*[Enwl-eng] A Special Year in Review

[ENWL]

>From San Bernardino to Ohio, Paris to Nairobi, we're at the frontlines   
                                
                       
                                
                                
                                In early November I traveled to San Bernardino, CA to celebrate the victory in our campaign to end the bottling of water from springs in a National Forest that straddles the mountains between the hard-scrabble Inland Empire city on one side and the Mojave Desert on the other. 

                                I’ve been making the voyage for eight years now – for court hearings, meetings with Forest Service officials, hikes down to the springs and tours with journalists and donors – but this visit was different; under a canopy of pines and cedars five thousand feet above the city below, mountain residents ebullient with pride in their accomplishment plotted the restoration of Strawberry Creek, which Nestle, BlueTriton and their predecessors have systematically dewatered since the early 1930s. 

                                In a time of accelerating climate change impacts, massive threats to democracy and growing wealth inequality, one could see the restoration of a mountain stream to its natural state as an infinitesimally small intervention. But these citizens’ David and Goliath defense of the commons – water and land that belong to all of us – is anything but. 

                                In the sixteen years since The Story of Stuff first took the world by storm, our team has supported and encouraged just the kind of inspiring civic action that led California’s Water Board to order BlueTriton to cease the removal of water from the San Bernardino National Forest in September.

                                If our work inspires you, we invite you to join us once again. Your support powers all that we do.

                                  
                                  
                                  
                                  


                                In fact, while we may be best known for our storytelling, we’ve long believed that the best stories are those that motivate people to act, something we like to call ‘flexing our citizen muscles.’

                                So while we’ve continued to create award-winning media this year – from Tik-Toks to short documentaries – we’ve also worked hand-in-hand with our global Community and movement partners to pass laws, keep the heat on corporate polluters, participate in citizen science projects and generously contribute funds to our frontline, grassroots partners.

                                Earlier this year, when a train derailment in East Palestine, OH resulted in a toxic release of vinyl chloride, our Community members raised $10,000 to match a Grassroots Grant commitment we made to local groups, enabling us to send $20,000 to the ground within a week to support everything from door-to-door organizing and public meetings to air and water monitoring. 

                                When negotiators gathered in Paris in May for talks on a global plastics treaty we not only created a 3-minute explainer that broke down what they were up to, we also helped several frontline activists participate directly by offsetting their travel costs to the summit.

                                When longtime partner RISE St. James in Louisiana wanted to turn the animated short we made with their founder and activist extraordinaire Sharon LaVigne into a coloring and activity book for young people in their Community we jumped in: developing a concept, hiring a designer and paying for the printing.  

                                And when our partners at Valley Improvement Projects in California’s Central Valley were ramping up their campaign to shut down one of our home state’s two remaining solid waste incinerators, we brought their inspiring story to the big screen. 

                                Burning Injustice, our newest short documentary, profiles their multigenerational fight to usher in a just transition for the community – one that invests in a zero waste future. The film premiered at the San Francisco Green Film Festival in October and we were thrilled it was honored with the festival’s Audience Award for Best Short! 

                                But while a lot of the activism we encourage and support is necessarily aimed at ‘stopping the bad,’ we know we’ve also got to ‘build the good’ – making real the promise that another world is indeed possible. 

                                So I’d like to invite you to join us once again in this work. Your financial support makes everything we do possible and for that we are grateful. Make your year end gift today online, via check to our address below, or with a stock donation. Our Development Manager Smruti Aravind is available to answer any questions you may have about giving at smruti at storyofstuff.org. You can also reply to this email to reach me directly.

                                Thank you for everything you do to make this world a better place. 

                                All the best,

                                Michael
                                 
                                 
                                 
                                 
                                 
                             
                                
                                 
                                  
                                  
                                 
                                  
                                 
                                  
                                 
                                 
                                   
                                  
                                 
                                  
                                 
                                  
                                 
                                 
                                 
                                 
                             
                                
                                  
                                  
                                        
                                 
                                  
                             
                                
                                The Story of Stuff Project runs on donations from people like you. Please make a one-time contribution, or better yet, sustain our work by signing up to be a monthly donor. Any amount makes a difference!  
                                  
                             
                                
                                  
                                  
                                  
                                  
                                The Story of Stuff Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
                                Donations to The Story of Stuff Project are tax-deductible to the
                                extent allowed by law in the United States.  
                                  
                                visit storyofstuff.org   
                                  
                             
                               

                              From: Michael O'Heaney, The Story of Stuff Project 
                              Sent: Saturday, December 02, 2023 11:00 AM
                              Subject: A Special Year in Review

                             
                       
                 
           

                                                                  
        
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