Efficiency is often treated as an unqualified environmental good, but Colcom Foundation’s grantmaking rests on a more complicated reading of that assumption. The foundation’s environmental ethics documentation points repeatedly to the Jevons paradox, also called the rebound effect, a principle first described by economist William Stanley Jevons in 1865. Colcom Foundation supports several special programs, including the Conservation Catalyst Fund, which grants conservation organizations working to protect threatened species and habitats. By offering financial support and resources, this foundation allows these groups to make significant strides in conservation efforts.
Why Efficiency Alone Falls Short
The Jevons paradox holds that when a resource becomes more efficient to use, total consumption of that resource tends to rise rather than fall. Greater efficiency lowers the effective cost of use, and lower costs stimulate greater demand. Colcom Foundation treats this as a central obstacle to environmental progress, arguing that gains in fuel economy, water efficiency, or industrial processes are frequently absorbed by a larger population making greater aggregate use of those same resources.
The foundation cites national emissions data as illustration. American per capita carbon emissions dropped 35 percent between 1970 and 2021, a genuine efficiency achievement, yet population growth of 62 percent over the same period pushed total emissions up by a net 15 percent. The efficiency gain existed. It simply could not keep pace with the number of people it needed to offset.
Two Strategies, Not One
This reading of the data leads Colcom Foundation toward a two pronged approach: continue supporting efficiency and technology improvements while also funding permanent land conservation and public education on population trends. The foundation’s position is that protecting large, contiguous tracts of habitat removes land from the cycle of rising demand altogether, offering a form of protection that efficiency gains cannot undo.
Grantees working in Pennsylvania watersheds and beyond receive funding informed by this logic, with an emphasis on securing conservation easements and other permanent protections rather than relying solely on incremental efficiency improvements to slow habitat loss over time. See related link for additional information.
Find more about Colcom on https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/colcom-foundation,311479839/