Organization:Ecology Crossroads Cooperative Foundation

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Ecology Crossroads Cooperative Foundation, Inc
Ecology Crossroads
Ecology Crossroads Logo
Which Road Will You Take?
AbbreviationECCFUSA
FoundedApril 12, 1994; 30 years ago (1994-04-12)
Founded atLexington, Kentucky
TypeNonprofit corporation (charity)
61-1259384 (IRS)
Registration no.0329183 (KYSOS)
Legal statusRegistered with UN DESA as an International Civil Society Organization (iCSO) under the name Globcal International.[1]
FocusEcosystem services, Indigenous peoples, Ecosystem restoration, Biodiversity conservation
HeadquartersRichmond, Kentucky
Region served
Madison County, Kentucky, United States
ServicesIndigenous Philanthropy
MethodPopular Education, Scouting, Treaty, Bilateralism, Multilateral Diplomacy, International Cooperation, Public diplomacy
Official language
English
Main organ
Board of Trustees
SubsidiariesGlobcal International
AffiliationsKentucky
Staff
3
Volunteers
27
WebsiteEcology Crossroads

Ecology Crossroads is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization founded in Kentucky in 1994[2] to address the Earth Charter which began in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro as Agenda 21.[3] The organization made a significant impact on the American landscape between 1994 and 2000 by distributing nearly 10 million trees across the United States in a number of large scale events aimed at assisting victims of natural disasters caused by climate change related weather events. Today, according to their website the organization is dedicated to preserving biodiversity, environmental conservation and defending the rights of Indigenous peoples in the Americas through an array of programs and objectives it sponsors or manages through Globcal International which became its subsidiary in 2020 when it was backflipped into Ecology Crossroads in the United States.[4]

Introduction and history

Ecology Crossroads or ECCFUSA was started to address climate-change long before the term was created.[5] It is clear the organization was developed to plant a forest of trees according to the Washington Post[6] and to serve as one responsible for delivering aid to disaster victims by helping them recover urban landscapes in the 1990s.[7] The organization was founded by Col. David Wright, an American conservationist responsible for coordinating and organizing the Earth Day Society in Delaware in 1990. Wright took up the public charge founded by Gaylord Nelson under Denis Hayes at Earth Day Headquarters in San Francisco by setting up an Earth Day campaign office to coordinate activities from April 22 until April 29 which reached over 800,000 people from the top to the bottom of the small state followed by a four-day exposition at the Cristiana Mall which attracted nearly 200,000.[8] His Earth Week program was started based on his connections in the state with wealthy estate owners, corporate executives and politicians after founding the Endangered Turtle Protection Foundation of the Americas in 1989[9] to protect native endangered turtle species on their estates and within the adjacent countryside of Greenville, Delaware.[10]

The organization was started by carrying on the legacy of the success Wright had in Delaware and the popularity of Earth Day and Arbor Day ideas to Kentucky, he organized similar events in 1993 in Louisville and Lexington that were not so well attended, reviewed or of much interest in the bluegrass and bourbon state. In 1994 Wright had the foresight to add natural disaster recovery efforts following ice storms, tornadoes and hurricanes, rural beautification and suburban forestry together in a perfect storm in the months following areas impacted by distributing trees. It started with ice, falling trees and the goodwill of tree farmers in Western Pennsylvania in 1994. Wright founded the organization in Lexington based on a grant he received from the City to distribute 100,000 tree saplings from 18-36" tall, with their support, the organization managed to recruit major sponsors and received the support of the Lexington Herald-Leader to run public service announcements in the newspaper. The organization distributed 97,000 trees and repeated the program the following weekend distributing 50,000 more.[11][12]

Ecology Crossroads repeated its routine in Sewell, Southern New Jersey in the Fall which was also greatly effected by the ice-storms in 1994, the event drew people from New York, Philadelphia and Delaware having heard about it on the radio.*** In 1995, the organization opened an office in Delaware focusing the tree program on the ideas of Spring, urban forestry and beautification of home landscapes. The "Community Tree Program" was held in Washington DC, Baltimore, Wilmington and Philadelphia. After distributing several million trees everything was leafy for the organization until 1996 when the National Arbor Day Foundation sued Ecology Crossroads for trademark infringement after the organization launched websites using the generic TLDs arborday.com and freetrees.com to distribute trees to anyone-anywhere under the trade names Arbor Day, Arbor Day USA and Arbor Day Free Tree Program. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) weighed in with its opinion on May 03, 1999 calling the lawsuit frivolous and a "crying shame" favoring an positive outcome for Ecology Crossroads and the "Arbor Day Free Tree Program" it developed.

Ecology Crossroads was cornering the market on Arbor Day by using the presidentially proclaimed celebratory observance[13] from within the realm of the public domain with Arbor Day and tapping into the traditional history going back to 1872 by questioning who made the tree planting holiday a national and international concept J. Sterling Morton or Birdsey Northrup?

The lawsuit was settled when Ecology Crossroads agreed to sell the websites to the nonprofit for an undisclosed sum and the dismissal of the case with prejudice in 1999. In 2000 some of the directors branched off to start a new program called Trees4Tomorrow in San Bernardino, California; but the program did not grow roots because of high California agricultural standards and the organization's source of trees being in Pennsylvania. Since California prefers its own trees, they were forced to hold their first program in Reno, Nevada in April.

In 2020, Ecology Crossroads returned to Kentucky to make it home once again reinstating the nonprofit and filing assumed name certificates to do business as Globcal International (established in 2009) and Kentucky Colonels International (based online since 1998). Less than a month later, Ecology Crossroads found itself named in another trademark dispute, this time with the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels (HOKC) claiming that the organization was confusing its members by using the trademark KENTUCKY COLONELS both online and under Kentucky common law, after a year of litigation in the U.S. District Court the case was settled by the parties in a court ordered settlement conference, resulting in a mediated settlement agreement and permanent injunction over use of the HOKC trademark with a paragraph dedicated to the protection of the Kentucky Colonel title. Ecology Crossroads converted the unnamed online association to Kentucky Colonelcy, which since the lawsuit ended in February 2021, has become the most authoritative historical creative commons work ever prepared about the founders of Kentucky starting in 1775 and proving false the story of the aide-de-camp and the first colonel appearing in 1813. It is clear from reviewing the Kentucky Colonelcy website that Kentucky was founded by colonels and so was America, half of the Founding Fathers of the United States and signers of the Declaration of Independence held the title of colonel.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "United Nations Civil Society Participation (iCSO) № 649665". 2015-12-31. https://esango.un.org/civilsociety/showProfileDetail.do?method=showProfileDetails&profileCode=649665. Retrieved 2017-11-11. (registration required)
  2. ↑ OpenCorporates (April 12, 1994). "ECOLOGY CROSSROADS COOPERATIVE FOUNDATION (US)". https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ky/0329183. 
  3. ↑ GuideStar. "Ecology Crossroads Cooperative Foundation - Candid". Candid. https://www.guidestar.org/profile/61-1259384. 
  4. ↑ "Ecology Crossroads - Knowledge Panel". https://www.google.com/search?kgmid=/g/11r2j2xx1t. 
  5. ↑ "Articles of Incorporation" (PDF). Secretary of State of Kentucky Corporation Register. April 12, 1994. https://web.sos.ky.gov/corpscans/83/0329183-09-99999-19940412-ART-2291972-PU.pdf. 
  6. ↑ Bates, Steve (February 23, 1995). "Saving a Forest of Surplus Trees" (in en-US). Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1995/02/23/saving-a-forest-of-surplus-trees/25ef2283-d7cb-4345-a99e-b8894f31cd2a. 
  7. ↑ "Branching Out to North Carolina". Lexington Herald-Leader (Gannett): p. 33. October 29, 1996. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/691058939. 
  8. ↑ "Earth Expo at Christiana Mall". The News-Journal (Gannett): p. 5. April 28, 1990. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/159594034. 
  9. ↑ "ENDANGERED TURTLE PROTECTION FOUNDATION OF THE AMERICAS :: Delaware (US)". August 23, 1989. https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_de/2205842. 
  10. ↑ "New Group Seeks to Protect Turtles". The News-Journal (Gannett): p. 11. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/159552299. 
  11. ↑ "Ice Storms Could Have a Silver Lining for Trees". Lexington Herald-Leader (Gannett): p. 49. April 27, 1994. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/690507295. 
  12. ↑ "Free Trees: Community Tree Program" (in en-US). The Philadelphia Inquirer: p. 21. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/178108027. 
  13. ↑ "Proclamation 6554—National Arbor Day, 1993 | The American Presidency Project". https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/proclamation-6554-national-arbor-day-1993. 

External links




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