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Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth is a worldwide organization, almost every country has a Friends of the Earth organization which functions independently from all others. These organizations all used to run campaigns individually but have since affiliated and are now coordinating their efforts globally. For this they use an umbrella body called Friends of the Earth International. The national bodies are often made up out of local groups working the area they reside in.
Based in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, a secretariat is used to assist the network and the actions they carry out. To supervise this, a committee that consists of members from all national groups was created. This elected committee also sets policies for Friends of the Earth and the members of this committee are elected every 2 years.
In their context on all aspects of human rights, Friends of the Earth considers all aspects of the earth's environment. However, their actions go further than common campaigns of the other known movements. Their campaigns address mostly the economical factors of environmental sustainability. Friends of the Earth have their roots in the United States and Europe. Presently, their members are growing fast in third world countries.
The national body of Friends of the Earth consists of many tiers, starting with local individual activists all the way up to pressure groups that carry out the campaigns for environmentally advanced and long term policies. All levels carry out educational campaigns and perform research.
Friends of the Earth policies dictate that all groups must act without the influences of a religious or political nature. All groups must be democratically structured internally, and not be discriminating. Willingness to cooperate with like minded similar movements also is a requirement to be part of the Friends of the Earth movement.
Each group works on issues that are relating to the country that the group resides in. While doing so, the groups decide on which relevant campaigns to get involved in internationally. Local cells can join in any national or international campaign they choose to participate in. They can also create their own campaigns as long as they are not against Friends of the Earth policies.
In 1969 Friends of the Earth was born in the US where It was founded by David Brower after his break-up with an organization called the Sierra Club. This break was triggered by the uncertainty that was displayed on challenging the creation of Nuclear Plants at that time. Friends of the Earth became a global organization in 1971 after a meeting with like minded groups from the United States, the United Kingdom and France.
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