In my last post, I mentioned the fact that the integrative health movement dovetails naturally in many respects with the environmental protection movement. In this post, I’d like to highlight a relatively new–and extraordinarily effective–environmental protection organization.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1993 by Ken Cook and Richard Wiles. It is a team of scientists, engineers, policy experts, lawyers and computer programmers that pores over government data, legal documents, scientific studies, and its own laboratory tests to expose public health threats and propose solutions. It is the mission of EWG to use the power of public information to protect public health and the environment.
EWG specializes in providing useful resources to consumers while simultaneously advocating for national policy change. The organization tackles many topics; including health/toxins, farming, natural resources, energy choices, the chemical index, and health tips (among others).
Organizational Goals
1. To protect the most vulnerable segments of the human population–children, babies, and infants in the womb–from health problems attributed to a wide array of toxic contaminants.
2. To replace federal policies, including government subsidies that damage the environment and natural resources, with policies that invest in conservation and sustainable development.
EWG Action Fund
The EWG Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization that relies on individuals, corporations and associations to fund advocacy for policies that protect people from toxic chemicals and that shift government subsidies toward conservation.
EWG Achievements
1. Toxic Chemical Reform – EWG has successfully lobbied for comprehensive reform to the handling of toxic chemicals, with special consideration given to chemical exposure and effects on groups with the greatest vulnerabilities, particularly children.
2. Energy Policy – EWG analyses include Crying Wolf: Climate Change Will Cost Farmers Far More Than a Climate Bill; Ethanol’s Federal Subsidy Grab Leaves Little for Solar, Wind and Geothermal Energy; and America Needs a True Renewable Energy Policy. These have substantively changed the national conversation about corn ethanol by underscoring the false promises of conventional biofuels as a solution for climate change and energy independence.
3. Banning BPA – In response to EWG’s policy papers, lawmakers in Minnesota, Connecticut, Maryland, Washington State, Suffolk County, N