The Daily Tell

The Wildlife Conservation Society announced that it has received a $4.9 million grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, which will enable it to establish the Climate Adaptation Fund.

More than $4 million will be re-granted over the next two years through WCS in an effort to fund nonprofit conservation organizations that work to help wildlife adapt to climate change. It will support applied, on-the-ground projects that demonstrate conservation actions.

"The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation recognizes the serious threat posed by climate change to biodiversity in the U.S.," said Andrew Bowman, director of the foundation’s Environment Program.

"This new focus for the WCS grants program will provide critical resources to the wildlife conservation community as it grapples with how best to address the growing climate challenge," he added.

The change represents the organization's shift in funding and focus for its grants programs, which was previously called the Wildlife Action Opportunities Fund, launched in collaboration with the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

With the former grant program, WCS awarded $7.2 million to 81 projects in 45 states to help restore habitats, protect wildlife movement corridors, incorporate wildlife into land-use planning decisions reintroduce endangered species into habitats and implement the priorities of State Wildlife Action Plans.

Projects that demonstrate land management techniques and aim to assist wildlife in adapting to climate change, protect, expand or create new habitats, or protect key species from the impacts of climate change will be be awarded grants through the Climate Adaptation Fund.

WSC will announce its request for proposals this spring.

Forty-three projects in 27 states will be receiving grants through the latest round of TogetherGreen Innovation Grants, an environmentally-conscious initiative funded by a $20 million grant from Toyota over five years and initiated by the Audubon Society.

Launched in 2008, the TogetherGreen program supports projects innvolving Audubon Society chapters and community-based organizations that are working to tackle environmental and conservational issues in unique, engaging and effective ways.

Since its launch, the program has awarded more than $3.5 million in support of approximately 130 environmental projects nationwide. Projects are selected for their innovation, potential gains in habitat, water, and energy conservation and opportunities to engage new audiences in helping the environment.

In this round of grants, $1.1 million will be distributed among various people-driven initiatives to positively impact the environment, including a group of kids in Los Angeles who cultivated and planted native species in degraded coastal habitat, Denver students who successfully devised a plan to reduce their school's energy usage, a project to restore a wildlife sanctuary damaged by the Gulf Coast oil spill and an initiative that promotes sustainable ranching.

"The conservation solutions pioneered by TogetherGreen Innovation Grant winners are inspiring models of both ingenuity and conservation commitment," said Audubon president David Yarnold. "Each project represents an investment in our shared environment and future – and an opportunity for many of our nation's most creative and dedicated individuals and communities to transform their dreams into effective conservation action." 

The UPS Foundation, the charitable arm of the United Parcel Service, has announced nine grants totaling nearly $2 million to environmental programs and organizations across the globe.

The grants are designed to address issues related to climate change, renewable energy, resource conservation, and other environmental causes championed by UPS volunteers.

Organizations receiving funding include the Nature Conservancy, which received $600,000 in support of sustainable forestry efforts in China and Kenya, along with continued efforts to develop a carbon offset program in Brazil by cultivation of erva-mate, a marketable herb that thrives on the forest floor; as well as the World Resources Institute, which has been granted $300,000 for its Green House Protocol initiative.

The Earth Day Network has also received $200,000, which will go toward its Sustainable Transportation Project, a comprehensive education initiative that will provide sustainable transportation lesson plans, pilot tests of school-based biodiesel production facilities and a corresponding advertising and media campaign. In addition, Keep America Beautiful received $300,000 for its Community Improvement Grant program that focuses on recycling, conservation, education and employee engagement.

"UPS employees are actively engaged in building stronger and more sustainable communities," said Eduardo Martinez, director of philanthropy and corporate relations for the UPS Foundation. "Our financial contributions support the overall commitment of our people and our communities as they work to improve the planet." 

Global warming is a widely accepted reality, and unless companies and individuals act quickly, global climate change could be affecting all our lives sooner rather than later. However, one company – generally considered a global warming offender – is now working to help reduce its own carbon footprint and the carbon contribution of the people it serves.

Chevrolet, a division of General Motors, has announced a $40 million initiative aimed at reducing carbon emissions by 8 million metric tons by 2015.

Since vehicles are some of the biggest carbon producers, it may seem odd that Chevy is so committed to stopping global climate change. However, the automaker will invest in clean energy projects that promote energy savings, renewable energy, responsible use of natural resources and conservation in communities across the United States in an effort to make a positive difference in the environment.

Over the next three to five years, Chevy's commitment may include funding for smart energy sensors and solar panels in schools and other community-based facilities, as well as supporting wind farms and solar projects that deliver renewable energy to the grid. The company also plans to help family farms increase their revenues per acre and contribute to forestry initiatives that help replant trees and keep the planet green and healthy.

"GM has made great progress in reducing our environmental impact, but we know we can do more," said General Motors CEO Dan Akerson. "Chevrolet's investment is an extension of the environmental initiatives we've been undertaking for years, because the solution to global environmental challenges goes beyond just vehicles."

The Rockfeller Foundation has announced the commitment of more than $1.5 million in funding to support the development of climate-smart agriculture that will hopefully one day replace outdated, harmful farming practices.

The commitment was announced earlier this week at the Global Conference on Food Security, Agriculture and Climate Change at the Hague in the Netherlands. Agriculture, experts said, is a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions and therefore has the opportunity to play a major role in reducing them. Agriculture, forestry and other land uses are responsible for as much as 30 percent of the world's greenhouse gas production.

However, agriculture can be adapted to reduce its harmful effect on climate change. Scientists maintain that modern land usage has the potential to mitigate climate change through long-term carbon storage in soils and biomass as well as the reduction of nitrous oxide and methane emissions.

For its part, the Rockefeller Foundation is committed to helping the world's farmers and agriculture professionals find ways of keeping their livelihoods while contributing to the global movement to halt climate change. The grants announced by the charitable group include initial funding to the Washington, D.C.-based Forest Trends for the launch of an African Agricultural Climate Finance Facility, a program which will develop and test new transaction models leading to greater investment in farm-based agricultural mitigation and adaptation projects.

Other grants awarded by the foundation include a generous gift to the Rainforest Alliance to support the development of criteria for low-carbon farming techniques as part of its Sustainable Agriculture Standard, as well as support for the ongoing work of the Nature Conservation Research Centre of Ghana, an organization which works to help local cocoa farmers produce their cocoa via a traditional, shade-based method that supports greater long-term productivity.

With green spaces and public parks shrinking around the country, at least one university is working to preserve grassy spots and tree-lined roads in its city.

Thanks to a $2 million grant from retired businessman Michael Cudahy, the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee is one step closer to completing its Innovation Park development, in which it plans to purchase a $13.55 million 88-acre tract located on the County Grounds and turn it into a public park for use by all Wisconsin residents and visitors. The foundation will need to raise $5 million to put a down payment on the land.

The Innovation Park project suffered a setback when Cudahy temporarily withdrew his support, but he reconsidered after meeting with the university's interim chancellor, Mike Lovell, and John Raymond, president of the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Cudahy isn't the only donor committed to supporting Innovation Park. According to UMW Foundation president David Gilbert, a local foundation – as yet unnamed – has agreed to provide an additional $1 million. Gilbert added that UWM officials are also talking with several other significant donors, though he declined to provide names.

Gilbert said Cudahy's donation has reinvigorated the fundraising effort, giving it "tremendous momentum."

"It gives other donors in the community a level of confidence that someone with his business savvy is committed to the project," he added. 

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is in the news once again, this time for a $1.45 million grant to Iowa State University to help researchers explore ways to provide better access to improved seed varieties in Africa.

Delivered over three years, the grant will help ISU seed scientists partner with regional and national organizations in Malawi, Zambia and Nigeria on the Seed Policy Enhancement in African Regions, or SPEAR, project. The initiative aims to advance more effective seed policies in western and southern Africa, as well as improve varietal evaluations and timely releases of candidate seed varieties.

"The SPEAR project speaks to what we are about here at the center – providing quality seed to the world," said Seed Science Center director Manjit Misra. "We are proud to be a part of this project that can truly enhance the sustainability of smallholder farmers in Africa who face limited resources."

"As the project progresses, seed will be provided to companies on a timely and equitable basis," added Seed Science Center Global Seed program leader Joe Cortes. "Seed production contracts will be initiated, and regional and international seed companies will begin working with the existing seed companies in the area. In the end, licensing contracts will result, and smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa will have access to increased varieties of high-quality seed."

The Seed Science Center at Iowa State University houses the world's largest comprehensive public seed laboratory, with ongoing projects in 30 countries. In the past 12 years, the center's Global Seed Program has conducted international projects on seed policy and regulations in more than 70 nations.

Entrepreneur Yossie Hollander and his family have announced a $5 million gift to Cornell University's Center for a Sustainable Future to support a research project designed to address energy needs in the developing world.

Hollander, a member of the management committee of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, and a founding director of the Our Energy Policy Foundation, which works to foster dialogue about U.S. energy policy, intends for the money to go toward developing nations in need of sustainable green technology.

"In five years, the world will experience a shortage of up to 10 million barrels of oil a day, and it will be the weakest counties who won't get the oil," Hollander told the Wall Street Journal. "Without oil, economies of developing countries will be thrown back to the Middle Ages and will be devastated."

Hollander's goal, however, isn't to expand access to oil – it's to find alternative methods of fueling, literally and figuratively, the economy of the developing world. To that end, the entrepreneur has donated $5 million of his fortune to a Cornell University project designed to do just that.

Cornell's project aims to support vulnerable nations in danger of losing access to liquid fuel sources due to increasing global demand for crude oil by employing a team of researchers at the university who are working on developing sustainable solutions to oil shortages using pyrolosis, the thermal decomposition of organic material without oxygen. The technique can generate some biofuels, as well as biochar, a charcoal-like product.

As part of the project, a village-scale pyrolysis facility will be established in Kenya by associate professor of soil science Johannes Lehmann, a leading authority on the fuel substitute.

"These funds will be used to support a project of strategic importance to sustainability research at Cornell and of even greater importance to villages in poor countries, where small-scale pyrolysis can make a difference in local energy production and provide a path for survival in an oil-constrained world," said Center for a Sustainable Future director Frank DiSalvo. "This gift provides remarkable support for this project at a most critical point in its growth and development." 

"Give me shelter," sang the Rolling Stones – and one group is working to do just that.

Shelter: It's one of the most basic of human needs, something that many of us take for granted every day. But for millions of people around the world, owning a home feels like an impossibility. That's why Habitat for Humanity is so committed to putting a roof over the heads of people in both the industrialized and the developing world.

Every week, more than a million people are born in cities in the developing world. As a result, the urban population of developing countries will double from 2 billion to 4 billion in the next 30 years. By the year 2030, an additional 3 billion people – about 40 percent of the world's population – will need access to housing. This translates into a demand for 96,150 new affordable units every day. That's 4,000 houses every hour.

Habitat for Humanity is committed to meeting this challenge. On October 4th, in recognition of World Habitat Day, the nonprofit will work to raise awareness about the issues facing the homeless population around the world. Habitat for Humanity will emphasize the connection between human health and housing and redouble its commitment to neighborhood revisitation in the United States.

In fact, the connection between health and housing is so great that the number of low-income families who lack access to a safe and affordable home is directly correlated to the number of children who suffer from asthma, viral infections, anemia, stunted growth and other health problems. About 21,000 children suffer from stunted growth attributable to a lack of stable housing, 10,000 children between the ages of 4 and 9 are hospitalized for asthma attacks each year because of cockroach infestation in their homes and more than 180 children die every year in house fires attributable to faulty heating and electrical equipment in unsafe homes.

By contrast, children who do have a safe and stable home are more likely to stay in school, do better on standardized testing and have a reduced chance of behavioral problems.

This year, Habitat for Humanity will once again host the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project as a part of World Habitat Day. The event is an annual, internationally-recognized week of building that brings attention to the need for safe and affordable housing. This year, the Carters will work alongside volunteers in several cities, including Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Annapolis, Maryland, Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, and Birmingham, Alabama, to build, remodel and improve 86 homes.
 

The Ford Foundation has committed $85 million to advancing rural land rights and helping rural and indigenous communities become more involved in stopping climate change.

The New York-based foundation hopes that the grants, to be used over a five-year period, will help people living in low-income rural communities in countries including Brazil, Indonesia, China, India and Mexico, as well as those living in grasslands, forest and marginal agricultural land in Eastern Africa and Central America. The aim of the project is to help these rural and indigenous populations take a more active role in preventing and reversing global climate change. By engaging these communities, the foundation hopes to reduce poverty and increase quality of life.

"This work heralds a new way of thinking about natural resources and sustainable development. It unlocks the potential for people, especially rural and indigenous communities, to be a part of the solution," said Ford Foundation president Luis Ubiñas.

The initiative will work to strengthen the voice and influence of rural leaders, encourage investments that benefit rural communities and demonstrate effective methods of community management. Since more than 30 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emission comes from the rural sector, helping these communities get involved in sustainable climate change solutions has enormous implications for the worldwide effort to end global warming.

"As sustainable development programs are ramped up globally, we have the responsibility of ensuring that the people who have historically lived in and preserved forests and natural resources are included in the global dialogue about the future of their lands," added Ubiñas.

The Ford Foundation was founded by the Ford Motor Company in 1936 thanks to an initial grant of $25,000 by Edsel Ford, son of Henry Ford. Today, the foundation makes grants in all 50 states and supports programs in more than 50 countries.