Environmental Groups and Environment organizations

Pretty much everyone wants to take action on global warming and other serious environmental issues, but with all the environmental groups out there it can be hard to figure out where to start. There are environmental organizations of every size and description. Some of them handle local issues such as protecting a regional watershed, while others address national and even international policy. Some of them are more concerned with conservation while others are more concerned with issues of sustainability or environmental justice. For every environmental cause, there are probably at least a dozen environmental groups.

It took me a long time to figure out how to choose environmental organizations. I used to be pretty haphazard about it. Basically, when I ran into someone out campaigning for an environmental group, I would ask him what he was doing. If the group seemed to be associated with something I approved of or felt was a valuable issue, I would give him money. I never really bothered to do any deeper research than that.

After awhile, however, I came up with a better approach to environmental groups. I started to really recognize the different types of organizations, and decide which ones I wanted to support. The local versus national issue is one of the most important ones. A local group can help to protect regional watershed, air-quality, or other local environmental issues in a way that a national group can't. On the other hand, a nationwide organization can garner media attention and work for broad-based change in a way far beyond local and regional groups.

Then there is the difference between environmental activists and lobbying groups. An environmental activist organization tends to be more oriented towards public protests and things like that, whereas a lobbyist group works behind the scenes to increase support for effective environmental legislation. The two approaches aren't mutually exclusive, of course, but sometimes one group falls far to one end or another. For example, Greenpeace used to be one of the most famous activist groups. On the one hand, they would get a lot of international attention for their anti-whaling campaigns and other sorts of public acts of civil this obedience. On the other hand, they would occasionally alienate mainstream politicians and citizens because of their actions. This is the delicate line that environmental groups have to walk. When you decide to support one, make sure you're supporting an organization that works for political change in the way you most approve of.