News & Commentary

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.

Advocates Are Sparking a Revolution in Louisiana's “Cancer Alley”

November 10, 2022 DispatchSt. James Parish, LouisianaNicole Greenfield

Residents of St. James Parish are fighting to boot harmful petrochemical plants from this majority-Black community—and hoping to usher in more sustainable industries like solar.

In the Melting Arctic, a Reckoning to Save Indigenous Culture, Narwhals, and a Silent Sea

September 22, 2022 DispatchArcticBill Donahue

As a mining company seeks to ship millions of tons more of iron ore through caribou and narwhal habitat, good science requires the input of the Inuit.

The Biden Administration Cancels Its Offshore Drilling Plan for Alaska’s Cook Inlet—Let’s Keep It Off the Books

May 13, 2022 DispatchAlaskaSusan Cosier

The lease sale would have endangered Indigenous communities, threatened rare whales, added to the Far North’s climate crisis, and gambled with a 20 percent chance for a large oil spill.

Alaska Natives Lead a Unified Resistance to the Pebble Mine

April 20, 2021 DispatchAlaskaNicole Greenfield

The effort to stop a massive mine project in Bristol Bay, Alaska, has been a decades-long fight for the region’s Indigenous People. Five tribal leaders share their experiences.

A New York Climate Justice Activist with Roots in the Blue Ridge Mountains

December 11, 2020 DispatchNew York City, Washington, D.C.Carmen Cusido

WE ACT’s director of environmental health and education, Taylor Morton, who found their path to environmental justice work through a childhood spent in nature, wants to help the next generation get outside without fear.

Defender of Housing Justice

August 25, 2020 NRDC in ActionNew Orleans, United States, LouisianaJenny Shalant

Energy efficiency and social safety net advocate Khalil Shahyd explains why supporting affordable housing is intrinsic to the climate fight.

Connector of the Gulf South, 15 Years and Counting

August 24, 2020 DispatchNew Orleans, LouisianaKaren L. Smith-Janssen

Colette Pichon Battle is getting the conversation going—and the preparations moving—for Black and Indigenous communities of Louisiana who are still healing from Hurricane Katrina, even as they stand on the frontlines of climate change.

As Sea Level Rise Threatens Their Ancestral Village, a Louisiana Tribe Fights to Stay Put

April 13, 2020 DispatchLouisianaBarry Yeoman

They survived the BP oil disaster, Hurricane Katrina, and decades of industry spoiling their wetlands. Whatever their future holds, the people of Grand Bayou want to decide it for themselves.

The Mother Who Became a Voice for the Gulf

April 6, 2020 DispatchLouisianaNicole Greenfield

After the Deepwater Horizon disaster, Kindra Arnesen went to the mat to help heal and protect her southeastern Louisiana community and the fishery it relies on. Ten years later, she’s still fighting.

He’s Leading D.C.’s Movement for Climate Action—and He’s a High School Senior

January 30, 2020 DispatchWashington, D.C.Karen L. Smith-Janssen

Jerome Foster II is the 17-year-old helming the Fridays for Future strike in Washington, D.C., the founder of the OneMillionOfUs movement to mobilize young voters, and the voice of a generation demanding climate action now.

A Fearless Defender for Our Future

January 6, 2020 NRDC in ActionBoston, Washington, D.C., United StatesJeff Turrentine

President and CEO Gina McCarthy started out as a public health agent in small-town Massachusetts, rose to become head of the EPA under Obama, and now guides NRDC into its next chapter.

A Roadmap for Frontline Communities

December 15, 2019 NRDC in ActionWashington, D.C., United StatesJeff Turrentine

To address the growing climate impacts on low-income people and communities of color, NRDC signed on to a historic platform that seeks to create a future that benefits all.

The People of the Isle de Jean Charles Are Louisiana’s First Climate Refugees—but They Won’t Be the Last

September 23, 2019 DispatchLouisianaRobynne Boyd

Whether and how to uproot communities are difficult and painful questions, and we need to get better at answering them.

That Summer When Climate Change Baked Alaska

August 9, 2019 DispatchAlaskaJeff Turrentine

An Anchorage-based wildlife biologist describes what life is like in our northernmost state—one that’s been dramatically altered by rising temperatures.

A Journey Through the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

March 22, 2019 DispatchArctic, AlaskaClara Chaisson

One of the world’s last pristine wild places is on the front lines of climate change—and threatened by fossil fuel development. These photos speak to why we must fight both.

These Alaska Residents Are Watching Their Hometowns Slide Into Rising Waters

October 29, 2018 DispatchAlaskaAlisa Opar

At least 31 villages now face imminent threats from climate change and may have to relocate, at a cost of as much as $200 million each.

The Gulf of Mexico Is Sending Out an S.O.S.—a Message in a Plastic Bottle

June 4, 2018 DispatchKansas, Louisiana, MississippiRobynne Boyd

Thanks to the Mississippi River’s trash stream, the Gulf has some of the highest concentrations of plastic in the world.

She Breathes In Pollution, and Fights It, in the Windy City

May 15, 2018 NRDC in ActionChicago, Illinois, Washington, D.C.Carmen Cusido

NRDC’s Gina Ramirez is helping to bring attention to the wafts of manganese dust that plague her family and neighbors on Chicago’s Southeast Side.