NPCA Gets Grant for National Parks-Climate Project
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., has awarded the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) a $200,000 grant to fund outreach and education at dozens of national parks and their local communities and at hundreds of schools. The "Do Your Part! for Climate Friendly Parks" program educates people about the size of their carbon footprint and asks them to shrink it to help reduce the effects of climate change on national parks.
"The impacts of climate change are the greatest challenge facing America's national parks. From melting glaciers to disappearing wildlife, national parks are on the front lines of this unnatural disaster," said Mark Wenzler, director of Clean Air and Climate Programs for NPCA. "This grant will enable us to educate more of the parks' almost 300 million visitors about what they can do to lessen those impacts."
The association was one of four nonprofits to receive a grant under the company's Changing Climate Change initiative. In addition to the grants, the coffee company's climate change campaign includes operational initiatives, employee incentives to reduce carbon emissions, and the purchase of carbon offsets.
"Climate change poses a threat to our business, and to our entire eco-system," says Michael Dupee, vice president of Corporate Social Responsibility for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. "The National Parks Conservation Association's project will leverage information, tools, and a sense of community, as well as the high traffic patronage of our national parks system, to support long-term emissions reducing behavior change."
The $200,000 grant is payable over five years. The "Do Your Part!" program supports the work of dozens of "climate friendly" national parks throughout the country that have pledged to become leaders in educating the public about climate change and what we can all do to lessen our impact on the environment.