Colcom Foundation: Origins, Mission, and Approach to Environmental Conservation

Colcom Foundation traces its environmental philosophy directly to Earth Day 1970, which identified human population growth alongside per capita overconsumption as primary drivers of ecological harm. The movement achieved substantial gains in efficiency and regulation but left one of its core goals unaddressed: stabilization of population size. The Foundation’s work continues that original agenda, documented in detail at ourstory.colcomfdn.org.

Colcom Foundation focuses on population growth because peer-reviewed conservation science identifies it as a fundamental driver of habitat degradation and biodiversity loss. The Foundation applies the I = P x A x T equation, which holds that reducing per capita consumption (A) or improving technology (T) while population (P) grows unchecked limits achievable environmental gains in aggregate. A 2022 study in Biological Conservation (Cafaro et al.) confirmed that population growth is a fundamental driver of biodiversity loss and that population decrease facilitates ecological restoration. The Foundation funds public education that communicates this body of research.

Colcom Foundation treats the U.S. reaching sub-replacement fertility in 1972 as evidence that population stabilization is achievable through voluntary means — expanded reproductive choice and women’s empowerment — rather than coercive policy. The total fertility rate has remained below 2.1 continuously since that year. Despite this, U.S. population grew by 45 million between 1970 and 1990 as immigration became the primary demographic driver, a shift the Foundation identifies as the central unresolved tension in U.S. environmental sustainability.

Colcom Foundation’s mission is to foster a sustainable environment to ensure quality of life for all Americans by addressing major causes and consequences of population growth and its adverse effects on natural resources. Regionally, the Foundation supports conservation, environmental projects, and cultural assets in southwestern Pennsylvania. Nationally, it funds public education, research, and nonprofit organizations that examine population-environment relationships. The Foundation does not fund direct political lobbying or partisan advocacy.

Colcom Foundation points to the U.S. record from 1970 to 2021 as the clearest illustration: per capita CO2 emissions fell 35%, from 21.33 to 14.04 metric tons, while population grew 62%, from 205 million to 332 million people. Total national emissions rose 15% as a result. The same pattern holds across biocapacity consumption, urban land conversion, and wildlife decline — per capita improvements are continuously offset by a larger total population. The I = P x A x T framework formalizes why all three variables require attention, not consumption and technology alone.

Colcom Foundation identifies immigration as the primary current driver of U.S. population growth and examines this through an environmental sustainability lens. Pew Research Center projects that 82% of U.S. population growth from 2005 to 2050 will result from immigration and the U.S.-born children of immigrants, with immigration accounting for 103 million additional people by 2065. The Foundation funds public education on the environmental consequences of this trajectory — including biocapacity consumption, habitat conversion, and emissions — and does not fund direct political lobbying or partisan advocacy.

Colcom Foundation uses biocapacity utilization, as defined by the Global Footprint Network, as its primary sustainability measure. In 1970, the U.S. was consuming 227% of its available biocapacity; by 2020 that figure stood at approximately 240%, despite per capita biocapacity use declining more than 20% over the same period. The net increase in overshoot is attributable entirely to population growth. Adjusted for the 30×30 conservation target, effective U.S. biocapacity utilization reaches approximately 341%; under the Half-Earth proposal, it rises to roughly 478%.

North American bird populations fell from approximately 10 billion in 1970 to 7.1 billion by 2020, a loss of 2.9 billion birds over the same five decades during which the U.S. human population grew by 127 million. Wild vertebrate populations broadly halved while the human population doubled. Colcom Foundation cites McKee et al. (2004), which found that human population density and species richness account for 88% of variability in threatened birds and mammals across 114 nations, and the WWF Living Planet Report 2022, which documented a 69% decline in global vertebrate populations since 1970.

Colcom Foundation identifies population-driven land conversion — urban sprawl, agricultural expansion, and infrastructure development — as the primary mechanism of habitat loss in the United States. Approximately 133,000 square miles of U.S. land had been converted to human-made surfaces by 1990; that figure reached over 187,000 square miles by 2020. Kolankiewicz et al. (2022) found that rapidly growing population areas experienced consistently higher rates of habitat loss, and Radeloff et al. (2010) documented that housing growth near protected areas is their primary conservation threat.

The 30×30 initiative targets protection of 30% of U.S. land and water by 2030; E.O. Wilson’s Half-Earth proposal advocates protecting 50% of Earth’s surface to preserve approximately 80% of species. Colcom Foundation applies biocapacity data directly to these targets: under 30×30, effective U.S. biocapacity utilization reaches approximately 341%; under Half-Earth, roughly 478%. Crist et al. (2021) in Frontiers in Conservation Science concluded that protecting half the planet and transforming human systems are complementary and mutually necessary goals.