YES! — Helping Visionary Young Leaders Build A Better World
www.yesworld.org
Founded in 1990 by Ocean Robbins and Ryan Eliason (then ages 16 and 18), YES! connects, inspires and collaborates with young changemakers in building thriving, just and sustainable ways of life for all.
YES! has held 100+ week-long events for young leaders from 65+ countries, and spoken in person to more than 629,000 people in school and conference presentations, providing support and skills to empower the next generation of leaders. In addition, YES! has distributed hundreds of thousands of books and action guides, and co-produced the award winning video based on footage from a World Youth Leadership Jam, “Connect,” which has been shown in 70 countries on MTV.
Each YES! Jam brings together approximately thirty visionary young changemakers for a week of networking, skills sharing and community building. YES! Jams create transformative fields of shared inquiry in which young leaders deepen the root system behind the commitments, prayers and actions that move through their lives.
YES! alumni have started more than 400 non-profit groups working for positive change, and increased membership to hundreds more. Among other things, they have negotiated gang truces, inspired peace movements, won class action lawsuits on behalf of oppressed refugees, led tribal nations towards sustainable economies and environmental protection, trained monks and nuns for spiritually engaged social action, produced globally distributed award-winning films on social transformation, organized campaigns to unseat racist politicians, led empowerment trainings for hundreds of women and girls living under Muslim law, and catalyzed initiatives to save thousands of hectares of tropical rainforest. They have taught yoga and meditation to thousands of young leaders, organized hundreds of marches and rallies, and founded dozens of socially responsible businesses.
The YES! Alumni Community
www.yesjams.org
YES! alumni from more than 65 nations are young leaders doing extraordinary work for social justice, peace, human rights, sustainability and related causes. This web site profiles many of them, and offers a route to learn about and connect with some of the inspiring young changemakers in the world today.
Healthy at 100
www.healthyat100.org
Ocean’s father, John Robbins, is author of many bestsellers, and this is his latest. Released in more than 20 languages, Healthy at 100 is also a web site with inspiring resources, tools, and articles to help you live a vibrant and healthy life.
EarthSave International
www.EarthSave.org
Founded by Ocean’s father, John Robbins, EarthSave educates people about the powerful effects our food choices have on the environment, our health and all life on Earth, and encourages a shift toward a healthy, plant-based diet. With your membership and support, EarthSave programs and local groups make a bigger difference across the world.
The Jane Goodall Institute
www.janegoodall.org
Founded by renowned primatologist Jane Goodall, JGI is a global nonprofit that empowers people to make a difference for all living things. We are creating healthy ecosystems, promoting sustainable livelihoods and nurturing new generations of committed, active citizens around the world. www.janegoodall.org
Organic Consumers Association
www.organicconsumers.org
The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is an online and grassroots non-profit public interest organization campaigning for health, justice, and sustainability. The OCA deals with crucial issues of food safety, industrial agriculture, genetic engineering, children’s health, corporate accountability, Fair Trade, environmental sustainability and other key topics. We are the only organization in the US focused exclusively on promoting the views and interests of the nation’s estimated 50 million organic and socially responsible consumers. The OCA represents over 850,000 members, subscribers and volunteers, including several thousand businesses in the natural foods and organic marketplace. Our US and international policy board is broadly representative of the organic, family farm, environmental, and public interest community.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
www.peta.org
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), with more than a million members and supporters, is the largest animal rights organization in the world. Founded in 1980, PETA is dedicated to establishing and protecting the rights of all animals. PETA operates under the simple principle that animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment.
PETA focuses its attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: on factory farms, in laboratories, in the clothing trade, and in the entertainment industry. We also work on a variety of other issues, including the cruel killing of beavers, birds and other “pests,” and the abuse of backyard dogs.
PETA works through public education, cruelty investigations, research, animal rescue, legislation, special events, celebrity involvement, and protest campaigns.
Vegsource
www.vegsource.com
A fabulous resource for all things vegetarian, VegSource is an online magazine with cutting-edge articles on many topics surrounding healthy diet and lifestyle. You’ll find thousands of healthy recipes, book reviews, and articles of interest, as well as a variety of experts answering questions on the hundreds of busy discussion boards — such as award-winning chefs, top medical doctors, and bestselling authors. You can join right in and become part of this bustling online community. Check it out and see why hundreds of thousands of people call VegSource home.
Pachamama
http://www.pachamama.org/
The Pachamama Alliance is a U.S. based not-for-profit organization that was born out of a relationship developed between a group of people from the modern world and the leaders of remote indigenous groups in the Amazon region of Ecuador. This relationship was actually initiated by the indigenous elders and shamans themselves who, out of their deep concern for the growing threat to their ancient way of life, and their recognition that the roots of this threat lay far beyond their rainforest home, actively sought the partnership of committed individuals living in the modern world.
The destruction of the world’s rainforests is driven by a complex web of social and economic forces, many of these a logical result of modern society’s worldview — a view that, although rich in technological insight, is often ignorant of the value of nature’s apparently free and limitless services. It is a view guided by maximum short-term financial gain while disregarding the long-term costs of ecological degradation. It is a worldview in which tropical forests can show up as a cash crop to be harvested rather than as an irreplaceable ecosystem to be protected. This is not, however, the only worldview. After centuries of living in harmony with their environment, indigenous cultures see things very differently. They are informed and guided by the knowledge and spirit imbedded in nature. Rather than viewing the natural world as a collection of separate elements from which humans are apart, they recognize all of creation as an interconnected web, and each of us as an integral element in this miraculous and fragile weave of life. The Pachamama Alliance believes that our ability to meet the challenges that face humanity as we make the transition to the next millennium, depends on our ability to successfully combine the best elements of these two worldviews into a single global vision, an alloy that blends the intellectual and scientific prowess of the modern world, with the deep and ancient wisdom of traditional cultures. This is the commitment which underlies the work of The Pachamama Alliance.
Food Routes
www.foodroutes.org
Helping people to buy locally grown food, and to rebuild local, community-based food systems. This site is dedicated to reintroducing Americans to their food – the seeds it grows from, the farmers who produce it, and the routes that carry it from the fields to their tables.
Responsible Wealth
www.responsiblewealth.org
Responsible Wealth is a national network of businesspeople, investors and affluent Americans who are concerned about deepening economic inequality and are working for widespread prosperity. Our three primary areas of work are tax fairness, corporate responsibility and living wages. A project of United for a Fair Economy.
The Worldwatch Institute
www.worldwatch.org/
The Worldwatch Institute offers a unique blend of interdisciplinary research, global focus, and accessible writing that has made it a leading source of information on the interactions among key environmental, social, and economic trends. Our work revolves around the transition to an environmentally sustainable and socially just society—and how to achieve it.
