Sue the Bastards? The Environmental Defense Fund, Professional Class Realignment, and the Origins of American Environmentalism

• In Event: Environmental Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 12: Environmental Movements & Activism

Abstract

This article explores the tight web of relations between billionaire foundations and the emergence of second-wave environmentalism. The historiography of environmentalism has largely omitted the role of foundations, depicting an organic movement of confrontational professionals to reign in the environmental costs of postwar development. Using the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) as a case study, I challenge this narrative by uncovering the coercive strings attached to its financial dependency on the Ford Foundation. Grants documents obtained from the Rockefeller Archive Center point to a decade long process of restructuring that transformed the EDF from a confrontational political force into a business-oriented outfit. Through this case study, the article situates the emergence of second-wave environmentalism within hegemonic projects to ensure the alignment of the professional-managerial class amidst the political turmoil of the 1960s and 1970s.

Author

• Jeremy Santora, University of California, Santa Barbara