This year’s Earth Day had a different shine to it than past years.

While we were shivering at 0℃ here at our annual Fort Collins, CO community celebration, our friends at COEAS in Honduras were in the thick of another heat wave, having put out yet another forest fire in their newly designated National Wildlife Refuge, and inaugurating the new protected area to the public.

To me the designation of the Reserva de Vida Silvestre Suyapa (RVSS), anchored my Earth Day celebration in something concrete - taking our broad pronouncements and celebrations here in the U.S. and linking them to a tangible accomplishment. The fact that the inauguration was held on the date of Trees, Water & People’s (TWP) 26th birthday made it even more gratifying.

And this is the point - it can take decades to achieve significant gains for people and the planet - and during those decades so many other crises develop that can draw our attention. But when we lose focus, we risk sacrificing all the progress made by those who carry these struggles daily.

For people on the front lines of local environmental struggles, keeping focus is a matter of survival. They can’t afford to shift their attention, which is why extending them the trust and resources they need to sustain their work is a winning strategy.

TWP has found great purpose in being an organization that serves dozens of local groups fighting to protect their culture, economies, territories, and natural resources. We don’t have to do it all - instead we build relationships that build the strength of those closest to the challenges - those with the biggest stake in the efforts’ success.

Recognizing the decades of perseverance that communities have endured gives us the courage to ask that our funders and supporters think about our work in the same way. We can’t fix the planet with short term thinking - we have to invest in sustained, local efforts characterized by trusting relationships.

Which is why on this Earth Day 2024, we honor COEAS’s founder, Luís Hernán Baca Valladares “Mero”, who gave his life for the forest he protected as a volunteer for almost 40 years. And we applaud COEAS for picking up the flag of their slain leader to continue his life’s work, with even more determination.

If you love this planet, make a commitment today to sustain work being done by those communities and organizations that will never back down, that will never stop pushing, and will never stop restoring the natural resources on which their long-term well-being depends.