Grossman, who held leadership positions in the Colorado House and Senate, was the banquet speaker at the annual meeting of the Partnership at Jackson Lake Lodge Tuesday night. The Partnership members hail from the business community found in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, and work for healthy, sustainable economy, ecology and community.
Half a century ago, said Grossman, some Brooklyn scientists became convinced that pesticides were killing birds, and decided they needed to sue someone.
“Isn’t that what environmental groups do?” he asked. “Yet for that day and age, it was unheard of.”
The scientists lost their court case, but they did hire a researcher named Rachel Carson, who went on to write “Silent Spring,” the book that convinced Congress to ban the pesticide DDT.
“Environmental Defense Fund was the first environmental group to mesh science with the law,” said Grossman, “and we got very good at stopping bad things from happening.”
Pretty soon there were other environmental groups staffed by scientists and lawyers, but EDF noticed something was missing – there wasn’t much progress on good things happening.
EDF decided to take another tack – seek out corporate partners and work with them on specific projects, said Grossman – like persuading McDonald’s to abandon Styrofoam clam shells, or Starbuck’s to stop using virgin paper for the hot drink sleeves.
“Where do you go to impact 650,000 businesses?” asked Grossman. “You go to Bentonville, Arkansas and the headquarters of Wal-Mart.” EDF has three, full-time staff in Bentonville, working with Wal-Mart to reduce wasteful packaging and find ways to be more energy efficient and less harmful to the environment.
“In all our projects, partners have to agree to a transparent process and to share the results of our work together,” said Grossman. EDF worked with FedEx to design a light-weight delivery truck that was more energy efficient – an idea now also adopted by UPS, he said.
The biggest issue for EDF, said Grossman, is carbon cap and trade bill now before Congress. He urged the Partnership businesses to call their senators and representatives and urge them to support the Markey/Waxman bill in the House.
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