Environmentalists and Environmental Organizations

Environmentalists are sometimes split up into two groups, Dark and Light Greens. Light Greens are the more popular and more visible part of the environmental movement, which includes the more famous and public environmental groups such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club. Light Greens do not follow environmentalism as a distinct political ideology, but rather seek greater environmental emphasis within existing ideologies such as Conservatism, Socialism or Liberalism.[5]
Dark Greens are much more radical than light greens; they tend to believe that all the current political ideologies (that are referred to as industrialism) are corrupt and naturally lead to environmental degradation as they do not view mankind as part of the environment but rather as a higher form of life with the right to take what it wants from the environment. Dark Greens claim that this is caused by the emphasis on growth that exists within all existing ideologies referred to a ‘growth mania’. The dark green brand of environmentalism is associated with ideas of Deep Ecology, Post-materialism, Holism, the Gaia Theory of James Lovelock and the work of Fritjof Capra. The division between light and dark greens was visible in the fighting between Fundi and Realo factions of the German Green Party

Environmental organizations can be global, regional, national or local; they can be government-run or private (NGO). Several environmental organizations, among them the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Defense Fund, specialize in bringing lawsuits. Other environmentalist groups, such as the National Wildlife Federation, World Wide Fund for Nature, Friends of the Earth, the Nature Conservancy, and the Wilderness Society, disseminate information, participate in public hearings, lobby, stage demonstrations, and purchase land for preservation. Smaller groups, including Wildlife Conservation International, conduct research on endangered species and ecosystems. More radical organizations, such as Greenpeace, Earth First!, and the Earth Liberation Front, have more directly opposed actions they regard as environmentally harmful. While Greenpeace is devoted to nonviolent confrontation, the underground Earth Liberation Front engages in the clandestine destruction of property, the release of caged or penned animals, and other acts of sabotage.
On an international level, concern for the environment was the subject of a UN conference in Stockholm in 1972, attended by 114 nations. Out of this meeting developed UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) and the follow-up United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992. Other international organizations in support of environmental policies development include the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (NAFTA), the European Environment Agency (EEA), and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
source: