Environment Program Essay

Q: Who Will Protect the Environment?
A: All of Us Together

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By Richard F. Mark
Director, Environment Program

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For those who value clean air, clean water, forests, public parks and lands, native habitats and species, wetlands, and public health, 1995 was a year of struggle and discovery. Some would say a time of "healthy" struggle and "important" discoveries.

Diverse environmental groups struggled together, many for the first time, against a determined "foe" mounting a well-financed effort to "turn back the clock" on environmental protection. In dealing with the immediate crisis, we discovered how much work needed to be done to develop a broad environmental consciousness throughout the nation. The lessons of 1995 were deceptively simple. We have to find ways of reaching out to new allies and working together in broad and multi-issue coalitions to craft approaches to the environmental issues of the day that are economically sound and compelling to the larger community. If we don't, the environmental movement will become increasingly isolated, forced to re-fight battles that whittle away at 30 years of environmental progress until nothing is left.

For a while in 1995, we feared that time had already come. Efforts were made to open the Arctic wilderness and our coastlines to oil drilling, to privatize much of the public lands in the West, to eliminate programs that have enabled communities to clean up rivers and improve air quality, and to eliminate funding used for enforcement of environmental regulations. In the Foundation's primary area of environmental interest, transportation, attacks were focused on efforts to stop the development of cars, trucks, and buses that emit no pollutants, cut federal support for mass transit, eliminate the current (and recently adopted) requirement for citizen participation in transportation planning, and roll back public health standards that offer protection to communities from unhealthy and life-threatening pollution.

Many of the most important battlegrounds were at the state and local level. Governors, state legislators, mayors, county commissioners, and other local officials emerged as leaders in establishing strong environmental policies for their states and cities as well as the nation. Many local officials have led decades-long efforts to clean up rivers, improve air quality, make polluters pay for cleaning up toxic dumps, and a host of other projects to protect people's health and quality of life. They understood better than many members of Congress the positive impact of environmental regulations on their communities, and with encouragement from the environmental community, their voices were heard.

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"Mobility is a means; it deserves no subsidy. Taxpayers have bankrolled the car and sprawl for decades, with money for transit thrown in as a palliative; the only thing worth subsidizing now is the city. Perhaps states should dedicate all fuel-tax revenues to schools, parks, and especially police--since crime is the leading motivator of urban flight--leaving highway departments to propose tax levies each time they think they need a new road."

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An engaged public also understands the importance of maintaining and, in some cases, even strengthening environmental laws. This potential for community support was most evident in 1995 in numerous state battles over "takings" legislation, which would have mandated full-value reimbursement by taxpayers for the nondevelopment of private land. In Arizona, Maine, New Hampshire, Washington, these prohibitively expensive legislative proposals were all defeated. When people saw the connection between the healthy community they wanted and preserving a wetland or not building a highway or not clear-cutting a forest, they inevitably opposed the passage of "takings" legislation. In Maine, for example, legislators, who originally signed on to a dangerous "takings" bill, reversed themselves in response to pressure from a coalition of public and private interests creatively and effectively developed by the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

Organizing Wider Coalitions

To provide local groups with strategic advice, training, and media assistance as well as experienced organizers equipped to do battle with powerful special interests, the Nathan Cummings Foundation in early 1995 helped establish Environmental Strategies, now called Environmental Information Services (EIS). This new organization works with groups such as the Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Public Interest Research Group, American Lung Association, Citizen Action, and the Surface Transportation Policy Project in collaborative efforts that draw high praise from not only grassroots activists but members of Congress, the media, and the White House.

The Surface Transportation Policy Project (STPP), another organization that the Foundation helped bring into existence, has developed an impressive national campaign that links many diverse and important transportation interests at the state and local level. Efforts in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and New England led by NCF grantees, for example, have resulted in coalitions of unlikely interests, including environmentalists, minority groups, community planning agencies, transportation officials, public health professionals, highway builders, captains of industry, real estate developers, historic preservation advocates, tourism officials, unions, and political leaders on all points of the political spectrum.

The goal is to help a wide variety of community interests understand the importance of environmentally and economically sound transportation planning and to encourage the development of programs such as commuter rail, nonpolluting vehicles, and other mechanisms to deal with issues of suburban sprawl, congestion, and air quality that almost all urban and suburban regions of the nation are now facing. The work of STPP and its coalition may be the single most important transportation/environmental effort in the country at this time.

Addressing Economic Concerns

A more mature environmental movement now recognizes the complexity of problems it is working to solve. We used to think that we could take the moral high road, march under an "all or nothing" banner, and sweep the opposition out of our way. Grassroots environmentalists taught us differently, forcing the leaders of the national movement to understand that every campaign to close down a plant or an industry threatened the jobs of their neighbors and that it is essential to work in coalitions that develop community-based solutions that avoid the old "environment vs. jobs" mantra.

The Nathan Cummings Foundation is supporting programs that bring economics experts into the environmental movement for a better understanding of the ways that tax policies, economic development, and employment issues relate to the environment. A joint project of the Economic Policy Institute and the University of Maryland's Center on Global Affairs' network of economists, environmentalists, union leaders, and government officials is identifying policies that reduce pollution, promote efficient use of natural resources, and create jobs and is making this information available to policy makers and community leaders.

Workers in environmentally hazardous industries and local environmentalists are natural allies, yet fear of job loss and the confrontational tactics of the past have kept them apart for years. In an ambitious and successful program, the Public Health Institute is organizing jobs and environment workshops for local workers and environmental activists to explore common problems and possible solutions. The project helps break down the communication barriers between sets of people who should and can be allies, not enemies, in their respective communities and has laid the groundwork for a national effort to bring workers and environmental activists together to support strong environmental protections, in and out of the work place.

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"For many students, the college years are a time of hope and idealism. By advancing environmental education, practices, and activism on campus, we can lay the groundwork for a more sustainable future. Such a comprehensive approach during this unique window of opportunity could revitalize the environmental movement today and perhaps restore to this planet a semblance of its former health."

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The future of the environmental movement depends on coalitions of people and groups with different agendas and interests working together for an environmental goal. One of the most promising partnerships is between environmentalists and public health activists. Concern about threats to public health and the well-being of one's children becomes more understandable and "actionable" than dire predictions about the planet's climate decades into the future.

Studies show that children are particularly vulnerable to air pollution, especially ozone. One American Lung Association study found that approximately 27 million children live in areas with unhealthy levels of ozone. Minorities are disproportionately affected in areas that violate air quality standards. Fossil fuel combustion in energy production is the largest source of particulate air pollution, and motor vehicles are the principal source of ground level ozone. Physicians for Social Responsibility, another NCF grantee, engages doctors, especially pediatricians, in community education activities that make the link between automobile pollution and children's health. Community-based education and organizing efforts in many low-income urban and rural communities are providing national examples to mainline environmental organizations on how to combine environment and public health issues to change local, state, and national policies.

Discovering Common Values

Many of our environmental grantees have invested some of their resources in conducting focus groups and conversations with citizens, environmental organizers, and public officials to discover our common values as a society. Terms such as "stewardship," "legacy," "personal responsibility," "community," and "the next generation" appear frequently in these conversations, representing a common bond for a wide segment of the population and a starting place for building new coalitions and allies.

In our efforts to identify and promote common values and understandings of "nature" and our role in it, the Foundation sponsored two retreats entitled "Beyond Environmentalism: Toward a New Vision for Humanity and the Earth." The retreats were led by William Cronin, environmental historian and editor of the Foundation-supported Uncommon Ground: Toward Reinventing Nature, a collection of essays from a unique project that looked at nature from various academic perspectives. The retreats brought together academics and activists for some frank discussions about the meaning of "nature" in modern society.

Retreats organized by the Whidbey Institute, the Vallecitos Mountain Refuge, Positive Futures, and the Learning Alliance also proved to be an important way for veteran environmentalists, weary from years of struggle, to nurture and revitalize themselves. They gave participants an opportunity to get back in touch with their own core values, to step back from the crisis of the day, and remember why they were doing this work. For some the retreats were literally a refuge from the difficulties of their normal environment. As one inner-city "front-line" activist said, "it was wonderful to be able to spend a few days in a place where issues of personal safety could be set aside to be able to focus on personal growth and restoration for future battles."

Another Cummings Foundation grantee, the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, one of the most exciting new collaborations in the environmental arena, bases its work on shared values and religious traditions and beliefs that underscore common tenets of stewardship and protection of God's creation. The Religious Partnership, which organizes major American faith groups from Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish denominations serving 100 million Americans, adds a powerful voice to the environmental cause. The Partnership organized a special gathering of evangelical Christians to speak out in support of protecting endangered species, an effort that is being credited by many for helping reverse the attacks on environmental policies. These and similar projects hold great potential for building bridges in language and action to individuals and groups that in the past have opposed environmental laws and regulations.

Educating the Young and Supporting the Next Generation of Environmental Leaders

In assessing the environmental movement's strength in 1995, we also realized the need for more programs to educate young people and develop new leaders. The Foundation commissioned a special look at the state of environmental education at the college level and issued The Class of 2000 Report: Environmental Education, Practices, and Activism on Campus, which recommends expanding environmental education across all disciplines, improving campus environmental practices, and strengthening student environmental activism.

By participating in national student campaigns as well as efforts to improve campus practices, students can exert an immediate impact on society at large and develop skills and habits for a lifetime of responsible involvement with the environment. Perhaps the most promising trend that deserves support is the expansion of environmental education to every academic discipline. This requires redirecting traditional disciplines--from history to architecture to business and economics--toward a more ecological perspective.

Although building a core of environmental professionals is important, detailed teaching about the environment should not be reserved for future specialists. All of tomorrow's workers and managers--from doctors to computer programmers to, most of all, policy makers--need to develop "environmental literacy," the intellectual tools and practical skills to become caring and competent stewards of the planet. The Foundation launched a new environmental "Campus Activities" funding program early in 1996 based on its research in this area and its commitment to the next generation.

Environmental battles in 1995 reminded us of the dangers of taking for granted support for environmental protections in our nation. And 1995 provided us with a healthy reminder that we have much to learn from others, and much to gain by investing in new partnerships, new allies, new arenas, and new approaches to public education and advocacy. We must re-commit ourselves to supporting the development and nurturing of the next generation of "environmentalists" to provide leadership for both the public and private sector into the new century. The Partnership organized a special gathering of evangelical Christians to speak out in support of protecting endangered species, an effort that is being credited by many for helping reverse the attacks on environmental policies. These and similar projects hold great potential for building bridges in language and action to individuals and groups that in the past have opposed environmental laws and regulations.

Educating the Young and Supporting the Next Generation of Environmental Leaders

In assessing the environmental movement's strength in 1995, we also realized the need for more programs to educate young people and develop new leaders. The Foundation commissioned a special look at the state of environmental education at the college level and issued The Class of 2000 Report: Environmental Education, Practices, and Activism on Campus, which recommends expanding environmental education across all disciplines, improving campus environmental practices, and strengthening student environmental activism.

By participating in national student campaigns as well as efforts to improve campus practices, students can exert an immediate impact on society at large and develop skills and habits for a lifetime of responsible involvement with the environment. Perhaps the most promising trend that deserves support is the expansion of environmental education to every academic discipline. This requires redirecting traditional disciplines--from history to architecture to business and economics--toward a more ecological perspective.

Although building a core of environmental professionals is important, detailed teaching about the environment should not be reserved for future specialists. All of tomorrow's workers and managers--from doctors to computer programmers to, most of all, policy makers--need to develop "environmental literacy," the intellectual tools and practical skills to become caring and competent stewards of the planet. The Foundation launched a new environmental "Campus Activities" funding program early in 1996 based on its research in this area and its commitment to the next generation.

Environmental battles in 1995 reminded us of the dangers of taking for granted support for environmental protections in our nation. And 1995 provided us with a healthy reminder that we have much to learn from others, and much to gain by investing in new partnerships, new allies, new arenas, and new approaches to public education and advocacy. We must re-commit ourselves to supporting the development and nurturing of the next generation of "environmentalists" to provide leadership for both the public and private sector into the new century.