News & Commentary

Weaving Beauty into the Borderlands

September 16, 2019 PerspectivesWestCourtney Lindwall

Through wall-size juxtapositions of bright, open flowers and jagged, disjointed lines, artist Consuelo Jimenez Underwood explores the fractured landscape along the U.S.–Mexico border.

This Friday, School Is Out—and the Climate Strike Is On!

September 16, 2019 PerspectivesUnited StatesCourtney Lindwall

In protests around the globe, the next generation is sending a collective message to world leaders to act on climate change. Here, four teenage activists tell us their personal reasons for striking.

Racial Injustice: Why We Need to Act Now

September 10, 2019 PerspectivesUnited States

NRDC’s Dawone Robinson discusses how social, political, and economic inequities lead to environmental injustice.

An Artist Who Finds Uncommon Meaning in Common Trees

August 21, 2019 PerspectivesNew York CityPatrick Rogers

Hugh Hayden’s exquisite wooden sculptures and installations comment on race, immigration, and the American environment.

From Bangladesh to Brooklyn, a Clothing Exchange Inspires Climate Action

August 14, 2019 PerspectivesInternationalCourtney Lindwall

Multimedia artist Monica Jahan Bose is sharing stories about climate impacts through the saris worn by the women of her ancestral village.

Giant Wooden Birds Are Flocking to Broadway

August 2, 2019 PerspectivesNew York CityCourtney Lindwall

Nicolas Holiber’s reclaimed-wood sculptures highlight the threat of climate change to avian city-dwellers.

Bureau of Land Management to D.C. Employees: Go West or Get Lost

July 26, 2019 PerspectivesUnited StatesJeff Turrentine

The forced relocation of hundreds of staffers is seen by many as a precursor to the agency’s dissolution—and a sell-off of public lands to the states.

The Conniving at the EPA Has Gotten Kafkaesque

July 19, 2019 PerspectivesUnited StatesJeff Turrentine

The agency aims to stop citizens from challenging pollution permits—while continuing to allow challenges from polluters who want to pollute more.

Watch These Young Spoken-Word Poets Take On Climate Change

July 17, 2019 PerspectivesNew York CityCourtney Lindwall

The Climate Museum’s poetry slam at Harlem’s Apollo Theater was equal parts grief, anger, and hope.

Gaze Into This Reflecting Pool and See Your Plastic Self

June 6, 2019 PerspectivesUnited StatesClara Chaisson

Dutch artist Thijs Biersteker’s kinetic installation puts the “I” in plastic pollution.

A Legacy of Activism

June 3, 2019 PerspectivesUnited States

Commemorating World Pride, NRDC staff reflect on the LGBTQ+ community’s contributions to the fight for people and planet.

The “Big Tent” of People Who Want Climate Action Just Keeps Getting Bigger

May 24, 2019 PerspectivesUnited StatesJeff Turrentine

How much longer can politicians pretend that it’s a divisive issue?

Is Climate Fiction a Subset of Science Fiction—or Something Else Entirely?

May 17, 2019 PerspectivesUnited StatesJeff Turrentine

A new novel imagines what life in Bangkok would be like if nearly half the city were underwater—which some experts say is a real possibility.

In Hundreds of Vintage Postcards, Americana Meets the Apocalypse

April 23, 2019 PerspectivesUnited StatesPatrick Rogers

David Opdyke’s intricate panorama shows the country’s landscape ravaged by extractive industries and the politics of climate denial.

In “Hadestown,” the Coal-Fired Lights Are Bright on Broadway

April 2, 2019 PerspectivesUnited States, New York CityCourtney Lindwall

Director Rachel Chavkin’s musical about climate change is an infectious, bluesy trip to the underworld—that finds hope in the darkest of places.

A Patchwork of Imagery Hints at the Hidden Complexity of the American Prairie

March 27, 2019 PerspectivesUnited StatesClara Chaisson

After years of documenting industrial landscapes, photographer Terry Evans returns to her first muse: North America’s grasslands.

Is High-Speed Rail on the Rocks?

March 22, 2019 PerspectivesUnited StatesJeff Turrentine

California’s proposed bullet train is in trouble, while a Texas project is meeting resistance. What’s going on?

From Egyptian Tombs to Toxic Corn, There’s More to Environmental Art Than What You See

March 5, 2019 PerspectivesMainePatrick Rogers

A sweeping exhibition of 2,000 years of artworks at Bowdoin College in Maine challenges viewers to reconsider the relationship between art and nature.

Climate Change Takes Fashion Week by Storm (and by Drought and by Fire . . .)

February 12, 2019 PerspectivesNew York City, United StatesCourtney Lindwall

Model, actor, and designer Luka Sabbat can make just about anything look good—even an air mask. Behold the future of fashion.

Dutch Artist Thijs Biersteker Gives Trees a Voice—in Lights

January 30, 2019 PerspectivesUnited StatesClara Chaisson

And it turns out the trees have a lot to say about climate, pollution, and the world we’re creating for them.