Foundations Supporting Sustainability (Featured: The Colcom Foundation and YOU)

Let's face it, money plays a role in environmental issues.  Notice how poorer areas have more pollution?  Don't you think that residents in those areas also deserve clean air and water?  You want clean air and water, don't you?

You see what happened to Dukakis, politically, when he spent money to clean up the Boston Harbor?  The Waterfront went from smelling like an open sewer to smelling like clean, salty, ocean breezes.  People's water bills went up and Dukakis was voted out of office.

"In 1919 the Metropolitan District Commission was created to oversee and regulate the quality of harbor water... In 1972 the Clean Water Act was passed in order to help promote increased national water quality.

Signage on the streets of Boston says:     Don't Dump!

" ... Boston [had] little incentive to increase water quality of the harbor. Since the mid-1970s organizations within the Boston community have battled for a cleaner Boston Harbor. More recently, the harbor was the site of the $4.5 billion Boston Harbor Project. Failures at...[a]... sewage treatment plant in Quincy and ... Deer Island plant adjacent to Winthrop had far-reaching environmental and political effects. Fecal coliform bacteria levels forced frequent swimming prohibitions along the harbor beaches and the Charles River for many years.^[3]... finally[action] by the United States government, [resulted] in the landmark court-ordered cleanup of Boston Harbor.^[4]

Drains to

"Before the cleanup projects, the water was so polluted thatThe Standells released a song in 1966 called Dirty Water about the sorry state of the Charles River.

[Thank you Standells...  All musicians note your role in creating a sustainable Earth!]

Boston

Harbor

"...Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis to propose separating the water and sewer treatment divisions from the MDC, resulting in the creation of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority in 1985 . 

"[Dukakis'] environmental record, ... was better ...^[5]The court ordered cleanup continued throughout the next two decades and is still ongoing.^[4] 

"... water quality in both the Harbor and the Charles River has significantly improved, and the projects have dramatically transformed Boston Harbor from one of the filthiest in the nation to one of the cleanest. Today Boston Harbor is safe for fishing and for swimming nearly every day, though there are still beach closings after even small rainstorms, caused by bacteria-laden storm water and the occasional combined sewer overflow.

Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Harbor;  Accessed 20 March 2014. 

Meanwhile, some people took advantage of the revived waterfront area and built assets there to make them even more money.  These should have brought in enough tax revenue to compensate for the cleaning of the water.  Did they?  As a global citizen, you need to reflect on these kinds of issues that affect clean air and water.  What do you think?  What happens to the sewer in your town city or rural area?

Public health depends on your active participation in global sustainability.  And money is always involved.  Reflect on issues in your community.  I will post foundations supporting sustainability here and in other posts as I come across them.  Perhaps you will think about establishing a foundation in your community to support clean air, water, and other sustainability issues.  (Do you know how to do that?)

Here is a link to Colcom foundation (I read about the Colcom Foundation when following up on  a mention in an aarticle on Mister Rogers.  Read about Mister Rogers if you are not familiar with him.)  The mission of the Colcom Foundation is stated as:

... to foster a sustainable environment to ensure quality of life for all Americans by addressing major causes and consequences of overpopulation and its adverse effects on natural resources.

Regionally, the Foundation supports conservation, environmental projects and cultural assets.  

(Source:  http://www.colcomfdn.org/mission.html, accessed 20 March 2014.)

The Colcom Foundation has local, regional and national areas of interest that they support.  At the regional level, for example, they are committed to ensuring quality of life and environmental sustainability.

The Colcom Foundation aggressively addresses:

• watershed remediation,
• natural resource preservation,
• clean air,
• improved water quality, and
• farmland and wildlife habitat conservation.

I am interested in those same points in Orange and Rockland Counties in New York state, which have had tremendous population influxes following the 911 events.  Farm and woodlands, and, thus clean air and water, are rapidly disappearing.  Can you help?  Can you contribute?  Can we build a foundation to support the Orange and Rockland area?

I am interested in these points for other areas around the globe.  What can each area do to raise the needed funds to create sustainability globally?

If you are starting a foundation, post a comment here.  If you are a foundation, post a comment here.  If you have a good idea about raising money to build a sustainable Earth, let us know of your success.  

We can create a sustainable Earth together.  All it takes is our effort, and, money...so, let's set about finding ways to get the job done.  We can build a sustainable Earth.

Thank you Colcom Foundation for your inspiration and support, and, thank each and every one of us who is doing our part to build a sustainable Earth.

Photos (c)2004-present J S Shipman