ABSTRACT
Chronological order describes continuity as a line of significant events judged as such retrospectively, from the present looking back to the past. Friends of the Earth (FoE) activists juggle different conceptualisations of time in their understandings, uses, experiences and negotiations of the past and of history. In the history of civic action, scholars, governments and law courts have tended to concede legitimacy only to entities. Yet FoE activists do not want to lose the history of work that they were attracted to as new volunteers and the reputation that 'history' gives to an organisation. In 1969, the Executive Director of the US Sierra Club resigned out of frustration that the organisation neglected to tackle nuclear issues, or even to work internationally. Friends of the Earth International was founded in 1971 by four organisations from France, Sweden, England and the United States.
