worthy conservation organizations

[Joshua Stuart Rose]

Dave Webster wrote:

> Can anyone direct me to a conservation/environmental organization which
> tackles the real problems faced by the natural world (e.g. per capita 
> energy consumption) as opposed to contrived ones ?
>
> This is not a rhetorical question. I am on a genuine search for a 
> worthy organization.

Hi Dave and other Leppers,

I don't know of any groups going directly after per capita consumption 
(though the Tailpipe Tally at http://209.10.107.169/tailpipetally/ is 
worth a look, as are http://www.changingtheclimate.com/index.html and 
http://www.airhead.org/index.php?AH_Session=8805869ecebca00441872eee232677be),
but there are some good groups out there. The first one that comes to 
mind is The Nature Conservancy http://nature.org/
They have two major assets: they seek to work with landowners and 
managers, rather than against them; and they focus on all forms of life, 
not just the big, exciting, charismatic ones that get on the TV shows and 
magazines. They care more about the Pine Elfins of the world than they do 
the Monarchs.

The Trust for Public Land http://www.tpl.org/ is another group that works 
on obtaining consensus within communities for what they want to do to 
protect their environments, and gets results, rather than using scare 
tactics and angling for publicity, headlines, and contributions. This 
group does appear to be a US-only group, not sure if they'd help much up 
there in Nova Scotia...

Best of all, though, look for groups that work in your local area. Big 
national groups with one-size-fits-all agendas generally get less done in 
any one region than do the groups which specialize in that region. Over 
here in the Triangle area of North Carolina, for instance, we have the 
Triangle Land Conservancy, the Eno River Association, and other groups 
that know the local lands and the people on them, what needs protection 
and how best to protect it.

Good luck,

Josh


Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6 at acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/


 
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