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Food and Agriculture: The Cause of and Solution for Climate Change

Food Tank Nov 28, 2019
This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
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Food and Agriculture: The Cause of and Solution for Climate Change Giving Compass
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Giving Compass’ Take:

•  Stakeholders in the natural products industry, from manufacturers to suppliers, distributors, brokers, and retailers, are forming a Climate Collaborative to address the issue of climate change.

• How can a climate collaborative thrive from support from donors? 

• Read about this marketplace to incentivize farmers to fight climate change. 


Food and agriculture together represent the number one cause and also most hopeful solution area for climate change. We have made the journey more straightforward for companies.

In our initial survey of the industry, nearly every natural product business leader we spoke with agreed that they, and the industry, can and must do more. But the majority also shared that they were not clear on the most important thing to do. So we have identified the nine priority commitment areas where companies can have the most impact.

Agriculture accounts for about 13 percent of climate change-causing emissions globally so it’s critical that the sector be part of the solution to the climate challenge.

To really tackle climate change as an industry, we need every part of the industry represented, and it starts at the farm. We need farmers working with their buyers and vice-versa to set common goals and join forces to reach them.

The 9 methods include:

  1. Improving the energy efficiency of their operations
  2. Increasing their use of renewable energy
  3. Reducing the climate impacts of the agricultural practices used in their supply chains
  4. Reducing food waste
  5. Supporting policies that will help mitigate climate change at a local, state, and federal level.

Read the full interview with Lara Dickinson on agriculture and climate by Brian Frederick at Food Tank.

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Learning and benchmarking are key steps towards becoming an impact giver. If you are interested in giving with impact on Climate take a look at these selections from Giving Compass.

  • This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
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    How One Philanthropist is Strategically Joining the Climate Fight

    For Kathy Washienko, a philanthropist at Seattle Foundation and a board member of Climate Solutions, climate change is an issue with two lenses. One is a bird's-eye lens -- the reality that climate change threatens and can impact all of us -- and the other lens focuses a bit closer to home -- the importance of confronting climate change on behalf of children growing up today and the generations to come. "To me, it's just a profound problem facing society that has the potential and the likelihood of impacting so many facets of our lives. It just has to rise to the top," Washienko says. "We need to get more people to understand the intense urgency of the climate problem and that there really is hope. There's a lot we can do that can have a big impact on how climate change plays out." Motivated by her ethic of service and professional training in public health, Washienko doesn't shy away form big problems. Her optimism cuts across complexity and as a philanthropist, she value the multiple and reinforcing strategies in the environmental movement. "It's really important that we broaden the tent and help more people see their role in the climate fight, find their voice in the climate fight," says Washienko. "Ultimately, we win by a whole bunch of progress in a lot of different areas. Every solar panel that goes up on someone's roof, every mass transit line we build so people are in their cars less, or [ever person who] chooses to buy an electric vehicle instead of a gas-powered car -- all of those are steps in the fight. We all need to live on a planet that is stable." Washienko's approach demonstrates that in the face of complex problems like climate change, philanthropists can benefit from investing in multiple strategies. Knowing the scale and systemic nature of the problem, Washienko significantly invests in ambitious, multi-year policy and systems change efforts led by local organizations like Climate Solutions. She also focuses some of her resources on immediate carbon reduction strategies, like Northwest SEED's solar panel program. Closer to home, Washienko's sense of urgency can be seen through her ties with family and community. Family is a tether that unites people across geographic and economic borders, and for Washienko, one that made an already personal issue that much more urgent. "I would be concerned and active whether or not I'd ever had children. But, to have kids, have them be aware of what's happening and look to their parents for some sort of reassurance and be like, 'okay, this is looking bad!' -- I feel a strong moral obligation to say, 'I've done everything I can'." These beliefs, coupled with a thorough knowledge of the issue's time sensitivity, led Washienko to rethink her philanthropic strategy. Working with her advisers at Seattle Foundation and the Northwest Conservation Fellowship at Seattle Venture Partners, she decided to "frontload" her giving in the climate space and give significantly over a five-year period rather than parse it out evenly over a longer term. By nature, partnering with a community foundation complements Washienko's approach to advocacy, which comes from a desire to affect change that strengthens people's sense of connectedness. "Climate change can feel like a somewhat overwhelming problem to try to address. But when there are ways that a group of people each doing something relatively small can add up to something much bigger, we demonstrate and give people hope that we can tackle things more at the scale of the problem. I'm happy to see that Seattle Foundation is talking about climate change more directly and having it as a focus of some of their grantmaking efforts." Learn more about environmental philanthropy at the Seattle Foundation.


Looking for a way to get involved?

If you are looking for opportunities to learn and connect with others interested in the topic of Climate, take a look at these events, galas, conferences and volunteering opportunities aggregated by Giving Compass.

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