Carbon dioxide, or CO2, is naturally occuring and necessary for the livelihood of all things. The “big deal,” is the fact that this greenhouse gas is rising at alarming rates and you can in fact, have too much of a good thing. We are emitting CO2 so quickly that our atmosphere can't filter it and instead the excess is trapped. That’s why our earth is experiencing these temperature rises.
First and foremost we need to leave fossil fuels in the ground and see an unprecedented shift to renewable energy sources. But that takes time. Removing carbon that has already been dumped into the atmosphere buys us time to enact the other necessary solutions. And gives the earth a chance to properly realign its self-cooling and-heating functions.
Every tree on Earth captures and stores carbon so whenever a tree is planted we remove CO2 from the atmosphere. For millions of years the earth maintained an equilibrium of greenhouse gases to promote optimal conditions. However, due to mass deforestation, fires, etc, nature hasn't had enough trees to maintain that balance. Reforestation at scale gives the Earth back the tools it needs to sequester CO2 and release oxygen back into the atmosphere.
Again and again the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other science bodies have reached a stark conclusion: Most paths to halting global temperature increases rely in some way on adopting methods of removing CO2 from the atmosphere.
Planting trees alone isn’t enough; we also need to all do what we can to reduce emissions, including passing policy that prohibits the extraction and burning of fossil fuels. We won’t stop the climate crisis with a “this or that” mentality — we must act on all solutions. Now.
NOW exists to close the gap between people who want to be a part of the movement and tangible impact. To do that we have a simple subscription model through which folks can participate in our mission to accelerate a culture shift to stop the climate crisis via carbon removal projects.
On the front end, each member of our community selects a monthly subscription amount between $10 and $100. On the backend the subscription fees are allocated to various projects we facilitate with partners. You can always keep up with the current projects here.
Our vision expands beyond tree planting. We operate with a core belief that creativity can save humanity and heal our relationship with the planet. Those other projects aren’t saying that.
Our mission is to accelerate a cultural shift to stop the climate crisis. We created NOW as a home for the dreamers, do-ers and done-ers who have a desire to apply their craft to the climate crisis.
We also firmly believe in a multidisciplinary approach to carbon removal. Tree planting is a beautifully regenerative approach to mitigating the crisis; however, there is no single solution that has the capacity right now to scale to the size of the challenge we face. Our single subscription enables the community to support multiple projects at once including and outside reforestation.
We believe that tree reforestation cannot only restore the Earth but improve lives. Right now rural communities across the globe are under attack by big carbon-polluting agricultural and energy corporations that suck the nutrients from the soil and force the original stewards of the land into financial ruin. If we are serious about stopping the climate crisis we also need to end the extractive relationships that caused the crisis in the first place.
When collaborating with planting partners or land stewards we are guided by our value system.
Drone technology has been used in Agricultural Technology (AgTech) for a while but the costs associated means it can be too expensive for tree planting organizations to utilize. Drones can be an incredible aid to planting processes—from surveying of the land and improving efficiency to monitoring and after-care. By incorporating drone planting into our future projects (on land where it is appropriate and permission has been granted) we will be able to speed up and scale the amount of trees we can plant—propelling us forward on our path to 1 trillion trees.
We started funding planting in Mozambique and Madagascar in 2019 with our planting partner Eden Reforestation Projects. In 2020, we will be funding more planting partners around the globe, introduce drone-powered planting projects and diversify our partner portfolio to include direct air capture, soil regeneration, hemp and kelp farms.
NOW is a social enterprise, not a charity.
A social enterprise is defined as “an organization that addresses a basic unmet need or solves a social or environmental problem through a market-driven approach”.
The entire social enterprise is built around the model of reinvesting all funds back into the cause For NOW, that is our mission of accelerating a cultural shift to reverse the climate crisis.
Our founders feel strongly about this one. As a non profit in a capitalist system the deck is stacked against you. Most of your time is spent “fundraising” or securing donations instead of optimizing or growing the organization. This also can be a barrier to attracting world class talent and make outsized impact the way brands and popular culture can.
We believe we must even the playing field. To be clear, NOW takes 20% from each transaction (this fee is less than many non profit tree planters take).
Our strategy is to play within the system to change the system - for profit businesses are the most effective vehicles to create change within a capitalist system and gives us the best chance to scale impact in relation to the size and urgency of the problem.
| VALUE | DEFINITION |
| Indiginous-led | Supports indigenous peoples, lands and values |
| Holistic | Prioritizes the balance and interconnectivity of ecosystems |
| Scalable | Can quickly grow to meet the size of the crisis |
| Innovative | Looks at the same problems in new ways |
| Immediate Impact | No waiting between funding and removal |
| Sovereignty | Promotes land, economic, career independence for communities |
| Measurable | Verifiable quantities of carbon removed |
| Uplifts Community | We don’t just remove, we regenerate |
| Financially Efficient | Low cost-per-pound of carbon removed |
To start, Iddris Sandu and Virgil Abloh (worth a shot). NOW partners with leaders, creators, artists, storytellers, builders, community architects, brands, and those relentlessly fighting on the front lines. Those who shape culture and make the world move. Those who feel inspired to create for good.
We collaborate based on our values and intentions, which means we refrain from collaborating with companies actively contributing to climate change and deforestation—such as fossil fuel, agrochemical, and meat and dairy corporations.
That’s up to you! We offer monthly subscriptions ranging from $10-100.
NOW aims to bring our community along on the journey with us. We send personalized impact updates including how much CO2 you have sequestered along with many trees you have funded. Your impact is calculated for you, your team, in real time and over time. YES - lots of numbers but it makes sense when you get the updates or check your profile.
If there are other things you’re interested in learning let us know!
Welcome to the team! You can sign up for a subscription to fund carbon removal here, follow us on instagram here or join our email updates here. And then tell your friends and build your team.
Your profile has a unique link that your friends can sign up through and build your team! How you share that link is all up to you. Bring up the importance of sequestering CO2 at your next family dinner or when you go out with your homies. One of the easiest ways to share is to post on social media. Follow @generation.now on instagram and tag us when you do. It's a great way for your followers to check out our site to see what’s up. After that, all they have to do is sign up, and click to join YOUR team.
Basically the most badass invite you can get these days. No, but really it’s an opportunity to be a part of someone’s CO2 sequestering family. So it works like this: you click that link, sign up, subscribe to the amount that works for you. Your impact is added to the collective total of the team you joined. But it doesn’t end there - you can then start your own team! Just share your profile link and watch the impact grow. It’s a dope way to challenge others to beat your team or to slay everyone in the game.
**note climate crisis is not a joke, rather dire, but hell, we gotta make it appealing to combat somehow.