How do we preserve and restore a healthy ecosystem that embraces bears and bobcats, eagles and condors, people and domestic animals, whales and shellfish? What additional efforts will lead to a healthy, sustainable balance within our urban environments and with nature?

The recognition that human activities touch every inch of the Earth requires us to carefully rethink our relationship with our environment. We are interested in funding efforts that address critical environmental issues in the Santa Barbara area, particularly when those issues are related to global environmental concerns. While we may support a number of environmental areas, our focus is on projects that impact: energy use and sources, water use and supply, and toxics. We also support projects that conserve ecological integrity in our region, particularly on the Gaviota Coast and in the Santa Barbara Channel.

Energy

We will devote significant portion of our environmental funding to projects that reduce our region's dependence on fossil fuels.  We will look to fund projects that increase:

     *   Energy efficiency and conservation in both the built environment and in the                                     transportation sector.

     *   The use of alterative fuels.

     *   The local production and use of renewable electricity generation through solar, wind,                 and other technologies.