Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability 1

The spearhead of the global conservation and environmentalmovement consists of more than 100,000 nonprofitNGOs working at the international, national,state, and local levels—up from about 2,000 in 1970.The growing influence of these organizations is one ofthe most important changes influencing environmentaldecisions and policies.NGOs range from grassroots groups with justa few members to global organizations like the 5-million-member World Wide Fund for Nature with officesin 48 countries. Other international groups withlarge memberships include Greenpeace, the WorldWildlife Fund, the Nature Conservancy (Solutions,p. 216), Grameen Bank (Solutions, p. 601), and ConservationInternational.Using e-mail and the Internet, environmentalNGOs have organized themselves into an array ofpowerful international networks. Examples includethe Pesticide Action, Climate Action, InternationalRivers, Women’s Environment and Development, andBiodiversity Action Networks. They collaborate acrossborders, gathering environmental information, monitoringenvironmental change, and acting quickly. Theymonitor the environmental activities of governments,corporations, and international agencies such as theWorld Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO).They expose corruption and violations of nationaland international environmental agreements, such asCITES, which prohibits international trade of endangeredspecies. Groups such as Conservation Internationaland the Nature Conservancy have brokereddebt-for-nature swaps where developing countriesagree to protect ecologically important areas in exchangefor reduction of their international debt. NGOsare also watchdogs for environmental accountabilityat the local level.In the United States, more than 8 million citizensbelong to over 30,000 NGOs dealing with environmentalissues. They range from small grassrootsgroups to large heavily funded groups, led by chief executiveofficers and staffed by expert lawyers, scientists,economists, lobbyists, and fund raisers. The 10largest of these—sometimes called the “group of 10”—are the World Wildlife Fund, Sierra Club, NationalWildlife Federation, Audubon Society, Greenpeace,Friends of the Earth, Natural Resources DefenseCouncil, Wilderness Society, Ducks Unlimited, andIzaak Walton League. Many of these and other smallerenvironmental groups doubled and tripled their membershipsbetween 1980 and 2000, mostly in response toincreased fundraising activities and to attempts toweaken or repeal environmental laws and regulations.However, many members do not actively participatein the activities of such organizations and up to halfdo not renew their memberships.The large groups have become powerful and importantforces within the political system, by workingindividually and together in coalitions to help persuadeCongress to pass and strengthen environmentallaws and to fight off attempts to weaken or repeal them.However, these large environmental groups mustguard against being subverted by the political systemthey work to improve. This is a risk because thesegroups rely heavily on corporate donations, and manyof them have corporate executives as board members,trustees, or council members.The good news is that instead of acting as adversaries,some industries and environmental groups areworking together to find solutions to environmentalproblems. For example, Environmental Defense hasworked with McDonald’s to redesign its packagingsystem to eliminate polyethylene foam clamshell hamburgercontainers. It has also worked with GeneralMotors to help remove high-pollution cars from theroad and with various multinational corporations toset targets for reducing their carbon dioxide emissions.The World Resources Institute is collaborating withleading businesses to build a market among corporationsfor electrical power produced from renewableenergy resources.Some environmental groups have shifted some resourcesfrom demonstrating and litigating to publicizingresearch on innovative solutions to environmentalproblems. For example, to promote the use of chlorinefreepaper, Greenpeace Germany printed a magazineusing such paper and encouraged readers to demandthat magazine publishers switch to chlorine-free paper.Shortly thereafter, several major magazines madethat shift.What Are the Roles of GrassrootsEnvironmental Groups? Citizen Actionfrom the Bottom UpThousands of citizens’ groups working to improveenvironmental quality form the base of the globalenvironmental movement.The base of the environmental movement in the UnitedStates and throughout the world consists of thousandsof grassroots citizens’ groups organized to improve environmentalquality, often at the local level. Accordingto political analyst Konrad von Moltke, “There isn’t agovernment in the world that would have done anythingfor the environment if it weren’t for the citizengroups.”These groups carry out a number of environmentalroles. One is to work with individuals and communitiesto oppose harmful projects such as landfills,waste incinerators, nuclear waste dumps, clear-cuttingof forests, and various development projects. Theyhave also pressured government officials to take actionwhen group members have been victims of environmentalharm or of environmental injustice because ofthe unequal distribution of environmental risks. Seehttp://biology.brookscole.com/miller14619