WMWV – 93.5

A new non-profit is looking to harness the power of the free market for the environment. One Percent for the Valley is a non-profit organization by valley-local Jasmine Schmidt. It’s modeled after an international organization. Schmidt says, “Right now we’ve drafted out a loose budget for what we’re going to do with our funds after we raise them and it’s going to entirely depend on how businesses want to join our organization.” The idea is for various businesses to sign up for 1% of their proceeds going to the non-profit that will then use those funds to develop more environmentally friendly alternative methods of conducting their business. She also says, “If it weren’t for the beauty of our natural environment, we wouldn’t have an economy at all. I think businesses should be the ones making those steps because they’re the ones with the most skin the game when it comes to the environment. They’re the ones that are profiting off of it and that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. I think businesses and the environment can coexist in a positive way.” Bryce Harrison, co-Founder of Cheese Louise and member of One Percent for the Valley, says that one discussed idea would be to install a water-bottle filling station at Schouler Park in Conway in order to encourage more people to reuse water bottles and reduce plastic waste.