News & Commentary

When You Poison Our Lands, You Poison Us

October 25, 2023 PerspectivesArizona, South DakotaHannah Throssell

The granddaughter of a Navajo uranium miner stands with the Standing Rock Sioux against DAPL.

Looking for Climate Connections (and Berries) Through Traditional Indigenous Knowledge

October 5, 2023 PerspectivesMontanaDominique Nault

When trying to protect lands from the onslaught of climate change, start by asking the people who know those places and their wild inhabitants the best. 

Water Is Life—from Standing Rock to Oaxaca’s Mixtecan Highlands

September 18, 2023 PerspectivesMexico, West, South DakotaElybeth Sofia Alcantar

A geographer sees a familiar pattern of government-backed energy projects devastating Indigenous communities and violating tribal sovereignty.  

From Dams to DAPL, the Army Corps’ Culture of Disdain for Indigenous Communities Must End

September 13, 2023 PerspectivesUnited States, MidwestTroy Pretends Eagle

The prophesied “Seventh Generation” is here—demanding justice for tribes and protecting what they have left. 

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.

Poets Imagine a Different Climate Narrative

March 30, 2023 PerspectivesUnited StatesCourtney Lindwall, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Sean Hill, Jane Wong

Three writers counter despair and summon courage in facing the challenges of our warming world.

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.

Public Lands Are Not Neutral. We Must Grapple with Their Racist Roots.

February 2, 2023 PerspectivesUnited StatesCarolyn Ramírez

Green spaces should feel like everyone’s backyard.

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.

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.

America’s Gray Wolves Get Another Chance at Real Recovery

April 21, 2022 NRDC in ActionShelia Hu

After getting last year’s unlawful delisting rule reversed, NRDC is setting the stage for stronger wolf conservation.

Five Indigenous Poets Explore Loss and Love of their Native Lands

November 1, 2021 PerspectivesUnited StatesCourtney Lindwall

From saguaros to sacred waters, the writers weave their personal relationships to the environment with the ancestral.

These Photographs Show How the Rising Sea Connects Us All

October 21, 2021 PerspectivesInternationalJeff Turrentine

In images both beautiful and disturbing, photographer Kadir van Lohuizen documents how sea level rise is altering coastlines—and lives—around the world.

They’re Spreading the Joy of Birding—and Making It More Inclusive

October 13, 2021 PerspectivesUnited StatesKeith Mulvihill

A birding podcast host, a science journalist, and a conservationist strive to share their passion with more BIPOC birders like themselves.

This Smithsonian Exhibit Will Leave You Both Unsettled and Inspired about the Anthropocene

October 8, 2021 PerspectivesUnited StatesJason Bittel

The mash-up of art and science examines humanity’s impact on the world—and our power to do something about it.

A Leader to Meet This Moment

August 23, 2021 NRDC in ActionBrian Palmer

NRDC president and CEO Manish Bapna, an economist by training, knows that solving the climate emergency will require the global transformation of key economic systems—and that the transformation cannot wait a day longer.

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.

Grandma’s Garden: A Place of Resistance, Abundance, and Black Environmental Memory

June 14, 2021 PerspectivesUnited StatesRasheena Fountain

My connection to the land cannot be erased—it grows with my remembrance of ancestors and my reimagining of boundaries.