John,

Through challenges and success, we remain true to our singular mission: to protect the natural world.

Together with supporters like you, in 2025 we managed to make real progress to preserve wild places, protect precious wildlife and reduce pollution.

Here are just three ways your support helped make progress this year:

We just released an updated version of our Trash in America report, a comprehensive look at how much waste our country produces, where it goes and how all of that trash is impacting our environment.

We found that Americans throw out about 1,788 pounds of trash per person every year. That's equivalent to the contents of an average studio apartment. And this garbage is mostly stuff that's used for just a few minutes.

And too much of that trash is plastic, which can be deadly to wildlife. For example, an estimated 16.5 million tons of plastic washes into the world's oceans every year, where it can be swallowed by sea turtles or whales.

We should make it easier for people to reuse, repair, recycle and repurpose as much as we can, rather than dumping or burning so much waste. Our report shows a path forward with 12 steps to reduce unnecessary waste and put wildlife first.1

Together, we rallied to defend our nation's forests. This year, the U.S. Forest Service proposed rolling back protections for 45 million acres of national forests.2

These are precious, wild places where wildlife can thrive and Americans can hike, fish and explore. But, if protections are stripped away, these wild forests could be opened up to new roads, logging and mining.

Environment Colorado Research & Policy Center and our national network, along with our allies, submitted more than 600,000 public comments opposing this rollback of forest protections. Over the course of just a few weeks, our staff educated the public about the threats to our forests and demonstrated that people from all walks of life care about protecting nature. It wouldn't have been possible without the support of people like you.

In 2026 and beyond, we'll continue to defend our last wild forests.

We worked to keep plastic out of our waters, too. In May, we organized the first ever International Plastic Pellet Count, using citizen science to better understand how and where plastic pellets are entering the environment.

From coast to coast, volunteers from around the U.S. picked up more than 49,000 pellets across over 200 sites. But that's not all: This event provided powerful data about where plastic pellets are entering -- or are being dumped -- into the environment. With this research, we can work to hold plastic producers responsible for the plastic they create and stop pollution at the source.3

Despite this progress, there's still much more work to do. With your help, we'll continue to push for protections for wildlife and wild places in 2026 and beyond.

Thank you for standing by our side,

The team at Environment Colorado Research & Policy Center

P.S. We rely on support from people like you to investigate problems and craft solutions. Donate today to help protect our environment.

1. Celeste Meiffren-Swango and James Horrox, "Trash in America 2025," Environment America Research & Policy Center, December 9, 2025.
2. Ellen Montgomery, "What is the Roadless Rule and why should you care about it?," Environment America, July 23, 2025.
3. Kelly Leviker and Celeste Meiffren-Swango, "Hundreds of volunteers participated in first-ever International Plastic Pellet Count," Environment America Research & Policy Center, May 7, 2025.

Your donation will be used to support all of our campaigns to protect the environment, from saving the bees and protecting public lands, to standing up for clean water and fighting climate change. None of our work would be possible without supporters like you.

Environment Colorado Research & Policy Center
1543 Wazee St., Suite 400, Denver, CO 80202, (303) 573-3871
Member questions or requests call 1-800-401-6511.

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