Jacob is an environmentalist, outdoor enthusiast and co-founder and Executive Director of Earth Givers.
Originally from Olympia, Washington, Jacob now proudly calls Gainesville, Florida his home. Jacob studied environmental business at Evergreen State College and Bainbridge Graduate Institute, and had a 4-year stint running his own surf school in Puerto Rico called “Buena Vida” or “Good Life.” Jacob carries this “good life” attitude with him today as he continues to create economic, socially-integrative and environmental mechanisms for our communities to thrive.
Jacob has been an innovator in community development and environmentalism through Earth Givers, the organization he co-founded in 2007. Earth Givers is a nonprofit organization that has been working in the Gainesville, Florida community to create a model of carbon offsetting to benefit local communities everywhere. The organization works with the University of Florida, Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, Cinema Verde Film Festival, and many other local organizations and community members to reach their goal of a carbon neutral future.
Earth Givers has created various initiatives to reduce carbon emissions through energy conservation and carbon sequestration projects. “We Are Neutral” is one initiative to support local community development and carbon offsetting by planting trees on local conservation lands and performing energy efficient upgrades in local low-income housing free of charge to the families who live there. “Neutral Gator” is another initiative dedicated to eliminating Gainesville’s contribution to global climate change by supporting the University of Florida in reaching carbon neutrality by 2025, and by reducing the carbon emitted by the local community. Neutral Gator’s efforts have led to the country’s first carbon-neutral athletic program and the first carbon-neutral football season in NCAA history. Jacob and Earth Givers hopes to use its success with its initiatives in the Gainsville community as a model for local community development across the country.
