Standing Up for Environmental Sustainability

As we entered 1996, the country was reeling from vicious attacks from those who wished to dismantle a quarter-century of bipartisan environmental progress and protection. Bipartisan forces in Congress, assisted by effective public education campaigns led by national and local environmental organizations, managed to turn back most of the assaults. However, anti-environmentalists, aided by powerful special interests and conservative think tanks, continued to use every opportunity to try to weaken existing environmental laws and encourage the public to roll back important environmental and public health protections.

How would voters respond in the midst of a congressional and presidential election year? Much to our surprise, people made their voices heard and used the ballot box to indicate their support for existing environmental laws and in some cases even demanded tougher laws and regulations.

Some of the credit for this show of public support can be assigned to a sophisticated bipartisan effort on behalf of protecting the environment. We are proud that many of our grantees were at the forefront of these efforts, leading research, education, and action initiatives to promote environmental sustainability and develop and implement effective programs for an environmentally and economically sound society.

Transportation: Reducing Environmental Harm

Our transportation grantees, from Maine to California, continued their effective efforts to shift money away from unneeded highways that would encourage more and more automobiles, to mass transit within and between communities and other programs to reduce the environmental harm caused by excessive use of the private automobile.

In Los Angeles, the Labor/Community Strategy Center's Bus Riders Union won a major out-of-court settlement regarding the future of bus transportation in LA, ensuring better service and the participation of bus riders in future transportation policy setting. In New York City, the Natural Resources Defense Council, working with a large coalition of interests, forced the city to begin buying clean-fuel buses that would help clear the air throughout the urban area.

Similar work continued in Chicago through the efforts of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, the Environmental Law and Policy Institute of the Midwest, and Business and Professional People for the Public Interest. At the national level, the Surface Transportation Policy Project expanded its effective work on behalf of a broad coalition of groups supporting transportation reform, and the Union of Concerned Scientists proved vital once again by providing the scientific and technological grounding in major policy fights at the national and state level.

Sound Economic Policies

A strong economy that protects and creates jobs while also protecting natural resources remained an elusive goal in 1996, even though all outward signs indicated all was well with our national economy.

We are proud of the cross-cutting and innovative work of our grantees in 1996 in fostering economic and fiscal policies that reflect the environmental costs of economic behaviors and encourage environmentally sound economic activity. The World Resources Institute brought the public and private sector together to forge new approaches to climate change. The Public Health Institute organized labor and environmentalists in new partnerships. The Environmental Health Coalition in San Diego emerged as a national leader in efforts to protect communities along the U.S.-Mexico border from environmental pollution. The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law litigated a ground-breaking decision that protects the low-income community of Pensacola, Florida, from toxic harm. The Friends of the Earth's Green Scissors campaign engaged the media and members of Congress from both sides of the political aisle in identifying and eliminating environmentally harmful federal subsidies. Sustainable Northwest forged community alliances for planning regional economic development schemes that protect the environment and create jobs.

Values and Campus Initiatives

The Foundation's commitment to enlisting moral and spiritual resources to address the underlying roots of the environmental crisis continued in 1996. Our core grantee, the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, brought the evangelical community to Washington, DC, to bear witness to the importance of God's creation in support of protecting the Endangered Species Act. The Vallecitos Mountain Refuge, the Learning Alliance, the Chinook Learning Community, and the Colorado Institute for a Sustainable Future all mounted strong programs that encouraged and supported individuals and organizations in their quests for self-examination, renewal, and regaining the connection between self and the natural world-a connection that gives us the energy and direction to continue our work in this arena.

In 1996, the Foundation made its first campus activities grants in support of environmental literacy, campus stewardship, and student activism in higher education. This new program emphasis resulted from the publication of the Foundation's report, The Class of 2000 Report: Environmental Education, Practices and Activism on Campus, written by Yale graduate Benjamin Strauss. The report was distributed to over 5,000 college presidents, deans, administrators, environmental studies professors, student leaders and organizations, and foundations with an environmental and/or educational focus. The report was well-received and placed the Foundation squarely in a leadership position in the field.

While working with other funders to increase financial support for environmental work in higher education, the Foundation also made its first grants to several national organizations working in the field: the Center for Respect of Life and the Environment; the National Wildlife Federation's Campus Program; University Leaders for a Sustainable Future at Tufts University; the Center for Environ-mental Citizenship; the Management Institute for Environment and Business; Second Nature; and to two specic campus programs: the State University at Rutgers for an innovative partnership with regional environmental justice organizations, and Oberlin College for initial research for a new environmental studies center that will be a "net energy exporter" and a national model of sustainable college-building design.

A Turbulent Year

The year 1996 was a turbulent one for the environmental community but also one that showed its "true grit." When the battles were tough, the community dug in and fought back with an impressive array of educational and advocacy tools while also creating, expanding, and refining programs to establish strong environmental policies and practices and protect our natural inheritance for future generations. >While working with other funders to increase financial support for environmental work in higher education, the Foundation also made its first grants to several national organizations working in the field: the Center for Respect of Life and the Environment; the National Wildlife Federation's Campus Program; University Leaders for a Sustainable Future at Tufts University; the Center for Environ-mental Citizenship; the Management Institute for Environment and Business; Second Nature; and to two specic campus programs: the State University at Rutgers for an innovative partnership with regional environmental justice organizations, and Oberlin College for initial research for a new environmental studies center that will be a "net energy exporter" and a national model of sustainable college-building design.

A Turbulent Year

The year 1996 was a turbulent one for the environmental community but also one that showed its "true grit." When the battles were tough, the community dug in and fought back with an impressive array of educational and advocacy tools while also creating, expanding, and refining programs to establish strong environmental policies and practices and protect our natural inheritance for future generations.