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Founder Lawrence Anthony shaking hands with one of the local Zulu chiefs involved in the Royal Zulu Biosphere.

   The Earth Organization is making wonderful strides in forwarding our overall goals.  We have recently fine-tuned our mission statement as, unless one understands our guiding principles, it would be easy to be confused about the seemingly diverse activities in which we are engaged.  When many people hear the word “survive”, they think of the definition which relates to barely eking out an existence, or to make it against all odds.  But when one looks at the subject of real survival, it, in fact, has everything to do with abundance. Every life form on this planet is trying to achieve abundance because the more abundance one has, the stronger chances one has for long-term survival. It is this definition that TEO uses in our mission statement:

    The Earth Organization (TEO) is an international coalition of non-profit organizations.  Our members believe all species are interdependent and possess one driving purpose in common: to survive. Through education and practical projects, TEO helps individuals and groups take action to achieve a more successful partnership for survival with the natural world.
 
Here is a brief overview of just some of the projects we’re currently working on:

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATIONAL CURRICULUM FOR SCHOOLS: We have created an environmental curriculum for Kindergarten through 12^th grades for schools and after-school programs. These courses improve a student’s ability to think critically while helping them develop knowledge and abilities to deal with important environmental topics that affect their lives. It is based on validated, scientific data. The curriculum is going out, through our chapters, into schools internationally. 

ECO SAFARIS TO SOUTH AFRICA: We are conducting spectacular, educational safaris to Thula Thula Exclusive Private Game Reserve in South Africa. Attendees have extraordinary opportunities to enjoy and learn about the wildlife and local Zulu culture, as well as global environmental situations and their solutions. Attendees come away with greatly heightened respect and care for the natural world, while enjoying a 5-star luxury experience and close encounters with the wildlife.

NEW ORLEANS TOXIC CLEAN UP: We completed a campaign to bring thousands of gallons of a cutting-edge, environmentally friendly, non-toxic micro organism solution into affected areas after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. We sprayed houses, churches, a hospital, and schools to decontaminate them from the ravages of mold, and to clean the polluted water and soil. We donated enough of the product for over 33,000 homes and their surrounding areas to be cleaned of toxins. We then trained teams of workers and other local environmental and disaster relief groups on its use and effectively turned the campaign over to them.

To view Gallery images of this campaign, click here.  To read more about this campaign, click here.

THE ROYAL ZULU BIOSPHERE: A 500 thousand acre game reserve has been created by a unique partnership between The Earth Organization, six Zulu tribes, and two game reserves. In their history, these Zulu tribes had never unanimously agreed on anything. After 16 years of dedicated negotiations, consensus was finally achieved and in late May of 2009 the documents were signed stating that all outer territorial fences would be dropped and the land owners would come together to create one of the largest game preserves in South Africa. The initiative is historic in its scope, and because of the benefits created by it for the local indigenous peoples, while creating an enormous tract of land opening up migration corridors for animals that had previously disappeared, while dedicated to eco-tourism and rational conservation.

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS FOR YOUTH IN COURT-ORDERED POLICE PROGRAMS: These workshops raise children’s awareness of how pollution and littering affect wildlife in their areas and raise their interest in and understanding of why it is important to take better care of their surroundings.

ENDANGERED RHINO RESCUE: We initiated negotiations during the settlement of a peace treaty between the Ugandan government, the UN, and a large rebel army, to obtain from the rebel army a written addendum to the UN peace treaty, to stop killing the local game rangers, and to start protecting the highly endangered Northern White Rhino. Our work was described as “historic” by the UN representatives, and international press hailed our work as “unprecedented”.

ENVIRONMENTAL ESSAY CONTEST: We conduct an Environmental Essay Contest for 9th-11th grade students where the Grand Prize Winner receives a one-week educational Eco Safari to Thula Thula Exclusive Private Game Reserve in South Africa for themselves and one of their parents. The essay prompt is, "Why should we protect animals and our natural resources?" The Environmental Essay Contest was created to promote interest, awareness and research in the current situations of our Plant and Animals Kingdoms to schools and their students.