Douglas Bevington

Douglas Bevington is the writer of the newly released book The Rebirth of Environmentalism: Grassroots activism from the Spotted Owl to the Polar Bear. In his novel he talks about the three different paths to fighting for environmental issues. The three different paths were National Environmental Organizations, Earth first type radical environmentalists, and the Grassroots environmentalists. He emphasizes the use of Grassroots activism because of their ability to not be pressured by politics, but still have some power compared to the radical environmental groups that use their bodies as protesting strategies.

Background

Doug Bevington is the current Forest Program Director for Environment Now (a grant-making foundation based in CA). He looks over Environment Now's programs to protect California's forests and commercial logging on our public lands.^[1]

He received his PhD sociology from US Santa Cruz, and his dissertation was titled "The Rebirth of Environmentalism: Grassroots Activism and the New Conservation Movement, 1989-2004". In it, he examined the influence of grassroots forest and biodiversity protection groups on environmental policy implementation in the United States. At USSC, he also taught courses on social movement studies.

Bevington has been heavily involved in wildlife protection for more than 20 years. He used to work as the Regional Organizer for the John Muir Project of Earth Island Institute. He was also the Biodiversity Program Assistant for the Foundation for Deep Ecology, as has been active with the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Endangered Species Coalition, the Sierra Club, and the Board of Advisors of the Student Environmental Center.

He is married to Shaye Wolf, who received her bachelor's degree from Yale and master's degree from UCSC.

Book: The Rebirth of Environmentalism

The Rebirth of Environmentalism: Grassroots activism from the Spotted Owl to the Polar Bear

In his book, The Rebirth of Environmentalism, Doug Bevington describes the three types of environmental organizations that have been prominent in the United States from the 19th century to the present. He defines the earliest traditional type of environmental groups as National Environmental Organizations. A few examples include: the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society, the National Parks and Conservation Association, and National Wildlife Federation. These groups all use an insider strategy to pursue their environmental goals. Insider strategy entails the use of lobbyists and conventional political participation. These groups receive the most funding and have been able to make connections in government. The problem with big National Environmental Organizations is that they are often forced to make big compromises in order to keep their position within government.

Bevington uses the group Earth First! to demonstrate the new radical environmentalists that were prompted to attack in part because of the shortcomings of National Environmental Organizations. Their slogan is “no compromise in defense of mother earth.” This group used an outsider strategy, taking direct action to fight against environmental injustice. This group was not interested in political compromises and didn’t avoid confrontation or conflict. For example they often used their own bodies in protest by sitting in trees or lying in front of bulldozers. While their tactics drew attention, they failed to promote long-term solutions.

His main focus is on the emergence of Grassroots Biodiversity Groups. These groups arose as a third path between the effectiveness of National Environmental Organizations and the uncompromising nature of Earth First!. These groups are made up of a small number of intelligent specialists such as environmental lawyers. They use litigation as a powerful tool to ensure that environmental laws are enforced and that biodiversity is protected. The tactics Grassroots Biodiversity Groups create long-term beneficial results. Bevington argues that these groups are so successful because they are both influential and uncompromising.^[2]

Grassroots Organizations

Throughout his book, Doug Bevington discusses how grassroots biodiversity groups are the rebirth of environmentalism. He sees these groups as filling the gaps in, and increasing the effectiveness of, the modern American environmental movement. But why is grassroots organizing so important and so effective? To find the answer Bevington looks at how these groups are organized in comparison to National Environmental Organizations and one of the first liberal ones, Earth First!

Grassroots biodiversity organizations came about through movements based on the politics of community organizing. They are locally based, being brought about by community members searching for change. Many are influenced by radical movements, but find more effective tactics through formal organizations.

Grassroots biodiversity organizations, according to Bevington, are more effective because of the way they are organized. They are more community oriented and operate at a local, rather than a national, level. Their tactics are lawful, unlike those of Earth First!, but do not conform to constraining insider-strategy, like national organizations do. Rather, they focus on litigation, using the judicial system to keep environmental degraders in check. They organize and lobby by hosting house meeting and parties, postering, petitioning, setting up informational tables, raising money, demonstrations, and outreaching to media outlets, government officials, and everyday citizens.

Rather than operating as a large, bureaucratic organization, which can often be decentralized and ineffective, or as a nonformal one that is predominately freelance and without any structure, grassroots organizations act as smaller, formal groups. They have staffers who organize and plan events and work for very low pay. All of the work is done by these staffers or by volunteers, who do the work for the passion rather than the money. They receive funding mostly through grantmaking foundations and have a limited budget by which to operate, instead of having large budgets through member donations.^[3]

Notes

1. ^ Island Press. Antharia, 2009. Web. 1 December 2009. <http://www.islandpress.com/bookstore/details.php?prod_id=1943>.
2. ^ Bevington, Douglas. The Rebirth of Environmentalism: Grassroots Activism from the Spotted Owl to the Polar Bear. Washington D.C.: Island, 2009. Print.
3. ^ Bevington, Douglas. The Rebirth of Environmentalism: Grassroots Activism from the Spotted Owl to the Polar Bear. Washington D.C.: Island, 2009. Print.

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