After attending last year’s event, we were eager to make our way to San Diego for 2024’s 1% for the Planet’s Global Summit. After 3 days of fresh perspectives, we once again left feeling inspired and humbled with a desire for improved change.

Alongside 350+ fellow 1% for the Planet network members and partners, we engaged with scientists, entrepreneurs, business owners, and charities to discuss how our combined efforts can—and are—making an impact to support people and the planet.

1% for the Planet was founded in 2002 by Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia as a way to hold businesses accountable. The concept was simple: businesses that use resources from our planet should pay for those resources by donating 1% of their annual sales to environmental causes. It’s our ‘environmental tax’, as business owners.

Today, 1% for the Planet is a global movement with thousands of businesses across the world donating millions of dollars each year to environmental partners. To date, 1% for the Planet has certified more than $675 million+ in donations to environmental causes.

2024’s Global Summit was engaging, insightful, motivating and immensely enlightening to the task at hand.

Below are a few key takeaways:

→ Change starts small.
Simple changes can make a big difference. We learned such by way of the massive waves of change created by the efforts of solo approaches–like the urban gardening revolution led by Ron Finley in Los Angeles; Or the path of Alaska’s Dune Lankard, a local who in 1989, took on Exxon Valdez in response to the devastating oil spill in Prince William Sound–accidentally leading to the founding of The Native Conservancy which would go on to spearhead campaigns that resulted in one of the largest, protected subsurface conservation easements in the history of the United States. It just takes one.

→ Conscious consumerism is growing.
According to a 2023 Nielsen survey, 91% of global consumers say they would prefer to give money to conscious brands. We know it to be true: people vote with their dollar. When consumers feel a brand has a strong sense of purpose, they are 4x more likely to purchase from them, 4.5x more likely to champion the company and recommend them, and 4.1x more likely to trust the company (2020 Zeno Study). It’s a responsibility of the businesses to provide these better options, regardless of size. 1% for the Planet’s founder, Patagonia, was recently named the most respected brand in the world; proving it is true that what you believe in matters.

→ Don’t forget our lands’ original stewards.
As we congregated in San Diego in Balboa Park, we were reminded that the land upon which we were gathering was the longtime home of of the Kumeyaay people. 1% for the Planet Environmental Partner, UNCI Intertribal and Mandy Curo, a Barona tribal member, led a land acknowledgment prior to our day’s events. It’s important to recognize Indigenous Peoples who are the original stewards of the lands on which we now call home.

→ “Hope is not the answer.”
”Sometimes I don’t think that ‘hope’ is the answer. The food system in America is fucked. And that’s the reality. Sometimes people don’t make change until they are forced to jump from a burning platform or to a more attractive one. Sometimes it’s okay to focus on just being kind and doing your best each and every day.” - Paul Lightfoot, General Manager of Patagonia Provisions.

→ Rangers are the key to global conservation.
Yearly on average, 150 rangers die each year while protecting parks and wildlife. Nearly 70% of those deaths are caused by conflicts with poachers, leaving behind families devastated by their losses, globally. ”Protecting nature’s protectors” is the motto of Thin Green Line, an Australian based organization that aides rangers internationally. There was not a dry eye in the room after hearing the harrowing first-hand accounts of founder, Sean Willmore and pioneering ranger, Constance Mwandaa. In 2024 alone, the Jane Goodall backed, Australian organization has helped safeguard over 50,000,000 acres (twice the size of Iceland) of park land and wildlife habitat. But they need more help, find out here. Sean also echoed a common sentiment: “Fuck hope. Fuck hope on its own. Hope plus action is what makes a difference. That’s where you get shit done.”

→ Aquaculture is the future.
More than 3 billion people rely on ‘blue food’ to get their vital nutrients and protein. When done responsibly, farming the oceans can provide six times more blue food than today to meet the needs of a growing population tomorrow. Fed by Blue is an organization aiming to reimagine and transform blue food systems through transparency, empowerment, education, and protection of our waters. From oysters, to sustainable fishing practices to local coastal kelp farm projects–the opportunities to feed sustainably via the sea are bountiful.

→ Strength in numbers.
As members of 1% for the Planet, we believe that simple actions, done repeatedly as a community, are how we drive change at scale. In 2024 alone, 1% for the Planet and its members will have given as much as they did in the first 10 years of our existence–totaling over $675 million in certified donations. Accelerated change is possible.

We left San Diego humbled, reinvigorated, motivated and with a slew of meaningful connections. We are excited to help make more measurable change as a design studio, as client consultants and as individuals, for years to come.

If you are an organization or a business owner, please consider joining the 1% for the Planet network, and commit to supporting people and the planet, measurably.