Blue Planet United knows that educating and empowering young adults is vital to sustainable development. Starting in 2022, we joined the United Nations Association of Pomona Valley, CA, in sponsoring an annual High School essay contest centered on the work of the U.N. toward sustainability, climate action and human rights. Blue Planet provided speakers for classes, expertise in selecting the question, reading the essays, and providing 5 monetary prizes.

Put simply, net zero means cutting greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible, with any remaining emissions re-absorbed from the atmosphere, by oceans and forests for instance.

WAEV is currently centered in Lendikinya, a large Maasai community twelve kilometers southwest of Monduli, Tanzania. This village is one of many marginalized pastoralist communities in the Monduli district. As is typical in Maasai communities, women’s work never ends—food production, cooking, domestic chores, and the gathering of water and firewood from hours away. They are given little financial resources and, in most cases, have low social status in their families and communities. WAEV is determined to address these disparities and empower women socially and economically.

The Dome Fire in August, 2020 was devastating to the Cima Dome area, a climate refuge for the endangered Joshua Tree and the site of one of the densest Joshua Tree forests in the world. However, it also provided an opportunity to investigate the impacts of fire on a fragile ecosystem.

Blue Planet United teams up with Vego Gardens to create a demonstration garden that will show how to turn a pavement driveway in a garden.