As the enormous wheels of industry turn and grind with might, the greed present can sometimes disgust the best of us. But just like a beautiful shiny pearl found inside a delicious oyster, a collection of Canadian citizens outshined the dark shadow cast by industry. This group of Canadians has come together as a committed band of individuals and crowdfunded the purchase of land in British Columbia.
Crowdfunding Land To Save Our Environment
They created a first in crowdfunding. Raising $3 million to buy a stretch of coastal wilderness in British Columbia to save it from being developed demonstrates a great way to use crowdfunding to save the environment. The 2,000 acres is virtually untouched, it has a pristine coastline in the Princess Louisa Inlet on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast, and is complete with dramatic waterfalls with a backdrop of high alpine snow-capped mountains adorned with a top rim of pine branches and a Fjord.
B.C. Parks Foundation, a non-profit group committed to protecting natural landscapes in the province, organized the crowdfunding efforts.
The CEO of the foundation, Andrew Day, told CBC that this land had interest from logging companies and developers. This did not stop people from stepping up to stop that from happening.
Many Contribute To Prove Unity Is Strength
The money pool was not exclusive to only the wealthy, many average Canadians offered what they could afford to the fundraising effort. “It’s Just an amazing, amazing thing that people have done,” Day said.
Many people gave $10 or $15 while saying: “This is all I can afford, but this a wonderful thing that you are doing” Day told CBC.
Once bought by the B.C. Parks Foundation, they will convert the land into a protected park. The organization wrote a letter of gratitude to all donors of the fundraiser.
Sincere Gratitude To Supporters
The letter said:
Dear Park Supporters,
You did it!
Your love for British Columbia and beautiful places like Princess Louisa Inlet has done something miraculous. In just a few short months, you have raised $3 million to protect a jewel in B.C.s’ coast.
We still have to complete the sale with the vendor (now September 3rd), and there are more steps to come, but in donating the funds you have scaled a substantial peak on this amazing expedition.
We know people want to keep B.C. beautiful, and we know our parks are the core of our identity. They are our cathedrals, our towers, our pyramids; the wonders of our world. But we couldn’t have predicted such a fabulous outpouring in such a short time from so many people and places. Amazing, We are in a state of awe and gratitude.
We will keep you posted when the deal’s done. And we will put any funds that continue to come in in our Parks Bank to protect more areas in Princess Louisa and British Columbia.
With our deepest appreciation and admiration,
Ross Beaty, Board Chair
Andy Day, CEO
Protecting Our Heritage Together
Governments are not always the most reliable protectors of our environment. While land gets logged, exploited, and developed, the most effective short-term way to protect these areas may just be crowdfunding.
Day says that the foundation will work with the indigenous Sechelt Nation and provincial government to work out the details of how to best preserve the land.
“We’ll do our best to make sure that the area stays protected forever,” he told the CBC.
This initiative deserves a lot of sincere applause and encouragement from everybody. Initiatives like these will secure the sacred and natural heritage for the next generations to come.
Congratulations and well done! We would love to see more of these initiatives make a long-term difference.
