It’s May 2021, meaning I’ve been writing this newsletter and building this organization full-time for more than 3 years now. (saving the enormous thank you to everyone who has helped to make this happen for the end 🙂

Here’s some of what we’ve accomplished so far:

• 130+ sustainability newsletters helping to inform minds, touch hearts, and inspire action.
• Over 150,000 people reading the newsletter from 150+ countries.
• 10 podcast episodes with insightful climate experts.
• Became a 501(c)(3) non-profit (we’ve been a non-profit since February 2020, but just got tax-exempt status from the IRS!).
• Hosted webinars and community meetings to connect and empower each other on our climate journeys.
• Launched an online slack community for people to connect, collaborate, and share useful resources, tools, and events.
• I’ve had a couple dozen speaking engagements to inform and inspire various communities to act on climate.
• Helped loads of individuals with specific sustainability questions/climate action guidance.
• This work has been recognized and re-shared by the United Nations, TEDx, and the Sierra Club among dozens of other organizations.

And, even better, here are some of the specific climate actions that people have told me Crowdsourcing Sustainability inspired or helped them to do:

• Peacefully protest for climate action. And give speeches at protests.
• Change careers to work on climate.
• Change majors.
• Divest from fossil fuels.
• Organize co-workers to make their company start offering sustainable retirement funds to tens of thousands of employees.
• Present to co-workers about the climate crisis and solutions.
• Present to communities, organizations, and churches. And begin organizing them to implement solutions and affect change.
• Speak up more about the climate crisis with friends, family, and at the office.
• Publish climate comic books.
• Write letters to loved ones in the future about climate change.
• Get out the vote.
• Turn anxiety and depression into activism.

As you can see, the people in this community, like you, are truly amazing.

And all of your climate actions you share with me, your words of encouragement, and your heartfelt appreciation you give for this work help keep me going.

But to take Crowdsourcing Sustainability to the next level I’m also going to need some financial help too.

I need to raise enough money for a salary, operational costs, and to build out a bigger, more permanent team. (And yes, for those asking, I’ve been doing this without an income for 3.5 years now. We can all thank my wonderful parents for the free rent and just being amazingly supportive in general!)

To help put this in further perspective, Crowdsourcing Sustainability has about the same number of digital subscribers as National Geographic.

But I want to keep all of this work free, completely independent, and accessible for anyone who wants to read, listen, or watch.

And I need your help to do that.

Ways you can help

Donate if you can!

We’ve raised $8,430 this year. Crowdsourcing Sustainability’s budget for 2021 is $78,198. So we’ve got a long way to go!

Donate!

This work to reverse global warming can’t keep going and our impact won’t keep growing without your help.

Your support is deeply appreciated!

Do you have any connections to mission-aligned foundations or big donors who want to make an impact on climate?

If so, please let me know!

And if you’re not sure, you can check out this list of climate foundations. We believe they’re a great fit for us and would really benefit from getting a warm introduction to anyone who works there.

(a big thank you to Audrey Robeson for all her research and creating the list linked above!)

3 New volunteer/intern opportunities!

We’re looking for talented, driven, good teammates to focus on:

• Increasing connection and collaboration in the CS community.
• Developing an exciting, empowering, and impactful climate action tool.
• Helping manage the tidal wave of messages, scheduling, and general operations that comes with writing to 150,000+ people.

(On that note: I am so sorry if you are waiting on an email or LinkedIn response from me. I read everything and appreciate 99% of what I get. I’ve found it increasingly difficult to do my work and take care of myself while also keeping up with my inbox. I feel like a jerk not being able to respond to everything but I do intend on making a dent in the hundreds of starred emails over time!)

I’ll share links to the actual job postings when they’re ready. Just thought I’d give you an early heads up in case you or someone you know is interested.

Do you or your organization need a coach, consultant, or speaker on sustainability?

I’ve been coaching and mentoring people on climate action for some time now. And I’ve also given a couple dozen talks or presentations at this point to inform, inspire, and guide action. So I’ve been thinking, to help meet Crowdsourcing Sustainability’s budget with mission-aligned work, I’ll begin charging those who can afford it for consulting and speaking services going forward. Reach out if you or your organization are interested!

Share the newsletter or podcast with friends

Spreading the good word is always appreciated 🙂

What else is new?

– The Crowdsourcing Sustainability website is new and improved thanks to Ali Harford who was a total rock star for us 🙂

So check out the new homepage and find all 130+ articles in our new newsletters page (props to Amber Wang for the cool word cloud!).

Also a huge shoutout to our two current volunteers. Diego Rentsch does all of the behind-the-scenes editing and uploading for our podcast and YouTube videos. And Namie Costa helps with web development, social media, and occasionally research as well!

– There’s a Climate Solutions Masterclass on May 26 at 2 pm ET that I’ll be speaking at briefly. To be honest, I’m mostly looking forward to listening to all the other speakers haha (including Paul Hawken and the producer of 2040 Damon Gameau to name a couple).

If you’re intrigued, you can sign up for a heavily discounted ticket (€1.50) here!

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Finally, and most importantly, a MASSIVE THANK YOU to everyone who has been a part of this journey so far in any way.

Seriously, there are at least hundreds of people who have helped me and Crowdsourcing Sustainability over the last 3.5 years in both big and small ways and I…just got emotional thinking about many of them. Please know I am extremely grateful for you.

I also want to give a special shoutout to our amazing volunteers and donors (past and present!)

Volunteers: Ali Harford, Amber Wang, Audrey Robeson, Chhimi Sherpa, Diego Rentsch, Hannah Muhlfelder, Lila Peterson, Maria Morales Ferrebus, Mikayla White, Namie Costa, Noah Mertz, Olivia Brown, Sam Dushay, Sara Stith, Vanessa Becker, and Wrishija Roy.

Donors: Agata Saitta, Aldís Elfarsdóttir, Amir Haghighat, Anne-Marie Albrecht, Betsy Franco Feeney, Brian Galvin, Brian Israel, Brian O’Keefe, Charissa Verdoorn, Chris Davey, Chris Meyer, Christopher Page, Chuck Tomaselli, Courtney Lukitsch, Dan H, Daniel Alpert, Deb Matherly, Doug Schneider, douglas imbrogno, Eamon Whalen, Edward Galvin, Emily Kehmeier, Francesca Malagoli, George Dorward, Gregg Servheen, Gregory Kinlan, Gusnadi Tjong, Hannah Caswell, Hans W Hagen, Jack Kinlan, Jack Speed, Jackie Giovanniello, Jane Ryan, Jeff Szot, Jill Kubit, Joachim Feldmann, Joe D, Joshua Richardson, Joy Kubit, Julian Kitsz, Kelly Geckler, Kenneth Winter, Lieven Godderis, Lindsay Guerriere, Loris Malagoli, Matt Daly, Matthew Alfano, MB and JP Mittaz, Michael McKay, Michael Moran, Mike Kennedy, Moises Cisneros, Moshe Shtrauch, Nancy Richter, Neha Jain, Nicole Amidon, Patrick and Rachel, Paul Agranat, Paul Shorthose, PJ Mensel and family, Raja Ratnam, Richard Moreland, Sam Miyamoto, Shannon Lövgren, Stew Kennedy, Susan McGarvey, Timothy Nolan, Tom Atkinson, and a handful of people who asked to be kept anonymous when they donated!

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And of course a big thank you to my mentors, friends, and family for your ongoing support – that includes many of you who may not even realize how much it means 🙂

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Lastly, a reminder because I don’t say it enough.

Crowdsourcing Sustainability’s vision is a safe, healthy, and just world where all life on earth thrives.

And our mission is to help reverse global warming as quickly and equitably as possible by inspiring and empowering people around the world to make the places they live and work climate positive.

This is the reason Crowdsourcing Sustainability exists. And its fingerprints are all over everything we do.