Who are businesses really responsible to? Their shareholders? Their customers? Their employees? None of the above, I have finally come to believe. Fundamentally, businesses are responsible to their resource base. Without a healthy planet there are no shareholders, no customers, no employees. As the conservationist David Brower liked to say, “There is no business to be done on a dead planet.”
~ Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, co-founder of 1% for the Planet
Each time Daniel Martin inserts a dental implant, or Alisa and Luca Adriani sell a house, the environment gets a boost.
Martin’s Tahoe Oral Surgery and Implant Center, and the Adrianis’ Chase International real estate office, are two of a small number of local businesses that have made a pledge to donate 1 percent of their revenue to environmental causes. They join a global movement that has contributed more than $100 million to environmental nonprofits across the globe.
1% for the Planet, founded in 2001 by Patagonia’s Yvon Chouinard and Blue Ribbon Flies’ Craig Mathews, was conceived as a simple fundraising mechanism linking business to conservation efforts. Certified businesses give 1 percent of their revenues to any of the 3,000 certified environmental nonprofits throughout the world.
The regional businesses that have signed on are diverse, including Martin’s dentist office, the Adrianis’ real estate office, Bamboo Bottle Company, Wai Sup Paddleboards, First Descent LLC consulting group, and the Law Office of Lara Pearson.
Sonja Martin, who heads community relations for Tahoe Oral Surgery and Implant Center, said the Truckee dentist office has been a 1% for the Planet member since the office opened.
“We feel it is a business’ responsibility to give back,” she said. “The nature of business is we are leaving a footprint, and we asked ourselves, ‘How do we minimize that footprint?’”
The wife of practice owner and oral surgeon Daniel Martin, Sonja Martin said the couple’s love of nature runs deep. Both are former river rafting guides, and they make a point of giving to both local nonprofits and organizations that protect and preserve rivers.
Martin said she knows that many people think only of outdoor-related companies like Patagonia and Clif Bar when they think of companies participating in 1% for the Planet, but she believes this is a misconception.
“We are an oral surgery practice,” she said. “Our roots are not in the environment. But that speaks to the fact that any business can get involved.”
Alisa Adriani was a competitive skier and a Mt. Whitney guide before becoming a Chase International Broker Associate in Squaw Valley. She and her husband have been involved with 1% for the Planet for approximately six years.
“They had just started it; we read about it, and we decided to do it,” said Adriani.
Adriani likes the fact that the program allows the business to retain control of the donations and to pick nonprofits they feel passionate about funding. Like the Martins, Adriani donates locally, but also sends funds to protect one of her favorite places — the Eastern Sierra.
“The Eastern Sierra has so much land to protect, and they have such a small population and not as much wealth,” said Adriani about her decision to fund the Eastern Sierra Land Trust, located in Bishop.
For an organization like the Eastern Sierra Land Trust, private donors are the lifeblood. The land trust depends on its 750 members for half of its operating budget, said Karen Ferrell-Ingram, the organization’s executive director.
“When a business actually donates some of its precious revenue to a nonprofit working for the environment, it really is special,” said Ferrell-Ingram.
1% for the Planet has been adding new businesses at a steady clip across the nation and the world. The organization hopes to reach a level where $100 million is raised for environmental work each year. And some local residents see room for growth in the Truckee and North Tahoe business community.
“One percent is a small amount, but it can make a big difference,” said Sonja Martin.
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