For the past 25 years, the Center for Political Ecology has served as the nonprofit sponsor for dozens of ecological sustainability groups and initiatives in Santa Cruz, the larger Monterey Bay area, and beyond. Some of this work includes administering:
Critical conversations and publications: Annual donations and grants in support of the editorial and production costs of the journal Capitalism, Nature, Socialism, and periodic CNS symposiums and conferences (i.e., York University, 2005).
Farm Without Harm: Grants from several foundations (2000-03) to monitor pesticide use in Santa Cruz County public spaces allowed CPE to support organizers in their work with local groups committed to “Farm without Harm” — building a coalition approach to battle the use of methyl-bromide and other toxics in public spaces in Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay counties.
Knowledge is Power: A foundation video production grant (2000-02) to CPE researcher John Silver to document a college-sponsored math and science program for high school students, and a bilingual education program involving children of migrant farm workers in Watsonville, California.
Critical conversations and publications: A foundation research and writing grant (2001-02) for labor activist Frank Bardacke to support his research on Ceasar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Movement and the development of related books. One outcome of this work is the book Good Liberals and Great Blue Herons – Land, Labor and Politics in the Pajaro Valley.
Political Art: A foundation grant (2002-03) for Artist Clifford McLucas to create an art exhibit educating the public on the negative effects of the California Death Penalty and the death sentences performed at San Quentin.
Ecological Agriculture: Foundation grants (2002-06) to support sustainable agriculturalist Dave Blume and his efforts to develop the Institute for International Ecological Action, including research, writing, travel, and publications on the production of biofuels and other sustainable crops.
Human Rights, Environment and Social Justice: Foundation grants to support human environmental rights abuse research and develop a plan for reparations; a collaborative initiative involving CPE, International Rivers, Rights Action, and Guatemalan community organizations (2003-05) documenting the consequential damages of involuntary displacement and related massacres associated with the construction of the Chixoy Dam, Guatemala.
Human Rights, Environment and Social Justice: Foundation grants in support of CPE fellows Barbara Rose Johnston and Holly M. Barker’s research and writing (2004-06) on environment, health and human rights dimensions of nuclear militarism, including the book “Considering the Consequential Damages of Nuclear War: Legacies and Lessons from the Marshall Islands”
Pastors for Peace Bus Caravan: Donations in support of the 2005 Cuba Caravan project collaboration with Pastors for Peace. CPE joined other local organizations to organize events, raise money, and collect goods in support of this annual humanitarian aid project where local communities acquire buses and fill them with medical and educational supplies to caravan to Mexico, and then shipped to Cuba.
Knowledge is Power: Grants and donations in support of the UCSC 2005 Earth Summit, a conference organized by the Student Environmental Center. CPE supported the work of area activists and students involved in this annual conference and related public lecture series.
Sustainable University Foods Project: Foundation and individual donor grants for the Sustainable University Foods Project (2005-06), a collaborative campaign involving the Center for Agricultural Ecology and Sustainable Living, the UCSC Student Environmental Center, the Center for Political Ecology, the Santa Cruz Homeless Garden, and local co-op CSA’s. This initiative campaigned for the use of locally grown organic foods in university dining halls and strengthened understanding of the value of eating local organic foods through university and public lectures by local, national and international experts.
Eco-action internships: Homeless Garden CPE helps underwrite the material costs (tools and other supplies) for student and community internships at the Homeless Garden.
Eco-action internships: Seed security The India Exchange Project (2006-07) travel grant program, created by CPE following Vandana Shiva’s visit to Santa Cruz as part of the Sustainable University Foods Project, provided travel grants for student interns to work with Dr. Shiva in India on her “seed security” campaign.
Human Rights, Environment, and Social Justice: A foundation grant (2007-09) for CPE fellow Barbara Rose Johnston’s research, writing, and public education on “Human Rights, Environment, and Social Justice” and her contributions as a member of UNESCO International Hydrological Programme’s expert panel on Water and Cultural Diversity (2008-2011).
Social Responsibility of Citizenship: Individual donations in support of the organizing efforts of the Community Life Network, the General Assemblies Network, and the iHeart Occupy campaign.
Human Rights, Environment, and Social Justice: Individual donor and foundation grants for CPE’s Marshall Islands Environment, Health and Human Rights Urgent Action Initiative (2012), in support of travel and civil society involvement at the 21st UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva where nuclear survivors voiced their experiences and support for a UN Special Rapporteur investigation and recommendations on the continuing human rights abuses associated with nuclear weapons testing; and, in support of continuing civil society participation in the UNHRC Universal Periodic Review of the United States and the Marshall Islands.
Human Rights, Environment and Social Justice: Individual donor grants supporting the continued advisory and public policy work communicating the history, lessons learned, and continuing reparation obligations associated with the consequential damages of involuntary displacement and related massacres associated with the construction of the Chixoy Dam, Guatemala.