Why Donate to Earthwatch?
Dear friend,
Almost every day, we learn of a new environmental problem - another species on the brink of extinction, a landscape stripped of its natural resources, or a looming environmental disaster of unspeakable horror.
An exaggeration? Well, consider this. One in three amphibians faces extinction today. Per capita fresh water supply is half what it was fifty years ago. Almost 50 percent of the world's original forests have been destroyed. Many commercial fisheries are in decline. And, polar regions are slowly melting.
Pressures on the environment grow more intense with every passing year. Whether we care to admit it or not, humans are to blame.
Environmental problems are of our own making, and so must be the solutions. It is our moral imperative.
While some environmental problems are well understood, most are not. Only by understanding the science behind an environmental problem can we know how to solve it. Yet, research alone will not solve environmental problems. We need a global community of informed, impassioned people to take action to protect the environment.
There are many environmental research organisations and many environmental engagement and education organisations, but Earthwatch is different, because we are a hybrid of both. We engage and educate people as volunteers in environmental field research.
Ours is a very powerful model, and few other organisations do it like - or on the same scale as - Earthwatch.
Since 1971, more than 80,000 people have given nearly 11 millions of hours of their time (equal to more than 5,000 years) to help Earthwatch understand the scientific basis of environmental problems. Earthwatch has raised and given out $57 million in grants to support 1,300 field research projects managed by hundreds of scientists in 120 countries.
But, our work is just beginning. As a source of private (non-governmental) funding and human resource for long-term field research, Earthwatch will continue to bridge the gap between the need for scientific research and the current resources available to undertake that research. That gap, I can tell you, is wide.
Our role is more important than ever. And, so is your personal financial support.
In making a donation to Earthwatch, you join others who share a commitment to protecting the environment through the work of Earthwatch.
If you make a regular donation to Earthwatch, thank you on behalf of my Trustees, my staff, and everyone in the Earthwatch Community. You are our backbone. If you donated to Earthwatch in the past, but haven't in a while, I urge you to renew that support. And, if you have never donated to Earthwatch, take a chance on us.
Your gift - and that of the next person (and the next, and the next) - will provide vital financial resources for our work.
There is real power in individual action. As the famous American anthropologist Margaret Mead once said,
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Thank you for supporting our worthy endeavour.
Nigel Winser
Executive Director
Earthwatch (Europe)