Jeff Bezos donates USD1B for Environmental Efforts

Going to space gave Amazon founder Jeff Bezos a new outlook on the environment as the billionaire donates $1 billion to environmental conservation efforts.

“Nature is our life support system and it’s fragile. I was reminded of this just this July when I went into space with Blue Origin. I’d heard that seeing the Earth from space changes one’s point of view of the world, but I was not prepared for just how much that would be true,” said the billionaire during a Monday press conference.

Bezos donated USD1 billion to the protection of biodiversity and the carbon-saving forests in Andes, the Congo Basin, and the tropical Pacific Ocean from his $10 billion climate philanthropy pledge.

While the charitable act can be seen as noble, Amazon has contributed to a lot of carbon emissions since 2018 and part of Bezos’ legacy and untaxed fortune was built on companies that have carbon footprints in a staggering amount. Bezos is technically not part of Amazon anymore but his private space flight company, Blue Origin, that took him to space where he got a bit of environmental reflection, also raised environmental concerns.

While Blue Origin does use carbon-free fuels, environmentalists still pointed out concerns that the rockets still leave behind particles that are capable of harming the atmosphere.

If you look at a certain perspective, Bezos’ philanthropic act simply is done to clean up the mess his companies created and left behind.