News & Commentary

Toilet Paper Shouldn’t Come with Human Rights Abuses

September 15, 2026 DispatchCanadaJenny Shalant

The legacy of mercury poisoning in the Grassy Narrows community within the Canadian boreal is just one egregious example of the tissue industry harming Indigenous People.

Senate Vote Will Decide Fate of the Boundary Waters

February 9, 2026 PerspectivesMinnesotaDavid Doniger

The U.S. Senate will vote this week on whether to allow dangerous sulfide-ore copper mining on the edges of Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness—a place where my family’s roots go back more than a century.

When Customers and Investors Demand Corporate Sustainability

June 27, 2024 ExplainerInternational, United States, CanadaSusan Cosier

Through shareholder resolutions, letters, and activism, consumers and shareholders can push companies to clean up supply chains—and their reputations.

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.

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.

For Thousands of Years, Indigenous Tribes Have Been Planting for the Future

November 30, 2021 DispatchIowa, Canada, Pennsylvania, OklahomaSusan Cosier

With yields of biodiversity and a more climate-resilient food supply, a movement is sprouting in BIPOC communities across North America to save heirloom seeds and preserve culture.

The Unlikely Takedown of Keystone XL

June 29, 2021 NRDC in ActionNebraska, South Dakota, Canada, MontanaCourtney Lindwall

The notorious tar sands pipeline was a lightning rod in the fight against climate change and the seemingly unstoppable oil industry. NRDC advocates were part of a broad coalition that helped stop Keystone XL—for good.

Fighting Inequity with Solar Power

March 30, 2021 DispatchMinneapolis, St. PaulSusan Cosier

Minneapolis’s 4d program to boost energy efficiency and affordable housing in the city is kicking it up a notch.

Capturing the Climate Crisis—in Song

March 3, 2021 PerspectivesCanadaJeff Turrentine

On her new album, indie-pop artist Tamara Lindeman explores the complicated ways that climate change is changing . . . us.

Urban Innovator

June 30, 2020 NRDC in ActionCharlotte, North Carolina, St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Paul, Minnesota, Austin, TexasKeith Mulvihill

Through her work in the buildings sector, Wendy Lee helps propel cities into a fairer and more energy-efficient future.

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.

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.

The Bomb Train Derailment That Sparked a Resistance in the Columbia River Gorge

September 30, 2019 DispatchOregon, CanadaLora Shinn

The fossil fuel industry maintains a strong presence in the Pacific Northwest thanks to its international export activity. But ever since a dangerous rail accident in 2016, local residents have served as a fierce check on its growth.

A Tale of Two Forests: A Tour Through Canada’s Boreal

August 26, 2019 DispatchCanadaCourtney Lindwall

One of the most majestic old-growth forests on earth, Canada’s boreal is becoming a wasteland due to rampant logging.

The Desire to Stop Canadian Tar Sands Transcends Borders

January 10, 2019 NRDC in ActionAlberta, Canada, Nebraska, Chicago, IllinoisNicole Greenfield

For more than a decade, NRDC has worked with indigenous communities in Alberta, U.S.-based grassroots groups, and intergovernmental bodies to halt the expansion of dirty tar sands oil.

Minnesotans, It’s Your Turn to Stop the Flow of Tar Sands Oil

January 8, 2019 DispatchMinnesotaSusan Cosier

The Line 3 pipeline project has kept a low profile, but the stakes couldn’t be higher for the indigenous communities it threatens—and our climate.

A Tribe in Northern Minnesota Shows the Country How to Do Community Solar

December 12, 2018 DispatchMinnesotaSusan Cosier

Photovoltaic panels on the Leech Lake reservation are generating clean power—and revenue to help those who need it most.

The Anthropocene—Coming Soon to a Theater (and Museum, and Bookshelf) Near You

November 28, 2018 PerspectivesCanadaClara Chaisson

Three artists have created an entire body of work to get to the heart of the ineffable human epoch.

Meet the Innu Forester Working to Save Canada’s Boreal Forest

September 28, 2018 DispatchCanadaNicole Greenfield

Valérie Courtois is guiding an indigenous-led conservation strategy for one of the world’s last great forests.

Threats to Monarch Butterflies

May 3, 2018 ExplainerMexico, United States, Canada, California

Famous for their elegant colors and transcontinental feats of migration, these beloved pollinators are also in free fall, as habitat loss and heavy use of herbicides jeopardize their future.