Webinar Recap: The Role of Philanthroactivism

Each Wednesday, One Earth will be featuring a webinar recap from organizations and scientists around the world that focus on important topics such as biodiversity, conservation, food justice, and the intersections of environmental and human health.

Attended by participants from over 60 countries, 50by40 hosted their first ever virtual “Global Engagement Summit” titled Voices for a Better Food Future. 50by40 is a coalition of organizations dedicated to cutting the global production and consumption of animal products by 50% by 2040. Jon Bockman, our moderator for the panel, introduces the grant making platform they have created that is making strides to successfully reaching this goal. “Think of 50by40 as a building, the different partners as floors, and their projects as specific rooms in which you can go in and talk to a real person and get more information.” This is taking “philanthropy to the next level” as it allows collaborators across the globe to not only connect with funders, but also with themselves.

Jiwon Lee, Senior Officer of Global Projects at ICLEI, a global network of local governments committed to sustainable urban development, is a collaborator who has seen the benefits of this platform firsthand. She says the transparency of the program encourages projects with similar goals to align their work. Why is this important? As One Earth’s own Managing Director, Karl Burkart, points out, “everyone wants to make a difference on climate change, and we are about to see capital coming in.".

Burkart says this makes the future of philanthroactivism very exciting, but has two words for us to take into consideration before we celebrate, “imperative”  and “specificity”. Imperative, because of the crisis we are in. One specific example is that currently we are at 1.1° C in global temperature rise. If that increases to 1.5° C, our arable land will become arid and struggle to produce the crops needed to sustain the food supply. Specificity, because “if we can be really specific on our efforts'' projects around the world can join forces and be more powerful in presenting to funders and get the capital they need.  

Alan Darer, Director of Philanthropy at Mobius, an organization skillfully developing capital to fund climate change projects around the world, closes the panel with even more hopeful news. That the exposure of funders to more and more opportunities around the world, will make the “lever of government” more likely to come into play. This new platform of philanthroactivism that allows users to learn about each other, share their work, and network on fundraising, has the potential to change legislation. That is precisely the power needed to solve the food system crisis, 50by40 says.