POLITICAL INTEREST GROUP:An Application

This research examines the Surfrider Foundation within the context of political interest group theory. The Surfrider Foundation was organized to combat the actions of industrial firms that threatened the quality of ocean waters as such quality affects the activities of surfers (Capellaro, 1991, p. 15). This rather narrow focus was subsequently expanded to the pursuit of broader-based water quality protection objectives (Wexler, 1992, pp. 50-51).

This examination begins with a review of political interest group theory. Approaches to environmental protection are then discussed. Lastly, the organization and functioning of the Surfrider Foundation and an environmental protection organization is assessed within the context of political interest group theory .

Conceptually, public interest objectives tend to be perceived as the advocacy of a social cause, such as human rights or the welfare of children or the protection of the physical environment (Becton, 1991, pp. 58-62). Public interest objectives are by an large manifestations of the pursuit of social causes. The very term public interest tends to create misconceptions of public understanding related to the justness or desirability of the causes pursued and the motivations of the people pursuing those causes. One case in point with respect to the justness or desirability is the Children's Defense Fund (CDF). Promoting the p

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industrial operations, and agricultural activities. Urban living creates water contamination primarily through the use of water as a medium for carrying sewage effluent, the disposal of other wastes, and the subsequent return of the water to the supply pool. Water may be returned to the supply pool directly when it is treated in a water purification plant and then shunted back to the supply pool. Both treated and untreated water may be discharged into oceans, streams, lakes, or terrain, wherein topographic and geologic characteristics determine both how much of and how soon the water is returned to the supply pool. These same topographic and geologic characteristics influence the extent to which contaminants carried in the waste water reach the supply pool. Urban living also creates water contamination through automobile and household lawn wastes carried to the supply pool through surface runoff. As urbanization increases, the potential for this type of water contamination increases. A smaller proportion of water contaminated by automobile and lawn uses reaches water treatment facilities than is true of water carrying sewerage effluent. Thus, the topographic and geologic characteristics of streams, lakes, and terrain are
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2784
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)