2022 ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP RECIPIENTS
December 31, 2021
Palo Alto, California
Today we are proud to announce the recipients of our charitable Environmental Stewardship campaign for 2022. Each year, in alignment with our core value of Stewardship, Verdance donates at least 10% of our profits to environmentally-focused organizations. For 2022 we are pleased to be able to support six groups whose works complement our own:
The California Native Plant Society. No other state hosts as many native species as California, and CNPS educates and advocates for legal protections and land-management strategies to preserve California’s native plants and places. The CNPS Calscape database is an invaluable resource in our own planting design process; but even homeowners who don’t commission a design from Verdance can enjoy a native garden using the Calscape Garden Planner.
Earthjustice. Verdance’s core value of Stewardship obliges us to “advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves,” and Earthjustice embodies this mission every day as they represent tribes, communities, and other nonprofits pro bono while defending environmental protections such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act. Our hats go off to Earthjustice for doing this laborious, messy, vital work.
Homegrown National Park, Inc. All too infrequently, an author narrates the state of our environment in a way that awakens and inspires audiences far beyond us “plant geeks.” Rachel Carson did it with Silent Spring; Al Gore did it with An Inconvenient Truth; and Doug Tallamy did it with Nature’s Best Hope, in which he envisions a network of back- and front yards across America that anyone can plant and which, collectively, can restore our nation’s once-brimming biodiversity. This nonprofit group, founded by one inspired reader with Tallamy as co-pilot, provides resources, inspiration, and camaraderie to bring Tallamy’s vision to life.
Pacific Horticulture. From Alaska and British Columbia to Baja California and Hawaii, Pacific Horticulture promotes horticultural and environmental literacy with speakers, articles, programs, and its eponymous magazine (which, decades ago, inspired our principal John Black to begin his landscape design journey). For anyone who gardens or simply enjoys living in the Pacific region, PacHort is an indispensable source of wisdom helping us understand and create resilient, climate-appropriate plants and practices.
Peninsula Open Space Trust. California is the nation’s most biodiverse state, and the Peninsula region where Verdance lives and works is one of the most biodiverse places in California. POST protects this biodiversity by preserving open space throughout San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz counties. The lands stewarded by POST create wildlife corridors and defragment habitat. Importantly, POST honors California’s indigenous communities and works to build strong partnerships with local tribal groups and support Native American life and culture.
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. Bees, butterflies, dragonflies, beetles, freshwater mussels, and other invertebrates are indispensable to our environment; and while Verdance designs landscapes that invite pollinators and discourage pesticide usage, the Xerces Society provides advocacy and resources at a scale far beyond our reach to protect these endangered and important species throughout the world.
Verdance will make a regular contribution to each of these groups each month of 2022, rather than a larger single donation, to help provide them with stable, predictable revenue. We feel honored to be able to help these organizations achieve their missions, and grateful that their work enables ours.