by David Millar Sept 2009
Introduction
Based on my experience as an activist, this is an attempt to make some sense of an wide variety of environmental organizations and social networks. Many have changed rapidly in the last two years.
Two examples: Bill McKibben's 350.org started with a few youth photo-ops for stepitup.org in the US, inspired hundreds of similar demonstrations, and has now become a worldwide network including newly-formed Chinese, Indian and African groups. One Sky (1sky.org) which was funded by the Clinton Global Initiative, formed an influential US network of somewhat contradictory elements -- church, military, blacks, Dave Brower's LCV (*see 3. readings), environmental Democrats, Greenpeace, Oxfam, Nader PIRGs, Ruckus and PowerShift youth -- some of whom proclaim ecojustice goals. Ecojustice combines right sharing among humans and other species with scientific sustainability.
See the diagram below. Environmental groups can be found on a range from inaction to action, from 1. BAU (Business As Usual) to 6. worldwide ecojustice movements. There are overlaps and apparent contradictions. For instance, some science-based groups (5) accept the carbon trading and nuclear power advocated by green capitalism (2) as an unavoidable means to their goal. Some green capitalists and and financial interests (2) are captivated by techno-fixes urged by the BAU lobbyists (1). Many fossil fuel companies (1) are investing in renewable energy plants (2) as a financial protection against against stricter anti-pollution laws. What veteran conservationist (3) Amory Lovins called "negawatts", now known as energy efficiency, is now advocated by green capitalists (2), but also by science-based groups (5) as an essential first step. "Green jobs", a slogan of (2) is also used by those urging citizen action in (5 and 6). Initially part of the science-based (5) group, 1sky and 350.org, now favour (6) "feet on the streets" climate action. Faith groups are included in (6) because of their declarations for ecojustice; but if they continue to prefer petitions and prayers to putting bodies on the line, they become sympathizers rather than activists. I have left (6) open because it is still being formed.
In the following descriptions , "further readings" include some criticisms (con) as well as statements supporting each group's aims (pro), so that readers can make up their own minds.
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Sometimes called "market fundamentalists", this group see the free market as the highest authority. Their goals are unlimited growth, profit-taking, deregulation and globalization. Neoclassical / neoliberal economics sees social and environmental impacts as mere "externalities". Environmental problems can and should be solved by techno-fixes -- if and when demand arises. Many pay, or are paid, to deny that such problems even exist.
Keywords: free trade, market mechanisms, globalization, TRIPS. Washington consensus. (techno-fixes) clean coal, CCS, nuclear, geo-engineering, biofuels, biotech, GMO, nanotech.
Some advocates: climate change deniers and skeptics, fossil fuel lobbies (coal, oil, gas), rightwing economists Milton Friedman and William Easterly, technofix engineers and nuclear scientists, big pharma, World Trade Organization (WTO), World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Some websites:
pro: Bjørn Lomborg's Copenhagen Consensus applies cost-benefit "triage" to humanitarian aid and climate action - see his Sourcewatch biography
Canadian government response to climate science: Fire the scientists!
Lawrence Solomon a Canadian denier who claims he is not
US FreedomWorks calls for Tea Parties, deregulation, minimum government, more tax cuts; opposes gun control, healthcare and ACES
Wikipedia on geoengineering
my compilation of websites about or by climate change deniers
con: CBC Ideas Climate Wars podcasts by Gwynne Dyer
Marie-Monique Robin film The World According to Monsanto: the political influence of GMO
Wikipedia on the Washington consensus and TRIPS
Further reading
(all have been attacked as excessive: either too business-friendly or too critical)
pro: Bjørn Lomborg, The Skeptical Environmentalist (2008) - see his Wikipedia biography
William Easterly, The White Man's Burden (2006) - see his Wikipedia biography
con: Gwynne Dyer, Climate Wars (2008) - see his Wikipedia biography
my summary of George Monbiot Heat (2006) chapter 2: The Denial Industry
James H Kunstler predicts The Long Emergency (2005) and A World Made by Hand (novel, 2008) - see his Wikipedia biography
F. William Engdahl. Seeds of Destruction. The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation (2008)
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2. Green capitalists
This group believes that with government subsidies and market mechanisms, entrepreneurs will create a "green" and renewable economy. They do not see a contradiction between environmental limits and endless growth, between sustainability and development. Enlightened consumers will prefer "green" products and services. Enlightened capitalists will provide them, using new methods of design, recycling, and renewable energies -- reducing pollution to a safe level. Both the Third World and stockbrokers will profit from market mechanisms such as cap-and-trade and REDD.
Keywords: sustainable development, cap-and-trade, carbon offsets, Marrakesh process for Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP), sustainable pricing, renewable energies, cradle-to-cradle design, LEED, social entrepreneurs
Some advocates: World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD), UN Global Compact, financial lobby, stockbrokers, Worldchanging.com, Canadian economists Stewart Elgie, Thomas Homer-Dixo, US Safe Climate coalition
Some websites:
pro: Worldchanging.com online magazine for "bright green" entrepreneurs magazine
Climate-L listserv
scientist Tim Flannery (3and WBCSD founded the Copenhagen Climate Council in 2009
National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy - its reports were ignored by the Harper government
Corporate Knights magazine
Scientific American Earth 3.0
Suzuki and Pembina Purchasing Carbon Offsets guide (2009)
Environmental Defence Fund in USA and Canada - seeks market-based solutions
Sustainable pricing market-based solutions by Stewart Elgie and Thomas Homer-Dixon, Canada
UNEP official web site on The Marrakech Process
con: Larry Lohmann's critique of carbon trading
Sourcewatch wiki on Greenwashing
Nicholas Roberts' McGaia warns of corporate plans to relable GMOs as "organic" or "permaculture"
Further reading
Worldchanging: A Users Guide for the 21st Century (2006)
Thomas L. Friedman, Hot, Flat and Crowded (2008) urges US energy security; see my online summary
Wikipedia on the Marrakech process for SCP, backed by the WBCSD and its founder Maurice Strong, who also sponsored the Earth Charter in (6)
The End of Poverty (2005) by liberal economist Jeff Sachs argues for more development aid; his Millenium Villages and the Rockefeller-Gates-Monsanto AGRA: Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa claim that better aid programs and GMO seeds can bring rural Africa to sustainable capitalist growth
con: this critique of AGRA
Elenita C. Dano Unmasking the Green Revolution in Africa (2007) online
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3. Conservationists
This group consists of a an alliance with corporate donors, financial and political elites, by some of the best-funded and longest-established environmental organizations, usually involved in major habitat restoration projects. They rely on professionalism not protests. Severly underfinanced, in 2000 tthe UN made a similar Global Compact with business. The UNEP's Achim Steiner a former director of IUCN, favours cap-and-trade and other market mechanisms. In the USA, big NGOs joined previously anti-Kyoto companies and Wall Street interests, to support lobbying for "green" subsidies and cap-and-trade. REDD is seen as a way to save world forests as CO2 sinks, with profit to polluters, Third World and stockbrokers. Veteran environmentalists James Lovelock and Patrick Moore support nuclear power as the only way to reach science-based (5) emissions targets. For decades, Amory Lovins urged corporations to take "green'' energy paths.
Keywords: sustainable development, energy efficiency, greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions, biodiversity management, conservation megaprojects, carbon trading, REDD [see (4) further reading]
Some advocates: IUCN, CI, TNC, WRI, NRDC, USCAP, Tim Flannery, James Lovelock, Patrick Moore, Amory Lovins
Some websites:
pro: International Union for Conservation of Nature
Ducks Unlimited in US and Canada
World Resources Institute - conservationist, but a reliable source of data
Sourcewatch reports that Pew Family Charitable Trusts, set up by the same family who own Suncor (tarsands company), funded studies by Canadian branches of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), and the Canadian Boreal Initiative (CBI). Possible bias.
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) nature reserves with business-government support, member of USCAP; see its 2005 deal with BMW and Volkswagen, and 26 June 09 deal with Audi, "greenwashing" their diesel cars in return for corporate donations
Natural Resources Defense Council legal actions, education, conservation projects, member of USCAP
U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) a business lobby for cap-and-trade, with subsidies to "green" companies (2) including coal, chemical, vehicle manufacturers and Wall Street brokers, those who as the Global Climate Coalition opposed both Kyoto and US emissions reduction up to 1997.
con or neutral:
See the history of USCAP and other fronts set up by the Pew Foundation in David F. Noble, The Corporate Climate Coup Znet 8 May 2007
R.L. Miller, If a tree doesn`t fall in the forest, who gets paid? on boondoggles in REDD and ACES: DailyKos 26 Sep 2009
BBC Planet Earth TV series, and book Planet Earth (2006)
Wikipedia on Amory Lovins and his ideas
Wikipedia on the UN Global Compact (2000) - Kofi Annan's deal for corporate support (especially with Maurice Strong's WBCSD) including voluntary "sustainability" and "CSR" reports
Orion magazine
Further reading;
pro: James Lovelock, The Vanishing Face of Gaia (2009) predicts climate crisis but opposes IPCC (5)
Tim Flannery, Throwim Way Leg (New Guinea autobiography 1998) The Weather Makers (2006)
con or neutral: Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Earth from Above (2002), his movie Home (2009) and his online photo exhibit
J.G. (Gus) Speth, The Bridge at the Edge of the World (2008) WRI founder hopes BAU (1) and endless growth (2) give way to non-materialistic new consciousness, new politics, "post-growth" society (6).
John McPhee, Encounters with the Archdruid (1972) a revealing study of American cultural attitudes: BAU miners, dambuilders, and developers vs Dave Brower of Sierra Club, who later resigned to found the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), the more radical Friends of the Earth, Earth Island Institute.
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4. UNFCCC and related campaigns by UN bodies
This group believes that a post-Kyoto climate treaty (UNFCCC) can and must be agreed by international negotiation under UN auspices. Scientific data already shows rising impacts on humans and other species. Tipping points have been reached in many ecosystems. Other treaties have been reached in the past: law of the sea, biodiversity, ozone protection from CFCs, VOC. Failure will increase both the impacts and costs of future action. But nations disagree on who should bear the cost of "mitigation" and "technical transfer". National rivalry is likely to end in political compromise and weak enforcement, not science-based targets. Even with agreement, there will be a battle for control of "carbon funds" including REDD and "Global Green New Deal" mechanisms, between World Bank (controlled by the rich countries) and UNEP.
Keywords: emission reduction targets, mitigation, Multinational Environmental Agreements (MEA), Kyoto (whose mechanisms include JI and CDM), Bali to Copenhagen, biodiversity, VOC, environmental space (room to pollute), climate petitions, REDD
Some advocates: UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon, ex-Gen.Sec. Kofi Annan, UNEP director Achim Steiner, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer; European Greens, BRIC (Brazil India China) as leaders of the G77, New Economic Foundation (UK), UNEP Green New Deal. All support Millenium Development Goals (see 6) but rich nations have broken all their aid promises including MDG; it seems unlikely they will contribute enough to UNFCCC "mitigation" funds to fill the gap.
Some websites:
pro: Kyotoplus.ca petition to Canada's Conservative government
Wikipedia on NEF Green New Deal (2008)
UNEP's Global Green New Deal (2009)
UNEP Seal the Deal.org and Tunza youth campaigns
UNICEF Unite for Climate campaign
con: my overview of Copenhagen climate negotiations with updates
Pew Center on Global Climate Change - reliable reports on public opinion polls & climate negotiations, also a member of the USCAP lobby (2)
Further reading:
pro: Climate Action Network's ECO reports on the negotiations, in plain language
IISD's Earth Negotiations Bulletin - highly detailed reports in bureaucratese
Wikipedia on United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), and economist Joseph Stiglitz' proposed reforms to the financial industry,World Bank and IMF.
World Bank Carbon Finance Unit allows rich countries to buy offsets rather than reduce emissions, now using Kyoto CDM/JI or EU ETS, hopes to use other cap-and-trade funds as they develop.
con: Governance problems: see Wikipedia on supplementarity and additionality and carbon credits, and the Kartha et al. study of Measurable, Reportable and Verifiable Mitigation Actions... (Stockholm Environmental Institute, 2008)
Carbon Trade Watch - authoritative critical news and analysis of cap-and-trade, REDD, etc.
Michelle Chan, Subprime Carbon (Friends of the Earth, 2009) warns about the "carbon casino"
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This group believes that scientific data are enough to move citizens and governments to act. It argues that economic growth should be a servant not a master; the economy can and must provide for human needs without destroying the biodiversity, natural productivity and ecosystems on which all life in "spaceship earth" depends. Eco-economics places economics within society, and society within natural systems. Pollution of all kinds, especially global warming, must be reversed before the "overshoot and collapse" that Nature imposes on any runaway population. International, national, and regional regulation, based on science not short-term political expediency (in current UNFCCC negotiations), is needed to ensure survival of humans and other species.
Keywords: strong sustainability, tipping points, 2ºC, 350 ppm, contraction and convergence (C&C), Socolow wedges, eco-economics, ecosystems benefits, carrying capacity, Net Natural Productivity and HANNP (human appropriation of NPP), zero-carbon, low-carbon, carbon tax, cap-and-share, Sky Trust.
Some advocates: Al Gore's The Climate Project (TCP), Climate Action Network (CAN), David Suzuki, Pembina Institute, Lester Brown, Peter Barnes. Environmental NGOs that were once rivals are now cooperating, sharing funds and volunteers.
Some websites:
pro: UK Met Office Hadley Centre on 28 Sep 09 warns of catastrophic global warming in our lifetimes, 4ºC by 2060 (impacts shown in Google Earth video Sep 2009 narrated by Al Gore)
Greenhouse Development Rights pathway to 350 ppm (study with graphs, PPTs). GDRights is sponsored by the Stockholm Environment Institute, Oxfam, Boll Foundation and Christian Aid.
international Climate Action Network (CAN) of 450+ NGOs, has reliable reports on UNFCCC (4)
Climate Action Network Canada including David Suzuki Foundation and Pembina Institute
US: One Sky, Bill McKibben's 350.org, Al Gore's The Climate Project (TCP) and TCPcanada - TCP held an Asian summit in Jun 2009, and a Latin American one Sep 2009. Its India branch seems closely linked to the Confederation of Indian Industry lobby (group 2), whose 2008 CFI Energy report it reprints. Repower America is a TCP youth project.
Robert Costanza's scientific Encyclopedia of Earth and its discussion Forum
Lester Brown now heads Earth Policy Institute, publisher of Eco-Economy, Plan B 2.0 and Plan B 3.0:
Worldwatch Institute (founded by Lester Brown) a key source of eco-data, with blogs on green jobs
Jeff Sachs' Earth Institute does scientific research; but he urges green capitalism (2)
World Wildlife Fund: its model NGOs Climate Treaty (4) and its connect2earth.org discussion network
Ecojustice Canada and Earthjustice in the USA (formerly Sierra Legal Defence Fund)
Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy (CIELAP) may study global commons (6)
German physicist and politician Hermann Schneer, urges renewable energy, founder of IRENA 2008
Peter Barnes compares cap-and-trade to his cap-and-share concept (also known as cap-and-recycle, sky trust)
con: Wikipedia explains cap-and-share, carbon tax, Tobin tax - note critical comments that like UNFCCC (4), such international governance may be watered-down to the point of ineffectiveness
Further reading:
Peter G. Brown et al., Right Relationship (2009) urges global governance, and also moral economy (group 6)
James Bruges, The Big Earth Book (2nd rev ed. 2008, ISBN: 978-1-906136-12-3)
Lester Brown, Plan B 2.0 (2006) and Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization (2008)
(CIBC economist) Jeff Rubin, Why Your World is Going to Get a Whole Lot Smaller (2009)
summary of George Monbiot Heat (2007) - if you get an error, click on tag "Montbiot" and scroll down
Tom Turner, Justice on Earth: Earthjustice and the People It Has Served (2002) Sierra's environmental lawsuits
Canadian economist Peter Victor, Managing Without Growth (2008) and its human well-being model
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6. NGOs urging Eco-justice
This is a constantly-changing group, composed mostly of recent coalitions -- of environmental NGOs with elements of earlier Jubilee, anti-poverty and anti-globalization campaigns, supported by new interfaith and youth alliances. All call for a climate deal that would raise the living standards of the world's poor, protect the rights of aborigenes and ecosystems. Their tactics range from petitions to mass popular movements and direct action. They disagree over willingness to be arrested for civil disobedience, and the nature of "non-violence". They seem willing to accept wide differences within coalitions. Some of these groups are now sharing supporters, donors and resources. Predicting that UNFCCC negotiations (4) will fail to meet the science-based goals (5) required for human survival, let alone for social justice, some are planning a worldwide post-Copenhagen mass movement.
Keywords: post-Copenhagen, feet on the streets, climate action, climate refugees, décroissance / degrowth, ecological debt, debt forgiveness, anti-globalization, food security, human security, human rights, global commons, Make Poverty History, Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), indigenous knowledge (IK), aboriginal rights, Tobin tax, Greenhouse Development Rights (GDR), Transition Towns.
Some advocates: Climate Action Now!, Greenpeace, Oxfam, Equiterre, Christian Aid, Via Campesina, Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, Avaaz, 350.org, 1sky.org, youth climate camps and protests, Global Climate Change Alliance / CIAC Campagne International Action Climat, World Social Forum, NASA climate scientist James Hansen, ecologists George Monbiot (UK), Nicolas Hulot (France)
Some websites:
pro: Building a World Ecojustice Movement by Tord Bjork. he notes the convergence of Klimaforum09, Climate Justice Action and Climate Justice Now!
Montreal-based international coalition Tcktcktck.org (aka GCCA / CIAC en français) backed by Avaaz, Oxfam, Christian Aid, WWF, Amnesty, Equiterre, Greenpeace, Union of Concerned Scientists, 350.org, GCAP and many other NGOs. They support the UNFCCC (4) but have more far-reaching scientific and social goals.
Wikipedia on UN Millenium Development Goals (MDG) world well-being, health and education.
GCAP: Global Call to Action Against Poverty (ex-Make Poverty History, Jubilee movements).
Rainforest Action Network engages in conservation, legal and street action.
Vandana Shiva's ideas of earth democracy - see also Wikipedia on ecofeminism
Larry Lohmann: climate justice vs the carbon casino
Paul Hawken's wiserearth.org directory of NGOs and discussion Forum
Rob Hopkins' Transition Culture
Montreal Urban Ecology Centre avec vidéos en français
churches and interfaith: kairoscanada.org, Uppsala manifesto, arcworld.org, and others
World Council of Churches ecojustice programme, previously known as JPIC
Greenhouse Development Rights proposal by Stockholm Institute and Ecoequity
Catholic CIDSE-Caritas-Development and Peace on climate justice, World Bank, food security,
debt, development, tax evasion, world mining, the financial crisis,
global governance, MDGs and trade issues.
ATTAC 26 Oct 09 report on the international ecojustice movement. ATTAC promotes a Tobin tax to curb financial speculation, and to fund mitigation in developing countries.
World Future Council founded by the Swedish writer and activist Jakob von Uexkull
World Social Forum and Forum social québecois 8-12 Oct 2009
Transnational Institute thinktank, Council of Canadians - see its campaigns
US groups Climate SOS, New York Climate Action Group, Rising Tide North America, Movement Generation Justice & Ecology Project, New Voices on Climate Change program of Global Justice Ecology Project, Three Rivers Climate Convergence, Seeds of Peace, Global Exchange, Speak Out, Mobilization for Climate Justice West Coast, Ted Glick's Climate Emergency Council, Global Justice Ecology Project
Third World groups: Via Campesina, Third World Network and Focus on the Global South
youth action: International Youth Climate Movement coalition of campaigns in many countries,Sierra Youth Canada, Canadian Youth Climate Coalition, PowerShift, TakingItGlobal, US Focus the Nation
con: These three proclaim ecojustice goals but have sometimes made backroom deals:
Maurice Strong and Gorbachev founded Earth Charter a set of ethical principles and initiatives
Mikhail Gorbachev's Green Cross International (GCI) and its Earth Dialogues among political elites
Clinton_Global_Initiative mixes elite deals with foreign aid, "green" inter-city exchanges with ghetto entrepreneurs, funds One Sky (5), urges US "green jobs" and green capitalism (2) in poor countries
Further reading:
pro: Vandana Shiva, Earth Democracy; Justice, Sustainability, and Peace (2005), Soil Not Oil (2008)
Paul Hawken, Blessed Unrest (2007)
Jim Merkel, Radical Simplicity (2003)
Rob Hopkins, The Transition Handbook (2007)
David Korten, The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community (2006) and Agenda for a New Economy (2009)
Pat Murphy, Plan C: Community Survival Strategies for Peak Oil and Climate Change (2008) and
summary of his ideas
Nicholas Roberts asks about appropriate tactics in Glocalisation and the group blog Gaiapermaculture
The Indigenous World 2009 (published by IWGIA: the International Work Group on Indigenous Affairs, ISBN 978-87-91563-57-7) a country-by-country survey of aboriginal problems
con - analyses are hard to find but these are critical studies:
Anthony Kelly and Tord Bjørk discuss a post-Copenhagen social movement, 2009
Canadian philosopher Jeff Foss, Beyond Environmentalism (2009)
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A rough comparison of the groups: excitements, excesses and correctives
Perhaps some perspective can be gained, whatever your preference, by comparing these groups as semi-religions supported by "true believers", led by high priests whose ideas become unquestionable Holy Writ. I welcome further discussion of overlaps and group definitions (see the introduction and conclusion), and their strengths or weaknesses (below).
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1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
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BAU | green capitalism | conservation | UNFCCC | science-based | eco-justice |
| high priests | Ayn Rand, economist Milton Friedman | worldchanging.com, economist Jeffrey Sachs | Dave Brower (in 1972) | Ban Ki-Moon, Achim Steiner, Yvo de Boer, economist Joseph Stiglitz | James Hansen, Bill McKibben, Lester Brown | Walden Bello, Vandana Shiva, Orthodox Patriarch Bartholemew |
| Holy Writ | markets & prices as final authority | “sustainable development” | restore “wilderness” | Copenhagen treaty | IPCC data, stewardship, strong sustainability | “Justice, peace and integrity of creation” |
| excitements | globalization, derivatives | social entrepreneurs, microcredit | carbon trading, REDD | negotiations | tipping points | liberation theology, Transition Towns |
| excesses | FreedomWorks, climate change deniers, subprime mortgages | “subprime” carbon trading and offsets | megaprojects | success claims | political naivety, “ecosystem management” of Nature | political naivety, dystopian & utopian visions of society |
| can excesses be partially corrected? | national and international (re-)regulation | MRV standards, appropriate technology | additionality, subsidiarity, aboriginal rights | science-based reduction targets | subsidiarity, consultation, aboriginal rights | political action, consultation, aboriginal rights |
| why people are attracted to the group: its strengths | deals among elites, self-interest, greed, money for profits and denial campaigns, media and political support | deals among elites, social entrepreneurs: community + profit, deals with China | deals among elites, professionals in big conservation NGOs | deals among elites, mass world-citizen campaigns | uses scientific data in mass national and world-citizen campaigns | Spirituality / idealism, mass movements for social justice, right sharing, local action |
| its weaknesses | selfishness, indifference, controlled by corporate lobbyists | consumerism, idealism, contradiction between “sustainability” and “development” | self-satisfaction, comfort, professionalism, corporate donors | political compromises, backroom deals, danger of subprime carbon offset “casino” | assumes ecosystem ”management” is possible, appeals to heads not hearts; guilt, despair, catastrophe | assumes ecosystem “stewardship” is possible, political naivety, lack of funds, loose organization |
Warnings and conclusions
My grouping of the world of environmental ideas, projects, NGOs and negotiations -- like any taxonomy -- is subject to criticism. You may disagree with my categories, their criteria, my inclusion or omission of members of a group. I welcome discussion.
Are the groups themselves sufficiently well-defined? As indicated in the graph and the introduction, there are many overlaps and crossovers. Do you think I have omitted, or mis-categorized, a thinker or an NGO? If so, please tell me where you would place them and why.
Traditional criteria of authenticity, reliability and provenance are hard to apply in the online world, where anyone can create a site for their own hobbyhorse and when new coalitions are constantly forming. Here are some methods useful for the Internet: judge an organization by its actions rather than its vision statement, check its "about us" for names of founders and partners, track them in various "watch" sites and Wikipedia (carefully noting critical comments). Enthusiasm and excess are characteristic of the internet -- exaggerated support, claims of success, attacks on rival ideas. Self-criticism is rare, but when found, enhances a group's reliability.
Critical peer-reviews by academics or other specialists would be useful, but as a retired professor, I no longer have access to academic databases that contain them. I rely on documents I can find in the public domain, particularly those by watchdog groups, and on what I have learned in past research, while working with and interviewing many environmentalists, and absorbing their experience of "who's who". My mistakes, however, are my own.
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This paper, prepared for public presentation at the Atwater Library, Montreal, is available as a webpage at http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgx6mzzj_220czjpfkct.
David Millar, September 2009
email: fdmillar@gmail.com