Environmental groupsTable 6.1 Membership of selected US environmental organisations (’000s)1971 1981 1992 1997 2004Sierra Club (1892) 124 246 615 569 736
National Audubon Society (1905) 115 400 600 550 550
National Parks & Conservation Assoc. (1919) 49 27 230 375 375
Izaak Walton League (1922) 54 48 51 42 45
Wilderness Society (1935) 62 52 365 237 225
National Wildlife Federation (1936) 540 818 997 650 650
Defenders of Wildlife (1947) 13 50 77 215 463
The Nature Conservancy (1951) 22 80 545 865 972
WWF-US (1961) n.a. n.a. 970 1,200 1,200
Environmental Defense Fund (1967) 20 46 175 300 350
Friends of the Earth (1969) 7 25 30 20 35
Natural Resources Defense Council (1970) 5 40 170 260 450
Greenpeace USA (1972) n.a. n.a. 2,225 400 250
Sources:Bosso ( 2005 : 54; Bosso and Guber 2006 : 89).
1999 ).^3 The first wave, from the late nineteenth century to the 1950s, saw
theemergence of the conservation movement with its focus on wildlife
protection and the preservation of natural resources (see Box2.5). Many
major conservation groups today, including the Sierra Club and the National
Audubon Society in the USA, the National Trust and the Royal Society for
theProtection of Birds (RSPB) in the UK, and the Naturschutzbund Deutsch-
land (NABU) in Germany, had their roots in this period. The founding in
1961 of the World Wildlife Fund, now World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF),
a conservationist organisation but international in form and outlook, rep-
resented a bridge to a new type of international organisation. The second
wavewasamanifestation of 1960s modern environmentalism, which her-
alded an explosion in the number and size of groups. Reflecting the interna-
tional nature of modern environmentalism, new groups such as Friends of
the Earth(FoE) and Greenpeace rapidly became international organisations
with national affiliates in many countries. They shared with new national
groups, such as the Environmental Defense Fund and the Natural Resources
Defense Council in the USA, a broader environmental, rather than conser-
vationist, agenda incorporating industrial pollution, nuclear power and an
expanding range of global problems. The growth of environmental concern
at this time also greatly boosted the membership of traditional conserva-
tion groups and encouraged them to broaden their agendas to encompass a
range of environmental and, in recent years, social justice issues.
Tables6.1and6.2show that membership has grown dramatically since
the1970s, becoming increasingly concentrated in a small number of large
groups. Membership growth patterns show a cyclical form: periods of growth
have been interspersed by periods of consolidation and standstill. After the