Environmental Organizations

I have decided to join an environmental organization in order to participate more actively in solving the environmental problems that threaten our world. So, I have taken a close look at the mission statements of three major environmental organizations: Greenpeace, Wild Spots Foundation and Natural Resources Defense Council in order to make a decision that would be logical and personally compatible as well.


Greenpeace was created in 1971 to protest U.S. nuclear testing off the coast of Alaska. Since then, this organization has been addressing global environmental threats through "peaceful direct action". In fact, this means that their activists are very determined people who take extreme personal actions as they put themselves in harm's way in order to bring worldwide attention to specific issues and solve them. This is the most engaging type of activism to which, unfortunately, only a few special people can dedicate themselves. Our modern lifestyle has put our planet at a dangerously high level of environmental risk, and our world needs a greater number of that kind of people to come to its rescue.

Wild Spots Foundation is an organization that dedicates itself solely to saving "habitats of endangered species". Its activities concentrate on specific problems related to the conservation of natural resources and wildlife preservation throughout the world. This is a very noble objective because mankind, while promoting its own development and satisfaction, is destroying the habitat of other species in all corners of the planet. Nature's support system belongs to all the species that inhabit the earth, and man is just one among its species. Other species should not suffer from man's insatiable expansion.

For its part, the Natural Resources Defense Council claims that its purpose is to "safeguard the Earth: its people, its plants and animals and the natural systems on which all life depends." This is the broadest manner to pose the environmental issues that our society faces today. The Earth is one and belongs to all the forms of life that it sustains all together. NRDC's approach is ethical, and ethics is the missing link that can save the planet from the global threats that might soon put all its inhabitants, man included, on the list of endangered species.

Of these three environmental organizations, I would like to join the Natural Resources Defense Council because its battle ground is at the ethical level, and NRDC addresses the environmental problems at the level of the legal system. That is where the wrong decisions that are being taken can be fought, and that is where they can be undone.

Actually, I do not believe that I have what it takes to fully participate in the actions taken by the members of Greenpeace. I greatly admire them, but frankly I cannot even imagine a close friend putting his or her well-being in jeopardy like they do. Greenpeace activism calls on an exceptional individual. On the other hand, I find Wild Spots Foundation's goal too narrow even though I agree that it is crucial to protect animal life, specially the endangered species as they have as much right to this planet as every other living being.

As a supporter of the Natural Resources Defense Council, I will be kept aware of all the major issues affecting our environment such as the six following goals that NRDC lists as its priorities: curb global warming, save endangered wild places, move America beyond oil, revive the world's oceans, stem the tide of toxic chemicals, and accelerate the greening of China. Also, my financial contribution will go toward enabling this institution and its lawyers to tackle the institutional systems that have the responsibility to correct these global problems. I believe NRDC's approach to be more pragmatic; it seems more likely to succeed in eventually creating "a new way of life for humankind, one that can be sustained indefinitely without fouling or depleting the resources that support all life on Earth."