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Environmentalism, Then and Now

John Adams
Founding Director
Year founded NRDC: 1970

Then: "We started NRDC on a shoestring in 1970, back when environmental protection was just becoming an important issue for Americans. At the beginning, we struggled for months just to get tax-exempt status, without which we couldn't even make use of the Ford Foundation grant that got us off the ground. Our first real challenge was to take the mandate provided by the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act and run with it -- to write laws that would, for the first time, protect Americans' health and America's natural resources. We got organized and our very bright group right out of law school set to work. NRDC may have been a fledgling organization, but we helped create the framework of environmental protection that exists today -- clean air laws, clean water laws, coastal zone laws, laws to protect our national forests. And we were right there among the small community that defined what an environmental lawyer actually does."

Now: "It's wonderful to think just how far NRDC, and the environmental movement, have come. NRDC is no longer just an organization of lawyers. We're scientists, economists, foresters, planners. And we're an organization of people -- we have over a million members and activists, and because of the efforts of some of our supporters we're reaching a lot more people. With help from well-known actors and artists we're having great success getting the word out to the public about urgent environmental fights. High-powered supporters in the entertainment industry, like the members of our Action Forum and Executive Forum, help bring our message to the ears of decision-makers we might not be able to reach otherwise. And our work with Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), a group of business professionals who believe in protecting the environment while building economic prosperity, broadens our reach in a way I never imagined 30 years ago, or even 10 years ago.

"We continue to work in Washington but we also work in courts around the country to enforce the laws, which under the Bush administration are facing the single largest assault since they were written 30 years ago. And we're looking at the end game now -- we want to get at the central causes of the problems we see, and to craft solutions to them. For instance, to help save forests in the southeast, we used a combination of public and market pressure to convince Bowater, a giant paper company, to stop its destructive practices in the Cumberland Plateau. And to the credit of Bowater and their leadership, they stepped forward to enter into pretty significant negotiations. Our global warming work also says a lot about how NRDC has evolved. In the early days, climate change wasn't on our radar -- or anyone's. But right from the start we were working to understand how our society might produce energy more cleanly, might use energy more efficiently, and might reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. And the expertise and stature that NRDC has developed in these areas over the years is essential to our success in advocating for solutions to global warming."

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Photo: Bottom, Brennan Cavanaugh