News & Commentary

A Place of Freedom and Belonging in the Great Outdoors

July 16, 2020 PerspectivesMardi Fuller

From Jamaica to New Hampshire, a Black activist discusses her wilderness legacy and efforts to create new cultural memories and rituals out on the trail.

Alabama’s Waterways, Wildlife, and Recreation Are Up a Creek with Trump’s “Dirty Water Rule”

June 29, 2020 DispatchAlabamaRobynne Boyd

The rollback jeopardizes the streams that flow into the state’s rivers, lakes, and bays, millions of acres of wetlands across the country, and the drinking water supply.

Remembering Eeyou Pimatseewin, the Cree Life

June 18, 2020 PerspectivesCanada

Allan Saganash Jr. grew up in the bush, living off the land—then watched as industry shrank and changed his beloved boreal forest home. He’s determined to save what’s left.

April Showers Bring May Flowers. So Do Bumblebee Bites.

June 11, 2020 Latest NewsUnited StatesBrian Palmer

New research shows that bumblebees have the power to make plants bloom.

These Tiny, Treetop-Living, Ewok-Looking Creatures May Be Getting Socially Distanced to Extinction

June 8, 2020 DispatchOregonJason Bittel

Red tree voles spend their whole lives in Oregon’s treetops, but deforestation has cut them off from the rest of their kind.

Climate Change Is Drying Out the American West

June 4, 2020 Latest NewsUnited StatesBrian Palmer

A new study shows that drought is no longer a periodic crisis, but a harbinger of things to come.

Experts Urge People All Over the World to Stop Killing Bats Out of Fears of Coronavirus

June 2, 2020 Latest NewsInternationalJason Bittel

Attacking bats does nothing to protect people from COVID-19 and sometimes, it can make things worse.

These Fanciful Sea Creatures Were Carried in on the Tide

June 2, 2020 PerspectivesOregonPatrick Rogers

An Oregon community is making spectacular statues out of ocean plastic to raise awareness about a crisis at sea.

The Humble Beaver: Troublemaker or Climate Superhero?

May 27, 2020 DispatchMontana, WestAlisa Opar

Beavers create rich habitats and act as buffers against the effects of drought and wildfire—spurring efforts to pinpoint new ways to help us coexist with North America’s largest rodent.

Murder Hornets Are Scary. But Pesticides Are Scarier.

May 21, 2020 Latest NewsUnited StatesJason Bittel

While everyone is freaking out about invasive hornets, the largest threats to America’s pollinators remain unchanged.

These NRDC Experts Show Us How We Can Slow the Spread of Zoonotic Diseases

May 14, 2020 NRDC in ActionChina, United StatesCourtney Lindwall

It will take the highest levels of international cooperation, but by working to curb wildlife trade and conserve vast swaths of disappearing habitat, we can minimize the interspecies interactions that spread viruses.

New Water Worries in Climate-Stressed New Mexico

May 13, 2020 DispatchNew Mexico, Santa FeLora Shinn

Federal rollbacks could leave New Mexico’s limited water dirtier by excluding up to 90 percent of the state’s waterways from protection.

Goodbye, Ski Resort. Hello, Grizzly Bear Corridor!

April 20, 2020 DispatchCanadaJason Bittel

After three decades of legal battles, the Ktunaxa Nation tapped into Canada’s newest conservation tool to protect Indigenous lands.

This Muralist Is on His Way to Painting 50,000 Bees Around the World

April 14, 2020 PerspectivesUnited StatesCourtney Lindwall

Representing the number of honeybees that live in a healthy hive, Matthew Willey’s creations remind us of the pollinators’ plight and how our worlds intersect.

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.

How Deep Were the Impacts of the BP Oil Disaster?

April 8, 2020 ExplainerUnited StatesMelissa Denchak

A decade later, the Gulf of Mexico is still far from fully recovered.

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.

Women Are Leading the Charge to Save the Philippines’ Last Frontier

March 24, 2020 DispatchInternationalNicole Greenfield

The lush island province of Palawan is under threat, and conservationist Jessa Belle Garibay-Yayen has made it her mission to protect it for both her own generation and generations to come.

When Art Captures the Wind and the Rain—and a Bit of Ourselves

March 16, 2020 PerspectivesConnecticutPatrick Rogers

“Weather Report” fills a Connecticut museum with the works of 25 artists who explore what’s happening in the atmosphere and, inextricably, to us.

Ocean Steward

March 12, 2020 NRDC in ActionUnited StatesBrian Palmer

Sarah Chasis, a senior attorney in the Nature Program’s Oceans division, has nearly 50 years of experience defending our coasts from offshore drilling.