often Pronunciation Key (ôfn, fn, ôftn, f-)
- Many times; frequently.
You know of any thatched dung and recycled wood pulp huts costing $1.6 million?
Wilderness bewilderment
A leading protector of US countryside has been severely tarnished by an
astonishing environmental scandal
Oliver Burkeman in Washington
Thursday May 29, 2003
The Guardian
The world's wealthiest green group may be investigated by the US government in the light of allegations that it has engaged in practices more commonly associated with the enemies of the environment.
Nature Conservancy felled trees, allegedly
drilled for gas beneath the last breeding-ground of an endangered bird and sold unspoilt land at discounted prices to its trustees so they could build luxury homes in some of America's most beautiful landscapes, according to the Washington Post, which spent two years investigating its activities.
The conservancy group has $3 billion in assets and a million members, and is ubiquitous in the US.
Washington Post Special Report:
Big "Green"
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Nature Conservancy deal opened the door for lavish homes (Washington Post - 5/6/03)
Nature Conservancy's property deals benefit friends (Washington Post - 5/7/03)
$1.6 million home loan among Conservancy president's perks (Washington Post - 5/5/03)
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12 Home Loans at Conservancy
By Joe Stephens and David B. Ottaway
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, June 13, 2003; Page A08
The Nature Conservancy, which earlier this month issued a statement of regret to Congress for misreporting the terms of an internal loan to its chief executive, has over the past decade extended 11 housing loans to other employees, including five who were not charged interest.
[....]
Chisholm, former head of the Conservancy's Nevada chapter, was named to the organization's senior California post in January 2001. Six months later, the Conservancy extended Chisholm $500,000 toward the purchase of a $925,000 house in Berkeley, according to property records and the Conservancy's IRS tax filing. The interest-free loan enabled Chisholm to buy a California house comparable to his home in Nevada, where property is cheaper, Petterson said.
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Sacramento Bee Five-Part Special Report:
Environment Inc.
Fat of the land
By Tom Knudson
Bee Staff Writer
(Published April 22, 2001)
As a grass-roots conservationist from Oregon, Jack Shipley looked forward to his visit to Washington, D.C., to promote a community-based forest management plan. But when he stepped into the national headquarters of The Wilderness Society, his excitement turned to unease.
"It was like a giant corporation," Shipley said. "Floor after floor after floor, just like Exxon or AT&T."
In San Francisco, Sierra Club board member Chad Hanson experienced a similar letdown when he showed up for a soiree at one of the city's finest hotels in 1997.
"Here I had just been elected to the largest grass-roots environmental group in the world and I am having martinis in the penthouse of the Westin St. Francis," said Hanson, an environmental activist from Pasadena. "What's wrong with this picture? It was surreal."
Soon, Hanson was calling the Sierra Club by a new name:
Club Sierra.
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This series of articles -- based on more than 200 interviews, travel across 12 states and northern Mexico, and thousands of state and federal records -- will explore the poverty of plenty that has come to characterize much of the environmental movement. Some of the highlights:
Salaries for environmental leaders have never been higher. In 1999 -- the most recent year for which comparable figures are available -- chief executives at nine of the nation's 10 largest environmental groups earned $200,000 and up, and one topped $300,000. In 1997, one group fired its president and awarded him a severance payment of $760,335.
Top 20 Environmental US Groups' CEO Salaries:
1 The Nature Conservancy $210,151
2 Trust for Public Land $157,868
3 Conservation International $203,049
4 World Wildlife Fund $241,638
5 Ducks Unlimited $346,882
6 Natural Resources Defense Council $238,964
7 Conservation Fund $211,048
8 National Wildlife Federation $247,081
9 National Audubon Society $239,670
10 Environmental Defense $262,798
11 Sierra Club $199,577
12 Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation $186,369
13 The Wilderness Society $204,591
14 Sierra Club Foundation $100,000
15 National Parks Conservation Association $172,879
16 Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund $157,583
17 Defenders of Wildife $201,337
18 Greenpeace Inc. $54,033
19 Save The Redwoods League $165,110
20 Center for Marine Conservation $135,806
The Nature Conservancy Officers and Executives:
William W. Weeks, Senior Advisor (Salary: 195,000)
Darryl Varnado, Managing Director of HR (Salary: 143,846)
Anne Slaughter-Andrew, Director of the Office of the President (Salary: 240,730)
Rebecca Patton, Managing Director of Pacific-Western Division (Salary: 111,538)
Bradford Northrup, Division Director for Mid-Atlantic Division (Salary: 154,498)
Stephanie Meeks, Managing Director of Marketing (Salary: 198,122)
Stephen J. McCormick, President (Salary: 378,366)
Louis G. Low, Director of Efroymson Conservation Program (Salary: 181,066)
Stephen C. Howell, Chief Financial Officer (Salary: 197,631)
Joy Grant, Managing Director of Atlantic Division (Salary: 85,846)
Jean-Louis Ecochard, Chief Information Officer (Salary: 15,385)
Michael Dennis, General Counsel (Salary: 180,127)
Michael Coda, Managing Director of External Affairs (Salary: 169,474)
Douglas A. Barker, Chief Information Officer (Salary: 180,364)
Michael Andrews, Managing Director of Mid-Americas Division (Salary: 162,764)
Natural Resources Defense Council, Officers and Executives:
Greg Wetstone, Director of Programs (Salary: 142,775)
Jack Murray, Director of Development (Salary: 165,888)
Mr. Alan Metrick, Director of Communications (Salary: 142,775)
David Hawkins, Senior Attorney (Salary: 152,616)
Thomas Cochran, Senior Scientist (Salary: 142,944)
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Do you know of a single person, have you ever heard of a single person, who makes over $100,000 a year that lives in a hut made from drift wood and thatched grass, instead of upper-middle and upper-class neighborhoods located on land that was once flush with flora and fauna? Ok, your turn.
lmao!
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