News & Commentary

The Fight for Safe Drinking Water Doesn’t Start at the Top

October 24, 2023 NRDC in ActionChicagoShelia Hu

True activism begins with the people—and that’s where you’ll find policy advocate Chakena D. Perry.

After 43 Years, My Parents Finally Have Lead-Free Water

October 23, 2023 PerspectivesChicagoGina Ramirez

In Chicago, an environmental justice advocate recounts what it took to get the lead pipes dug up in her childhood home.

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.  

Community Science Is Changing How People Can Fight Pollution

May 23, 2023 PerspectivesHouston, Texas, St. Louis, Missouri, Chicago, IllinoisCourtney Lindwall

Grassroots groups are collecting their own pollution data to increase accountability and demand environmental justice.

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.

Reflections of a Chicago Community Organizer: Water Justice and the Need to Act Now

September 14, 2022 PerspectivesChicagoOscar Sanchez

During a trip to a water conference, an environmental justice activist considers what it takes to support his community without letting go of the importance of healing.

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.

Four Poets Honor Chicago’s Hazel M. Johnson, the Mother of Environmental Justice

April 1, 2022 PerspectivesChicago

This National Poetry Month, four writers champion the legendary local activist who launched a movement while they continue to grapple with the work left to be done.

In Chicago, Safe Water Is Still No Guarantee

July 30, 2021 PerspectivesChicagoKeith Mulvihill

“There are so many lead service lines in Chicago, but people aren’t talking about it,” says advocate Cheryl Watson. Now she and other frontline residents are changing the conversation.

This Lawyer Is Leading the Fight for New York’s Clean Energy Future

May 25, 2021 NRDC in ActionNew York, New JerseyShelia Hu

Senior attorney Kimberly Ong is taking on the dirty fossil fuel industry in a state that has the eyes of the nation: “Where New York goes, other states have the chutzpah to follow.”

In a Segregated Chicago, Art Puts Environmental Racism on Display

December 22, 2020 PerspectivesChicagoZaria Howell

If the General Iron plant is too dirty for the city’s North Side, it’s also too dirty for the Southeast Side.

A Catalyst for the Midwest’s Clean Energy Transition

December 1, 2020 NRDC in ActionKansas City (Kansas), St. Louis, Missouri, New York CityBrian Palmer

Ashok Gupta spent decades cleaning up New York’s grid and reducing its reliance on dirty fuels. Now he’s working to bring the clean energy future to the Midwest.

An Ally in the Fight for Safe, Affordable Drinking Water for All

November 30, 2020 NRDC in ActionDetroit, Illinois, Flint, Chicago, MichiganNicole Greenfield

Detroit native Jeremy Orr combines his personal experience and community organizing roots with his legal expertise to help communities of color in Michigan and Illinois dismantle environmental racism.

Environmental Justice in Chicago: It’s Been One Battle After Another

October 29, 2020 PerspectivesChicagoKeith Mulvihill

Cheryl Johnson and Peggy Salazar have been speaking out against pollution and environmental injustice for decades, but the city of Chicago sees their South Side neighborhoods as sacrifice zones. They are demanding change.

Katrina, Climate, and Justice: A Future in Foreshadow?

August 28, 2020 PerspectivesNew Orleans, LouisianaZaria Howell

After Hurricane Laura hit Louisiana just days before the Katrina remembrance, photojournalism from 15 years ago reminds us that disaster preparation isn’t just about wind and water.

The Deadly Chicago Heat Wave Is As Relevant to Racial Justice Today As It Was 25 Years Ago

July 15, 2020 PerspectivesChicagoKeala Uchoa

The documentary “Cooked: Survival by Zip Code” examines the unnatural disasters of environmental and structural racism.

Food Systems Analyst

July 14, 2020 NRDC in ActionBaltimore, Nashville, Denver, Maryland, Tennessee, ColoradoJeff Turrentine

Andrea Spacht Collins is working to minimize food waste by changing the way we think about what we eat—and what we don’t eat, where it comes from, and where it ends up.

A Translator for the Climate Crisis, Grief Included

May 4, 2020 NRDC in ActionNew York City, New York, Birmingham, AlabamaKaren L. Smith-Janssen

Writer, editor, teacher, and podcast host Mary Annaïse Heglar uses the art of storytelling to help people feel less alone in facing the climate crisis—and to build the movement for climate justice.

The Revitalization of This Former Coal Town Starts Now

April 1, 2020 NRDC in ActionPeoria, IllinoisNicole Greenfield

Following a landmark settlement agreement, $8.6 million will be invested back into projects that uplift the community of Peoria, Illinois, where a dirty coal plant is scheduled to close by the end of 2022.

With Family Roots in the Mines, He’s Championing Illinois’s Clean Energy Future

January 31, 2020 NRDC in ActionMichigan, Illinois, Chicago, PeoriaNicole Greenfield

With grassroots groups and other partners, J. C. Kibbey is fighting for one of the country’s most ambitious climate bills—and a just transition away from coal.