Grant Highlights 2006-2007
ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY
In its Environment and Sustainability grantmaking, the Compton Foundation supports responsible stewardship that respects the rights of future generations to a balanced and healthy ecology. The Foundation believes it is possible to pursue a holistic and sustainable vision that blends concern for environmental conservation and economic viability, links urban and rural priorities, and views humans as one part of the natural world. In 2006 and 2007, the Environment program awarded grants in the areas of Fresh Water, Climate Change, and Rural Sustainability. The Environment program continues to support young leaders through our Environmental Fellowships Program.
Fresh Water
The Compton Foundation's traditional commitment to rivers and watersheds has expanded to encompass concern for the role of fresh water in both human and ecological systems.
Water conservation is the most effective action California residents can take to save water and energy, and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is the agency responsible for establishing conservation requirements for regulated water and energy utilities. With Compton support, Public Officials for Water and Environmental Reform is working as the convener, technical expert, and fiscal agent for a diverse group of organizations working to make water conservation a requirement for regulated energy and water agencies. The next several years of Public Utility Commission rule-making will be critical in assuring that conservation principles are reflected in the CPUC's policy directives. Compton funding is allowing the environmental community to participate actively in the CPUC rule-making process.
River Network's Healthy Waters, Healthy Communities program empowers community members to identify and address local watershed pollution and associated environmental health problems. Over the past decade, the organization has worked with groups across the country on these issues, and it used those experiences to shape the production of Cancer Downstream: A Citizen's Guide to Investigating Pollution/Health Connections, published at the end of 2006. With a grant from the Compton Foundation, River Network plans to disseminate the Guide widely, as well as providing one-on-one consultation to communities grappling with especially challenging local environmental health concerns. As part of this effort, River Network is connecting its state and regional partners with local groups to ensure that grassroots activists can better utilize the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, and to build momentum toward public policy changes to make those laws stronger.
A Compton grant is helping the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) ensure full implementation of the recently approved San Joaquin River Settlement. The settlement outlines a plan to restore the San Joaquin River, which was dammed and reduced to a seasonal trickle more than fifty years ago when the Friant Dam first began diverting the river’s water for irrigation purposes. The San Joaquin is California's second longest river and one of the primary sources of flow to the San Francisco Bay-Delta. The settlement plan ends one of the state's most bitter water battles with a proactive agreement to save a waterway. This grant supports NRDC’s efforts to keep the restoration program on schedule and aligned with the language of the settlement agreement.
Climate Change
The Compton Foundation is invested in state and regional efforts to address climate change through greenhouse gas emissions reductions. In order to impact policy, the Foundation has also supported innovative approaches to analyzing and communicating the regional effects of climate change and appropriate adaptation options.
A growing number of public officials from states in the western US have turned to the Center for Climate Strategies (fiscal sponsor Enterprising Environmental Solutions, Inc.) for help in responding to the challenges posed by global warming and the related opportunities for promoting economic development, clean energy, and a safer environment. Thirty-four out of the seventy-five largest greenhouse gas emitters in the world are US states, and state action on climate change is laying the groundwork for future federal policy. Compton funding is allowing the Center to develop, conduct, and document public stakeholder processes that will result in state climate change action plans in Montana, Colorado, and Washington, building strong new consensus around locally appropriate policy options. Compton funds also support the Center’s work facilitating and providing technical analysis to the regional Western Climate Initiative.
The California Climate Action Registry was established to encourage voluntary climate actions by helping companies operating in California to establish baselines against which any future greenhouse gas emission reduction requirements could be applied. The Registry developed functional and efficient measurement protocols, and now has the opportunity to apply the lessons it has learned more broadly, as state governments across the country begin to explore how best to address climate change. The new organization, The Climate Registry, has as its members thirty-nine states, two Canadian provinces, one Mexican state, and three tribal nations. They are working together on the coordinated design and development of a North American registry system that can serve as a basis for in-state climate policies, regional cap and trade programs, and greenhouse gas emissions tracking for the nation as a whole.
A Compton grant to Cape Farewell is supporting a ship voyage into the Arctic seas, where internationally renowned artists and scientists can explore the impacts of climate change, gaining new material for their creative processes. Created by artist David Buckland, Cape Farewell has already led three expeditions into the high northern latitudes. Participating artists and scientists have an opportunity to draw on their experiences in the ice to illustrate the workings of the planet, demonstrating the effects rising CO2 levels and changing weather patterns will likely have on human beings. If successful, the art produced on and after the voyage will contribute to a cultural shift in attitudes toward climate change by capturing the public imagination.
Rural Sustainability
The Foundation has also focused on supporting creative models for community-based conservation that conserve and restore western ecosystems and buttress strong local and regional economies.
A grant to Sustainable Northwest for the Rural Voices for Conservation Initiative provides key support for the entire community resource management movement. Sustainable Northwest helps rural communities access urban capital, decision-makers, and power, while also providing them with information and technical assistance. This initiative includes support for the Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition (RVCC), as well as broader engagement in federal policy analysis and advocacy. In its fourth year, the RVCC has made significant progress linking isolated community-based conservation practitioners into a regional and national political voice that can speak convincingly to elected officials about new approaches to environmental and economic sustainability.
The California Council of Land Trusts (fiscal sponsor Peninsula Open Space Trust) aims to build a state-wide land trust community engaged in public policy, as well as a blueprint for future California policy initiatives. As community-based organizations acting through voluntary action, land trusts have local identities and activities that allow them to build diverse partnerships across divisions of interest and experience. These partnerships are critical to achieving permanent conservation. Compton support is helping the Council represent the shared regional goals of grassroots land trusts as it builds an engaged and active constituency for land and water conservation across the state.
Fellowship Programs
The Compton Foundation believes that long-term sustainability requires an investment in future leaders in the fields of peace, population, and environment. To that end, the Foundation's Environmental Fellowship Programs focus on promoting both academic and experiential learning. These programs support exceptional individuals committed to catalyzing social and environmental change that will help bring about a sustainable world.
In 2006 and 2007, the Fellowship Program in Environment and Sustainable Development awarded grants to 3 universities to support 7 masters- and 4 doctoral-level scholars from Mexico, Central America, and sub-Saharan Africa. While currently pursuing rigorous academic programs in the United States, these international Compton Fellows plan to return home to apply the analytical skills they have acquired to contemporary problems in the environmental field. The Compton Foundation hopes that these creative individuals will make substantial contributions to in-country capacity to make informed environmental policy and resource management decisions.
The Compton Mentor Fellowship Program pioneers post-college opportunities for outstanding graduates from selected colleges and universities who seek to address the world’s environmental and social concerns. Under guidance from a mentor who provides encouragement, expertise, and opportunities in their chosen fields, these Fellows implement a year-long, self-directed project. With an additional grant from the Lewis Foundation, the Mentor Program supported 13 Fellows between 2006 and 2007 in the areas of Environment and Sustainable Development, Climate Change and Energy Policy, Peace and Security, and Population and Reproductive Health.
2007 Fellow Kartikeya Singh will compile a report detailing the best options India might use in the formulation of a national energy policy. A rapidly industrializing country, India is on the verge of deciding not only its own future but also the ecological future of the planet. How India decides to provide energy for its growing economy has major implications for global climate change. Mr. Singh will work with Ms. Sunita Narain, director of the Center for Science & Environment, New Delhi.
2007 Fellow Andrew deCoriolis will develop an organization called Bridging the Gap in Chicago, Illinois. Bridging the Gap will connect local farmers with consumers who are underserved by traditional food networks. The organization will provide low carbon emissions distribution services to small farmers, in an effort to increase their economic sustainability through the development of new markets and coordination of delivery, as well as setting up neighborhood distribution centers that will offer an opportunity to engage communities in food, farm, and nutrition education. Mr. deCoriolis’ mentor, Peter Nicholson, is the founder of Foresight Design Initiative, a nonprofit that employs design to improve and sustain the quality of life in Chicago.
In its Environment and Sustainability grantmaking, the Compton Foundation supports responsible stewardship that respects the rights of future generations to a balanced and healthy ecology. The Foundation believes it is possible to pursue a holistic and sustainable vision that blends concern for environmental conservation and economic viability, links urban and rural priorities, and views humans as one part of the natural world. In 2006 and 2007, the Environment program awarded grants in the areas of Fresh Water, Climate Change, and Rural Sustainability. The Environment program continues to support young leaders through our Environmental Fellowships Program.
Fresh Water
The Compton Foundation's traditional commitment to rivers and watersheds has expanded to encompass concern for the role of fresh water in both human and ecological systems.
Water conservation is the most effective action California residents can take to save water and energy, and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is the agency responsible for establishing conservation requirements for regulated water and energy utilities. With Compton support, Public Officials for Water and Environmental Reform is working as the convener, technical expert, and fiscal agent for a diverse group of organizations working to make water conservation a requirement for regulated energy and water agencies. The next several years of Public Utility Commission rule-making will be critical in assuring that conservation principles are reflected in the CPUC's policy directives. Compton funding is allowing the environmental community to participate actively in the CPUC rule-making process.
River Network's Healthy Waters, Healthy Communities program empowers community members to identify and address local watershed pollution and associated environmental health problems. Over the past decade, the organization has worked with groups across the country on these issues, and it used those experiences to shape the production of Cancer Downstream: A Citizen's Guide to Investigating Pollution/Health Connections, published at the end of 2006. With a grant from the Compton Foundation, River Network plans to disseminate the Guide widely, as well as providing one-on-one consultation to communities grappling with especially challenging local environmental health concerns. As part of this effort, River Network is connecting its state and regional partners with local groups to ensure that grassroots activists can better utilize the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, and to build momentum toward public policy changes to make those laws stronger.
A Compton grant is helping the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) ensure full implementation of the recently approved San Joaquin River Settlement. The settlement outlines a plan to restore the San Joaquin River, which was dammed and reduced to a seasonal trickle more than fifty years ago when the Friant Dam first began diverting the river’s water for irrigation purposes. The San Joaquin is California's second longest river and one of the primary sources of flow to the San Francisco Bay-Delta. The settlement plan ends one of the state's most bitter water battles with a proactive agreement to save a waterway. This grant supports NRDC’s efforts to keep the restoration program on schedule and aligned with the language of the settlement agreement.
Climate Change
The Compton Foundation is invested in state and regional efforts to address climate change through greenhouse gas emissions reductions. In order to impact policy, the Foundation has also supported innovative approaches to analyzing and communicating the regional effects of climate change and appropriate adaptation options.
A growing number of public officials from states in the western US have turned to the Center for Climate Strategies (fiscal sponsor Enterprising Environmental Solutions, Inc.) for help in responding to the challenges posed by global warming and the related opportunities for promoting economic development, clean energy, and a safer environment. Thirty-four out of the seventy-five largest greenhouse gas emitters in the world are US states, and state action on climate change is laying the groundwork for future federal policy. Compton funding is allowing the Center to develop, conduct, and document public stakeholder processes that will result in state climate change action plans in Montana, Colorado, and Washington, building strong new consensus around locally appropriate policy options. Compton funds also support the Center’s work facilitating and providing technical analysis to the regional Western Climate Initiative.
The California Climate Action Registry was established to encourage voluntary climate actions by helping companies operating in California to establish baselines against which any future greenhouse gas emission reduction requirements could be applied. The Registry developed functional and efficient measurement protocols, and now has the opportunity to apply the lessons it has learned more broadly, as state governments across the country begin to explore how best to address climate change. The new organization, The Climate Registry, has as its members thirty-nine states, two Canadian provinces, one Mexican state, and three tribal nations. They are working together on the coordinated design and development of a North American registry system that can serve as a basis for in-state climate policies, regional cap and trade programs, and greenhouse gas emissions tracking for the nation as a whole.
A Compton grant to Cape Farewell is supporting a ship voyage into the Arctic seas, where internationally renowned artists and scientists can explore the impacts of climate change, gaining new material for their creative processes. Created by artist David Buckland, Cape Farewell has already led three expeditions into the high northern latitudes. Participating artists and scientists have an opportunity to draw on their experiences in the ice to illustrate the workings of the planet, demonstrating the effects rising CO2 levels and changing weather patterns will likely have on human beings. If successful, the art produced on and after the voyage will contribute to a cultural shift in attitudes toward climate change by capturing the public imagination.
Rural Sustainability
The Foundation has also focused on supporting creative models for community-based conservation that conserve and restore western ecosystems and buttress strong local and regional economies.
A grant to Sustainable Northwest for the Rural Voices for Conservation Initiative provides key support for the entire community resource management movement. Sustainable Northwest helps rural communities access urban capital, decision-makers, and power, while also providing them with information and technical assistance. This initiative includes support for the Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition (RVCC), as well as broader engagement in federal policy analysis and advocacy. In its fourth year, the RVCC has made significant progress linking isolated community-based conservation practitioners into a regional and national political voice that can speak convincingly to elected officials about new approaches to environmental and economic sustainability.
The California Council of Land Trusts (fiscal sponsor Peninsula Open Space Trust) aims to build a state-wide land trust community engaged in public policy, as well as a blueprint for future California policy initiatives. As community-based organizations acting through voluntary action, land trusts have local identities and activities that allow them to build diverse partnerships across divisions of interest and experience. These partnerships are critical to achieving permanent conservation. Compton support is helping the Council represent the shared regional goals of grassroots land trusts as it builds an engaged and active constituency for land and water conservation across the state.
Fellowship Programs
The Compton Foundation believes that long-term sustainability requires an investment in future leaders in the fields of peace, population, and environment. To that end, the Foundation's Environmental Fellowship Programs focus on promoting both academic and experiential learning. These programs support exceptional individuals committed to catalyzing social and environmental change that will help bring about a sustainable world.
In 2006 and 2007, the Fellowship Program in Environment and Sustainable Development awarded grants to 3 universities to support 7 masters- and 4 doctoral-level scholars from Mexico, Central America, and sub-Saharan Africa. While currently pursuing rigorous academic programs in the United States, these international Compton Fellows plan to return home to apply the analytical skills they have acquired to contemporary problems in the environmental field. The Compton Foundation hopes that these creative individuals will make substantial contributions to in-country capacity to make informed environmental policy and resource management decisions.
The Compton Mentor Fellowship Program pioneers post-college opportunities for outstanding graduates from selected colleges and universities who seek to address the world’s environmental and social concerns. Under guidance from a mentor who provides encouragement, expertise, and opportunities in their chosen fields, these Fellows implement a year-long, self-directed project. With an additional grant from the Lewis Foundation, the Mentor Program supported 13 Fellows between 2006 and 2007 in the areas of Environment and Sustainable Development, Climate Change and Energy Policy, Peace and Security, and Population and Reproductive Health.
2007 Fellow Kartikeya Singh will compile a report detailing the best options India might use in the formulation of a national energy policy. A rapidly industrializing country, India is on the verge of deciding not only its own future but also the ecological future of the planet. How India decides to provide energy for its growing economy has major implications for global climate change. Mr. Singh will work with Ms. Sunita Narain, director of the Center for Science & Environment, New Delhi.
2007 Fellow Andrew deCoriolis will develop an organization called Bridging the Gap in Chicago, Illinois. Bridging the Gap will connect local farmers with consumers who are underserved by traditional food networks. The organization will provide low carbon emissions distribution services to small farmers, in an effort to increase their economic sustainability through the development of new markets and coordination of delivery, as well as setting up neighborhood distribution centers that will offer an opportunity to engage communities in food, farm, and nutrition education. Mr. deCoriolis’ mentor, Peter Nicholson, is the founder of Foresight Design Initiative, a nonprofit that employs design to improve and sustain the quality of life in Chicago.
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