User:Fionarose12/sandbox

Healthy Planet
Healthy Planet is an environmental and community organisation which operates on the ethos that the health of the planet and that of local communities are inextricably linked.

Healthy Planet operates across the UK, mainly England and Wales, and has its headquarters based in Central London. The organisation has over 250 volunteers, who have together contributed over 250,000 man hours to the organisation’s green initiatives.

History
In 2007, Healthy Planet was founded by Shaylesh Patel. Becoming increasingly concerned about the health of the planet, and the worrying statistic that our generation’s children are destined to have a shorter lifespan than that of their parents, Shaylesh founded the Charity. Since then, Healthy Planet has gone from strength to strength and now operates across the U.K., with the aim of helping everyone live greener and healthier lives.

On May 15th 2012, Healthy Plant commemorated the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee by providing core funding for the new Jubilee Pond in Richmond Park. Sir David Attenborough, patron of Healthy Planet conservation partners Friends of Richmond Park dug the first spadeful of earth from the soon-to-be freshwater habitat.

"Thank you to Healthy Planet for funding the Jubilee Pond in Richmond Park. This new habitat will sustain a vast array of wildlife and help combat climate change by retaining more water within the Park." Sir David Attenborough, Patron of Friends of Richmond Park.

The aim of this pond is to retain water in the Park, combat the effects of climate change, and improve biodiversity by creating a new wildlife refuge.

Books for Free
The "Books for Free" initiative rescues unwanted books otherwise destined for landfill or pulping. Healthy Planet redistributes these books - for free - throughout communities via its Books for Free centres nationwide. By doing so, they aim to reduce the quantity of waste to landfill each year and helping to recycle valuable resources. There is no catch and the only restriction is that a maximum of 3 books can be taken at any one time.

The "Books for Free" initiative has grown at a good rate in just a few years, now with over 30 Books for Free centres throughout the UK, run by over 150 volunteers. So far, the initiative has re-directed over 812 tonnes of books from landfill.

Stuff for Free
Healthy Planet's "Stuff for Free" initiative is a series of giant community reuse events - helping redistribute good quality stuff to a new home, where it will be valued. The initiative promotes upcycling, recycling and waste minimisation. By re-directing materials which would otherwise be landfilled, Healthy Planet facilitates the re-distribution of all sorts of items from one person to another. It operates on the belief that one person's trash is another's treasure.

Healthy Spaces
Healthy Spaces utilises retail or warehouse space which is empty and provides new and grassroot causes with the space they need to get started.

The charity creates a link between commercial landlords and the charity sector by developing partnerships with commercial landlords that have empty units, such as retail units, banks, warehouses and restaurants. It then invites third sector like-minded organisations to collaborate with us by occupying one of our spaces, rent free and on an At-Will basis: giving them a physical presence in the community to make an environmental difference.

The Conservation Community
The Conservation Community (CC) is the charity's newest project, launching officially on the 27th November 2012. The initiative combines conservation, ecology, social media and geographic information system technology in an online environment which is accessible to all.

The CC will allow users to actively specify the spatial location of where they would like to send their conservation donations, and choose what they want their money to be spent on. The initiative is expected to be subject to gamification in order to make the interactive experience more engaging for users.

Healthy Planet works with partners all over the world on conservation projects aiming to combat a range of issues. The charity and their partners will enable their users to help protect different species, habitats, and ecosystems from threats such as poaching, habitat loss, human conflict and urbanisation. 90% of donations made go straight to the projects on the ground, working with local communities and hiring local staff to undertake conservation methods. There are 21 projects, 53 activities across 14 countries to support.

The initiative will use mapping technology where the user can browse the globe for the projects and activities they wish to get involved in. They will then be able to place a pin on the map, confirming the activities they want to support. They can then make a donation of any value, personalise their pin with an image and leave a message visible to other CC users.