Dear Earth Deeds Supporters. Earth Deeds incorporated on February 20, 2013, so we are today, officially one year old.  Happy Birthday Earth Deeds!  We’ve gone through a lot of changes in our first year; from our birthing as an L3C with a name, a logo, and a business plan; to developing our Minimal Viable Product website; to running successful pilots with a UMass class, NextGEN and several study abroad organizations; to presenting at a number of conferences and other events.  It now it feels like we are taking our first steps to truly walking.

Climate Leadership Finalist

Big news!  Our pilot project with Pacific Lutheran University (measuring and transforming the carbon footprints of their ’14-’15 semester study abroad programs) was selected as a Finalist for the 2014 Climate Leadership Awards.  This is exciting for three reasons: First, in partnership with Planet Forward, Finalists are invited to produce a short video that the public can view and vote on in April.  Last year’s videos drew around 50,000 votes. Second, Second Nature, will feature each Finalist in a month-long series on climate leadership around Earth Day. And third, Finalists will be highlighted at the annual fall ACUPCC Annual Presidential Summit, which brings together university Presidents and Chancellors to share leadership and best practices around sustainability in higher education. We are thrilled to have these opportunities to tell our story and connect with forward thinking academic leaders about how to make their campuses and programs carbon conscious.  Wish us luck and we’ll let you know when it comes time to vote!

Beta Launch

In preparation for all this attention, we are making another push on the Earth Deeds website in the hopes of launching a beta version by the end of March.  We already have a list of beta-testers and other supporters we will be reaching out to, but if you would like to get involved somehow, please let us know.  Thanks!

Video Series: Part 1 – What is Climate Change

Finally, as I mentioned in our Holiday Update, I have been developing a series of short videos to introduce folks to Climate Change and how Earth Deeds is making a difference.  I will share these videos one-by-one in our upcoming updates.  First up is “What is Climate Change?” Please let us know what you think in the comments or email us directly at directors <at> earthdeeds.com. Thanks again for your support and we look forward to hearing from you.

In community,
Daniel Greenberg, CEO