Environmental Defense
Encyclopedia
Environmental Defense Fund or EDF (formerly known as Environmental Defense) is a United States–based nonprofit environmental advocacy group
. The group is known for its work on issues including global warming
, ecosystem
restoration, oceans, and human health. It is nonpartisan, and its work often advocates market
-based solutions to environmental problems.
, Victor Yannacone
and Robert Smolker discovered in the mid-1960s that the osprey
and other large raptor
s were rapidly disappearing. Their research uncovered a link between the spraying of DDT
to kill mosquito
s and thinning egg shells of large birds. They successfully sought a ban on DDT in Suffolk County
, Long Island, New York. They then succeeded in banning DDT statewide. They then took their efforts nationally.
The group's headquarters are in New York City
, with offices nationwide, and scientists and policy specialists working worldwide. Fred Krupp
has served as its president since 1984.
The organization advocates using sound science
, economics
and law
to find environmental solutions that work.
Regional offices more focused on local issues and policies include: Austin, TX; Boulder, CO; San Francisco, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Sacramento, CA; Washington, D.C.
; Raleigh, North Carolina
; Boston, MA
, and the Texas energy company TXU
, with which the organization has negotiated to reduce emissions and develop more environmentally friendly business practices. EDF’s philosophy is that it is willing to talk with big business and try new approaches in order to get environmental results.
John Berlau
, author of the book Eco-Freaks: Environmentalism Is Hazardous to Your Health! argues that EDF and later the Clinton administration interfered with operations of the US Army Corps of Engineers via judicial activism with the aid of Judge Charles Schwartz, forestalling levee reinforcement before Hurricane Katrina
.
However, Berlau’s claim that, if built, the levee reinforcement system would have protected New Orleans from Katrina, is inaccurate. After Katrina, several studies were undertaken to determine what went wrong. None concluded that the failure to build the system was a factor in the flooding of New Orleans. In fact, a 2005 GAO report found that, if the barriers had built, the flooding would have been worse.
According to one of the post-Katrina studies, “The USACE [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers] was aware of GNO [Greater New Orleans] HPS [Hurricane Protection System] vulnerabilities, but appeared to accept the inadequacy of the system with a complacency that undercut efforts to sound alarms and begin pressing for improvement.”
A 2009 op-ed piece by the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman’s Association in the trade journal Fishermen's News argues that EDF's approach to fisheries policy in the Pacific Northwest is likely to damage smaller, local operators who have an interest in protecting fisheries
and limiting by-catch
. Many fisherman fear that the approach gives a competitive advantage to larger, non-local operations, jeopardizing independent operators, including boats, fisheries, and ports.
But with many reports suggesting that most of the world's commercial fisheries could collapse within decades, EDF argues that the way we manage our fisheries needs to change if we want to protect fishermen, fish, and coastal communities. EDF advocates a promising approach : catch shares, which set a scientifically based limit on the total amount of fish that can be caught; that amount is then divided among individual fishermen or groups of fishermen, who can sell or lease their shares to other fishermen. EDF’s research suggests that concern about consolidation of corporate ownership of fisheries is unwarranted in a well-designed catch share.
Environmental organization
An environmental organization is an organization that seeks to protect, analyze or monitor the environment against misuse or degradation or lobby for these goals....
. The group is known for its work on issues including global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
, ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
restoration, oceans, and human health. It is nonpartisan, and its work often advocates market
Market
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...
-based solutions to environmental problems.
History
The organization's founders, including Art Cooley, George Woodwell and Charles Wurster, Dennis PulestonDennis Puleston
Dennis Puleston was a British-born American environmentalist, adventurer and designer. He is perhaps best known for playing a key part in securing a nationwide ban in the United States on the use of the pesticide DDT, a decision regarded as the first important success of the emerging...
, Victor Yannacone
Victor Yannacone
Victor Yannacone is a controversial, pioneering environmental attorney, who played leading roles in successful campaigns to ban DDT in the U.S. and expose the effects of Agent Orange on Vietnam vets.-DDT:...
and Robert Smolker discovered in the mid-1960s that the osprey
Osprey
The Osprey , sometimes known as the sea hawk or fish eagle, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and across the wings...
and other large raptor
Bird of prey
Birds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. They are defined as birds that primarily hunt vertebrates, including other birds. Their talons and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh....
s were rapidly disappearing. Their research uncovered a link between the spraying of DDT
DDT
DDT is one of the most well-known synthetic insecticides. It is a chemical with a long, unique, and controversial history....
to kill mosquito
Mosquito
Mosquitoes are members of a family of nematocerid flies: the Culicidae . The word Mosquito is from the Spanish and Portuguese for little fly...
s and thinning egg shells of large birds. They successfully sought a ban on DDT in Suffolk County
Suffolk County, New York
Suffolk County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York on the eastern portion of Long Island. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,493,350. It was named for the county of Suffolk in England, from which its earliest settlers came...
, Long Island, New York. They then succeeded in banning DDT statewide. They then took their efforts nationally.
The group's headquarters are in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, with offices nationwide, and scientists and policy specialists working worldwide. Fred Krupp
Fred Krupp
Fred Krupp is the president of Environmental Defense Fund, a United States-based nonprofit environmental advocacy group.Krupp is a graduate of Yale University with a law degree from the University of Michigan and has taught environmental law at both schools....
has served as its president since 1984.
The organization advocates using sound science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
and law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
to find environmental solutions that work.
Key accomplishments
Key accomplishments of Environmental Defense Fund include:- 1967 - A group of scientists forms the organization and sets out to ban DDTDDTDDT is one of the most well-known synthetic insecticides. It is a chemical with a long, unique, and controversial history....
(succeeding in 1972). - 1970 - Efforts to ban whaleWhaleWhale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...
hunting. - 1974 - An Environmental Defense Fund study of Mississippi RiverMississippi RiverThe Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
water helps pass the Safe Drinking Water ActSafe Drinking Water ActThe Safe Drinking Water Act is the principle federal law in the United States intended to ensure safe drinking water for the public. Pursuant to the act, the Environmental Protection Agency is required to set standards for drinking water quality and oversee all states, localities, and water...
, establishing the first comprehensive health standards for water nationwide. - 1985 - Helped convince federal regulators to phase out lead from gasoline, leading to a dramatic decline in childhood lead poisoningLead poisoningLead poisoning is a medical condition caused by increased levels of the heavy metal lead in the body. Lead interferes with a variety of body processes and is toxic to many organs and tissues including the heart, bones, intestines, kidneys, and reproductive and nervous systems...
. - 1986 - Pushed McDonalds to institute biodegradable food-packaging containers.
- 1987 - Played a key role in the treaty to phase out the use of CFCs, chemicals that many researchers believe damage the Earth’s ozone layerOzone layerThe ozone layer is a layer in Earth's atmosphere which contains relatively high concentrations of ozone . This layer absorbs 97–99% of the Sun's high frequency ultraviolet light, which is potentially damaging to the life forms on Earth...
. - 1990 - Designed Title IV of the Clean Air ActClean Air ActA Clean Air Act is one of a number of pieces of legislation relating to the reduction of airborne contaminants, smog and air pollution in general. The use by governments to enforce clean air standards has contributed to an improvement in human health and longer life spans...
, which incorporates market-based methods to cut air pollution and acid rainAcid rainAcid rain is a rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it possesses elevated levels of hydrogen ions . It can have harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals, and infrastructure. Acid rain is caused by emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen...
. The measures reduced sulfur dioxide pollution faster than expected, and at a fraction of the cost. - 1995 - Designed the Safe HarborSafe harborThe term safe harbor has several special usages, in an analogy with its literal meaning, that of a harbor or haven which provides safety from weather or attack.-Legal definition:...
plan that gives landowners new incentives to help endangered species on their property.
- 1999 - Contributed to the Endangered Species ActEndangered Species ActThe Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s. Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973, it was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and...
, including inventing the Safe Harbor concept - 2000 - Seven of the world's largest corporations join Environmental Defense in a partnership to address global warming, setting firm targets to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
- 2001 - Helped create the 1,200-mile-long Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve.
- 2002 - Initiated the recent campaign to remove the O'Shaughnessy DamO'Shaughnessy DamThe O'Shaughnessy Dam is a curved gravity dam on the Tuolumne River in the Hetch Hetchy Valley of California's Sierra Nevada. The dam is located in Yosemite National Park, and creates the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. It is named for former San Francisco chief engineer and the original chief engineer of...
in Hetch Hetchy ValleyHetch Hetchy ValleyHetch Hetchy Valley is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in California. It is currently completely flooded by O'Shaughnessy Dam, forming the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. The Tuolumne River fills the reservoir. Upstream from the valley lies the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne. The reservoir...
in Yosemite National ParkYosemite National ParkYosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...
- 2004 - Culmination of 4-year partnership with FedExFedExFedEx Corporation , originally known as FDX Corporation, is a logistics services company, based in the United States with headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee...
to develop and deploy hybrid electric trucks. The new vehicles cut smogSmogSmog is a type of air pollution; the word "smog" is a portmanteau of smoke and fog. Modern smog is a type of air pollution derived from vehicular emission from internal combustion engines and industrial fumes that react in the atmosphere with sunlight to form secondary pollutants that also combine...
-forming pollution by 65%, reduce soot by 96%, and move 57% farther on a gallon of fuel. - 2006 - Co-authored the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, or Assembly Bill 32, is a California State Law that fights climate change by establishing a comprehensive program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from all sources throughout the state...
with Natural Resources Defense CouncilNatural Resources Defense CouncilThe Natural Resources Defense Council is a New York City-based, non-profit, non-partisan international environmental advocacy group, with offices in Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Beijing...
. - 2007 - Co-founded United States Climate Action Partnership (US-CAP), a coalition of major corporations and environmental groups supporting action on global warming, including a market-based carbon emissions cap. Corporate participants include GEGêGê are the people who spoke Ge languages of the northern South American Caribbean coast and Brazil. In Brazil the Gê were found in Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Piaui, Mato Grosso, Goias, Tocantins, Maranhão, and as far south as Paraguay....
, DuPontDuPontE. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...
and Duke EnergyDuke EnergyDuke Energy , headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, is an energy company with assets in the United States, Canada and Latin America.-Overview:...
; non-profit groups involved are Pew Center on Global Climate ChangePew Center on Global Climate ChangeThe Center for Climate and Energy Solutions transitioned from the Pew Center on Global Climate Change in November 2011 under the leadership of its president, Eileen Claussen...
, Natural Resources Defense CouncilNatural Resources Defense CouncilThe Natural Resources Defense Council is a New York City-based, non-profit, non-partisan international environmental advocacy group, with offices in Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Beijing...
and the World Resources InstituteWorld Resources InstituteThe World Resources Institute is an environmental think tank founded in 1982 based in Washington, D.C. in the United States.WRI is an independent, non-partisan and nonprofit organization with a staff of more than 100 scientists, economists, policy experts, business analysts, statistical analysts,...
, a co-founder. - 2007 - Helped negotiate an environmental codicil as part of Texas Pacific's buyout of TXUTXUEnergy Future Holdings Corporation is an electric utility company headquartered in Energy Plaza in Downtown Dallas, Texas, United States. The company was known as TXU until its $45 billion leveraged buyout by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Texas Pacific Group and Goldman Sachs...
.
Regional offices more focused on local issues and policies include: Austin, TX; Boulder, CO; San Francisco, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Sacramento, CA; Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
; Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
; Boston, MA
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
Criticism
EDF has drawn criticism for its ties to large corporations including McDonald’s, FedExFedEx
FedEx Corporation , originally known as FDX Corporation, is a logistics services company, based in the United States with headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee...
, and the Texas energy company TXU
TXU
Energy Future Holdings Corporation is an electric utility company headquartered in Energy Plaza in Downtown Dallas, Texas, United States. The company was known as TXU until its $45 billion leveraged buyout by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Texas Pacific Group and Goldman Sachs...
, with which the organization has negotiated to reduce emissions and develop more environmentally friendly business practices. EDF’s philosophy is that it is willing to talk with big business and try new approaches in order to get environmental results.
John Berlau
John Berlau
John Berlau is an American economist who currently lives in Washington, D.C. and is the director of the Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free market think tank....
, author of the book Eco-Freaks: Environmentalism Is Hazardous to Your Health! argues that EDF and later the Clinton administration interfered with operations of the US Army Corps of Engineers via judicial activism with the aid of Judge Charles Schwartz, forestalling levee reinforcement before Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
.
However, Berlau’s claim that, if built, the levee reinforcement system would have protected New Orleans from Katrina, is inaccurate. After Katrina, several studies were undertaken to determine what went wrong. None concluded that the failure to build the system was a factor in the flooding of New Orleans. In fact, a 2005 GAO report found that, if the barriers had built, the flooding would have been worse.
According to one of the post-Katrina studies, “The USACE [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers] was aware of GNO [Greater New Orleans] HPS [Hurricane Protection System] vulnerabilities, but appeared to accept the inadequacy of the system with a complacency that undercut efforts to sound alarms and begin pressing for improvement.”
A 2009 op-ed piece by the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman’s Association in the trade journal Fishermen's News argues that EDF's approach to fisheries policy in the Pacific Northwest is likely to damage smaller, local operators who have an interest in protecting fisheries
Fishery
Generally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising or harvesting fish which is determined by some authority to be a fishery. According to the FAO, a fishery is typically defined in terms of the "people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats,...
and limiting by-catch
By-catch
The term “bycatch” is usually used for fish caught unintentionally in a fishery while intending to catch other fish. It may however also indicate untargeted catch in other forms of animal harvesting or collecting...
. Many fisherman fear that the approach gives a competitive advantage to larger, non-local operations, jeopardizing independent operators, including boats, fisheries, and ports.
But with many reports suggesting that most of the world's commercial fisheries could collapse within decades, EDF argues that the way we manage our fisheries needs to change if we want to protect fishermen, fish, and coastal communities. EDF advocates a promising approach : catch shares, which set a scientifically based limit on the total amount of fish that can be caught; that amount is then divided among individual fishermen or groups of fishermen, who can sell or lease their shares to other fishermen. EDF’s research suggests that concern about consolidation of corporate ownership of fisheries is unwarranted in a well-designed catch share.
See also
- SustainabilitySustainabilitySustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
- BiodiversityBiodiversityBiodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
- Global warmingGlobal warmingGlobal warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
- RecyclingRecyclingRecycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...
- EcologyEcologyEcology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
- Earth ScienceEarth scienceEarth science is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. It is arguably a special case in planetary science, the Earth being the only known life-bearing planet. There are both reductionist and holistic approaches to Earth sciences...
- Natural environmentNatural environmentThe natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
- Natural landscapeNatural landscapeA natural landscape is a landscape that is unaffected by human activity. A natural landscape is intact when all living and nonliving elements are free to move and change. The nonliving elements distinguish a natural landscape from a wilderness. A wilderness includes areas within which natural...
- Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection AgencyMassachusetts v. Environmental Protection AgencyMassachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, 549 U.S. 497 , is a U.S. Supreme Court case decided 5-4 in which twelve states and several cities of the United States brought suit against the United States Environmental Protection Agency to force that federal agency to regulate carbon dioxide...
Further reading
- "Memories and More: Saving a species," The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, December 30. 2001.
External links
- Environmental Defense Fund
- Fightglobalwarming.com (In partnership with the Ad Council)
- OceansAlive.org
- KeepOceansClean.org created by Animax EntertainmentAnimax EntertainmentAnimax Entertainment is an animation and interactive production studio based in Van Nuys, California. Animax's clients include Disney, ESPN, Warner Bros., National Geographic, Sesame Workshop, WWE and many others. Animax has a particular expertise in Adobe Flash animation and has produced work...
- EnvironmentalDefence.ca