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Resource Renewal Institute |
What is HOPE? - White Paper Sustainable development has failed — environmental problems are worsening.More than a decade has passed since 180 nations signed on to the idea of sustainable development as the solution to the world's environmental problems at the U.N. Earth Summit in Rio. Many hoped for a dramatic transformation. It hasn't happened. While sustainability has gained public recognition, the idea has faltered in practice. Humanity continues to damage the environment through irresponsible practices in agriculture, development, energy production, fisheries, forestry, manufacturing, and transportation. Ongoing destruction of our life support systems, evidenced by global pollution, biodiversity and resource loss, and climate change, now threatens our health on an unprecedented scale and with unparalleled costs. A global environmental health crisis is looming. Diseases of environmental origin afflict American children at an annual cost of over $54 billion - close to the entire Federal budget for education.1 Often at their most productive stages of life, one third of men and a quarter of women in America get cancer.2 The economic cost is enormous. In 2003 SARS alone cost the world economy an estimated $90 billion. The insurance industry is already deeply concerned about increasing losses due to global warming, and now eyeing the real possibility of severe losses due to infectious diseases like SARS. A sick environment weakens human immune systems and renders medicines less effective, while diseases become more common — and more deadly. As ecosystems unravel, viruses survive and cross the line between species, killing both animals and humans. In a modern world that connects businesses and communities by air, a flu outbreak overseas can become a domestic epidemic overnight. The bottom line is: You can't have healthy people in an unhealthy environment. Yet many U.S. leaders are not committed to slowing environmental destruction or reversing its effects. Health is the key to motivate leaders to solve environmental problems. Threats to health — a matter of deep personal concern to everyone — have the power to galvanize leaders in business, government, and NGOs to pursue environmental recovery. Resource Renewal Institute (RRI), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in San Francisco, California, is now designing and launching an advocacy campaign that inspires leaders to take action to restore the environment because public health depends on it. Through RRI's new Health of People and the Environment (HOPE) Project, RRI will first educate leaders about the link between health and environment, and then convince them to adopt a proven strategy for solving environmental problems: Green Plans. For more than a decade RRI has advocated Green Plans — comprehensive, integrated policies for environmental management that involve business, government, and NGOs — as the most promising strategies for sustainability. In nations with a history of meeting environmental challenges head on, like The Netherlands and New Zealand, Green Plans are supported by strong non-partisan coalitions and are achieving impressive results. HOPE PROJECT GOAL: Convince leaders to implement a state Green Plan to recover health of the environment, protect human health, and promote economic prosperity. RRI's HOPE Strategy RRI proposes a four-part strategy spanning three years to: (a) educate leaders about the link between health and environment and (b) inspire leaders to implement a state Green Plan.
PERSONNEL AND BUDGET — The HOPE team brings strong experience and diverse skills to the project. Huey Johnson, founder/president of RRI, and 2001 recipient of the UN's prestigious Sasakawa Prize, will lead the overall campaign, using his experience as former California Secretary of Natural Resources, founder of The Trust for Public Land, and former Western Regional Director of The Nature Conservancy. RRI staff will be joined by researcher/writers and short-term hires for filmmaking, marketing, computer support, and graphic design. Six internationally-recognized health, business, and environment sector representatives with practical policy experience will comprise the Project Advisory Committee. RRI will reach leaders with a two-fold message: (a) Health threats from a degraded environment are real and costly; (b) Green Plans are the best way to tackle the problem. RRI will build momentum for Green Plans by facilitating and demonstrating initial success in one U.S. state. Questions you may have about the HOPE Project will be answered with pleasure by: Huey Johnson, President, Resource Renewal Institute, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA 94123, 415-928-3774; hdj@rri.org. |
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1. Landrigan, PJ, Schecter CB, Lipton JM, Fahs MC, Schwartz J. Environmental Pollutants and Disease in American Children: Estimates of Morbidity, Mortality, and Costs for Lead Poisoning, Asthma, Cancer, and Developmental Disabilities. Environ. Health Perspect. 2002;110:723-730. 2. Steingraber, S. Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA 1997. |
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