Environmental Health

What’s at stake 

At the forefront of our collective fight for a just, sustainable, and socially equitable world is human health. Our health is intimately tied to the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the products we use, and the places where we live, work, play, pray, and go to school. NRDC’s health advocacy starts with how the environment affects each of us as individuals, how it touches our families, and what it means for us at a community scale. To protect ourselves and our families, we fight to ensure that all people have a meaningful voice in their well-being. Our future—and our resilience—depends on our ability to deliver a just, clean, and healthy environment for all.  

How NRDC is making a difference 

Throughout our policy, advocacy, and coalition-building work, we center intersectional strategies that will tangibly improve public health outcomes. We focus on issues and places with the greatest health disparities—often, communities of color and low-income communities. This includes standing with and amplifying the voices of frontline communities in shaping and defending policies that protect human health from dangerous pollution and the impacts of climate change. For example, we fight for policies that reduce exposure to air pollutants such as smog, soot, and toxic chemicals; advance protections for workers and communities grappling with extreme heat; and demand that industrial facilities and infrastructure not be sited in and around people’s homes. We also litigate and advocate policies that ensure safe and affordable drinking water. Our work has resulted in the replacement of millions of toxic lead service lines and strengthened health-protective drinking water standards for PFAS and other industrial chemicals making their way into our bodies.  

NRDC stands with consumers everywhere who expect transparency and marketplace safety when it comes to the everyday products we rely on. Together, we fight for stronger pesticide protections, clearer labeling of chemical ingredients and health risks on our packaging, and the public’s right to protect themselves and their families without corporate interests getting in the way.  

Given that climate change is a public health emergency in itself, our adaptation experts seek safeguards to help us thrive on a hotter, stormier planet. We help communities, workers, and governments prepare for and respond to climate risks through stronger heat protections, better climate risk information, more resilient disaster and recovery policies, and equitable solutions that safeguard health and well-being.