8217;ll have our accounts sorted for the next quarter’s Tree Dividend.</p>
<p><strong>And one last thing</strong>, everyone should have 115.5 trees in their forests but we can&#8217;t split the trees. So we have 2,454 trees looking for a home. Retweet this <a href="https://twitter.com/OffsetEarth/status/1234738084572516352">Twitter post</a> or share this <a href="https://www.facebook.com/offsetearth/posts/795830837568517">Facebook post</a> for your chance to win the trees 🌲</p>


In Depth

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<p id="18ef" class="ie if ha az b ig sd hd ih ii se hg ij ik sf il im in sg io ip iq sh ir is it gu db" data-selectable-paragraph="">In the <a class="cq lu" href="https://medium.com/building-ecologi/putting-down-roots-grounding-our-climate-impact-in-scientific-knowledge-1e46fe766522" rel="noopener">last article</a>, we discussed how we use scientific knowledge to guide our impact decision-making, and also introduced the concept of the Ecologi Climate Committee.</p>
<p id="59ac" class="ie if ha az b ig sd hd ih ii se hg ij ik sf il im in sg io ip iq sh ir is it gu db" data-selectable-paragraph="">Here at Ecologi, we work closely with our Climate Committee to ensure that all the money we receive via the Ecologi platform goes as far as it possibly can to have the greatest possible climate impact.</p>
<p id="367b" class="ie if ha az b ig sd hd ih ii se hg ij ik sf il im in sg io ip iq sh ir is it gu db" data-selectable-paragraph="">The Committee is made up of academics <span id="rmm">a</span>nd industry experts across many different sectors, and meets once per month for a formal discussion, chaired by myself. At our monthly Committee meetings and in between, the group discusses the latest developments in climate action, helps to answer challenging questions that arise from our work — or fed back by our community — and sets out the scope and direction of our climate impact.</p>
<p id="71c8" class="ie if ha az b ig sd hd ih ii se hg ij ik sf il im in sg io ip iq sh ir is it gu db" data-selectable-paragraph="">Together with our Impact team, the Committee is also helping us to develop our Climate Impact Strategy Framework — a public-facing strategy document that will set out and explain our impact decisions, discuss the mechanisms for maximising impact, and show how we intend to reach our goal of reducing 50% of global emissions by 2040. We’ll be publishing this document later in 2021.</p>
<p id="009a" class="ie if ha az b ig sd hd ih ii se hg ij ik sf il im in sg io ip iq sh ir is it gu db" data-selectable-paragraph="">Let’s meet some of the team…</p>


<h2>Nicoletta Piccolrovazzi</h2>
<p><strong>Co-Founder &amp; Chairman — Applied Sustainability GmbH</strong></p>
<p id="6dd4" class="ie if ha az b ig sd hd ih ii se hg ij ik sf il im in sg io ip iq sh ir is it gu db" data-selectable-paragraph="">Nicoletta draws on thirty-plus years’ experience leading diverse organisations and developing sustainability-driven business and collaboration programs with leading corporates and NGOs. Recently, she founded Applied Sustainability GmbH with the purpose of helping organisations “make sustainability real”.</p>
<h2>Miranda Gorman</h2>
<p><strong>Project Drawdown</strong></p>
<p id="771c" class="ie if ha az b ig sd hd ih ii se hg ij ik sf il im in sg io ip iq sh ir is it gu db" data-selectable-paragraph="">Miranda Gorman, Ph.D. is an environmental engineer and Senior Research Fellow for Industry at Project Drawdown whose research focuses on the sustainability of material resources. She has published peer-reviewed research papers and presented at international conferences on the topics of material flow analysis, resource availability forecasting, the circular economy, and non-fuel mineral mining.</p>
<h2>David Markowitz</h2>
<p><strong>Ecologist and Sustainability Expert</strong></p>
<p id="0062" class="ie if ha az b ig sd hd ih ii se hg ij ik sf il im in sg io ip iq sh ir is it gu db" data-selectable-paragraph="">David has two degrees in biology and ecology with additional specialisms in forestry and carbon accounting. With experience from the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and working with satellite imagery to analyse protected areas and wildfires, David provides support to the Ecologi team regarding new and existing forestry-related projects.</p>
<h2>Daniel Keir</h2>
<p><strong>CyStellar</strong></p>
<p id="82be" class="ie if ha az b ig sd hd ih ii se hg ij ik sf il im in sg io ip iq sh ir is it gu db" data-selectable-paragraph="">Daniel is the Climate Change, Natural Perils and Sustainability Project Manager at CyStellar, a SpaceTech company using remote sensing data to deliver natural hazard and weather insights to various sectors. Day-to-day, he works with climate and weather data to aid companies monitoring natural hazards such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and wildfires. He previously co-founded the sustainability consultancy, Ecofye.</p>


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<h2>James A. King</h2>
<p><strong>Research Associate, University of Sheffield</strong></p>
<p id="8ca0" class="ie if ha az b ig sd hd ih ii se hg ij ik sf il im in sg io ip iq sh ir is it gu db" data-selectable-paragraph="">James King, Ph.D. is a climate scientist and Research Associate at the University of Sheffield, whose work mainly focuses on climate models; investigating reasons why their performance varies in some parts of the world, developing ways to identify what makes a model more reliable, and using models to understand the ways that humans might be able to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Now, James’ research focuses on the broader impacts on the Earth system of nature-based carbon dioxide removal strategies.</p>
<h2>Amelia Crews</h2>
<p><strong>Climate Advocate &amp; Energy Innovation Co-ordinator</strong></p>
<p id="f207" class="ie if ha az b ig sd hd ih ii se hg ij ik sf il im in sg io ip iq sh ir is it gu db" data-selectable-paragraph="">Amelia is Energy Innovation Co-ordinator at Your Co-op Energy, working on many projects focused on community development utilising renewables. She actively engages the voice of youth in pivotal conversations around climate change: in 2021, she was an ambassador for the G7 Youth Summit (‘Y7’) in Cornwall.</p>
<h2>Andrew Ritchie</h2>
<p><strong>Director, ALR Business Solutions Ltd</strong></p>
<p id="a145" class="ie if ha az b ig sd hd ih ii se hg ij ik sf il im in sg io ip iq sh ir is it gu db" data-selectable-paragraph="">Within previous roles, Andy managed validation and verification activities relating to EU ETS and the UNFCCC’s Clean Development Mechanism, plus a number of other schemes. More recently, he works in assessing forestry management against certification standards and is working with large organisations developing sustainability frameworks to help effectively manage their environmental and social challenges.</p>


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<h2>Melissa Hobson</h2>
<p><strong>Sustainability communications consultant</strong></p>
<p id="7f48" class="ie if ha az b ig sd hd ih ii se hg ij ik sf il im in sg io ip iq sh ir is it gu db" data-selectable-paragraph="">Melissa Hobson is a consultant working in the sustainability and for-purpose sector. In communications, Melissa has worked with companies and charities big and small (both in-house and agency side) for over 11 years. She is passionate about marine conservation and has been a certified SCUBA diver for 13 years.</p>
<h2>David Dennison</h2>
<p><strong>Climate &amp; Energy Advisor</strong></p>
<p id="03cd" class="ie if ha az b ig sd hd ih ii se hg ij ik sf il im in sg io ip iq sh ir is it gu db" data-selectable-paragraph="">David is an experienced climate change advisor with a strong technical background and deep knowledge of the energy sector, including renewables. He is particularly passionate about climate trends and impact on the environment. His goal is to help business, government and the community navigate a successful transition to net zero.</p>
<h2>Rebecca Dobbin</h2>
<p><strong>Ecologist &amp; Environmental Scientist at Victoria University of Wellington</strong></p>
<p id="5021" class="ie if ha az b ig sd hd ih ii se hg ij ik sf il im in sg io ip iq sh ir is it gu db" data-selectable-paragraph="">Rebecca has a BSc in Ecology and Biodiversity, and a Master’s degree in Climate Change Science and Climate Policy. Her research is focused on climate science and modelling, mitigation, adaptation, conservation biology and carbon markets. She write reports on opportunities for mitigation and adaptation in New Zealand, and assists Ecologi with climate research.</p>
<h2>Nicolien Van Zwieten</h2>
<p><strong>Geoscientist</strong></p>
<p id="b619" class="ie if ha az b ig sd hd ih ii se hg ij ik sf il im in sg io ip iq sh ir is it gu db" data-selectable-paragraph="">Nicolien works as a geologist specialising in ground hazards, having completed degrees in BSc Physical Earth Science, and MSc Structural Geology and Geophysics. Her experience also includes GIS work addressing biodiversity loss and the climate crisis, and researching carbon capture and storage initiatives.</p>
<h2>Stefanie Kaiser</h2>
<p><strong>Communications, forestry and sustainability expert</strong></p>
<p id="35c2" class="ie if ha az b ig sd hd ih ii se hg ij ik sf il im in sg io ip iq sh ir is it gu db" data-selectable-paragraph="">Stefanie works at the intersection of communication and sustainability. She specialises in sustainable land use and forestry, but spends most of her days thinking about the wider implications of sustainability solutions. In previous work, Stefanie worked in impact investing, and she also previously trained as a biologist.</p>
<h2>Chris Webb</h2>
<p><strong>CEO, GreenGrowth</strong></p>
<p id="d761" class="ie if ha az b ig sd hd ih ii se hg ij ik sf il im in sg io ip iq sh ir is it gu db" data-selectable-paragraph="">Chris is an environment and sustainability expert and currently CEO of GreenGrowth investments, helping people have a positive environmental impact with their money. He is well experienced in evaluating and improving business’ sustainability profiles both in the UK and abroad. His work in carbon reduction, circular economy and resource efficiency has received national and international sustainability awards.</p>
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<p><em class="lv">Next time in this series, we’re going to talk about the key external, democratic and market forces that impact our work in finding and funding the most effective climate solutions.</em></p>


Blog

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Environmental activism: your first steps

<h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">It’s not too late to start making a positive impact on the environment</span></h2>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">We know that it’s easy to become overwhelmed when thinking about the state of the environment.</span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You’ve only got to look at the news or the latest David Attenborough documentary to know that the environment needs us to take action now more than ever. The recent</span><a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-i/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, which spells out a ‘</span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/10/code-red-for-humanity-what-the-papers-say-about-the-ipcc-report-on-the-climate-crisis" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">code red for humanity</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">’ has sent shockwaves across the internet – there are some startling truths, and while it seems hopeless at times, s</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">cientists have said that if we take urgent action to address greenhouse gas emissions, this would minimise the likelihood of further tipping points occurring.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Feeling helpless is a normal reaction when it comes to our environment, as the scale of the problems can seem huge. But, there is hope.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Greta Thunberg hits the nail on the head with her poignantly titled book, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Activism has to start somewhere. From the civil rights movement, women’s suffrage or gay liberation, social change has one thing in common: a group of like-minded people get fed up with the way things are done and collectively decided to take action to solve a social problem. Climate change is no different.</span></p>


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<h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">‘Slacktivism’ vs ‘activism’&#8230;</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sometimes it can feel that you’re doing enough just by supporting a political or social cause via social media or online petitions, but the truth is this involves very little effort or commitment. This is why these actions have been dubbed as Slacktivism, with many feeling that they want to do and achieve more. Activism isn’t as hard as you think it is &#8211; in order to be an activist you just need to take action to achieve a political goal. It’s really that simple, and while online petitions can be useful, we want to help you understand how you can help in a bigger way. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Want to know more? Here are some steps to get you started on your own environmental activism journey. </span></p>


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<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">1. Make your bank and pension green</span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Did you know that 35 of the world&#8217;s major banks have provided in excess of</span><a href="https://www.ran.org/bankingonclimatechaos2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;"> $2.7 trillion (£2tn) to fossil fuel companies</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> since the Paris Agreement? Did you also know that according to a 2020 report from Rainforest Action Network, they found that fossil fuel financing had actually grown each year since the Paris agreement?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So while you think that the cash in your bank account, pension and personal investments may not seem to be doing any harm, the truth is that in most cases it’s the opposite. Your money could be used by the banks to make investments in fossil fuels, and you might be completely unaware.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It’s easy to assume that one person can’t make much of a difference. But we have to remember that money talks, and if more people opt to leave the major banks, or switch investments to other options, the louder the message is &#8211; because ultimately, your decision to leave affects their profits. Banks and investment companies care about their brand image </span><a href="https://www.ran.org/bankingonclimatechange2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">and work hard at being portrayed in a good light.</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Meanwhile, putting your savings into an ethical fund will mean that they are no longer used for high-carbon investments, and are instead used to support renewables or other sustainable industries.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When it comes to pensions, switching to an ethical option isn’t as hard as you’d imagine. You can do this yourself by using your online login details most of the time. For example, the likes of </span><a href="https://www.nestpensions.org.uk/schemeweb/nest/aboutnest/investment-approach/other-fund-choices/nest-ethical-fund.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Nest</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, lets you change your settings in just a few clicks.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">2. Stop supporting fast fashion </span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We live in a society where clothing can be made cheaply, and we’re encouraged to buy as quickly as we dispose. It’s unsustainable, not just for the workers who are forced to create garments in unbearable conditions, but for the earth&#8217;s resources that we use to generate just one garment.  Did you know that ar</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">ound <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmenvaud/1952/full-report.html#heading-8">300,000 tonnes</a></span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> of used clothes </span><a href="https://www.bbcearth.com/blog/?article=will-fashion-firms-stop-burning-clothes" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">are burned</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> or buried in landfill each year? And on top of this &#8211; fashion is the world’s second-largest polluter after the oil industry, and it’s thought that this will only increase as our appetite for fast-fashion continues to grow.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Much like living frugally, investing in your wardrobe’s statement pieces with the intention of keeping them forever is key. A good pair of jeans and a classic button-down shirt are timeless staples that never go out of fashion, so why keep replacing them? Alternatively, check out pre-loved websites, charity shops or auction sites. For clothes, you can even try online apps such as Vinted and Depop, and you can find out more about</span><a href="https://goodonyou.eco/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">clothing ethical ratings here</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> if you’re unsure of a company&#8217;s ethical credentials. If you want to learn more about the footprint of devastation that our fast-fashion addiction leaves behind, you can watch ‘</span><a href="https://truecostmovie.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The True Cost</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">’, and read </span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3289140-to-die-for" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">‘To Die for: Is Fashion Wearing Out the World?</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">’ by Lucy Siegle.</span></p>
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<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">3. Contact your local Member of Parliament </span></h3>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ecologi is based in the UK and here, elected representatives are Members of Parliament, or ‘MPs’. If you’re outside the UK, your representatives may be called something else &#8211; but the advice still applies.</span></i></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here, the key to success is patience and perseverance. While some may feel like there’s little to no point in contacting your local MP, imagine a day where a number of other like-minded constituents also did the same thing. Soon enough it becomes more frequent and develops into an unavoidable topic that your MP has no choice but to deal with. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Writing to your MP is an effective way of creating public pressure. It’s also a personalised voice coming from a local constituent. MPs care about votes, which means they become answerable to the majority in their area. What’s important to you and your neighbours eventually becomes unavoidable, especially around the time of elections. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you’re unsure about what to do or what to say to your local MP:</span></p>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><a href="http://assets.wwf.org.uk/downloads/how_to_write_to_your_mp.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here’s a great template to start you off</span></a></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.writetothem.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here’s how to find your local MP</span></a></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you’re not convinced that your MP will deal with your climate concerns, you can publish your correspondence to them in an ‘open letter’ on social media &#8211; often representatives and organisations take far more notice of issues when they are being called out in public online.</span></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Remember that it doesn’t matter if you didn’t vote for your local MP and if they don’t align with your preferred party or political views, they’re still in place to help voice the opinions of all constituents.</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">4. Subscribe to Ecologi and grow your own forest</span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We’re on a mission to reduce half the world&#8217;s emissions by 2040 through Collective Action. </span><a href="https://ecologi.com/collective-action" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Our timeline is clear</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and our Ecologi Community is hard at work spreading the word.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While it may seem simple, </span><a href="https://ecologi.com/plan" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">starting your monthly subscription</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> with Ecologi is one of the easiest ways to tackle climate change. For the price of a coffee and pastry a month, our Ecologi subscription is here to responsibly plant trees across the world and to support the very best in verified climate solution projects. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Through our tree-planting partners, Ecologi supports tree-planting projects across the world. You can even choose to plant trees here in the UK. In addition to tree-planting, an Ecologi monthly subscription also supports Gold Standard and Verified Carbon Standard certified carbon reduction projects, ranging from protecting the Amazon rainforest, funding wind farms, biomass and hydropower solutions, or energy-efficient stoves for rural communities. </span></p>
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<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">5. Arm yourself with plenty of knowledge</span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Read lots of books on the matter – especially from fellow environmental activists and leading experts on climate change. Understanding the complexity of the situation, and seeing the problems from more diverse perspectives allows you to speak up, challenge opinions and add to the conversation surrounding climate change. Knowledge is power, and it’s a great way to dive into a specific interest even more so.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here are just some of Ecologi’s recommended reading for the budding environmental activist:</span></p>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><a href="https://naomiklein.org/on-fire/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> – Naomi Klein</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52275335-how-to-avoid-a-climate-disaster" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> – Bill Gates</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5571.Cradle_to_Cradle" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Cradle to Cradle. Remaking the Way We Make Things</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> – Michael Braungart and William McDonough</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55996032-climate-action-challenge" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Climate Action Challenge: A Proven Plan for Launching Your Eco-Initiative in 90 Days</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> – Joan Gregerson</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><a href="https://penguin.co.uk/books/314/314671/this-is-not-a-drill/9780141991443.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">This Is Not A Drill</span></i></a> <span style="font-weight: 400;">&#8211; Extinction Rebellion</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7230015-how-bad-are-bananas" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">How Bad Are Bananas?: The carbon footprint of everything</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> &#8211; Mike Berners- Lee</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><a href="http://www.zedbooks.net/shop/book/why-women-will-save-the-planet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Why Women Will Save the Planet</span></i></a> <span style="font-weight: 400;">&#8211; Friends of the Earth</span></li>
</ul>


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<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">Start small and set your own goals</span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Activism doesn’t always mean protests and boycotts. Ripples make waves, so start small with your efforts. You’re also more likely to adopt them if they’re smaller and easier to do. The key to success is </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">little </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">and</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> often</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. We all know the basics; reusing your coffee cup, opting for a meat-free diet, and consciously using less plastic throughout our daily lives. So, we’re not going to preach to the converted here, so if you’d like to know more on small goals, you can </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/29/50-ways-to-green-up-your-life-save-the-planet" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">read this great article to get you started</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p>


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<h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">Collective Action: the key to environmental activism</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Being an environmental activist is all about making small changes. The very fact that you want to help, and are willing to make changes to your lifestyle, is a good foundation for you to start your journey. You’re also not alone. Right now, there are tens of thousands of like-minded people who want to make a positive difference and change the world for the better, just like you.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ecologi believes that the key to successful change is through </span><a href="https://ecologi.com/collective-action" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Collective Action</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. We know that we’re facing the biggest challenge of our lifetime and that by coming together we can make a difference to the planet for generations to come. We believe that with a little input from a lot of people, we can create real, tangible change.<br />
</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br />
</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">This article demonstrates just a few, simple ways that environmental activism takes shape. Outdated notions of ways to protect the environment are a thing of the past. The average person can take a few positive steps to make a huge difference. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Whether you’re planning to switch banks and invest your pension in cleaner energy, adopt a vegetarian lifestyle or </span><a href="https://ecologi.com/plan" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">subscribe to Ecologi every month</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, there’s no wrong way to save the planet. The important thing is to make changes and </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">move forwards with action and purpose.</span></p>


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<p class="graf graf--p">If we were going to be serious in our ambitious mission of reducing 50% of global emissions by 2040, we would need to ground ourselves firmly into climate science.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">Ecologi’s humble beginnings were more fuelled by motivation and enthusiasm for the cause, than by knowledge of the complexities of Earth systems science. In order to truly maximise our climate impact, we would need to tap into a whole wealth of climate knowledge, from leading experts in the field.</p>
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<h3 class="graf graf--h3"><strong class="markup--strong markup--h3-strong">Starting from the top</strong></h3>
<p class="graf graf--p">Two years into running Ecologi, committing to use peer-reviewed climate science to inform the way we do what we do is ingrained in our organisational identity — but before that, it had also given us somewhere to start, as we began to build our subscription service to restore the planet. Fundamentally, it gave us the ‘what we do’ part in the first place.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">When Elliot, Lucy and Alex first sat around a kitchen table pondering climate solutions that they could channel funding to — if they could build the platform to scoop up the world’s pocket change — there were obvious avenues to start down: we’d support a broad array of renewables and other carbon reduction efforts, and we’d plant lots of trees.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">By that time, it was already well-established that growing trees is a singularly fantastic thing to do. Quite aside from drawing down carbon, trees provide habitats, stabilise soil, purify air and water sources, provide income to local communities, and much else beside. Re-greening our surroundings also has a measurable positive impact on our mental health.</p>
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<p class="graf graf--p">Purchasing credits to offset personal carbon footprints is altogether more controversial. Some influential climate thinkers don’t like offsets. Some people think that carbon offsets make us complacent, and leave us living our heavily carbon-intensive lives, just with less guilt. This might be true (although I’ve never seen it studied formally), though my hunch is that people offsetting their footprints probably already lead lower carbon lives than those who don’t. Corporate offsetting is perhaps a different matter, but I imagine the same probably applies, perhaps with a slightly weaker correlation. Conjecture. Anyway: I also see the carbon market through a slightly different lens.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">Carbon credits are a mechanism for exchanging cash for verified emissions reductions. That, fundamentally, is what they are. They are a vehicle for moving money from you, to a climate project that will have (or has already had) a real-world impact.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">This vehicle is imperfect — and, sure, choosing to buy carbon credits requires some due diligence (which we’ll take a look at in this series). But the same is true for any method of climate action — <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://ecologi.com/articles/in-depth/growing-trees-responsible-reforestation" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-href="https://ecologi.com/articles/in-depth/growing-trees-responsible-reforestation">including planting trees</a>. Used well, carbon credits are a powerful tool for dragging down emissions — and this is the position of scientists much more qualified than myself, who readily admit that offsets make them feel uneasy. Offsetting isn’t going to solve this on its own; and it is <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/publications/reports/Oxford-Offsetting-Principles-2020.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-href="https://www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/publications/reports/Oxford-Offsetting-Principles-2020.pdf">a necessary but not sufficient condition</a> for solving climate change.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">In the not-too-distant future, we are hoping to expand ‘what we do’ to include lots of other areas in climate action, and allow our subscribers to choose certain topics within climate that they’d like to contribute to. For our beginnings though, the science was behind us as we started out by offering subscribers two things: offsetting a footprint’s worth of CO2e emissions through purchasing verified carbon credits, and, separately, funding the planting of an awful lot of trees.</p>
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<h3 class="graf graf--h3"><strong class="markup--strong markup--h3-strong">Required reading</strong></h3>
<p class="graf graf--p">With Ecologi now up and running, our impact team set out establishing what scientific research would form the wider basis of our understanding of the climate problem. Nothing other than a broad, solid foundation of peer-reviewed, cutting-edge climate research would suffice to get us where we need to be.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">We were already familiar with <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://drawdown.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-href="https://drawdown.org/">Project Drawdown</a> — ‘the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming’ — who are firm favourites, and nowadays firm friends, of ours. Drawdown compiles a list of around 100 climate solutions, and sorts them according to their maximum emissions reduction potential, assuming universal global uptake. In the Ecologi office, Drawdown is roundly considered a real ‘north star’ of climate knowledge.</p>
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<p class="graf graf--p">Over time, we established more links with other voices in the climate space, uncovered more existing and new research, and developed a network of trusted authority figures across the movement.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">In building the operational machinery that runs climate impact here at Ecologi, we have leant on a number of sources, institutions and research pieces, including:</p>
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<li class="graf graf--li"><a class="markup--anchor markup--li-anchor" href="https://stockholmresilience.org/research/planetary-boundaries.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-href="https://stockholmresilience.org/research/planetary-boundaries.html">Rockström <em class="markup--em markup--li-em">et al</em> on planetary boundaries</a>;</li>
<li class="graf graf--li"><a class="markup--anchor markup--li-anchor" href="https://www.sei.org/publications/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-href="https://www.sei.org/publications/">Stockholm Environment Institute</a>;</li>
<li class="graf graf--li"><a class="markup--anchor markup--li-anchor" href="https://sciencebasedtargets.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-href="https://sciencebasedtargets.org/">The Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi)</a>;</li>
<li class="graf graf--li"><a class="markup--anchor markup--li-anchor" href="https://www.bcorpclimatecollective.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-href="https://www.bcorpclimatecollective.org/">B Corp Climate Collective</a>;</li>
<li class="graf graf--li"><a class="markup--anchor markup--li-anchor" href="https://climate-laws.org/legislation_and_policies" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-href="https://climate-laws.org/legislation_and_policies">Climate Change Laws of the World</a>;</li>
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<p class="graf graf--p">Further, we’ve also been keeping our fingers on the pulse across the climate sphere through professional bodies like IEMA and CIEEM, as well as the works of our favourite climate researchers, writers and activists, like Emily Atkin, Wawa Gatheru, Jon Foley, Kate Marvel, Naomi Klein, George Monbiot, Mary Annaïse Heglar, Eric Holthaus, David Wallace-Wells and many, many others.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">We also kept in touch with a number of the climate leaders who kindly took part in our <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://itstime.earth" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-href="https://itstime.earth">It’s Time</a> event in 2020.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">Upon this foundation, it was time to start building an impact strategy.</p>


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<h3 class="graf graf--h3"><strong class="markup--strong markup--h3-strong">A committee for the climate</strong></h3>
<p class="graf graf--p">Resource constraints in our early months as a start-up meant that we weren’t likely to hire a whole team of scientists straight from the off.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">The solution was to tap into the expertise of scientists around the world who were able and willing to donate some of their time voluntarily. Thus, the Ecologi Climate Committee (ECC) was born, populated initially by just a small handful of climate academics.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">In thinking about how we work with our Committee, I’m reminded of <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.cambridge.org/gb/about-us/media/press-releases/why-we-disagree-about-climate-change" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-href="https://www.cambridge.org/gb/about-us/media/press-releases/why-we-disagree-about-climate-change">Mike Hulme’s fantastic explanation</a> in <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">Why We Disagree About Climate Change</em>, of three common approaches to the use of scientific knowledge:</p>
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<li class="graf graf--li"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Decisionist:</strong> where the policymakers (in this case, Ecologi) make decisions to reach certain ends, and consult scientists (in this case, the Committee) to produce scientific knowledge to provide the means to reach these ends.</li>
<li class="graf graf--li"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Technocratic:</strong> where the scientists (the Committee) provide an informed consultation, and the policymakers (Ecologi) build policy which is tightly based on that.* This approach relies on the assumption that everything can be discovered and decided through the establishment of scientific fact, and also relies heavily on a competent and unbiased scientific community to produce ‘politically neutral’ ends.</li>
<li class="graf graf--li"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Co-productive:</strong> where the policymakers (Ecologi) and the scientists (the Committee) recognise that both policy ends and their operational means arise through the co-creation of shared knowledge encompassing both the scientific (the responsibility of the Committee) and the non-scientific (such as the commercial, the value-driven, the political, and the democratised; the responsibility of the Ecologi team).</li>
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<p class="graf graf--p"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">*Consider the claims of ministers during the COVID-19 pandemic to be ‘following the science’. These kinds of claims point towards a technocratic decision-making system, where the role of policymakers is simply to do whatever the scientists tell them they ought to do. Whether that is actually what happened in that case is a question for another day.</em></p>
<p class="graf graf--p">Historically, the approach we have employed in working with the Committee since its inception has evolved, touching all three categories and leaning mostly toward the decisionist and the co-productive.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">Commercial constraints — like budgets, market forces, commercial risk, and our reliance on some degree of democratisation to maintain subscriber satisfaction — mean that establishing a hard technocracy with our committee isn’t particularly realistic. This means that we are always walking a delicate balance between following what the experts are saying, and allowing our subscribers some degree of agency over the way their subscription is being used.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">Some examples are below, to illustrate the kinds of things we might bring to the Committee agenda, with their approaches given in brackets afterward:</p>
<p class="graf graf--p"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">We are building a subscription for the planet which incorporates the purchasing of carbon credits to offset personal footprints. Which project types would be suitable, and which should we avoid? (Decisionist)</em></p>
<p class="graf graf--p"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">We’ve come across this new experimental negative emissions technology which is making bold claims in the headlines. What does the Committee think about these technologies, and are there any that have emerged so far which have some backing from the scientific community as a viable way to artificially sequester carbon? (Technocratic)</em></p>
<p class="graf graf--p"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">We need to come up with a robust methodology for producing a risk profile for the projects available to us each month — some kind of automated risk engine that we can put our projects through, which will present us a snapshot of the risks relating to a project of its type in its location — and then we can use this snapshot to inform our project decisions. Let’s discuss what this should look like, and then let’s collaborate on the build, so that both the Committee and the Ecologi team are happy with the outcomes and we can use this as a regular tool to assess project risks. (Co-productive)</em></p>
<p class="graf graf--p">It was established in our Climate Committee meetings in late 2020 that in more or less every decision we make over which climate solutions to put our subscriber revenue behind — whatever policies and processes we have, and whatever microscope we scrutinise them under — there will almost always be some form of value judgement to be made at the end.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">For example, take our monthly decisions about which carbon reduction projects to support. Say, one month, we are presented with two projects:</p>
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<li class="graf graf--li"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Project A</strong> is a small forestry-related project in a country in the Global South. It has a handful of <a class="markup--anchor markup--li-anchor" href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">SDG co-benefits</a>, and also has a decent side programme attached to it, which supports local biodiversity. These types of projects specifically within this host country have recently gotten a lot of bad press, because some similar projects elsewhere in the country have been mismanaged. This project itself seems to be managed and monitored very well, but the bad press about similar projects may be reflected in poor feedback or a loss of trust from our subscribers if they have read the articles and we can’t convince them that we believe this project to be solid. And, if it turns out that there’s something we’ve missed, it could be that this project ends up hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons as well.</li>
<li class="graf graf--li"><strong class="markup--strong markup--li-strong">Project B </strong>is a large solar project in a different country in the Global South. It has fewer co-benefits than the first project, but has a fantastic community outreach programme, making a huge contribution to just a couple of the social and humanitarian SDGs. There’s nothing controversial about the project, but it’s also not particularly exciting. It’s ‘just’ a solar project, after all.</li>
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<p class="graf graf--p">Purchases from either project would be of equal volume (in terms of tonnes of emissions reductions), and both purchases would be for credits measured to the same carbon standard.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">Which project should we choose?</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">Hard scientific facts aren’t going to make the decision for us. The verified tonnes of carbon we’d be purchasing as credits are considered quantitatively the same, after all. At some point, we have to make a judgement call, a trade-off, relating to the many questions that arise when taking these projects side-by-side. For example:</p>
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<li class="graf graf--li">How do we rank or prioritise community co-benefits and biodiversity co-benefits?</li>
<li class="graf graf--li">If we select the ‘riskier’ but ‘more interesting’ project (A), is this better than picking the ‘safer’ but more ‘boring’ project (B)? Is the ‘boring’ project too uninspiring to motivate our subscribers? Is the ‘riskier’ project too risky to justify supporting?</li>
<li class="graf graf--li">Should we support the smaller project, where our funding will be more vital to the project itself, or should we support the larger project, which ultimately has a far greater potential for climate impact?</li>
<li class="graf graf--li">What else have we supported recently? Have we supported too many of the same project types lately? How do these projects match up to our wider impact strategy framework? Would there be any negative feedback from our community if we go for <em class="markup--em markup--li-em">yet another </em>solar project, or <em class="markup--em markup--li-em">yet another </em>forestry project? The same questions also apply to the project host countries.</li>
<li class="graf graf--li">What is the price difference between them? Is one more expensive per tonne than the other? Would a higher price indicate better quality? Does a lower price mean nobody else wants to buy the credits?</li>
<li class="graf graf--li">How well monitored are the projects? Are we satisfied that they meet our internal requirements for what constitutes a well-run carbon reduction project? What about additional third party monitoring?</li>
<li class="graf graf--li">What about social proof? Have other similar organisations supported these projects before, and how did that go?</li>
</ul>
<p class="graf graf--p">This is why a full technocracy cannot work in this setting. If I, as the Committee chair, were to put these questions to the Committee during our regular meeting, I’d be met by shrugs — and quite rightly. “All these factors aren’t directly comparable,” they would tell me. “We can give you advice and pointers, but there will always be trade-offs, and it’s a value judgement that eventually you’ll just have to make.”</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">I know this, because we have discussed it in the Committee. And that is what they said.</p>


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<p class="graf graf--p">For this and similar reasons, in early 2021, we began to understand that not everybody on our Climate Committee should be a scientist, because not everything we need to do is science.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">When, in June, we put out posts online seeking out new members to add to the Climate Committee, we sought out more climate scientists and ecologists, yes, but also science communicators, commercial sustainability experts, disaster risk reduction (DRR) experts, PhD students, and even environmental ethicists.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">With this, our recent Committee expansion gave us a broader field of individuals to consult, and would help bring more perspectives to the table when we are co-producing knowledge that guides the climate impact Ecologi has.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">The science is still there, undiluted — but now we also have a broader range of perspectives to help us consider the non-scientific considerations as well.</p>
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<h3 class="graf graf--h3"><strong class="markup--strong markup--h3-strong">Knowing our limitations and identifying where improvements can be made</strong></h3>
<p class="graf graf--p">I’m very proud of our Climate Committee, and I consider it a great honour to work with experts right at the top of their game, every month. Each time I come away from our Committee meetings I feel like I’ve learned something, having enjoyed an interesting, productive and friendly discussion among a set of talented and warm individuals.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">This all said, all that we’ve built, and that I’ve described in this post, is not necessarily a perfect formula. Consensus does not always come easily, and following each meeting sometimes I’m left with as many questions seeking answers as I had when we started — which can be taxing. But we are Ecologi — and we are always looking to improve.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">To highlight one key area I’d like to improve upon as we grow: I’d like to better accommodate climate scientists, leaders and thinkers located in Eastern time zones. Our regular Committee meeting is held over video link, and is set at 5pm UK time on a weekday, which is reasonably comfortable for most people West of about GMT+3.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">But it inevitably leads the Committee to be exclusionary for those based in time zones further East than this — because this would potentially require them to join a Committee meeting late in the evening (e.g. New Delhi) in the middle of the night (e.g. Singapore), or in the small hours of the morning (e.g. Melbourne or Auckland).</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">This will improve. As our Committee grows, we’ll host multiple meetings per month, at different times of day, to accommodate a truly global expert community.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">Another improvement that I’m fond of, is that we recently committed to offering a fee to all Committee members for their time. It is my belief that we should pay Committee members for sharing their valuable insight, and also that being financially comfortable enough to support the Committee for free should never be a prerequisite to taking part. Some members have opted to waive this fee and donate it instead as climate impact on our platform, and that’s fine too — but I’m glad that the offer is there. And I’m proud that Ecologi is established enough now to be able to afford this.</p>
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<p class="graf graf--p">There will continue to be bumps in the road, I’m sure. But I also believe that our Committee is a truly vital piece in the Ecologi puzzle. We won’t always get it right, but that’s okay. If we stumble, then we’ll be open and honest with our supporters, hold ourselves accountable, and learn our lessons. Then we’ll dust off our knees to get back to work.</p>
<p class="graf graf--p">And what an honour and a pleasure it is, to bring the group together remotely each month. Together, we learn and we grow.</p>
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Tree Dividend (updated July 2020)

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Meet the faces behind the Ecologi Climate Committee

Environmental activism: your first steps

Putting down roots: grounding our climate impact in scientific knowledge

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