Maybe there is still no such thing as a free lunch,
but a new Web site called EcologyFund.com lets users conserve land
at no cost. Each time a visitor to the site clicks on a corporate
sponsor’s advertisement, the sponsor donates half a cent to one of
six land-trust projects. The pennies add up: In its first six
months, the site has raised enough money to purchase 1,900 acres of
land.
The nonprofit Web site supports
land-trust projects in the United States, Canada and Latin America,
including an international effort to bring the Western thick-billed
parrot back to the Southwestern United States. The bird is close to
extinction in northern Mexico, but EcologyFund hopes that the
preservation of 6,000 acres in Mexico’s Sierra Madre will help
revive its population.
Jessica Frost of
EcologyFund says the group has had no trouble attracting sponsors,
since the corporations pay less to the land trusts than they would
normally pay for an Internet advertisement. “It’s such a low cost,
and these corporations will always have a budget for doing good,”
she says.
For more information, visit
www.EcologyFund.com or call Jessica Frost at
734/213-7777.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Click for conservation.
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