Green Alliances: McDonalds and Environmental Defense Essay -- Environm

Green Alliances McDonalds and environmental Defense On August 1, 1990, Shelby Yastrow, McDonalds Senior Vice President of Environmental Affairs, and Fred Krupp, Environmental Defenses Executive Director, announced that the company and the organization would form a partnership with the goal of improving waste management at McDonalds. The announcement came as a surprise to many outside of McDonalds and Environmental Defense the alliance of the worlds largest fast-food company with one of the countrys oldest and best-known environmental organizations seemed improbable. McDonalds seemed a more likely target for Environmental Defenses litigation than a potential partner. Reaction to the announcement was mixed. Many, such as the Wall Street Journal, applauded the decision to cooperation, saying that the alliance could break ground in the fight to protect the environment.1 Others, such as Warren T. Brooks of the San Francisco Chronicle, charge McDonalds of caving into pressure from th e elitist yuppies2 of Environmental Defense. Still others, like Hans Schuttle of the Boston Globe, feared that Environmental Defense was catering to big business and watering down its stands.3 McDonalds and Environmental Defense themselves seemed unsure of the direction the partnership would take. Krupp spoke of working together to improve the environment, but also cautioned, were always ready to roll out the weighted artillery. Yastrow likewise expressed cautious optimism about the partnership. In this, Krupp and Yastrow were acknowledging McDonalds and Environmental Defenses very different histories and perspectives, yet they were also implying that each had evolved bounteous to a point where they were in a posit... ...26 www.environmentaldefense.org/pubs/Reports/McDfinreport.html, updated 8/21/00, accessed 11/16/00.27 www.environmentaldefense.org/pubs/Reports/McDfinreport.html, updated 8/21/00, accessed 11/16/00.28 www.environmentaldefense.org/pubs/Reports/McDfinreport.ht ml, updated 8/21/00, accessed 11/16/00.29 Langert, 12/4/00.30 www.environmentaldefense.org/pubs/EDF-Letter/1991/Jan/a_mcdonalds.html, accessed 11/16/00.31 Livesey, p. 532 Livesey, p. 1133 Langert, 12/4/00.34 www.environmentaldefense.org/pubs/StrategicPlan/, accessed 12/7/00. 35 www.environmentaldefense.org/pubs/Newsletter/1999/Dec/gc_ways.html, accessed 11/23/00.36 National Resources Defense Council website, www.nrdc.org/cities/recycling/append.asp, accessed 11/14/00.37 www.environmentaldefense.org/pubs/Reports/launchethic.html, accessed 11/23/00.