Environment Program

The Environment Program seeks to support those who work for a society that ensures human survival without ravaging the earth or abandoning the pursuit of either equity or beauty. In 1991, the Program focused on these areas: transportation; forestry, farming, and waste conversion; and the promotion of a truly sustainable society. In each area we examined human systems that threaten the earth's ability to sustain life, and supported new models and visions for change. Some of our 1991 grantees are described in detail below, and a full list follows at the end of this section.

The Foundation also joined efforts to bring diverse perspectives to the environmental movement. In addition to grants to support environmental programs in communities of color, we worked with other foundations to convene a series of meetings on the issue of race and natural resources.

TRANSPORTATION

Since the American motor vehicle is this country's most important contributor to greenhouse gases, air pollution, acid rain, and ozone depletion, the Environment Program made U.S. transportation policy its primary focus. We supported a wide variety of activities, regional and national, with a common goal--to see to it that transportation is considered as an environmental issue of the utmost urgency.

The passage in 1991 of the $150 billion federal transportation bill offers an important opportunity to protect nature and rebuild communities through changes in the ways Americans travel. We look forward to supporting many of those ready to seize this opportunity.

WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE
Washington, DC $80,000

A two-year grant for a program entitled Promoting the Development and Use of Non-Fossil Transportation Systems in the U.S. The program aims to document the hidden social and economic costs of motor vehicles and evaluate policies to internalize these costs. It also seeks to examine the potential of non-fossil technologies (e.g. hydrogen fuels) and propose policies to accelerate their development. Finally, the program will provide information and recommendations to federal and state officials, corporations, public interest groups, and the media.

UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS
Cambridge, Massachusetts $90,000

A two year grant to to provide support to the transportation segments of the Union of Concerned Scientists' Energy Policy Program. The program supports transportation reform as being in the environmental and economic long-term interests of the nation. As part of the program, scientists and policy analysts from around the country conduct research, publish information, and participate in education campaigns at national, state, and local levels.

FARMING/FORESTRY/WASTE CONVERSION

Forestry and farming sustain human life. Yet as presently practiced, they also erode soil, contaminate water, extinguish species, and contribute to global warming. For our second program focus--the preservation of natural resources--we therefore tried to concentrate on improving some of the systems by which people secure their food and fiber from soils, trees, and waters. Overall, our aim is to promote the development and implementation of new sustainable systems that replenish the earth, support families, and utilize natural resources with optimal efficiency. In 1992, we will focus more exclusively on the problems of American agriculture.

LAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT
Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota $30,000

For the Stewardship Farming Program of the Land Stewardship Project, an organization dedicated to educating Minnesota farm families about sustainable agriculture. This project seeks to build on last year's success in creating and nurturing a farmer-run network to conduct sustainability experiments, share information, and promote the interests of its members. The organization will also use our grant to develop fee-based sustainable agriculture education services for mainstream farm families making the transition from conventional agriculture. Experience shows that practices developed at the Land Stewardship Project are quickly replicated in other parts of the Midwest.

ASSOCIATION OF FOREST SERVICE EMPLOYEES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
Eugene, Oregon $20,000

To support a variety of activities undertaken by this new organization of five thousand foresters and other natural-resource employees who work from within established structures, particularly the U.S. Forest Service. AFSEEE members document evidence that the Forest Service frequently neglects both federal law and principles of good stewardship by overcutting and poorly managing national forests. They call for an overhaul of the system of establishing"commodity output" quotas for national forest lands and a prohibition of any logging on the remnant of America's ancient forests. The organization works for these aims through publications, chapter activities, and new work with television and radio.

SUSTAINABLE SOCIETIES

With this environmental focus, the Foundation hopes to encourage strategies for a world both socially fair and ecologically reverent, one that safeguards nature and reduces disparities between rich and poor. Our aim is to help those who seek to transform the way future generations will regard their environment.

CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE
New York, New York $75,000

In 1990, NCF's support launched an unusual program--theJoint Appeal of Science and Religion--to begin mobilizing religious communities on behalf of the environment, and to do so in cooperation with distinguished scientists. In 1991 leaders of important denominations and institutions affirmed their commitment to the project. We are now supporting activities which include a special meeting of Jewish leaders in March, 1992; a high-visibility Mission to Washington of notable scientists and religious leaders in May; the development of a "green network" of environmental activists in local churches and synagogues; initiation of a long-term program to revise seminary curricula; and a wide variety of cooperative activities with national religious organizations.

COUNCIL ON ECONOMIC PRIORITIES
New York, New York $40,000

For the Corporate Environmental Data Clearinghouse project of the Council on Economic Priorities. Launched in 1990 by a grant from The Nathan Cummings Foundation, the Clearinghouse works to create a computerized database on the environmental performance of major U.S. corporations and then to distribute that information widely.

MINORITY COMMUNITIES

Recent research has confirmed the common-sense supposition that poor people suffer disproportionately from environmental degradation and that people of color, in turn, bear a particularly heavy share of the damage.

We are interested in recognizing and promoting environmental leadership in Latino, Native American and African-American communities. Other grants which address this issue are environmental/health initiatives found in Inter-Program listings.

EARTH ISLAND INSTITUTE
San Francisco, California $35,000

To support the efforts of the Urban Habitat Program to transform abandoned gas stations around San Francisco for uses such as open space, housing, retail, or public services. The abandonment and deterioration of the transportation infrastructure in mostly non-white, low-income neighborhoods brings eyesores and inconvenience at best. At worst, it bequeaths deprivation, demoralization, and serious public health hazards. The project involves cataloging the sites, assessing how to remove threats of contamination from buried gasoline tanks or oil dumps, retaining legal advice on clean-up and property conveyancing, arranging for the financing of alternative uses, and helping to marshal! the local neighborhood resources whose close involvement is necessary for the project's success. The Institute will seek to work in behalf of the environment, and to do so in cooperation with distinguished scientists. In 1991 leaders of important denominations and institutions affirmed their commitment to the project. We are now supporting activities which include a special meeting of Jewish leaders in March, 1992; a high-visibility Mission to Washington of notable scientists and religious leaders in May; the development of a "green network" of environmental activists in local churches and synagogues; initiation of a long-term program to revise seminary curricula; and a wide variety of cooperative activities with national religious organizations.

COUNCIL ON ECONOMIC PRIORITIES
New York, New York $40,000

For the Corporate Environmental Data Clearinghouse project of the Council on Economic Priorities. Launched in 1990 by a grant from The Nathan Cummings Foundation, the Clearinghouse works to create a computerized database on the environmental performance of major U.S. corporations and then to distribute that information widely.