Nature Conservancy faces potential backlash from ties with BP

[charlesg]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/23/AR2010052302164.html

Nature Conservancy faces potential backlash from ties with BP
By Joe Stephens
Monday, May 24, 2010; A01

In the days after the immensity of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico became clear, some Nature Conservancy supporters took to the organization's Web site to vent their anger. "The first thing I did was sell my shares in BP, not wanting anything to do with a company that is so careless," wrote one. Another added: "I would like to force all the BP executives, the secretaries and the shareholders out to the shore to mop up oil and wash the birds." Reagan De Leon of Hawaii called for a boycott of "everything BP has their hands in."

What De Leon didn't know was that the Nature Conservancy lists BP as one of its business partners. The Conservancy also has given BP a seat on its International Leadership Council and has accepted nearly $10 million in cash and land contributions from BP and affiliated corporations over the years. "Oh, wow," De Leon said when told of the depth of the relationship between the nonprofit group she loves and the company she hates. "That's kind of disturbing."

The Conservancy, already scrambling to shield oyster beds from the spill, now faces a different problem: a potential backlash as its supporters learn that the giant oil company and the world's largest environmental organization long ago forged a relationship that has lent BP an Earth-friendly image and helped the Conservancy pursue causes it holds dear. The crude emanating from BP's well threatens to befoul a number of alliances between energy conglomerates and environmental nonprofits. At least one group, Conservation International, acknowledges that it is reassessing its ties to the oil company, with an eye toward protecting its reputation...

And the Conservancy is far from the only environmental nonprofit with ties to BP. Conservation International has accepted $2 million in donations from BP over the years and partnered with the company on a number of projects, including one examining oil-extraction methods. From 2000 to 2006, John Browne, who was then BP's chief executive, sat on the nonprofit's board. In response to the spill, the nonprofit plans to review its relationship with the company, said Justin Ward, a Conservation International vice president. The Environmental Defense Fund, which has a policy of not accepting corporate donations, joined with BP, Shell International and other major corporations to form the Partnership for Climate Action, which promotes "market-based mechanisms" to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And about 20 energy and environmental groups, including the Conservancy, the Sierra Club and Audubon, joined with BP Wind Energy to form the American Wind and Wildlife Institute, which works to protect wildlife through "responsible" development of wind farms...

[Jamastiene]

1. I'm still pissed off about 88 acres of old growth forest that the Nature Conservancy bought

in my neighborhood. Why? Because, they completely clear cut all 88 acres!

[Art_from_Ark]

3. WTF?

They bought up 88 acres of old growth forest and clear cut it?

Again I say, :wtf:

[Jamastiene]

8. Yes, I was apalled.

It was a beautiful place full of streams, giant natural boulders, and old growth forest, quite possibly some of the largest old oaks I have seen in the county.

Originally, when the Nature Conservancy bought it, it was 88 acres. I know because I looked into buying it myself, but just didn't have the money. I ended up moving elsewhere in the same neighborhood, but drive by that property sometimes.

It was probably about a year and a half after they bought it that I drove by one day and it was clear cut. Now, it's broken up into a couple (approximately) 34 acre parcels and a smaller parcel of all clear cut land right down to the creek.


I haven't liked the Nature Conservancy since.

[Art_from_Ark]

10. That's just awful

I was a member for many years, and even went down to Little Rock one year to discuss job prospects with the Nature Conservancy. I never thought they would be in the business of clear-cutting old-growth forest.

[SPedigrees]

6. Connections with the lumber industry too? nt

[Jamastiene]

2. K&R, btw

:kick:

[KoKo]

4. Henry Paulson, Chair and CEO-Goldman Sachs/Chair and BOD-The Nature Conservancy

Henry M. Paulson, Jr.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Chairman of the Board of Directors, The Nature Conservancy

Henry M. Paulson, Jr. (Hank) is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Hank joined Goldman Sachs in 1974 in the Chicago Office, and became a partner in 1982. From 1983 until 1988, Hank headed up Investment Banking Services for the Midwest Region, and became Managing partner of the Chicago Office in 1988. In 1990, he was named Co-Head of the Firm's Investment Banking Division, and in 1994 Hank rose to the position of President and Chief Operating Officer. In 1998 he was named Co-Senior Partner, and with the Firm's Public Offering in 1999, became Chairman and CEO.

Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Hank Paulson was a member of the White House Domestic Council, serving as Staff Assistant to the President from 1972 to 1973, and as Staff Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon from 1970 to 1972. Hank serves on the Boards of Catalyst, the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, and is a member of the board of the Dean's Advisors of the Harvard Business School.

Hank's other personal interests and philanthropic activities have long centered around education and environmental conservation. He was the founding Chairman of the Advisory Board of the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University in Beijing, and continues to serve on the Board, which among other things, implemented an executive education program. He is a past Chairman of the Peregrine Fund, and remains on the Board.

Hank is a member of the Board of Directors of The Nature Conservancy and Co-Chairman of its Asia Pacific Council. In that role he is supporting the establishment of a large national park and conservation project in the Yunnan province of China, in cooperation with the Chinese government.



Nature Conservancy President Salutes the Visionary Leadership of Henry Paulson
Conservancy Board Chairman Nominated as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury

ARLINGTON, VA — May 30, 2006 — Steve McCormick, president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy highlighted the leadership of out-going Nature Conservancy Board Chairman Henry M. Paulson, who today was nominated by President Bush to be the next Secretary of the Treasury.

“Hank has brought leadership and strength to this organization through critical times,” said Steve McCormick, president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy. “Hank has an unmatched passion and commitment for conservation. A tireless advocate, he has been a voice for environmental issues at the highest levels of business and government. His mark on the Conservancy is indelible, and I know he will bring his visionary global perspective to the Department of the Treasury.”

Henry M. "Hank" Paulson
© The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

In addition to serving as chairman and CEO of The Goldman Sachs Group, Paulson has served as Chairman of The Nature Conservancy’s Board of Directors since January of 2004. An ardent conservationist, Paulson joined the Conservancy’s Board of Directors in October of 2001. Paulson also was a driving force behind the Conservancy’s Asia Pacific Council, an advisory board comprised of public and private sector leaders created to help promote conservation and sustainable development across the Asia-Pacific region.

Under Paulson’s tenure, The Nature Conservancy made significant gains in global conservation and in strengthening governance and accountability. As Chairman, he played key roles helping define the organization’s global conservation vision, expand into new geographies and enhance the organization’s partnerships with the private and public sectors.

[KoKo]

5. I gave to the Nature Conservancy for years...until I realized their partnership with Big Business

was really more about Tax Breaks for Big Business and large landowners than helping the environment.

There were a number of articles many years ago about the "partnership." They are a Globalized/Private/Public boondoogle that sounds good in theory but in practice was just more globilization for the benefit of the wealthy.

So...I stopped giving even though some of their first acquisitions of land did save some of our wetlands from being turned into Condo's and Mansions in gated communities. They then went big time and started selling off some of the conservation eased land for development in "swaps." They started to look very different in practice from the eco-friendly image that they were taking advantage of in the 70's with those of us who trying to preserve our land from development for the future.

[blindpig]

7. As well they should..

Nature is incompatible with capitalism, we can have one or the other.

Blue blood outfits like The Nature Conservancy cannot admit this, it is a matter of class.

(Yes, I've been to a number of their sites, they are very nice. But we will not save nature as a stamp book collection, preserves where we can see what was, and abandon the rest of the planet to the deprivations of Capital. That is a guaranteed fail, see island zoogeography.)

[KoKo]

9. More people need to see this. The Reaction by our Enviro Causes has been Awful!

Makes me wonder why they are always hitting me up for more and more money and now they don't care about the worst of this that has come.

THEY ARE SILENT!