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2020-12-17
S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation;
This essay describes the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation's approach to evaluation in its Environment Program. This approach was grantee-centric, shaped by the varied needs of nonprofits in the environment field as well as the Foundation's decision to spend down all assets by 2020 – which limited the number of years available to conduct evaluations and put new lessons to use. The Environment Program funded grantees to evaluate work they deemed critical to their missions or to build organizational capacity to conduct ongoing learning and evaluation. Knowledge gained through grantee activities informed their internal improvement efforts as well as the Foundation's grantmaking decisions.Seven examples illustrate the range of nonprofit learning and evaluation efforts supported by the Foundation. These experiences surfaced challenges as well as recommendations, presented later in this essay, that might be instructive to other environment funders who value learning and evaluation as means to greater impact.
2020-09-18
Sciencemag;
Plastic pollution is a pervasive and growing problem. To estimate the effectiveness of interventions to reduce plastic pollution, we modeled stocks and flows of municipal solid waste and four sources of microplastics through the global plastic system for five scenarios between 2016 and 2040. Implementing all feasible interventions reduced plastic pollution by 40% from 2016 rates and 78% relative to "business as usual" in 2040. Even with immediate and concerted action, 710 million metric tons of plastic waste cumulatively entered aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. To avoid a massive build-up of plastic in the environment, coordinated global action is urgently needed to reduce plastic consumption; increase rates of reuse, waste collection, and recycling; expand safe disposal systems; and accelerate innovation in the plastic value chain.
2020-02-01
S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation;
The California Conservation Fund was a charitable operating foundation established by Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr. to protect and restore waterfowl habitat. The Fund's primary impact was the conservation of more than 4,000 acres of prime habitat. Its secondary impact, while less direct, was larger in scale: Fund activities yielded insight into the underlying dynamics of wetland and open space management in California and, in turn, deeply influenced S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation Environment Program investments. In the Foundation's spend-down years, its Environment Program focused on systemic issues highlighted by the California Conservation Fund's efforts, and worked toward a California that manages, stewards, and conserves its water and land to support a resilient environment and economy.
2020-08-01
S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation;
The S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation invests in capacity building to enhance the effectiveness of our water and land grantees and enhance the systems and structures surrounding their work.The S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation envisions a California that manages, stewards, and conserves its water and land to support a resilient environment and healthy communities. This snapshot, prepared as the Foundation nears conclusion in 2020, documents a core strategy within its Environment Program.
2020-09-10
Scientific Reports Nature Research;
Small island states receive unprecedented amounts of the world's plastic waste. In March 2019, we removed as much plastic litter as possible from Aldabra Atoll, a remote UNESCO World Heritage Site, and estimated the money and effort required to remove the remaining debris. We removed 25 tonnes at a cost of $224,537, which equates to around $10,000 per day of clean-up operations or $8,900 per tonne of litter. We estimate that 513 tonnes (95% CI 212–814) remains on Aldabra, the largest accumulation reported for any single island. We calculate that removing it will cost approximately $4.68 million and require 18,000 person-hours of labour. By weight, the composition is dominated by litter from the regional fishing industry (83%) and flip-flops from further afield (7%). Given the serious detrimental effects of plastic litter on marine ecosystems, we conclude that clean-up efforts are a vital management action for islands like Aldabra, despite the high financial cost and should be integrated alongside policies directed at 'turning off the tap'. We recommend that international funding be made available for such efforts, especially considering the transboundary nature of both the marine plastic litter problem and the ecosystem services provided by biodiversity-rich islands.
2020-07-01
S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation;
The Environment Program's water portfolio supports California's transition to a sustainable water system that meets the needs of people and nature. Achieving this transition will depend on effective networks of local, regional, and statewide organizations able to demonstrate solutions and build constituencies of support.The S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation envisions a California that manages, stewards, and conserves its water and land to support a resilient environment and healthy communities. This snapshot, prepared as the Foundation nears conclusion in 2020, documents essential aspects of an Environment Program initiative.
2020-09-30
Global Strategy Group;
A September 2020 survey of Massachusetts voters on clean energy shows increasingly negative attitudes towards gas and other fossil fuels and heightened concerns about air pollution and public safety amidst the COVID crisis.Description:A survey fielded by Global Strategies Group in September 2020 showed Massachusetts voters continue to view clean energy as an imperative to protect the climate and public health and safety.65% of Massachusetts voters surveyed are ready for bold and decisive action to address the climate crisis, including a complete transition to clean and renewable energy statewide.Massachusetts voters trust scientists and public health experts above all others to convey the facts on energy issues. 85% of Massachusetts voters surveyed trust scientists and 82% trust public health experts to provide them with information on energy issues.Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly support using more solar and wind to generate electricity and a majority supports reducing our reliance on gas. 88% support using more solar, while 85% support using more wind. 52% support reducing reliance on gas.Finally, as the poll was conducted in the midst of the COVID crisis, in terms of stimulus spending to build back from COVID, providing assistance to people to pay their energy bills (86% support) and more incentives for energy efficiency (79% support) topped the list for Massachusetts voters followed by strong support for incentives to switch to cleaner heating alternatives such as heat pumps (68%).
2020-12-09
S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation;
California's water system supports nearly 40 million people, the world's fifth largest economy, diverse natural ecosystems, and one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world. Yet this critical system is under significant stress: Californians face increased water scarcity, declining water quality, greater flood risk, and the deteriorating health of ecosystems.Promising solutions exist, and there are many examples of innovation and collaboration to address the state's water challenges. However, the speed and scale of change are often limited by a lack of cohesion in practices, fragmented institutions, complex technical challenges, under-resourced nonprofits, and the lack of political will. In this context, between 2009 and 2020, the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation awarded more than $130 million in program funds to support California's transition to a more sustainable water future.Grants were orchestrated within three interconnected strategies: building knowledge to improve decisions, pursuing integrated solutions to complex challenges, and engaging more funders. These strategies spurred progress on interrelated goals involving groundwater management, flood protection, stormwater and urban resilience, drinking water quality, and open data. Foundation grants also helped bring forward billions of dollars in new public funding as well as more than $400 million in new philanthropic capital.Milestones achieved are transforming how California manages water. This impact was the product of difficult, dedicated effort by many individuals, organizations, and coalitions committed to change. Their progress was aided by public attention and desire for solutions emanating from an historic, extreme drought. Their work was supported by flexible risk capital and capacity-building outlays for the water field provided by philanthropy.This brief further describes the primary strategies, outcomes, and takeaways from the Foundation's water program. While drawn from one grantmaker's experience in California, this content can have broad relevance to practitioners, policymakers, and funders everywhere who seek a secure water future for people and nature.
2020-12-09
S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation;
The S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation's water program is rooted in the belief that California can manage its water to meet the needs of people and nature – but only if these needs are considered together and only if management strategies jointly address surface water, groundwater, water quality, and flood protection challenges.The S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation envisions a California that manages, stewards, and conserves its water and land to support a resilient environment and healthy communities. This snapshot, prepared as the Foundation nears conclusion in 2020, documents essential aspects of the Environment Program's water portfolio.
2020-01-23
FSG;
An estimated $12 trillion in market opportunities are embedded within the Sustainable Development Goals. Companies can unlock these opportunities with shared value, addressing social challenges in ways that improve a business' competitive positioning and profitability. But long-entrenched social and environmental problems often thwart shared value strategies. While executives know how to manage their corporate ecosystem of suppliers, distributors, and related businesses, those approaches do not work for the social ecosystem of governments, NGOs, and local communities. This guide outlines concrete and actionable steps for companies to build shared value ecosystems, based on insights from 12 companies across industries from around the world.
2020-03-21
Tiny Beam Fund;
Keywords: GHG emissions. Industrial-scale food animal production. Extensive animal agriculture systems.Scientific literature on greenhouse gas emissions of various forms of animal agriculture systems are synthesized.Explains the complexities of models used to generate estimates of GHGs in these scientific literature, and the reasons why they are not very robust and they contain errors that often go unreported.Points out that high-quality measurements that do exist consistently demonstrate that industrial animal agriculture's emissions are actually higher than typically estimated. Therefore the claim held by many experts and policy-makers that intensifying animal agriculture significantly limits global GHG emissions is unjustified.Cautions about not jumping to the conclusion that extensive, pastoral systems is the perfect answer.
