Last week at the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) in San Francisco, California, 29 foundations and independent philanthropists pledged $4 billion to address global climate change. This commitment comes at a time when we are seeing devastating impacts of climate change -- from record breaking heat waves to extreme droughts to devastating floods.

The philanthropic commitment announced will address five key challenge areas highlighted at GCAS - healthy energy systems, inclusive economic growth, sustainable communities, land and ocean stewardship and transformative climate investments. The Growald Climate Fund will specifically invest in transformational initiatives in the electricity sector as part of the work on healthy energy systems. Since our founding in 2006, we have seen the promise that a clean energy future brings through collaboration with other foundations and nonprofit partners, and we are proud to stand by our partners at the Barr Foundation, Hewlett Foundation and others in this commitment.

While this commitment is historic and signifies the urgency of climate change, we recognize it is not nearly enough. We are energized and more ambitious than ever to continue to strive for a stable, healthy world in which all beings thrive.

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Surely If You Knew

By Eileen Rockefeller Growald

Surely if you knew there was a 20% chance

of your airplane going down,

you would choose another flight, or drive.

Surely if you knew your house would burn to the ground,

sparked by record breaking heat waves, third year in a row,

you would sell your land (if you could) and live elsewhere.

Surely if you no longer had glaciers to show your grandchild,

and if catching wild fish were a thing of the past,

like lying in the grass without fear of Lyme-bearing ticks,

Surely if stars were clouded by city lights from afar

and you could no longer point out the big dipper

you might hope your child could at least travel through

your stories of seeing polar bears on ice floes

and salmon leap frogging upstream.

Surely if you hope to have grandchildren,

or you cherish memories as a child of catching fireflies –

nightlights in a bottle—you will do something.  

Just as surely as if you had a run in your stocking,

you would throw it out and buy another?

But surely if you saw the hole in the ozone

you would try to stitch it closed

because you couldn’t buy another—planet.

As surely as if you knew you couldn’t breathe the air

in the city you lived in

and couldn’t just pick up and move.

For surely it’s not just about knowing

we have a moral obligation to listen

to the science of global warming

like we’ve all heard repeatedly

since the Fifties, if you were there.

Since the Fifties, when I was a child.

 
We almost turned the corner in the Seventies

when Exxon knew and could have put morals above greed

when Presidents from then on were briefed on the ugly truth

and could have protected our future instead of their votes.

But surely it will not be the facts that change us,

nor our moral obligation for the sake of our descendents

or the history books, if there is still time to write them.

It will be love.

Loving the glistening dew bellies on morning grass

Loving the breast-fed baby lying in our lap

loving the incoming tide, reaching shore like outstretched hands

scratching at the walls around our hearts to

Let love in.

To love our selves and our children enough

to care about each moment and each other

despite our differences,

to love, feeling their pain as ours

to feel the pain of the planet

as our own skin.

Surely, you know you will join me in loving it all

enough to change what you know,

to what you do.