Program

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26

6:45–7:30 am

Bodymind Motion Class
with Bethany Wall, Mertz Gilmore Foundation

Take a break from all that heady conversation with colleagues and nourish your body, mind and spirit with this energizing movement class. Emphasizing breath, energy, alignment, release, strength, stretch and fun, this class is designed to renew and refresh your sagging (or maybe just overworked and weary!) soul.  Wear comfortable, loose clothing and bare feet.

7:00 - 8:00 am

Breakfast

8:00 - 8:15 am

Welcome

8:15-9:00 am

Keynote Address: James Forbes

James Forbes is senior minister of Riverside Church in New York City, an interdenominational, interracial and international church built by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., in 1927 and currently spiritual home to 2,400 members. Dr. Forbes is the first African-American to serve as senior minister of one of the largest multicultural congregations in the nation. He is known as “a preacher’s preacher” because of his extensive preaching career and his charismatic style, and he is also well known for his progressive views. In 1996 Newsweek magazine recognized Dr. Forbes as one of the 12 “most effective preachers” in the English-speaking world.

9:00 - 10:00 am

We Can Get There from Here: Setting an Agenda for EGA to Craft a Positive Environmental Future

EGA’s members bring passion, intelligence, wisdom and a diversity of approaches and strategies to addressing current and emerging environmental challenges. An important part of EGA’s mission and activities is to help members to connect with, encourage and challenge one another. In that spirit we are planning a series of activities intended to utilize the intellectual capital of the members who attend this year’s retreat to set EGA’s agenda for the coming year, explore opportunities for new collaborations and approaches to addressing environmental concerns and identify themes for the 2006 Fall Retreat.

Our annual retreats contribute to a sense of community among the myriad organizations now involved in environmental grantmaking, provide time for collaborative discussions and enhance understanding and communication among colleagues and grantmakers. During each of the next three days of this retreat, we ask you to join with your colleagues to continue a conversation that we’ve been having throughout the year—and at EGA’s Salons for the Future—about the environmental movement, its future and the role that philanthropy plays in shaping it. More important, we hope these activities will help identify the ways our individual and collective work contributes to solving environmental challenges, renewing the environmental movement by strengthening our own network to support a positive, achievable future.

Day One: Movement and Looking Ahead

Movement by definition implies a change in place or position. What are the possible environmental futures we envision and what are the changes we individually or collectively are trying to achieve? What does it mean to be part of the environmental movement? What are the values and principles that guide us? On this first day we will work in small groups to draft the headlines we hope will be published in ten years’ time to describe the progress we have made. This interactive session is the first of three daily discussions that we hope will help strengthen our network and shape priorities for action. 

10:30 am–12:30 pm

Keynote Address and Discussion: Al Gore
Climate Change as Archetype: How We Can, and Must, Turn This Around

Climate change has become one of the most dramatic and unwieldy challenges for this generation of environmental advocates. As science illustrates, the consequences of inaction are becoming more profound. Yet our inability to bring the United States (and others) to act decisively in response to these threats may be typical of the conundrum we face on so many environmental fronts. Former Vice President Al Gore has developed a stunning presentation on the environmental and political puzzle posed by climate change and a ringing call to action! Come see the latest information, discuss what we can do to “turn it around” and draw lessons to apply to all of the issues on which we work.

Al Gore offers a unique perspective on national and international affairs with his experience as Vice President of the United States, a member of Congress for 16 years, a two-time presidential candidate, a Vietnam veteran and a working journalist. His environmental views were outlined in the best-selling Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit, and he has continued to be one of the most articulate advocates for dramatic responses to the threats of climate change. In 2004, Gore was named Chairman of Generation Investment Management, a new fund management firm that plans to create environment-friendly portfolios. He is also Chairman of Current TV, a senior advisor to Google, Inc., and serves on the board of Apple Computers, Inc.

Stephen Heintz has been president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund since February 2001. Previously, he held top leadership positions in both the nonprofit and public sectors. Most recently, Mr. Heintz was founding president of D?mos: A Network for Ideas & Action. He also worked with the EastWest Institute, based in Prague, Czech Republic, where he focused on issues of economic reform, civil society development, and international security. Mr. Heintz devoted the first fifteen years of his career to politics and government service in the State of Connecticut, where he served as Commissioner of Economic Development (1988-1990) and Commissioner of Social Welfare (1983-1988).

12:30–1:30 pm

Lunch

Political Lunch

As the conservative movement has gathered strength, the environmental movement has been losing its clout.  Given the anti-environmental bias of the conservative dominated Congress and administration, how is the environmental movement going to make a comeback? Will it take new approaches, and if so what might they be?  Finally, what is the current and potential relationship between the environmental movement and the larger progressive movement?  A new player on the scene is the Democracy Alliance-- formed by a large group of funders who felt that the progressive movement needed the same long term funding commitments that has empowered the conservative movement over the last 30 years.

SPEAKER

Rob Stein is the founder and CEO of the Democracy Alliance. He is a lawyer and ran several non-profit organizations in the 1980s.  Additionally, he was chief of staff of both the Washington Office of the Clinton-Gore Transition and the US Department of Commerce.  Rob has also conducted research on the nature of the “Conservative Message Machine.”

FACILITATOR

John Hunting is the founder and board chair of two foundations: the Dyer-Ives Foundation (a private foundation that supports social, educational, environmental, and cultural initiatives in Grand Rapids) and the Beldon Fund (an organization that seeks to build a national consensus to achieve and sustain a healthy planet).  Born in 1931, John’s passions include soccer, musical theater, and environmental protection.

2:00–3:30 pm

Concurrent Sessions

Building Power to Win: Inter-Movement Strategies for Environmental Change

What are some successful campaigns of alliances involving environmental, labor, economic justice, public health and social justice groups? We will walk funders through the key elements of victory in two grassroots campaigns that developed and passed far-reaching state environmental policies in California and New Jersey. These campaigns linked participatory research and policy advocacy with strategies for capacity building, media and messaging and transforming philanthropy’s role in environmental change.We’ll analyze how organizers, policy advocates, researchers and foundation partners together crafted winning strategies to dramatically expand democratic participation in environmental decision-making for California’s and New Jersey’s 45 million residents.

SPEAKERS

Valorie Caffee is director of organizing for the New Jersey Work Environment Council and chair of WEC’s Environmental Justice Program. Shewas previously organizing director for the Communications Workers ofAmerica (Local 1058), based in central and northern New Jersey. Valorieis a lifelong social-justice activist and has extensive experience creating successful coalitions. 

Diane Takvorian is executive director of the Environmental Health Coalition, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting public health and the environment through the empowerment of disenfranchised communities and policy advocacy. She earned a BS in psychology and an MSW from San Diego State University.

FACILITATOR

Torri Estrada currently serves as coordinator for the Water Funders Alliance and is a program officer at the Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program, where he manages grantmaking on environment, civil rights, global democracy and media. Torri has worked at the intersection of the environment and social justice for more than 20 years.

It’s Gettin’ Hot in Here: Building a Movement for Climate Justice

SPEAKERS

Emil Ramirez has been active in the labor movement since 1974 and a member of the United Steelworkers of America since 1986. He has served on the Kansas State AFL-CIO Executive Committee and is currently vice president of the Kansas Industrial Union Council. Emil serves on the USWA’s International Committee on Civil Rights and is a member of the Sierra Club. 

Clayton Thomas-Muller is from the Mathais Colomb Cree Nation in northern Manitoba, Canada, and is an activist for indigenous self-determination and environmental justice. Clayton was recognized by the Utne Reader as one of the “Top 30 under 30” activists in the United States for his work with grassroots indigenous communities to defend their rights against transnational oil corporations.

FACILITATOR

Michael Conroy is a program officer at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, focusing on Global Governance within the Fund’s Democratic Practice program. He is also a Senior Lecturer and Senior Research Scholar at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Prior to RBF, Michael served as a program officer at the Ford Foundation in Environment and Development. Michael serves on the board of TransFair USA and Earth Works, Inc.

The Literal and Figurative Story of the Computer

The many inner parts of computers are rarely seen, touched or understood—here’s your chance. Computers are manufactured and disposed of all over the world, and the global impacts are stunning. E-waste is toxic (contributing 70% of the nation’s hazardous wastes) and the volume is rising—three times faster than any other source of municipal waste. Meanwhile, more than half a billion obsolete personal computers sit idle in closets and basements around the world. What should we do with them? Come grab a screwdriver and hear about the life cycle of the computer and promising solutions for reducing both the volume and toxicity of electronic waste through the patchwork of state and global initiatives.

SPEAKERS

Plinio Ayala has been president and CEO of Per Scholas for the past 6 years. He helped to develop the computer-technician training program as well as the production process that has made reconditioned home computers accessible to more than 20,000 low-income families. He also assisted in the creation of NYC’s only e-waste recycling center. Plinio graduated from Wesleyan University and Columbia Business School.

Sheila Davis is executive director of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. In eight years working  in advocacy and research, she has shaped environmental policy in the high-tech industry. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California and worked as a journalist, legislative aide and community development specialist before joining the staff of SVTC.

FACILITATOR

Jenny Russell has been executive director of the Merck Family Fund since 1998, leading its work on sustainable consumption, land protection, urban green space and youth organizing. Prior to foundation work, Jenny led students on outdoor trips, advocated for nuclear disarmament and raised funds for scientific explorations.

Red States, Blue States, Many Roads to Green States

Analyses of the red-blue divide in America portray a country polarized culturally as well as politically. Environmental progress requires reaching into middle America, whose inhabitants—including conservative, blue-collar workers from rural and suburban communities—are concerned about family issues, security and taking care of America. They care, as do most people, about their families’ health and clean air and water; but too often environmentalists have failed to address the apparent disconnect between middle Americans’ dominant values and environmental concerns. We will offer some solutions-in-progress, highlighting health, faith and security as arenas in which environmental health advocates are effectively bridging divides across red-blue lines to move into green country.

SPEAKERS

Tina Clarke is the faith consultation project director for the Collaborative on Health and the Environment. She was a campaign director for Massachusetts Clean Water Action, directed Greenpeace USA’s citizen activist network and directed two national interfaith advocacy training programs. Tina has consulted for more than 100 nonprofit organizations on citizen activism, organizational development and strategic planning. 

Elise Miller is executive director of the National Institute for Children’s Environmental Health. The Institute’s mission is to foster collaborative initiatives among diverse sectors to eliminate environmental hazards that can undermine children’s healthy development. She served as founding executive director of the Jenifer Altman Foundation between 1993 and 1998. She has a master’s degree in education.

FACILITATOR

Ruth Hennig is executive director of The John Merck Fund. Ruth has served on the management and program committees for EGA, and she is currently on the Health and Environment Funders Network steering committee. Ruth is on the boards of the Beldon Fund and SmartPower, an NGO building clean-energy markets.

RELATED LINKS
The Institute for Children's Environmental Health (ICEH)

Sovereignty in a Globalized World: Where Food, Farmers and Funders Fit In

Through open discussion, we’ll illustrate how farmers are organizing at home and internationally to advocate policies that promote a vision of food sovereignty—one based on the rights of peoples and countries to define their own approaches, including the right of farmers to produce food and the right of consumers to decide what they consume as well as how and by whom it is produced. We will show how funders can support efforts to promote agriculture based on needs and traditions for food security, diversity of production, conservation, biodiversity and fair distribution of social and economic opportunities.

SPEAKERS

Dena Hoff has raised sheep, cattle, alfalfa, corn, edible dry beans and other crops on her farm in Montana since 1979. She is an active member of her rural community, serving on the Water Commission and the local food cooperative. She is also active with the Western Organization of Resource Councils.

Paul Nicholson represents the Basque farmers union EHNE in Spain and is an executive board member of Coordination Paysanne Europe, an umbrella of 17 farmers’ organizations from 11 countries. He is also the European representative of Via Campesina, an international movement of small and middle-scale producers and agricultural workers from Asia, Africa, America and Europe.

FACILITATOR

Kolu Zigbi inherited her interest in agriculture from her Liberian grandfather, an upland rice farmer. A program officer at the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation, she organizes support for policies that value family farms, community health, social justice and environmental sustainability and that counter the concentration of ownership in, and industrialization of, agriculture. Kolu co-chairs the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders working group.

Strategies for Creating Resilient Human and Ecological Systems

The promise that science and technology would enable management of ecosystems for sustainable use has not materialized in the face of experience. Traditional management approaches have proven inadequate as ecosystems continue to degrade. Management typically creates hidden fragilities, precipitating collapses in ecosystems or flips to less desirable states that are not easily reversible. “Resilience science” represents a rapidly growing body of theory and practice, developed from practical studies of socio-ecological systems from around the world. It challenges classical assumptions of conservation and carries deep and exciting implications for a new approach to the management of coupled socio-ecological systems. We will present the latest thinking in resilience theory and its relevance to EGA members.

SPEAKER

Ann Kinzig’s research interests focus broadly on urban ecology, the resilience of human-environment interactions over long periods of time and science policy. Ann is a member of the Board of Directors and the executive committee of Resilience Alliance, where she is working on developing resilience theory and translating concepts into practice.

FACILITATOR

Ken Wilson is executive director of The Christensen Fund, which is exploring how resilience theory can inform strategies for maintaining biological and cultural diversity in partnership with indigenous people in a world beset with change. He was previously with the Ford Foundation, and he holds degrees in zoology and anthropology from the universities of Oxford and London.

3:30–5:30 pm

Open Time

We encourage you to use this time to relax, reflect and truly retreat. Take advantage of the hiking trails and other activities at Mohonk, find a nook for reading, or whatever sounds good. Check your participant packet at the meeting for more ideas.

5:30–7:00 pm

Reception
A Sense of Place: Artists of the Hudson Valley Region

Please join us for an art exhibition and reception featuring local art.  The Hudson Valley artists in this show are enlivened by a reverence for nature—an environmental ethic—that has evolved since the 19th century. Like Thomas Cole, the founder of the Hudson River School, these contemporary artists share an appreciation for the landscape and deep concern for the changes industrialization has brought to the region. Meet curator and artist Judy Abbott, along with other participating artists.

Judy Abbott returned to her ancestral home, the Catskill Mountains, in 1970. Her love of nature was heightened by a growing awareness of the Hudson River School and the art of Native Americans. She has exhibited in numerous shows nationally, and in 2004 she was the curator of “Art and Environmentalism: An Ethic of 24 Artists of the Hudson River Valley” at the Coffey Gallery in Kingston, NY.

6:00–7:00 pm

EGA’s Working Groups Reception

with the

Funders’ Network on Trade and Globalization,
Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders,
Sustainable Consumption and Production Funders

and the

Water Funders Alliance

Everyone is welcome to join the EGA working groups for drinks and conversation. Learn about our work and how you can get involved and take your funding to a new level.

7:00–8:00 pm

Dinner

8:00–10:00 pm

Cultural Evening featuring Pete and Toshi Seeger and NYC Spoken Word Performers

Pete and Toshi Seeger, beloved and deeply admired figures in American cultural life and honored guests at the EGA retreat at Mohonk in 2000, join us again this year. Pete and Toshi have championed the cause of a cleaner Hudson through the Clearwater Sloop, inspiring countless other efforts to take to the rivers and restore the waterways of the world. Pete and Toshi have listened to the lessons of cities, honoring diversity, bridging differences and, as activists for more than six decades, encouraging ordinary people to struggle for civil rights, peace and environmental justice. Their lives give testimony to the truth that every voice matters and that our individual songs, joined by others, contain the power to change the world.

Please Don’t Feed the Poets

New York City is a refuge for many distinct endangered species of poets. Come, see and hear three outstanding wordsmiths from diverse backgrounds—from the Nuyorican movement to the Slam and Beat traditions. A special musical guest performance will follow.