News & Commentary

Protecting Biodiversity Means Saving the Bogs (and Peatlands, Swamps, Marshes, Fens…)

April 23, 2024 ExplainerUnited StatesJason Bittel

Wetlands cover just 6 percent of the planet’s land area but provide habitat for 40 percent of wildlife.

The Long, Long Battle for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

March 15, 2024 ExplainerAlaskaBrian Palmer, Nicole Greenfield

For decades, politicians have vacillated between protecting Alaska’s refuge as one of the last unspoiled places on earth and plundering it for oil.

In Planning for Climate Change, Native Americans Draw on the Past

March 11, 2024 ExplainerUnited States, CanadaTim Vanderpool

Across North America, Indigenous tribes and nations are consulting their traditional ecological knowledge to help prepare for a warming world.

The Uinta Basin Railway Would Be a Bigger Carbon Bomb Than Willow

December 13, 2023 ExplainerUtah, Colorado, United StatesNicole Greenfield

The project could sabotage U.S. climate goals, send oil-filled trains along the Colorado River, and pollute the air from Utah to the Gulf Coast.

Even One More Oil and Gas Lease Sale in the Gulf of Mexico Is Too Many

November 17, 2023 ExplainerUnited States, LouisianaCourtney Lindwall

An expansion of offshore drilling would lock the region into decades of fossil fuel extraction at the expense of the climate, coastal communities, and marine life.

Why Coastal Access Is an Environmental Justice Issue

August 31, 2023 ExplainerUnited StatesMardi Fuller

Beach access has long been shaped by multiple systemic injustices. It’s time to change that.

A Trailblazer for Tribal Sovereignty

August 16, 2023 NRDC in ActionUnited StatesJeff Turrentine

NRDC Board member John Echohawk, a member of the Pawnee Nation, has devoted his career to asserting the legal and civil rights of Native Americans.

What the Supreme Court’s Sackett v. EPA Ruling Means for Wetlands and Other Waterways

June 5, 2023 ExplainerUnited StatesJeff Turrentine

How the twisting of words in the Clean Water Act spells disaster.

These 5 Animals Would Be Goners Without the Endangered Species Act

May 4, 2023 ExplainerUnited States, InternationalJason Bittel

They’re just a handful of the hundreds of species that would be extinct without the 50-year-old law.

Failing to Meet Our Climate Goals Is Not an Option

April 26, 2023 ExplainerUnited StatesNicole Greenfield

There’s more than one way the United States can nullify its climate emissions by 2050, but these strategies would make the journey a lot easier. 

Our Nation—and Its National Parks—Has a Smog Problem

April 21, 2023 ExplainerUnited StatesJason Bittel

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed new rules to address air pollution. But experts worry it’s not enough.

California’s Climate Whiplash

April 17, 2023 ExplainerCaliforniaNicole Greenfield

The state broke snowfall records after three of its driest years ever. Now floods wreak havoc. These swings are the new normal—and they’re very hard to manage.

Finally, a High Seas Treaty to Protect the World’s Oceans

April 14, 2023 ExplainerInternationalBrian Palmer, Jeff Turrentine

A new U.N. agreement aims to bring order and conservation to what has—up to now—been an ocean of mismanagement and neglect.

Alaska’s Tongass National Forest Gets the Protections It Deserves

February 17, 2023 NRDC in ActionAlaskaCourtney Lindwall

After a decades-long fight, the newly reinstated Roadless Rule will safeguard these wildlands from road construction and logging.

Crushing Alaska’s Pebble Mine

February 13, 2023 NRDC in ActionAlaskaNicole Greenfield, Jeff Turrentine

The EPA’s decision to veto the project is fantastic news—but the fight to save Bristol Bay isn’t over yet.

A Prosecutor Comes Home

January 12, 2023 NRDC in ActionUnited StatesJeff Turrentine

NRDC’s new chief program officer, Drew Caputo, has roots in the organization that go back decades, but his focus is squarely on the future.

A 22-Year Court Battle Ends with Justice for the Penobscot River

October 11, 2022 NRDC in ActionMaineNicole Greenfield

After more than a half century of toxic mercury contamination, Maine’s longest river is finally getting cleaned up—a major win for the public interest over corporate polluters.

Canada’s Boreal Forest: Why It’s So Important

July 1, 2022 ExplainerCanada

Protecting the boreal is not only about saving trees and wildlife, says NRDC’s Jennifer Skene. It’s also about the people who’ve been living on the land for millennia and the urgent fight against climate change.

Mount Vernon: Where Environmental Injustice Became a Sewage Nightmare

June 27, 2022 NRDC in ActionNew YorkNicole Greenfield

For decades, residents of this majority-Black suburb of New York City have been dealing with a noxious infrastructure crisis with little recourse. Finally, they’re getting some relief.

Can Anything Be Done to Stop Overfishing?

June 24, 2022 ExplainerInternational

It’s a complex problem, but a combination of smart fisheries management and consumer vigilance can encourage more sustainable practices.