Green groups are finding out that a struggling economy is not such a good idea after all.
The Wilderness Society announced today that it is laying off 17% of its staff dues to budget cuts brought on by reduced donations caused by a tough economy.
Environment and Energy News PM reports,
…The Washington, D.C.-based group, which currently runs on a $26.7 million annual budget, cited reduced donations amid a sluggish economy as one reason for the cuts…
The group’s latest federal filing indicates that contributions and grants fell from $32 million in 2009 to $20 million in 2010, a change the group largely attributed to one pledge it received in 2009 to be used over three years. Expenses exceeded revenues by about $7 million in 2010.
Total staff numbered 224 in October 2010, according to the filing, which includes interns and double counts of some employees who had been replaced, Thomas said. The group this week reduced its permanent staff from 187 to 155…
…the group — with offices in Denver; Bozeman, Mont.; and Boise, Idaho, among other locations — will continue its focus on protecting wild lands, as well as promoting site-appropriate renewable energy development and conservation funding.
This announcement comes on the heels this week of the failure of the Pew Center for Global Climate Change.
With any luck, Obama-nomics will finish of the greens before it does the rest of us.
Environmentalism is a disease of affluence. Many of us in the Western US not living in a major urban area have had about enough with wilderness, wilderness study areas, semi-primitive wilderness, national monument designations, and road closures in the name of protection and preservation.
I see nothing wrong with preserving wilderness lands – BUT promoting renewable enregy which requires hundreds of times the land area is a clear conflict.
CO2 assists wilderness far more than clearfelling to install bird choppers or panels ever will.