Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos pledged to donate $10 billion to combat climate change, an initiative called the Bezos Earth Fund. His program will fund research and activist projects to address the climate crisis. While this donation is no small feat, it does not excuse all of Bezos’ previous poor choices.
In the past, Bezos has been quite the opposite of charitable. He has been known to underpay his employees and funneled most of his riches into personal projects rather than philanthropy. Additionally, Amazon employees had to pressure Bezos via walkouts and other protests in order for him to make eco-friendly changes to his company such as reducing the use of plastic packaging.
His dicey history makes it hard to give him praise for the Bezos Earth Fund. His current actions, while admirable, cannot erase nor justify his past mistakes. This being said, a donation is a donation and the earth can use all of the help it can get right now.
While the billionaire’s recent efforts to fight climate change are promising, this does not mean we can stop worrying about the cause. His donation will simply kick-start global efforts to save the environment. We still need the financial support of other wealthy individuals and the transformation of their companies toward eco-friendly practices.
Individuals in society need to be more mindful of their impact on the environment as well. While drinking from a plastic water bottle or using a Styrofoam plate may not seem particularly harmful, these little decisions add up among the over seven billion people on the planet.
We certainly are not advocating that anyone succumbs to dehydration or eats directly from the stove; rather, we are suggesting that we use reusable mugs to drink our water and wash dishes instead of contributing to the destruction of the planet.
The science is clear. According to Conservation International, 11 percent of the earth’s population is subject to the impacts of climate change, which include extreme weather events such as droughts, floods or heat waves. This is affecting all of us.
Bezos’ recent actions are a huge step in the right direction, but what we need is for other people of substantial wealth to do the same and, just as importantly, all of us need to step up and take care of our planet—because it needs us. What may be a small inconvenience for you is something that is benefiting the planet that we all live on.
All we’re saying is that next time you go to Starbucks, consider bringing a reusable mug for the planet. You’ll get that sweet sweet 25 cent discount, too.