Environmental Defense Fund

An Uncommon Approach to Environmental Issues

We start with rigorous science. Then we work directly with businesses, government and communities.

Together, we create lasting solutions to the most serious environmental problems.
 

Our Approach
Strong Science
Scientists founded Environmental Defense 40 years ago. Ever since then, our staff biologists, chemists, engineers and physicists have used science to cut through logjams.

Innovative Markets
Market competition is one of the most powerful engines of American innovation. Environmental Defense long ago found a way to harness that engine for environmental progress.

Corporate Partnerships
Changing America requires engaging America's corporations. Environmental Defense emphasizes the science while forging unique alliances to produce tangible environmental results.

Effective Laws and Policies
We helped launch the modern environmental era by using the courts in a novel way in the 1960s. Today, we are more apt to craft effective policy but go to court when necessary.
What We Work On
Global Warming
"Our top priority is to pass national legislation that caps global warming pollution and creates a flexible emissions trading market. That will open the door to a green technology revolution." — Steve Cochran, director of our national climate campaign

Land, Water & Wildlife
"Most endangered species depend on private lands for survival. But many landowners do not welcome endangered species on their property. With the number of extinctions rising, we knew we had to do something about that." — Michael Bean, wildlife program director

Oceans
"Protecting critical areas, giving fishermen a financial stake in the future health of fisheries and building new markets for sustainable seafood will bring the resilient oceans back to abundant life." — Dr. Rod Fujita, marine ecologist

Health
"Everyone has a right to breathe healthy air, but more than half of all Americans live in areas that don't meet clean-air standards. We're working to change that, so that kids and adults can breathe easier."
— Vickie Patton, attorney