Restructuring Environmental
Big Business
[The Sierra Club] has traditionally concentrated its
efforts on protecting the public lands . . . Other
environmental problems . . . are everywhere, however,
and that’s why were expanding our operations . . .
- From a Sierra Club publication from around 1994
Who’s Who
• The Big Five Environmental Groups:
– The Sierra Club- Protect Public Parks
– National Audubon Society- Birds
– Wilderness Society- Wild Animals
– Natural Resources Defense Council- Legal
Advocacy Group for natural and built
environments.
– The Nature Conservancy- Protect the
Ecosystems
The Problem!
• With the exception of the latter, the rest to
keep larger member created numerous
structural changes which has weakened
their ability to positively influence public
policy.
• Despite being the largest of the
organizations, the Nature Conservancy is
still a one issue group: Protect the
Ecosystem.
So What’s the Big Deal
• The current trend of multi issue
environmental groups has caused
problems including influencing the public.
• Particular in the phasing of their
arguments which are highly emotional that
primarily engendered anger and distrust.
• As Tom Wolf of Nature Conservancy:
• “. . . Most of all when we abandoned moral appeal
for fund raising appeals . . . When the solutions we
offered lost out to our insatiable need for money.”
From Conservation to Big Business
• Most of these organizations started at the
turn of the century to highlight problems of
the Gilded Age. They even supported a
pragmatic use of resources as espoused
by Gifford Pinchot.
• More Radically elements such as John
Muir of the Sierra Club wanted totally
preservation of nature.
History Marches On
• Changes in the country after World War II
cemented Muir’s views of preservation due
to the increased wealth.
• In addition, the organizations had healthier
memberships that gained mass appeal.
• This lead to a string of legislative victories
•
•
•
•
Clean Air Acts of 1963 and 1967
Clean Water Acts of 1960 and 1965
Endangered Species Act of 1964 and 1968
The Wilderness act of 1964
Consequences
• With the string of victories, it started a
trend of one quarter of all laws passed by
Congress being environmental in nature.
Contemporary Groups and the
Boom
• With more money and members, the
environmental groups learned they garnered
more authority.
• An examination of their financials over the last
two decades shows their success.
• Their most dramatic growth occurred in the mid
to late 1980s.
• The Nature Conservancy in 1992
» Revenue $184,000,000
» Total Assets $846,000,000
Cont.
• In 1979, the Auburn Society had more
revenue from dues at about 32% than in
1991 with 28%.
• Why the sudden surge?
• Don Coursey suggests that its due to
environmental groups being seen as a luxury
good. As per capital income rises, the demand for
environment goes up.
• Garners more media attention. In 1989 during
Exxon Valdez, membership and finances
increased noticeably.
Media Attention
• Some groups have orchestrated media
events.
• NRDC had its Alar Campaign.
• The Wilderness Society, Sierra Club, and
Audubon Society had their Spotted Owl
Controversy.
Membership
• Environmental groups in the study spent:
• 25%of their revenue on fund raising
• 20% on membership development
• In comparison, the United Way devotes
6.78% to fund raising.
• This is all part of a conscious strategy of
diversification in hopes of having an
economies of scope on environmental
issues.
Audubon Society: From Birds to
Birth Control
• Original known for bird sanctuaries, its
board of directors decided to give it a face
lift.
• A new management team headed by a Mr.
Peter Berle came in
– Between 1990 and 1991, it spent $175,000 on image
surveys.
– $50,000 to replace egret (famous logo) with new logo.
– Fired respected editor of its magazine Les Line as well
as spending $300,000 revamping with a new editor,
Malcolm Abrams from the Star Tabloid magazine
Reactions
• Roger Tory Peterson, a life-long member
and ornithologist
• “Audubon is losing its identity. Its trying to do too
many things. We’re getting away from the original
thing, which is wildlife, and getting into the human
[realm], which is pollution, birth control and all that
sort of things.”
• Les Lines just put it simply
• “The environmental movement has lost touch with
the land. . . .”
Others did the Same Thing
• During the 70s, the Sierra Club dealt with
legal cases on forests, but in the 80s, it
expanded into endangered animals,
hazardous waste disposal, and landfill
permitting cases.
• The Wilderness Society which was
designed to preserve wilderness and
wildlife began to issue policy statements
on global warming in the 90s.
Degeneration of the Movement
• So if you are all saying the same thing,
how do you make your case?
• More dramatic appeals
• More striking calamity of global warming, etc.
• As Mr. Beyea said:
• The destructive processes man has set in motion
resemble a cancer. If not stopped in time, the
process cannot be reversed. . . We are now in a
window of historic time during which its is still
possible to act. We estimate the window at 50
years. . . .
One Environmentalist Opinion
• “We have to offer up scary scenarios,
make simplified, dramatic statements and
make little mention of any doubts we may
have. Each of us has to decide what the
right balance is between being effective
and being honest.” Stephen Schneider
Alar Scare
• For example, NRDC’s Alar Scare was
caused by publishing pamplets like
Intolerable Risk: Pesticides in our
Children’s Food in 1989.
• David Fenton put it this way:
• Our goal [with the Alar program] was to create so
many repetitions of NRDC’s message that average
American consumers could not avoid hearing it . . .
Problems with the Concept
• Reams of scientific literature contradicts
not only the NRDC’s findings on Alar, but
on Pesticides in general.
• A 1,400 page report form the National Academy of
Sciences’ (NAS) National Research Council found
that there was no evidence that pesticides
contribute significantly to cancer risk
• Original NRDC was suppose to be a law
firm for the environment not a policy
maker.
Outcome
• The Alar Scare illuminates the dangers of
the diversifying of the groups.
• In the 90s, the Sierra Club had a revolt in
chapters in Illinois, Indiana, Montana, and
Northern Rockies due to support for
logging in the northwest.
• Amos Eno of the Interior Department
» The big [environment] groups make policy decisions
based on their fund-raising campaigns rather than
the other way around
Growing with a Vision
• Not all followed the same method, the
Nature Conservancy, founded in 1951,
has grown to become the most successful
in terms of membership, finances, and
tangible accomplishments.
• This is because of two factors
• One Single Issue: Protecting Ecosystems
• Emphasis on market approaches to achieve its
goals. Has the single largest group of private
sancturies in the world
Nature Conservancy
• Primary tool is mostly buying or trading for
the land’s development rights.
• This free market approach has its
advantages:
• The land will remain natural until those rights are
relinquished. Battles is won at that point as oppose
to lobbying where it’s a constant battle.
• Makes its own choices about what to do with the
land.
• Nor does it alienate potential donors
As One Executive Put It
• Our formula for going about doing what we
do has been non-confrontational. It’s been
a process that respects the private
property rights of individuals, of
corporations, whomever. Our whole basis
of land ownership is based on preserving
individual right. . . .
The Backlash
• In the 90s, a shift against the environmentalist
occurred
• Regulation was felt by ordinary citizens
• And other methods begun to be talked about other than
regulation
• Of the Five organization, all but the Sierra Club
experienced anemic growth in that period.
• This might not be just a cyclical downturn:
• Journalists have begun to investigate claims more.
• Americans have grown tired of environmentalists’ hyperbole
over such as acid rain, species loss, global warming, and
world population
Greg Easterbrook in early 1990s
• “There is a growing sense that the only
socially respectable attitude toward the
environment is pushing the panic button. .
. [But] as the years pass and nature does’t
end, the people may stop listening when
environmentalists issue warnings.”