Has The Australian Bushfire Crisis Changed The Way We Donate To Climate Causes?
Over the past four months, Australia’s bushfires have killed at least 29 people, an estimated one billion animals, and destroyed more than 2,000 homes.
As the crisis has deepened, so has public anxiety, leaving many people wondering where best to donate their money.
Millions of dollars have already poured in from around the world to help sustain the efforts of firefighters, rebuild habitats and look after injured wildlife, as well as help people rebuild their homes and livelihoods.
But environmental organisations are also seeing a surge in donations.
Greening Australia, one of the country’s largest climate and sustainability organisations, saw donations increase nine-fold between December 2019 and January 2020, compared to figures from the same period a year earlier.
“We’re getting unsolicited donations of $100,000, have heard people talking about million dollar donations and gifts, which is unusual in itself,” the organisation’s CEO Brendan Foran told HuffPost UK.
The group had been running a radio campaign, unconnected to the fires, which has driven some of that money, but Foran said even without it, donations have increased by almost 400% against the same time period.
“Without too much engagement people are doing an independent review of organisations that they want to give to and are passionate about, and in an exceptional volume,” he said.
“I have never seen anything like this before, and I’ve been in and around this stuff for 20 years. I’ve never seen it go like this.”
People who may have thought climate change was a vague, distant threat are now breathing bushfire smoke and reeling from the lives lost, the thousands of houses destroyed and the death of possible a billion native animals.
Global charities with links to Australia have also witnessed a similar pattern.
Friends of the Earth said that in the UK alone it had received more than £11,000 in donations for Australia, and are expecting to match the £15,000 they raised in...
