E-vironmental Activism. (Industry Trend or Event) Alan Cohen.

Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2001 ZDNet

Jaws may have been bad PR for sharks, but Hawaii fishermen did a lot more damage. By the late 1990s, 50,000 Pacific sharks were being killed each year in a practice known as shark finning. Fishing crews would catch the sharks, amputate their fins, and toss the fish back in the ocean. The fins would be used to make a soup that's considered a delicacy in some Asian countries. The sharks would die.

The practice is described in gruesome detail on many Web sites. But just getting the word out wasn't enough for Environmental Defense (until recently, Environment Defense Fund), the New York-based nonprofit organization that helped ban the pesticide ddt and convinced McDonald's to drop the polystyrene-foam Big Mac boxes. "We wanted action. We wanted shark finning to stop," says Daniel Freedman, the group's chief Internet officer.

That's why last year Environmental Defense's online activism effort, Action Network (accessible via a link at the organization's main site, www.environmentaldefense.org), not only described the horrifying practice but also provided visitors the means to fax a prewritten letter of protest to officials. With the help of kahea, the Hawaiian Environmental Alliance, hundreds of messages were sent to Hawaiian authorities, which subsequently barred shark finning in state waters.

Buoyed by that victory, Environmental Defense spearheaded a broader campaign for a nationwide ban. Nearly 10,000 faxes were sent to Congress, and in December 2000, a bill outlawing shark finning was signed into law by President Clinton. "It's hard to say definitively what tipped the balance, but [the site] had an impact," says Freedman. The Action Network also made a difference for the Texas sea turtles, which were perishing in shrimp nets.

"The Internet is the ultimate expression of 'think global, act local,'" says Environmental Defense's executive director, Fred Krupp. In fact, Environmental Defense's use of the Web is a model strategy for any organization looking to build an effective online community. With 300,000-plus dues-paying members, the organization lobbies legislators the old-fashioned way--with lobbyists--and publishes reports and op-ed pieces. But the sheer and instant breadth of the possible network with Web-based activism enables it to reach more people and be more effective in a shorter time period than ever before.

In four years, the Action Network has signed up 133,000 members and tackled dozens of issues. Though the e-activists haven't been quick to open their wallets (Freedman will not divulge figures but concedes that only a small percentage have converted to dues-paying members), they've been quick to express their opinions.

After President Bush unveiled his energy policy in May, for example, more than 50,000 Action Network-inspired protest letters swamped congressional fax machines within a week. Why faxes, a technology that's so 1990? Freedman says studies show that the top three methods for making an impression on an elected official are in-person visits, handwritten letters, and faxes. With key votes often announced just a day or two ahead of time, visits and letters are useless. So when it designed its activism site, Environmental Defense built in the creative fax capabilities.

Attracting traffic is a particularly tough challenge for a nonprofit organization on a shoestring budget. Total 2000 support amounted to just over $39 million. Yet the site has an abundance of interactive features, such as Scorecard, which tells visitors (based on zip codes) which factories are releasing which pollutants into their air and lets them send faxes to plant managers.

Now the group is looking to bankroll its own work. Adhering to the Internet maxim of "no good code should go unfunded," Environmental Defense took its software and spun off a for-profit company, GetActive Software, in June 2000. As part of its equity stake, Environmental Defense receives services from GetActive, including list management, targeted e-mail, and e-mail-to-fax capability at a reduced rate. For other nonprofit organizations, GetActive serves as an e-activism asp. So far, about 40 nonprofit organizations have signed up, including the American Lung Association and Zero Population Growth.

Good news for the sharks? Sure. But good news, too, for anyone who ever wanted to pick up a pen--or mouse--and make a difference.