EarthJustice is an environmental nonprofit headquartered in San Francisco, California. The organization represents other prominent anti-GMO groups—including Greenpeace, The Sierra Club, and Natural Resources Defense Council—in lawsuits against state and federal government agencies and private corporations. Founded in 1972, EarthJustice maintains 15 regional offices around the U.S. staffed by 300 attorneys and other personnel. With total assets topping $130 million as of 2017, EarthJustice is one of the largest environmental nonprofits in the world.
The organization argues that the combination of pesticides and crops genetically engineered to tolerate the chemicals could lead to an “environmental disaster,” citing the work of agricultural economist Charles Benbrook to justify this prediction. Benbrook’s studies on the environmental impact of pesticides are primarily funded by organic food companies, and EarthJustice says his work shows “genetically engineered crops have spawned the creation of superweeds that destroy entire crop fields.” In 2015, EarthJustice filed a lawsuit alongside the Center for Food Safety and the Natural Resources Defense Council to block the introduction of a pesticide designed for use on GMO corn and soybeans, approved by the Environmental Protection Agency. EarthJustice said of the lawsuit, “chemicals known to be harmful to human, animal and plant life should not be flippantly rubber-stamped at the behest of the companies that profit from them.”
In spring 2018, the environmental group Rachel’s Network, run by former EarthJustice attorney Fern Shepard, paid the University of California, San Francisco $55,000 to archive U.S. Right to Know’s (USRTK) “Monsanto Papers” collection. Established with seed money from the organic food industry, USRTK alleges these documents prove Monsanto knew its herbicide Roundup causes cancer and covered it up. “This project honors the spirit of our namesake Rachel Carson, and her quest to shed light on health and environmental impacts of toxics,” Shepard said. “As the chemical industry and the current administration hobble the EPA, it is imperative that this important research lives in a secure, impartial, and reputable public database.”
Financial Data
Annual Revenue: $85,381,770 (2017)
Total Assets $132,970,573 (2017)
Major Donors (total contributions 2012-present)
Foundation for the Carolinas $48,430,000
Sandler Foundation 4,000,000
Energy Foundation: $2,100,000
Panaphil Foundation $1,200,000
The Brainerd Foundation $1,113,000
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation $1,112,000
444S Foundation $850,000
Wallace Genetic Foundation $800,000
Goldman-Sonnenfeldt Foundation $600,000
Nick and Leslie Hanauer Foundation $500,000
Contribution totals only reflect publicly reported donors and may not include significant contributions from corporations, litigators and governments, domestic and foreign, through percent of sales agreements and allocations through various arrangements such as state lotteries and aid programs. Many claims by nonprofit organizations that they receive no contributions from governments or corporations are misleading or false.