About Us
The Cloud Appreciation Society
Our society was launched in 2005 by Gavin Pretor-Pinney (Member 001) as a way to bring together people around the world who share a love of the sky. We have members in 120 countries, all united in the belief that clouds are the most dynamic, evocative and poetic aspect of nature. If you want to see what we stand for, read our manifesto:
Our Organisation
We decided from an early stage not to make the Cloud Appreciation Society a non-profit. We believe an organisation is most sustainable when it works as a business. We feel that becoming preoccupied with applying for grants and raising donations would mean we'd lose sight of our aim: to bring people together through a greater understanding and appreciation of the sky.
In 2022 we're helping teachers inspire a love of the sky
Every year we spend 5% of all membership revenues towards a cause we believe is worthwhile. In 2019, we helped the Canadian non-profit FogQuest supply a village in Central America with everything they needed to harvest fresh drinking water from fog. The villagers get 8000L (1760 gals) of fresh water a day during the foggy but rain-free winter months. In 2020, we helped protect the 'river in the sky' over the Amazon rainforests by supporting an Amazon Conservation Association project in Peru train and equip locals with drones to stop illegal logging of their land. In 2021 and 2022, we are helping teachers around the world encourage younger cloudspotters with our Cloud Appreciation Pack of school and homeschool resources.
With the help of ideas and feedback contributed by our members, we have released a Cloud Appreciation Pack of free lesson plans and activity sheets and other resources. These 'Survival Kits for the Imagination' include ideas and resources to encourage an interest in the science and the beauty of the sky. The resources are appropriate for a range of ages and they include a considerable amount of mindfulness training to help improve wellbeing among young people, using the sky as a way to discuss feelings. As well as the digital resources, we are also committing to send a supporting physical pack including stickers a poster and identification wheel to any school or homeschool teacher for free anywhere in the world. Our Cloud Appreciation Pack is aimed at encouraging children to look up, find calm and emotional resilience in ever-changing clouds, and become expert junior cloudspotters.
