Group of Ten
The Group of Ten was a coalition formed in 1981 by leaders from ten prominent environmental organizations in the United States, aimed at promoting environmental protection and advocating for corporate accountability. The group emerged during a critical period as a response to the political landscape under President Ronald Reagan, with members expressing a commitment to preserve environmental legislation established in the previous two decades. Key figures included representatives from the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the National Wildlife Federation, among others.
The coalition conducted meetings with executives from major corporations such as Du Pont and Exxon, encouraging them to take responsibility for their environmental impacts and to contribute to sustainability efforts. In 1985, they published "An Environmental Agenda for the Future," outlining their vision for ecological preservation. Although the Group of Ten disbanded in the late 1980s as regulatory pressures eased, its influence on environmental advocacy and corporate responsibility has continued to resonate in subsequent environmental movements. The group’s legacy highlights the significance of collaboration among diverse environmental groups to address the interconnectedness of ecological issues.
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Group of Ten
IDENTIFICATION: Coalition of representatives of the ten leading environmental groups in the United States
Although the existence of the Group of Ten was short-lived, the formation of the coalition demonstrated widespread recognition of the essential interrelatedness of all environmental concerns and of the need for environmental advocates to engage corporations and political leaders
On January 21, 1981, leaders of nine US environmental organizations met at a Washington, DC, restaurant to discuss common goals. In attendance were J. Michael McCloskey, the chief executive officer of the Sierra Club; John Hamilton Adams of the Natural Resources Defense Council; Janet Brown of the Environmental Defense Fund; Thomas Kimball of the National Wildlife Federation; Jack Lorenz of the Izaak Walton League; Russell Wilbur Peterson, the former governor of Delaware, of the National Audubon Society; William Turnage of the Wilderness Society; Louise C. Dunlap of the Environmental Policy Center; and Rafe Pomerance of Friends of the Earth. Although he was not in attendance at the original meeting, Paul Pritchard of the National Parks and Conservation Association was later invited to join the group, which, thus, became known as the Group of Ten.
The activists who formed the group hoped to send a signal to newly inaugurated President Ronald Reagan and his incoming administration that American environmental organizations would fight to preserve the environmental legislation of the 1960s and 1970s. In addition, the attendees hoped to protect and enhance environmental quality by promoting public awareness and corporate social responsibility. The group’s leaders thus conducted meetings with the heads of major corporations, including Du Pont, Exxon Chemical, Union Carbide, Dow, American Cyanamid, and Monsanto. A number of these companies were sensitive to the unfavorable publicity they had been receiving for the environmental consequences of their businesses. In the meetings, the members of the Group of Ten urged the corporate leaders to assume greater social responsibility for the protection of the and for the welfare of future generations.
In 1985, the Group of Ten published An Environmental Agenda for the Future, a detailed plan for the worldwide environment’s preservation and renewal. With the waning of the Reagan administration’s assault on domestic environmental legislation in the late 1980s, the Group of Ten disbanded as a formal organization, but its legacy of united action in defense of the environment continued to prove influential.
Bibliography
Adams, John H., et al. An Environmental Agenda for the Future. Edited by Robert Cahn. Washington, D.C.: Agenda Press, 1985.
Bevington, Douglas. The Rebirth of Environmentalism: Grassroots Activism from the Spotted Owl to the Polar Bear. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2009.
Bor, Kristen. "The Top Environmental Groups You Should Know." Bearfoot Theory, 25 Apr. 2024, bearfoottheory.com/top-environmental-groups-you-should-know/. Accessed 17 July 2024.
Colman, Zack. "Environmental Groups: Greatest Obstacle May Not Be Republican Opposition." Politico, 5 Feb. 2021, www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/02/05/environmental-movement-racial-reckoning-green-diversity-465501. Accessed 17 July 2024.
Gottlieb, Robert. Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement. Rev. ed. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2005.
Lash, Jonathan, Katherine Gillman, and David Sheridan. A Season of Spoils: The Reagan Administration’s Attack on the Environment. New York: Pantheon Books, 1984.