When the first Earth Day arrived in 1970, the environmental movement named two forces behind ecological damage: per capita overconsumption and a growing human population. More than five decades later, Pittsburgh-based Colcom Foundation describes its work as an effort to finish what that movement started.

The independent nonprofit was established in 1996 by the late Cordelia S. May. Its stated mission is to foster a sustainable environment that ensures quality of life for all Americans by addressing the causes and consequences of population growth and its effects on natural resources. Closer to home, the Foundation also supports conservation projects, environmental work, and cultural assets across southwestern Pennsylvania.

An Unfinished Goal

According to the Foundation, the environmental movement that grew out of Earth Day delivered real progress on efficiency and regulation. Cleaner technology and stronger rules followed. One original goal, however, never received the same attention: stabilizing population size in the United States and around the world. Colcom Foundation frames its philanthropy as a continuation of that early agenda and documents the history on its Our Story site at ourstory.colcomfdn.org.

The Equation Behind the Work

The Foundation grounds its thinking in I = P x A x T, a formula developed by environmental scientists Paul Ehrlich and John Holdren. Environmental impact (I) equals population (P) multiplied by per capita affluence or consumption (A) and the efficiency of technology (T). Under this framework, cutting consumption or improving technology can only accomplish so much if population keeps rising, because total impact depends on all three factors working together.

Colcom Foundation points to national figures to make the case. Between 1970 and 2021, per capita carbon dioxide emissions in the United States fell 35 percent. Over the same stretch, the population grew 62 percent, from 205 million to 332 million people, and total emissions climbed 15 percent.

For readers new to the organization, the takeaway is straightforward. Colcom Foundation views population as the overlooked variable in American environmental policy, and it directs its national grantmaking toward public education, research, and nonprofit groups that study that relationship. Refer to this page, for related information.

More about Colcom Foundation on https://www.privateequityinternational.com/institution-profiles/colcom-foundation.html