Ecologistas en Acción is a Spanish grassroots confederation consisting of more than 300 environmental groups distributed throughout small towns and cities across the country. Its principles align with those of social environmentalism. This perspective recognises that the origin of present-day environmental problems lies in the increasingly globalised production and consumption model, which also creates additional social problems. Thus, this model must be transformed if the ecological crisis is to be avoided.
To this end, Ecologistas en Acción carries out awareness-raising campaigns and public or legal complaints against actions which damage the environment, while simultaneously developing specific and viable alternatives in a great number of ecological and energy-related fields.
The organisation is structured territorially through federations and groups, which form the organisational and decision-making bases of the association. This decentralised decision-making structure comes together in the assembly, the highest decision-making body. All the groups that make up the confederation share the same ideological principles and meet in the annual assembly to decide the organization’s targets and strategies.
The wide range of issues that the organization covers, its commitment to social environmentalism and its broad territorial implementation lead to a high degree of internal diversity, both in terms of approaches and in terms of people’s profiles and ways of participating.
The work carried out throughout the organisation is mainly based on collective group efforts and volunteer activity of members, activists, collaborators, sympathisers and, sometimes, hired staff. This way of working is a reflection of the way we understand the world: where there is room for a multitude of approaches and organisational systems which are based on diversity, respect, collective leadership and social cohesion.