This Wednesday Amazon Watch held its 8th Annual Luncheon in San Francisco with a packed house. The event was a huge success thanks to the hundreds of friends who came to join us in person and even more who tuned in to lend their support online.
For the second year in a row we broadcasted the entire event on our Causes page and hundreds joined in to watch from around the globe. If you missed it, you can still watch the broadcast today. Thanks to a generous offer to match every donation up to $10,000 from the Kindle Project Fund of the Common Counsel Foundation we are close to raising another $20,000 to continue our work.
This year we were especially proud as our Founder and Executive Director, Atossa Soltani received the Hillary Laureateship for 2013 from the Institute’s Executive Director, Mark Prain for her significant contributions to Climate Equity. Thanks to her vision and leadership, for over 16 years Amazon Watch has stood with indigenous and forest communities who are on the front lines of the battle for the heart of the Amazon rainforest and their very own future and homes.
Our honored guest was Mayalú Txucarramãe, direct from the Brazilian Amazon’s Xingu River region. Mayalu left her home and her children to come to DC, New York and San Francisco, and spoke of how the Xingu River is the lifeblood of her people and tens of thousands of others – and it must be protected. “I am here with the support of Amazon Watch because the Brazilian government has forgotten us,” she said. Amazon Watch will continue to make sure her voice and those of her brethren are heard around the globe.
Mayalu was followed by actor, author, activist and Honorary Board member, Peter Coyote; Sierra Club Executive Director, Michael Brune; our own Board Chair and Executive Director of Global Green, Richard Wegman; and co-Founder and CEO of One Pacific Coast Bank, Kat Taylor. Each one acknowledged the effectiveness of Amazon Watch and urged everyone to support our work so that we can do more for the Amazon, for her peoples, and for the planet.
The entire event was captured online and you can watch it all here. Please share it and help us leverage the $10,000 challenge offered by the Kindle Project. We still have time to double every donation. Let’s make it count!
Thank you to all our supporters. You make all the difference and enable us to do this work!
Other ways you can join us:
- Come with us to the Amazon: Check out the Amazon Advocacy Journey that’s scheduled for Nov 3rd – there are still some places left so check this one off your bucket list.
- Support our online charity auction: Bid on beautiful indigenous crafts, from jewelry from the Xingu to Cofán hammocks. Check it out and get something that will help support the cause.
- Sign up for the new Amazon Watch affinity credit card. Thanks to One Pacific Coast Bank you can have a credit card that has the same values you do, and every transaction you make with it goes to help Amazon Watch keep up the fight for the Amazon and indigenous peoples.
