3 Malibu Millionaires Help Fund Climate Protests

MALIBU, CA — Climate change activists of all ages held marches and protests around the world in recent weeks to pressure policymakers to take action on climate change — but who's funding the activism?

According to a new report from the New York Times, three Malibu millionaires founded the Climate Emergency Fund to support activists fighting for climate change.

Trevor Neilson, Rory Kennedy (the daughter of Senator Robert Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy) and Aileen Getty (the granddaughter of oil magnate Jean Paul Getty), founded the Climate Emergency Fund after years of donating to environmental organizations like Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council. But, the groups they donated to were taking an approach that was too gradual, the New York Times reported.

"The smartest place for philanthropists to invest is in this new generation of activists who refuse to accept the excuses of the adults whose lazy approach to climate is leading us off a cliff," Mr. Neilson told the Times. "The era of gradualism in environmental activism is over."

The Climate Emergency Fund, which was founded in July, has already raised more than $1 million, and distributed grants to dozens of groups, including some tied to the youth climate strikes held on Sept. 20.

All three founders, who are friends and were already philanthropic partners, have homes in Malibu that were threatened by the Woolsey fire last year.

"The fires had a way of waking us up," he said.

Read more at The New York Times.