OUR PROJECTS
Then & Now
Currently
Most of our current activities are based in and around Paciano in Umbria, Italy - the hometown of David McTaggart for many years.
By creating a local model of environmental awareness and care for our surroundings, the aim is for Paciano to serve as an inspiration for other communities throughout the world.
Since the opening of the Centro Terzo Millennio (Third Millennium Center) in Paciano's Palazzo Baldeschi in 2014, 3MF has actively engaged with the local administration and the community in raising public awareness of environmental issues and promoting a culture of peace.
This includes working with the town council to bring Paciano into the international network Mayors for Peace and encouraging Italy to adhere to the International Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Together with the Town Hall, we organize annual peace events to honor Hiroshima and Nagasaki, continuing a tradition that began with a major event for the 70th anniversary in 2015 where the people of Paciano folded over 1,000 origami peace cranes, which were sent to the Hiroshima Children's Peace Memorial. Most recently, the 80th anniversary in 2025 was marked with a successful three-day event. These annual peace events will continue as a recurring commitment to remembrance and the promotion of peace.
We have organized public meetings with experts on climate change and, with an alumni grant from Greenpeace International, have supported ongoing education and awareness efforts.
Our local initiatives include organizing annual litter cleanups and hosting events with the Repair Café Perugia - including a course on repair techniques - and developing projects with area schools to encourage environmental protection and peace initiatives.
Exciting plans for a summer school for activists in Paciano are under development, watch this space!
From left: Giorgio Pilleri, David McTaggart, Sidney Holt
Third Millennium Center
After David moved his home base to Paciano in 1989, his friendship with two passionate environmentalists living nearby - Sidney Holt and Giorgio Pilleri - flourished. Sidney Holt, a marine biologist of international fame, devoted his life to protecting the great whales from overhunting and to improving fisheries management. Giorgio Pilleri, long-time director of the Brain Anatomy Institute in Bern, Switzerland, became famous for his studies of cetacean brains and for his devotion to protecting whales from lives in captivity.
Over the years, these three dear friends and environmental heroes discussed the possibility of creating a center in Paciano. It would be based on their personal archives and showcase the environmental issues about which they were so passionate.
The Third Millennium Center opened in March 2014, 13 years after David’s death, and we at 3MF continue to work toward a permanent exhibition in honor of these three great men. We hope it will become the base for educational and activist initiatives that reach far into the future.
If you think you have material that could contribute to the permanent exhibition, please reach out
Over the years
Since McTaggart's death in 2001, 3MF has concentrated on the SPAW Protocol and the International Whaling Commission (IWC), with a special emphasis on exposing Japan’s vote-buying program.
As well as:
- Pressing for the remaining ratifications to allow the Environmental Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty to come into force (1996)
- Campaigning for the establishment of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary by the International Whaling Commission (1994) and working on whale conservation generally through the IWC and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
- Working for international support for the construction of a new sarcophagus for the destroyed reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
- Campaigning in Italy for more widespread use of organic farming in olive cultivation
- Supporting efforts to ratify the Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) Protocol to the 1982 Cartagena Convention for the Caribbean with the intention of creating a de facto Caribbean-wide whale sanctuary
- Supporting NGOs in Dominica to oppose a plan for copper mining that threatened serious environmental damage to the island and its inhabitants
The Third Millennium Foundation has received support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Turner Foundation, Stichting Doen in the Netherlands, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), World Wildlife Fund (U.S.), and Greenpeace.
Activities
...and thoughts, musings, and ruminations
Contact Us:
Centro Terzo Millennio
Leslie Busby
Palazzo Baldeschi, Via Sensini 4
06060 Paciano (PG), Italy
Tel: +39 342 186 4787
info@3mf.org
Treasurer
Doug Falkner
119 E. Young Avenue
Henderson, NC 27536
USA
Tel: + 1 (252) 438-2588
EIN: 06-1535795
The Third Millennium Foundation, Inc., is registered in the United States as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.