Green Living: Green Living Guides
Environmentalism, Then and Now
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Eric A. Goldstein
Co-director, urban program
Year joined NRDC: 1976
Then: "When I first came to NRDC, I was assisting two senior lawyers on a landmark case called Friends of the Earth v. Carey. It involved enforcing New York City's first clean air plan under the 1970 Clean Air Act. NRDC was very successful in securing court directives ordering the city to carry out key elements of the plan, such as curbing excess vehicle traffic in Manhattan. The court also gave a ringing endorsement to the importance and value of citizens' suits in securing environmental rights. There's a great line from that decision that's still quoted: "Citizen groups are not to be treated as nuisances or troublemakers, but rather as welcomed participants in the vindication of environmental rights." So it was a huge legal victory . . . but we weren't equipped at that time to launch the full-scale campaign that was needed to gain public support for all the transit and pollution-cutting measures included in the case."
Now: "Today, we incorporate litigation as part of broad, public campaigns to achieve our environmental goals. But we have other tools, too. Whether it's fighting to preserve and enhance New York City's recycling program,* or campaigning to prevent haphazard sprawl development throughout the upstate watershed, we use litigation in combination with policy analysis, lobbying, coalition-building, the marshalling of scientific facts, and old-fashioned citizen activism. So the approach is different now, but the issues don't change. NRDC will be working to protect New York's air, drinking water, green spaces and environmental health for years to come."
* Editor's note, April 2004: New York City reinstated its full recycling program on April 1, 2004. Recycling of glass and plastic had been suspended in July 2002 due to budgetary difficulties -- NRDC was instrumental in getting the nation's largest recycling program back on track.
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Photos: Top, Robert Rubic; Bottom, Brennan Cavanaugh
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last revised
4/17/2003
