News & Commentary

Meet the activists and NRDC staff propelling change, read our expert analysis, and learn about the latest challenges and solutions to advancing a healthier, more sustainable, and equitable world.

Latest News

Stay on top of the latest research, policy updates, publication releases, and environmental news. 

Explainer

Get a breakdown of complex climate, public health, nature, and equity topics to inform your activism.

Dispatch

Read about activists tackling climate justice and other environmental causes in their communities and beyond.

Perspectives

Discover intersectional viewpoints from activists and artists on the environmental issues of the moment.

NRDC in Action

Find out how NRDC protects people and the planet by learning about some of our key fights.

Expert Blogs

Hear from our policy advocates, scientists, and litigators about the challenges and solutions for building a healthier and more just world.

A Leader for Conservation in Gabon and Beyond

DispatchAfricaMelissa Denchak
Dr. Aurélie Flore Koumba Pambo works to preserve and protect the biological wealth of this central African coastal nation while also advocating for a global agreement to safeguard one-third of earth’s ecosystems by 2030.

Six of the Worst States to Be a Wolf

Expert BlogIdaho, Utah, Montana, Wisconsin, South Dakota, WyomingDr. Jennifer Sherry

To get on a better track towards national recovery, wolves will need proactive and science-driven action by the federal government.

Opposition to Forest Bills Risks Canada’s Global Reputation

Expert BlogCanadaJennifer Skene

As California and New York bills to address deforestation, intact forest degradation, and Indigenous exploitation move forward in the face of Canadian opposition, Canada will have to reckon with the precarious position in which it has found itself—a country that…

Corporate Takeover Adds to Urgency for Protections in Boreal

Expert BlogCanadaCourtenay Lewis

Paper Excellence’s announced acquisition of Domtar spells trouble for Canada’s boreal forest, and adds to a myriad of reasons why governments and companies need to prioritize safeguarding the boreal’s carbon-rich forests, biodiversity and Indigenous rights.

P&G and its Suppliers’ Words Undercut FSC

Expert BlogUnited States, CanadaCourtenay Lewis, Shelley Vinyard

The collaboratively-established Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is widely considered by to be the strongest forest certification body in Canada. While FSC is not perfect, it is far superior to its key competitor, the industry-created Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), which has…

Latin America at the Leaders Summit on Climate

Expert BlogArgentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, MexicoCarolina Herrera, Jessica Carey-Webb, Marilyn Kunce, Amanda Maxwell
The five Latin American countries that participated in the Leaders Summit on Climate – Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico – displayed a broad range of ambition. Once again, some countries demonstrated their willingness to be climate action leaders while…

Canada’s Forward Step on Climate Falls Short

Expert BlogCanadaAnthony Swift
Canada’s failure to commit to reducing its emissions by up to 52 percent by 2030 puts it out of step with the United States, demonstrating a failure to come to grips with the long term trajectory of its tar sands…

Canadian Trade Group Opposes U.S. Anti-Deforestation Bills

Expert BlogCanada, New York, CaliforniaAnthony Swift
The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) claims that applying proposed anti-deforestation legislation in California and New York to the boreal forest would threaten its business model.

Northern Exposure: The Unseen Loss of Northern Forests

Expert BlogCanada, United States, InternationalJennifer Skene
Over the last 30 years, while the international community has rightly mobilized to combat the rapacious pillaging of tropical forests, Northern countries have successfully deflected attention from themselves, decrying forest loss in the Global South while obfuscating their own destructive…

Evidence Mounts in P&G’s Role in Degrading Intact Forests

Expert BlogOntario, Quebec, CanadaAshley Jordan, Shelley Vinyard
A new NRDC analysis of Canadian logging companies supplying boreal pulp to the U.S. marketplace is showing just how toilet paper-thin Procter & Gamble’s (P&G) latest claims of sustainability are.

New Report Shows Toll of Unsustainable Logging in the Boreal

Expert BlogCanadaCourtenay Lewis
Canada’s boreal forest is the world’s largest intact forest, but industrial logging operations are chipping away at it, undermining its role in stabilizing the global climate and as a refuge for many of North America’s iconic species. A new report…

Holding Mexico Accountable for Vaquita Extinction

Expert BlogMexicoZak Smith
Mexico has a choice. It can save the vaquita by enforcing its laws and regulations or it can let the vaquita go extinct. It has already shown that it is inclined to choose extinction. The United States and others, like…

The Celilo Wy'am Are Still Here

DispatchOregonNicole Greenfield
Matriarch Lana Jack continues a decades-long fight for federal recognition of her band—and the right to continue living on the lands of her ancestors.

Capturing the Climate Crisis—in Song

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

Mexico Energy Law Goes Against North American Climate Action

Expert BlogMexicoCarolina Herrera

The bill is a major setback for climate action and renewable energy investments in Mexico that will likely raise trade disputes under Mexico’s trade agreements with the U.S. and other nations.

For a Family in Mexico, a Mission to Protect Monarchs

DispatchMexicoNicole Greenfield
Siblings Joel, Anayeli, and Patricio Moreno see the future of their community and that of the butterflies that migrate annually to the local Cerro Pelón forest as being intimately connected.

Latin America’s 2020 Climate Leaders and Laggards

Expert BlogInternational, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, BrazilAmanda Maxwell, Carolina Herrera, Jessica Carey-Webb, Marilyn Kunce
2020 was a turbulent year in Latin America—and a mixed bag on climate action. It will be important for the incoming Biden-Harris administration to put climate change front and center in its engagement with the region.