STRENGTHENING ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS:

An Environmentalists’ Tool Kit

 

Published by the New Brunswick Environmental Network Revised 2011

(Original Publication 1994)

Cette publication est aussi disponible en français

 

INTRODUCTION

New Brunswick is blessed with extensive forest lands, great rivers, beautiful coastlines, and closely-knit communities. In every community, there are committed citizens working for the protection and restoration of these precious resources. This commitment is reflected in the rapid growth of the environmental movement: from the twenty founding groups of the New Brunswick Environmental Network (NBEN) in 1990 to 87 member groups in 2011.

The work of these citizen groups is valuable to their communities. This work is often difficult. It demands a commitment of time and energy, and it takes its toll on the people and on the organizations. A major role of the NBEN is to support environmental groups in their work, and, to this end, the Environmentalists’ Tool Kit was developed. The tools in this kit are intended to help strengthen organizations. They consist of practical tips on strategizing, organizing, working with other people, and on taking care of yourself.

The kit was designed to be a reference, something that could be pulled off the shelf to find needed information quickly and easily. The sections stand alone and can be easily printed for circulation within an organization. In this way, members of a group can work together to address the challenges that they face as an organization.

Part 1:  Environmental Issues: From Problem to Solution

Part 2: Volunteer Development

Part 3: Relating to the World: Community and Media

Part 4: Wailing the Information Blues

"Going big or going home" is not longer a tag line but the way our world runs -big projects, big budgets, big hair and I am normally quiet opposed to XL anything but the large civil disobidience action in Washington seems to me appropriate. It is like environmentalist are fighting fire with fire; check out the Stop the Pipeline! protest updates.