Bees, forests, the climate and more: Here’s what you helped us accomplish this past year

The past year brought new hope for our planet — but there’s so much more to do to protect our forests, climate, wildlife and more.

Save the bees

Rich Carey | Shutterstock.com
Thanks to our national network’s continued advocacy in 2022, 1 in 3 Americans lives in a state with a ban on at least one type of single-use plastic.

The past year brought new hope for our planet.

Your support helped win our country’s biggest-ever investment in climate solutions, and so much more. We can’t let that momentum slow in 2023 — not when wildlife and wild places are still counting on us.

Bees are still dying off by the millions. The boreal forest is still being logged at a breakneck pace. And we know more action is needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

The new year will offer new opportunities to protect and restore our natural world, and we’re standing at the ready. 

It wouldn’t be possible to fit all the environmental progress you helped us win in 2022 into one email — but here’s a look at some of the biggest victories that your support made possible:

We made progress to save the bees

Earlier this year, our national network helped win laws restricting bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides in New Jersey and New York. Those states now join Connecticut, Maryland, Vermont, Massachusetts and Maine on the list of states with similar restrictions.

We stood up for our forests

To protect the boreal forest from logging, we rallied more than 40,000 activists around the country to petition The Home Depot to commit to more sustainable forestry practices in its supply chains. 

And earlier this year, 65% of Home Depot’s shareholders voted to take a key first step toward protecting our forests. We also helped convince Procter & Gamble, the maker of Charmin, Bounty and Puffs, to launch a new forest-free bamboo toilet paper.

We won a historic investment in climate action

Our country made its largest-ever investment in clean energy and climate change solutions with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. 

It includes billions of dollars in funding designed to reduce our country’s global warming emissions 40% below 2005 levels by 2030 — and it wouldn’t have been possible without the steady drumbeat of support from people like you.

We continued to put wildlife over waste

Thanks to the growing number of plastic bans our national network has helped win, 1 in 3 Americans now lives in a state with a ban on at least one type of single-use plastic. 

From Washington to Maine, and from the Rocky Mountains to the Virginia shore, less plastic pollution will be making its way into our environment, where it harms and even kills wildlife.

We can build on this progress in 2023 — but we need you with us

As proud as we are of the progress of the past year, we know there’s so much more to do. 

Bees and monarch butterflies are disappearing before our eyes. Fewer than 80 Southern Resident orcas remain alive today. Loggers are steadily chipping away at our forests, even as we rely on these trees to absorb planet-warming carbon from our atmosphere. 

In 2023, we’re ready to go bigger and bolder to win the protections our natural world deserves. And to do that, we depend on environmental advocates like you.

To help us go bigger and bolder in 2023, we’ve set a goal of raising $200,000 by Dec. 31 as part of our Year-End Drive. Will you donate to help us reach that goal and to help protect the wildlife and natural places that make our planet special?

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Authors

Steve Blackledge

Senior Director, Conservation America Campaign, Environment America

Steve directs Environment America’s efforts to protect our public lands and waters and the species that depend on them. He led our successful campaign to win full and permanent funding for our nation’s best conservation and recreation program, the Land and Water Conservation Fund. He previously oversaw U.S. PIRG’s public health campaigns. Steve lives in Sacramento, California, with his family, where he enjoys biking and exploring Northern California.

Ellen Montgomery

Director, Public Lands Campaign, Environment America

Ellen runs campaigns to protect America's beautiful places, from local beachfronts to remote mountain peaks. She sits on the Steering Committee of the Arctic Defense Campaign and co-coordinates the Climate Forests Campaign. Ellen previously worked as the organizing director for Environment America’s Climate Defenders campaign and managed grassroots campaign offices across the country. Ellen lives in Denver, where she likes to hike in Colorado's mountains.