Our mission and history

Environmental Defense Fund’s mission is to preserve the natural systems on which all life depends.

Guided by science and economics, we find practical and lasting solutions to the most serious environmental problems.

What distinguishes Environmental Defense Fund is the combination of what we protect and how we protect it. 

We work to solve the most critical environmental problems facing the planet. This has drawn us to areas that span the biosphere: climate, oceans, ecosystems and health.

Since these topics are intertwined, our solutions take a multidisciplinary approach. We work in concert with other organizations—as well as with business, government and communities—and avoid duplicating work already being done effectively by others.

Over the years, EDF has brought a series of innovations to the work of protecting the environment. Today, our unique approach is the sum of all these innovations. 

How we began: A pioneering team

Founders Art Cooley, Charlie Wurster and Dennis Puleston started EDF in 1967 to protect humans and wildlife from DDT.

In the 1960s, the pesticide DDT was used widely. It caused eggshells to thin and break, threatening the survival of magnificent birds like the osprey, bald eagle and peregrine falcon. It is a persistent poison that works its way up the food chain, endangering people, too.

On Long Island, a small conservation group included a researcher who had been documenting the decline of the osprey for more than a decade. He found that unhatched osprey eggs contained significant concentrations of DDT. The group appealed to the county to stop using DDT. The mosquito control commission replied that DDT killed mosquitos cheaply and easily, so they would continue to use it.

So the group tried a novel approach, common today but unheard of in the late 1960s: The scientists teamed up with a lawyer and went to court on behalf of the environment.

After many months of preparation, the case was strong. Not only was DDT poisoning birds and crustaceans, but it was also of declining value in mosquito control, as the insects became resistant to it. In 1966, the court imposed a ban on DDT. In 1970, the governor enacted a statewide ban, based largely on the testimony from that Long Island case. And in 1972, the lawyers and scientists played a major role in securing a nationwide ban. The osprey has since made a dramatic recovery, and the bald eagle and peregrine falcon have been removed from the endangered species list.

That first court victory presented the local group with a choice. Because this was the first case of its kind, it roused national interest, "out of all proportion to the actual results achieved." Appeals for help came pouring in from across the country, many more than a small group of volunteers could address. They decided to organize more formally and attempt to raise funds to expand their work. In 1967, they incorporated as Environmental Defense Fund.

Decades of growing results and new approaches

Not long after, we began hiring economists, which led to our international prominence in designing market-based solutions. In the 1990s, we pioneered corporate partnerships and some of the first interactive uses of online communications. 

In the process, EDF grew into a leading national nonprofit organization representing more than 750,000 members.

We are grateful to have such a strong foundation from which to continue to tackle environmental problems with smart, lasting solutions.