2018 ANNUAL REPORT
COVER ILLUSTRATION BY Eiko Ojala
“Problems become opportunities when the right people come together.” ROBERT REDFORD NRDC Trustee
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FROM OUR CHAIR Alan Horn reflects on NRDC’s successes in the past year—from our legal victories to the strides we’ve made in our strategic plan—and on the challenges that lie ahead.
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FROM OUR PRESIDENT For Rhea Suh, 2018 was all about progress—through a historic midterm election, decisive local commitments to tackle climate change, and inspiring wins made possible by our supporters.
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DELIVERING JUSTICE NRDC goes to court to fight for the well-being of our children, struggling wildlife, threatened public lands and waters, the rights of citizen scientists, and environmental justice for all.
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LOCAL ACTIVISM When communities become part of the solution to build climate resilience, curb pollution, and protect their neighborhoods, the world takes note.
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JOINING FORCES Through cross-sector coalitions and alliances with businesses, cultural organizations, labor groups, and others, NRDC is overcoming great odds to achieve progress on behalf of public health and the environment.
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MOBILIZING A MOVEMENT NRDC is finding innovative ways to reach new environmental advocates and grow our base of three million activists.
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EVENTS
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FINANCIAL STATEMENT
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SUPPORTERS P A U L N I C K L E N / N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
A few highlights from this past year, including a starstudded celebration to protect our oceans, a luncheon to discuss the health effects of toxic chemicals, and NRDC’s first-ever environmental justice fundraiser.
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A spirit bear fishing for salmon in the Great Bear Rainforest in Canada
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FROM OUR CHAIR n my first full year serving as chair of NRDC, I’ve had the honor of having an up-
close look at all that is required to make us the leader in protecting the environment and ensuring clean air, clean water, and healthy communities—and I’m continually humbled by your critical support. From representing our work at the Global Climate Action Summit in September to seeing the strategy behind our winning litigation, I’m proud to say that these challenging times have brought out the best from everyone in the organization, as measured by the successes we’ve achieved. Our continued success doesn’t happen by chance. In the past year, we’ve faced an unprecedented level of assaults from the current presidential administration on our public lands, our wildlife, our health, and our future. To counter them, it has taken NRDC’s world-class litigation, steadfast advocacy, policy expertise, and meticulous science, in addition to a particular relentlessness and dogged pursuit of our guiding values—a healthy environment and a stable, livable, and equitable future for all. From what I’ve seen, NRDC has done a lot more than defend our air, our water, and our environment from these attacks; we’ve made great advances in our continued fight. Our legal victories, including wins that protect endangered species such as elephants and the vaquita porpoise, have put a check on the administration’s destructive policies. Our partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies’ American Cities Climate Challenge has provided strong evidence that the future of climate progress is necessarily intertwined with the abundance of economic opportunity. Further, we’ve made strides in our strategic plan and expanded our role in new ways, thinking of opportunities to draw in new supporters and focusing our efforts on additional priorities, such as getting toxic chemicals out of our products. We’re not content to sit still, and I know that the Board of Trustees, as well as the staff, know exactly how to continue to rise to the challenges and move forward. This includes deepening our partnership with the American Cities Climate Challenge to do as much as we can on climate at the city level in the absence of leadership from the federal government. We’ll also leverage the relationships we have with states that are leading the way on climate policies, like my home state of California as well as Colorado and Illinois, particularly on clean energy—a huge piece of our strategy to stop the worst effects of climate change. With every step, we’ll bring together the many players—from policymakers to activists to business leaders, here in the United States and internationally—who are needed to make real, lasting, and necessary change, and we’ll be all the stronger for it. These are extraordinary times and difficult circumstances, and NRDC is wellpositionedto face these challenges. We will persevere in our fight—in concert with all our partners—to ensure a healthy planet and climate for everyone. We will not give up until we succeed, because our world and our future are too important. Thank you for your tremendous support. Sincerely,
Alan Horn
Chair, NRDC Board of Trustees
Clockwise from top: Alan Horn kicking off “Our Majestic Oceans” in Malibu, California, an event to support NRDC’s ocean-protection work; Horn speaking at a donor breakfast during the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit; Horn (third from left) at a screening of Paris to Pittsburgh—a film about everyday Americans on the front lines of the climate crisis—with (from left) Bloomberg Philanthropies environment program head Antha Williams, NRDC President Rhea Suh, Bloomberg Philanthropies founder and U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Climate Action Michael R. Bloomberg, actor Alan Alda, and Bloomberg Associates Principal Katherine Oliver
C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P : B I L LY F A R R E L L / B F A . C O M ; E L I J A H N O U V E L A G E F O R N R D C ; BLOOMBERG PHIL ANTHROPIES
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Clockw kickin Ocean a cele NRDC Horn s Climat (cente Pittsb storie the fro with (f Philan progra NRDC Secre for Cli Philan Bloom Bloom Kathe
wise from top: Alan Horn ng off the “Our Majestic ns” event in Malibu, California, ebration that raised funds for C’s ocean-protection work; speaking at the 2018 Global te Action Summit; Horn er) at a screening of Paris to burgh—a film featuring the es of everyday Americans on ont lines of the climate crisis— from left) Bloomberg nthropies environment am head Antha Williams, C President Rhea Suh, U.N. etary-General’s Special Envoy imate Action and Bloomberg nthropies founder Michael R. mberg, actor Alan Alda, and mberg Associates Principal erine Oliver
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I
f there’s one question I have been asked time and again
during these tumultuous days, it is: “How do you stay hopeful?” And what I reply is that I see hope all around me. It’s in all our actions I’ve seen up to this critical point of inflection—and reflection. To me, our actions have formed a clear beacon of hope in our fight for the environment, climate, and a healthy world for all. I see it in the evidence of the progress we have achieved. Progress in a historic midterm election with the highest level of voter turnout in a whole century, with results that ushered in the most diverse group of representatives bringing the environment to the forefront—1,400 candidates committed to 100 percent clean energy by 2050 and notable proenvironment gains, including 46 representatives and 10 new green governors. Progress made in no small part by the incredible team at NRDC. Like our attorneys, who have scored major victories in 22 out of the 26 resolved cases in the last two years—proving to be one of the strongest firewalls against the Trump administration’s devastating assaults on the environment and public health. Just this year, we stopped the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, protected the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument for good, and secured the legality of the California ivory ban. Progress from the ousters of two ethically bankrupt government officials—U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke—thanks to the steadfast drumbeat of NRDC’s supporters and members. And progress from September’s Global Climate Action Summit, with more leaders making more decisive commitments to act on climate change, including 70 cities committing to net-zero carbon by 2050, and the many state, regional, and city governments and multinational companies committing to zero-emissions vehicles. At the same time, we have never been more determined to keep pushing forward, as the challenges ahead of us are immense. We are plainly seeing the effects of a warming planet, from the devastating wildfires across California to the intense rainstorms that repeatedly drench the Southeast. Confirming what we’ve witnessed, both the October report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and November’s National Climate Assessment issued urgent, stark warnings—that this clear and present danger of climate change will only get worse unless we act swiftly. And adding to the challenges set before us, we have a federal government that remains antagonistic to climate action.
But none of this will keep NRDC from its un wavering fight for a livable future—and we’ll do so on every front and with every tool available, with collective power and voice, through inspiring partnerships. There is a green awakening afoot in Congress, and the time is now for NRDC to continue to identify unique opportunities to push for the progress we need, including working with government representatives who understand the urgency of the issues and figuring out how to move the needle on climate in creative ways. On the state level, we will also work with newly elected governors in Colorado, Nevada, Maine, and elsewhere to make clean energy a priority. And we will keep providing the winning cities for Bloomberg Philanthropies’ American Cities Climate Challenge with the technical support they need to turn their carbon-reduction goals into reality while creating green and inclusive economies for our communities. There is one current that runs through all of this work: the passion and participation of our members and activists—a movement that is now well over three million strong. It is thanks to the power of your voices and inspiring actions that we are able to make meaningful progress. And no matter how tough things may seem, we are beyond grateful for the opportunity, every single day, to work toward the common goal of protecting this home we share. With the benefit of hindsight, it is clear now that 2017 sowed the seeds of opportunity and 2018 allowed us the chance to nurture and give these seeds what they needed to flourish into the exact actions that are required—into political action, policy action, legal action, and people action. Now we will continue on this upward trajectory, toward true change.
Rhea Suh
President, NRDC
C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P L E F T: J A N I E O S B O R N E F O R N R D C ; E L I J A H N O U V E L A G E F O R N R D C ( 2 )
FROM OUR PRESIDENT
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Clockwise from top: As part of a new partnership between NRDC and eBay, Rhea Suh met with Earth Month charity auction winners in Boze足man, Mon足tana; Suh at the Forum on India Climate Actions dur足ing the Global Climate Action Sum足mit in San Francisco; at Science to Action Day, an event affiliated with the summit.
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DELIVERING JUSTICE With the election of Donald Trump, NRDC vowed to fight the administration’s every effort to undermine our environmental and hu man health protections. We have stayed true to that promise from day one. While the Trump administration spent its second year in office promoting polluters over public health, censoring science, and selling off our federal lands and waters to the highest bidders, we stepped up our litigation to protect the planet and its people and to hold corporate bad actors and negligent government agencies and officers to account. The result of our efforts in the courts, with the help of citizens who banded together and made their voices heard, has been a critical defense against these abuses of power.
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Suing to Save Giraffes The world’s tallest mammal faces a “silent extinction”— and the Trump administration has made it worse.
FA S T FA C T S
GIRAFFES IN PERIL Giraffes left on the planet: n average, trophy hunters bring at least one dead
giraffe into the United States every single day. Addi tionally, our country has imported more than 21,400 carvings of giraffe bones and 3,000 skin pieces over the past decade. Experts warn that these iconic mammals are facing a “silent extinction,” with their populations down by 40 per cent over the past 30 years and little attention paid to their disappearance. In April 2017, NRDC, the Center for Biologi cal Diversity, the Humane Society of the United States, and Humane Society International asked the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service to list giraffes under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Trump admin istration failed to respond with either a determination or a date by which it would make such a decision, as required by law—so in December 2018, we sued. “Giraffes are headed toward extinction, in part due to our country’s importation of giraffe parts and trophies,” says Elly Pepper, deputy director of NRDC’s Wildlife Trade Initiative. An ESA listing would help restrict the growing trade, as well as potentially increase funding for conserva tion efforts in Africa, where poaching and habitat destruction are also contributing to the giraffe’s decline. The Trump administration has routinely bolstered trophy hunting of African species, going so far as to fill its Interna tional Wildlife Conservation Council (IWCC) with pro-hunting lobbyists, NRA staff members, and celebrity trophy hunters. NRDC’s Wildlife Trade Initiative has been leading opposi tion to the IWCC since its inception, with the team drafting comments and even nominating an NRDC colleague to serve on the council. Last August, together with our partners, we sued the administration to dismantle the group, arguing that the IWCC violates federal law. “The Trump administration would rather allow its rich donors to mount giraffe trophies on their walls than protect giraffes,” says Pepper. “It’s shameful—though unsurprising— that the Interior Department has refused to protect them under the Endangered Species Act, and I hope the courts will agree.”
Over the past three decades, the giraffe population has declined by roughly 40%.
2018: 97,500 1985: 150,000+
Percentage of critically endangered giraffe subspecies:
22 Kordofan and Nubian giraffes, two out of nine subspecies, face particularly high risk of extinction. Giraffe trophies imported to America:
3,744
This substantial haul was brought in by trophy hunters from 2006–2015.
M A R J A S C H W A R T Z / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; J O N AT H A N B A R T O N / N AT U R A L H I S T O R Y C O L L E C T I O N / A L A M Y S T OC K P HO T O (IN S E T ); P R E V IOU S S P R E A D: D A N T HOR NBE R G / E Y E E M
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97,500
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Giraffes in Botswana’s Chobe National Park
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Blocking Keystone XL The latest legal victory against the pipeline demonstrates just how high the hurdles are for it and how low its chances are of ever being built.
tar sands pipeline in August 2018, stating that the Trump administration broke the law when hastily approving the project. Though this controversial pipeline—which would carry up to 35 million gallons a day of Canadian tar sands oil—had its permit denied by the Obama administration more than three years ago, President Trump revived the project from the dead as one of his first executive actions. Despite the challenges of fighting a corporate behemoth, Keystone XL’s many foes, including NRDC, refuse to give up. Trump and his corporate allies made little progress toward their goal as they strove to ram their project through during the administration’s first two years in office. In November, in another ruling on the case brought by NRDC and part ners, a federal judge blocked construction on the pipeline. The U.S. District Court ruled that the Trump administration had relied on an outdated environmental review from 2014— which violates the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act. The judge then ordered the U.S. Department of State to stop all construction and revise its environmental review. Dena Hoff, a Montana farmer and member-leader of the Northern Plains Resource Council, one of the plaintiffs in NRDC’s lawsuit, called the ruling “a victory for common sense stewardship of the land and water upon which we all depend,” emphasizing the high stakes in this decadelong battle. “Despite the best efforts of wealthy multinational corporations and the powerful politicians who cynically do their bidding,” she said, “we see that everyday people can still band together and successfully defend their rights.”
T E R R AY S Y LV E S T E R / R E U T E R S
A
federal court dealt a significant blow to the dirty
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A depot in Gascoyne, North Dakota, used to store pipes for TransCanada’s planned Keystone XL pipeline
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The Right to Safe Water In collaboration with the Newark Education Workers Caucus, NRDC has sued city and state officials to demand justice for Newark, New Jersey, residents who are drinking unsafe water.
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he levels of lead in Newark’s drinking water are some
of the highest recently recorded by a large water sys tem in the United States. In the last three six-month monitoring periods, Newark’s drinking water samples have exceeded the federal action level for lead, set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. At one Newark home, lead levels reached more than 26 times the action level. The cause of these alarming results? City and state officials have continued to violate the Safe Drinking Water Act by failing to treat Newark’s water to prevent lead from flaking off from pipes into residents’ taps. Experts agree that there is no safe level of lead. Preg nant women and children are most vulnerable: Even low lead levels are associated with serious, irreversible damage to developing brains and nervous systems. Lead exposure is also linked to fertility issues, cardiovascular and kidney problems, cognitive dysfunction, and elevated blood pres sure in otherwise healthy adults. NRDC, alongside the Newark Education Workers (NEW) Caucus, is in court demanding access to safe drinking water for the residents of Newark. “Access to safe water should be a basic right for everyone,” says Al Moussab, a New ark resident and the president of the NEW Caucus. “How ever, for many working-class people, it’s not. By joining this lawsuit, we hope to hold the city and state governments accountable for providing safe drinking water to every home and school in Newark.” Last fall, our litigation prompted Newark to offer water filters to some residents, but many more are in need. We’ll keep holding the city accountable, as we have and continue to do in Flint, Michigan.
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B R YA N A N S E L M F O R N R D C
Clockwise from top left: A boy drinking water from a fountain in Newark’s Ironbound neighborhood; Newark resident and NEW Caucus member Yvette Jordan in her kitchen; NRDC attorney Claire Woods (right) speaking with Jordan; Newark com munity members stacking water filters during an NRDC water filter distribu tion at Paradise Baptist Church in Newark; Jordan speaking at a press con ference at the church
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America’s Most Important Bird Protection Law Thanks to the enactment of a centuryold statute, so many of our raptors, waterfowl, and songbirds have thrived. Now that law is in danger.
the 100th anniversary of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, this critical law—and all the birds it protects— came under attack by the Trump administration. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) makes it illegal to kill or injure any of the more than 1,000 bird spe cies listed under the act. One of the country’s oldest wildlife protection laws, it has saved millions of birds every year and is credited with rescuing the snowy egret, wood duck, and sandhill crane from extinction. Everyday threats like power lines, communications towers, and oil waste pits can kill or harm tens of millions of birds every year. And then there are larger incidents. For example, the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster killed a million birds—and BP had to pay $100 million in criminal fines for violating the MBTA. But the Trump administration has significantly weakened the law to allow companies to get away with preventable bird deaths—no matter how egregious the act. Under the new interpretation by the U.S. Department of the Interior, indus tries will no longer be held accountable. Birds don’t recognize borders, and so they desperately need federal protections. That’s why NRDC joined a coalition of national environmental groups last spring to file a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s move to eliminate longstanding protections for waterfowl, raptors, and song birds under the MBTA. Attorneys general from eight states— New York, California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Oregon—filed a second suit last fall pushing back against the dismantling of the law, adding more muscle in the fight to keep this vital bird protection intact.
D E S & J E N B A R T L E T T/ N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
J
ust as bird lovers all around the world were celebrating
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A migrating flock of lesser snow geese
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I N C O N V E R S AT I O N
Ocean Champion
Giulia Good Stefani, staff attorney in
the Nature program, works to safeguard marine mammals and wild places.
Gillnets, such as the one being used by these fishermen in the Gulf of California, near Puertecitos, Mexico (right), have been entangling the endangered vaquita (above).
The recent win for vaquitas banned imports of Mexican seafood caught with gillnets, which had been entangling these endangered porpoises. How long has your team been working toward this goal? Giulia Good Stefani: It’s not often you get the opportunity
with litigation to potentially save a species, and particu larly a large-brain social mammal like ourselves. It feels pretty special. NRDC’s Marine Mammal Protection Proj ect has been working to protect the vaquita for a number of years. We brought this lawsuit about a year ago, after we’d tried various administrative avenues that didn’t spur agency action. The government is now fighting the litigation pretty hard—we have an appeal pending right now. But the Mexi can government is very eager to get the embargo lifted, and
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we take that as a good sign that they’re motivated to put the necessary safety regulations in place. How close are we to zero hour for this specific species?
The vaquita is terrifyingly close to ex tinction. Two years ago, scientists esti mated that there were 60 animals left and that the species is declining at the rate of half the population each year. Our best guess is about 15 animals left now, but it may be less than 10 at this point. The most encouraging news we have is that about six vaquitas were recently sighted, including a female with a calf. There are few sightings, and fewer pho tos of vaquitas, right?
Right, which is part of why the fight for vaquitas has been so hard. You have to show a human connection in what you’re litigating about. For an under water animal that’s been driven to extinction’s doorstep and is difficult to observe, that’s a challenge.
An offshore gas rig, which threatens our coasts and marine life; Good Stefani releasing the first leatherback sea turtle she tagged as part of a study on entanglement in fishing gear, near Lopez Mateos, Baja California
What’s the next battle you’ll fight on behalf of our oceans?
The vaquita fight isn’t over, and we’ll continue to defend the species. One thing, however, that keeps me up at night are the offshore oil and gas permits that the Trump administration recently issued to for-profit companies to explore for oil and gas reserves in Atlantic waters, and the potential expansion of this activity on all our coasts (see page 58). But this admin istration plays fast and loose with the law, and I look forward to seeing them in court. When you work that quickly and with that much disregard, you make a lot of mistakes.
F R O M T O P : I S T O C K ; P I L A R L L A N E S . P R E V I O U S S P R E A D , F R O M L E F T: S A M U E L K E R R ( P O R T R A I T ) ; P A U L A O L S O N / N O A A ; G U I L L E R M O A R I A S /A F P / G E T T Y I M A G E S
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Standing Up for Public Health While Trump tries to chip away at safeguards put in place to protect our well-being, he’s finding out that these measures are grounded in sound science, public interest, and the rule of law—and they can’t simply be repealed.
impacts of drought, flooding, extreme heat, and disease. Instead, Trump’s poli cies have consistently prioritized the profits of polluters over people. NRDC is in court fighting the admin istration’s reckless acts to roll back pub lic health protections against everything from toxic pesticides to lead in drinking water to dangerous air pollutants. Here are some of our most recent wins. In response to NRDC’s petition and legal action filed with our coalition of health, farmworker, and environmen tal groups, a court ordered the EPA to finalize a federal ban on chlorpyrifos, a pesticide sprayed on food crops that is especially harmful to children and pregnant women. The agency has asked the court to rehear its case—not a sur prise, given the administration’s ties to Dow Chemical, the company that makes chlorpyrifos—but NRDC continues to stay on top of this fight. In response to a lawsuit brought by NRDC and a coalition of health, con sumer, and environmental groups, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned seven cancer-causing chemi cals found in artificial flavoring used in various foods and beverages.
ALEX NABAUM
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ctober 2018 was supposed to be Children’s Health
Month. But when President Trump shortened the event to a single day, then put the head of the U.S. Environ mental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Children’s Health Protection on administrative leave, he sent his clearest sign yet that his administration had abandoned its responsibility to protect public health. It’s a pattern we’ve seen again and again since Trump took office, from his plan to weaken standards that limit lead and mercury emissions from power plants—safeguards meant to protect children from pollutants that can lead to asthma and other illnesses—to his full-throated denial of climate change and willingness to leave Americans more vulnerable to the
NRDC sued the Trump administra tion after it suspended penalties meant to enforce automaker compliance with standards that decrease harmful air pollution and help Americans get more mileage from a gallon of gaso line. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit found the suspension was illegal and ordered the penalties to be reinstated, adding teeth to fed eral guidelines that guarantee cleaner tailpipes on our cars. NRDC and partners successfully intervened to support California in a case brought by the chemical giant Monsanto, which challenged the state’s listing of glyphosate—found in the company’s Roundup weed killers—as a known carcinogen. The victory is a win for science and democracy, and it sends a clear message that companies like Monsanto don’t get to tell states how to protect their people from dan gerous chemicals.
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The Case Against Ocean Noise Pollution
Our ongoing battle to stop harmful seismic testing—a disruptive practice used to search for oil and gas deposits underneath the ocean floor—reaches a fever pitch.
faster in water than in air, and many marine creatures have evolved highly sensitive hearing to help guide them through life’s most basic functions: foraging, finding a mate, avoiding predators, communicating, and navigating. But whale songs and dolphin clicks pale in comparison with the man-made sounds of the sea. The seismic surveys that companies use to prospect for oil and gas produce some of the loudest sounds we make in the ocean. Their relentless airgun blasts, which erupt every 10 seconds for months on end, can be heard thousands of miles away. Not only does this undersea cacophony make life hard for marine mam mals, but it also injures and kills invertebrates like squid and scallops, and displaces fish, which can have a devastating impact on coastal economies. That’s why NRDC and our allies filed a lawsuit in December after the National Marine Fisheries Service issued five new permits allowing intensive airgun blasting in large areas off the Atlantic coast, from Delaware to central Florida. “This is a license for private, for-profit companies to com pletely change life in the sea,” says Michael Jasny, director of NRDC’s Marine Mammal Protection Project. “And it’s the first step in exploiting the ocean treasures we all own—all in a reck less quest for more fossil fuels that speed up climate change.” The fight to end harmful seismic testing is years in the making; after multiple groups of scientists warned the Obama administration about its widespread impacts, offi cials eventually agreed that airgun blasting in the Atlan tic was too risky. But shortly after taking office, President Trump disregarded that precedent. In April 2017 he issued an executive order attempting to open up public coastal waters to offshore drilling (see page 58) and the seismic surveys that come with it. “We’ll stand together with all the communities, coastal businesses, scientists, lawmakers, and commercial and recre ational fishermen who oppose seismic blasting,” Jasny says. “And we will fight this illegal action.”
Seismic blasting would put marine creatures at risk, especially critically endangered species like the North Atlantic right whale.
B R I A N J . S K E R R Y/ N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C ; U N I V E R S A L I M A G E S G R O U P N O R T H A M E R I C A /A L A M Y ( I N S E T )
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he ocean is a noisy place . Sound travels four times
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FA S T FA C T S
ATLANTIC WATERS AT RISK Expected number of blasts during the first year of oil and gas exploration:
5 million +
Groups opposed to Atlantic Coast seismic surveys:
42 , 000
LOCAL BUSINESSES AND
500 , 000 COMMERCIAL FISHING FAMILIES
Number of remaining North Atlantic right whales:
400
The whales’ migratory path and calving grounds are in the way of the seismic surveys. Area over which whales can feel the impact of one seismic survey:
100 , 000 SQUARE KILOME TERS
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Defender of Science— and the First Amendment Michael Wall, codirector of NRDC’s
Litigation team, has sued four presidential administrations on behalf of NRDC. But this one is breaking environmental laws on a scale he’s never seen before.
During the Trump administration’s first two years in office, our judicial system has often served as the last line of defense against environmental and public health rollbacks. Have we faced anything like this? Michael Wall: This isn’t the first administration I’ve watched
take shots at the environment, but the present assault is unprecedented in both scale and severity. There were once areas of agreement. For example, every administration until now supported a Department of Energy program that sets energy efficiency standards for appliances. President Reagan signed this program into law, and President George H. W. Bush strengthened it. Over the years, energy efficiency standards have saved consumers and businesses hundreds of billions of dollars on their utility bills and cut pollution. Yet we’ve had to sue the Trump administration to compel it to implement the program. To be sure, we’re winning— but why should we have to sue at all? What makes the Trump administration so vulnerable to these lawsuits? Are the original laws written too solidly to undo, or is the administration acting haphazardly?
Sometimes this administration seems more interested in announcing decisions than in making changes that will sur vive judicial review. The bedrock statutes that protect our environment have been around since the 1970s; the main
statute that governs how agencies reg ulate was enacted in 1946. These laws have well-established meanings, and they limit arbitrary agency action. But the Trump administration doesn’t seem to care to comply. That’s probably partly due to sloppiness and partly due to disdain for the rule of law. In addition to threats to environmental regulations, we are also seeing attacks on freedom of speech. How has defend ing the First Amendment become part of NRDC’s mission?
Our adversaries are increasingly try ing to criminalize environmental and public interest advocacy. We must fight back, and we have. For example, when powerful industry interests persuaded the Wyoming legislature to criminalize the collection of environmental data on public lands, we sued under the First Amendment—and won. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, which includes much of the West, held that collecting data about endangered species or pollution for advo cacy is a part of the process of creating constitutionally protected speech. Just like the government couldn’t prohibit newspapers from buying ink, the gov ernment also cannot unduly burden—let alone criminalize—the collection of envi ronmental data. This kind of advocacy is at the core of our right to participate in our democracy. And winning a case like this reverberates across the country. What do you feel most hopeful about as you face a mounting docket of cases against the Trump administration?
I’m optimistic that we will continue to be successful in the courts. Most judges are not political. They see their job as enforcing the law as Congress wrote it. That message—law enforcement—is one we can take to judges of every political stripe and win. In the courts of the United States, the law matters, facts matter, and science matters. And the law and science are on our side.
SAM KERR
I N C O N V E R S AT I O N
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MORE KEY COURT VICTORIES
FORCING THE EPA TO CLEAN UP OZONE POLLUTION
A BIG WIN FOR OUR NATIONAL MONUMENTS
C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P L E F T: N O A A O K E A N O S E X P L O R E R P R O G R A M , 2 0 1 3 N O R T H E A S T U . S . C A N Y O N S ; Y E N W E N L U / I S T O C K ; L I B R A R Y O F C O N G R E S S ; E A R T H T O U C H / F L I C K R ; L A N O L A N / S H U T T E R S T O C K
A federal court protected Northeast Canyons and Seamounts’ marine monument status after NRDC intervened in a case to defend its legality.
After NRDC and its partners sued, a federal court ordered the EPA to move forward with implementing key health pro tections against smog.
SAFEGUARDING PUBLIC LANDS FROM FOSSIL FUEL DEVELOPMENT
A MUCH-NEEDED BOOST FOR ELEPHANTS
DEFENDING ENERGY EFFICIENCY STANDARDS
HALTING A TRUMP CLIMATE ROLLBACK ON PUBLIC LANDS—AGAIN In response to an NRDC lawsuit, a federal court rein stated a methane rule that curbs air pollution from oil and gas operations on public lands.
A federal court halted illegal coal leasing in the Powder River Basin, a win NRDC helped score for our climate and public lands.
Following a challenge from ivory collectors, a California court upheld the state’s ivory ban, which NRDC helped pass in 2015.
A federal judge ruled in NRDC’s favor that the U.S. Department of Energy illegally delayed standards for appli ances and equipment that will cut carbon pollution and save Americans $8.4 billion on utility bills.
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Workers installing solar panels at the Gujarat Solar Park in Charanka, India
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LOCAL ACTIVISM Among the onslaught of alarming scientific reports on the planet’s rising carbon emissions and the increasingly severe impacts of climate change, there is one salve: those who spring into action and say, “We’re not going to stand for this.” All over the world, communities, cities, states, and courageous individuals are rising up and shaping their own healthier and more sustainable futures. The changes they are nurturing prove that the bulk of our energy can come from wind and sun, humans and wildlife can coexist peacefully, and clean air and clean water are the rightful inheritance of generations to come.
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10 Years of Building Climate Resilience in India NRDC is helping India to ramp up climate action through innovative on-the-ground partnerships.
Melting asphalt during a heat wave in New Delhi
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hen NRDC first started working in India a decade
ago, you could fit all of the solar companies and financers in one room. This past October, more than 10,000 people attended the second annual Global RE-Invest Conference outside New Delhi, an event that showcased some of the hundreds of renewable energy companies that have since opened their doors in India. “The focus at the conference was not just on large-scale solar projects but also on off-grid distributed energy projects, which India needs,” says Madhura Joshi, a Delhi-based clean energy consultant with NRDC’s India program. After all, with nearly 240 million Indians lacking reliable electricity, the country’s leaders are striving to deliver power to those underserved markets. India—the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases—aims to both bring people out of poverty and meet its Paris Agreement targets, a critical goal for NRDC and our partners. That includes generating 40 percent of its electricity from sources other than fossil fuels by 2030, which India is well on its way to achieving. “As India works to fulfill its
C L O C K W I S E F R O M L E F T: A R K A P R AVA G H O S H / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; H I N D U S TA N T I M E S / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; S A U M YA K H A N D E L W A L / T H E N E W Y O R K T I M E S / R E D U X . P R E V I O U S S P R E A D : A J I T S O L A N K I /A S S O C I AT E D P R E S S
A mother giving her child water in New Delhi, India, during a heat wave that brought temperatures above 104 degrees Fahrenheit; a man cycling past a wall of air conditioners on a hot summer day in New Delhi
climate pledges, it continues to show the world that combating climate change is compatible with rapid economic growth and rising standards of living,” says Anjali Jaiswal, senior director of the India program. The push for clean energy hasn’t been the only focus for the India program since NRDC began work there in 2008. It is also partnering with local groups to address India’s mounting toxic air pollution problem, a public health challenge inextricably linked to climate change. “We’re studying and addressing heart disease, asthma, cancer risk, and stroke, among many other health effects,” says Vijay Limaye, a climate change and health science fellow at NRDC. Recently, NRDC and partners released the updated Air Information and Response (AIR) Plan, originally launched in 2017 with officials in Ahmedabad, the largest city in the western state of Gujarat. NRDC worked with the group to put in place a health-based air-quality index warning system and improve health
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risk communicationsto inform citizens about unsafe pollution levels, with a focus on protecting children’s lives. The AIR Plan was one of many initiatives showcased at an affiliate event highlighting climate actions in India last September at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco. NRDC public health experts, including senior scientist Kim Knowlton, also highlighted the pioneering heat action plan implemented in Ahmedabad, a program that has helped to avoid more than 1,100 deaths annually since its launch in 2013 and has since scaled to 30 cities across 12 Indian states. The plan uses low-cost measures such as cool roofs (coated to be more reflective and absorb less heat) and a color-coded early-warning system in which forecast temperatures are printed in newspapers and posted on social media to improve public preparedness. “Just as the major environmental problems are linked, so are the solutions,” Knowlton says. With South Asia facing increasingly brutal heat waves, building heat resilience has become another priority for its leaders, particularly those who represent India’s most vulnerable communities that have compounding risk factors, such as a lack of electricity or limited access to water. “India is showing the world that in our fight against climate change, we can take smart steps right now to protect millions of people from deadly heat waves,” says Sayantan Sarkar, a Delhi-based climate consultant with NRDC, “and it’s cost effective and sensible to create similar plans across Indian cities and states.” As NRDC works with city officials as well as health-care workers, emergency responders, and the Indian Meteorological Department to expand heat action plans to all 17 heat-prone states in India, the lessons learned—and partnerships built—can serve as a template for other cities, states, and countries working to address the growing burdens of air pollution and climate change on their citizens’ lives. “There’s tons of work to be done in India, but in 10 years, NRDC has seen significant progress,” says Poonam Sandhu, a clean energy and climate consultant with the program. “We hope to work with our partners to make this vibrant country become a climate leader.”
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I N C O N V E R S AT I O N
A Voice for Environmental Justice in the Windy City Gina Ramirez, a senior program
assistant based in NRDC’s Chicago office, focuses on protecting and revitalizing neighborhoods like hers, on the city’s Southeast Side, that are overburdened by pollution and industrial activity.
Your road to environmental advocacy began, essentially, in your own backyard when you realized your family was being exposed to industrial pollutants. Why did you decide to fight instead of move? Gina Ramirez: I’m a third-generation resident of the neighbor-
hood. My great-grandparents immigrated here from Mexico in 1933, and it’s now a whole community of multigenerational immigrant families. I loved my childhood growing up on the Southeast Side, but I also didn’t know that the smokestacks and black mounds near my house were a health concern. This brings a different narrative to my advocacy, from the perspective of an impacted person, but also as someone who loves the neighborhood enough to fight to make it better. People are going to outlive these factories, so there needs to be an investment in the people first. I want my son to not only have the same great childhood I did but also the same access to healthy air and safe spaces to play in as children in wealthier neighborhoods. We know better now, and the city of Chicago knows better—and needs to step up and protect public health that’s at risk due to pollution. In what ways do you hope Chicago steps it up in the next year?
I’m a member of many community groups in my neighborhood,
Piles of petcoke— a byproduct of the tar sands oil-refining process that can damage the heart and lungs—at KBCX’s south facility on the banks of Chicago’s Calumet River
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How do you bridge your work with NRDC and with these community groups?
I first learned about the petcoke problem once I started attending community meetings in 2014. It was at one of the Southeast Environmental Task Force
Senior program assistant Gina Ramierez with her husband and son in their Southeast Side, Chicago, home; toxic petcoke piles left by oil-refining companies
meetings when I first encountered NRDC, which sent its staff to explain a plan to help pass an ordinance on the handling of petcoke. This partnership has grown since I joined NRDC. I’m now going door-to-door to meet with more of my neighbors, some of whom still work in the area’s manufacturing industry, to talk about the health hazards and encourage them to come out for meetings with lawmakers where we can work together with NRDC to press for stricter laws against the pollutants in our community. What would you tell someone who notices a potential environmental hazard in their neighborhood, like you did in yours?
Trust your instinct. If you’re smelling something foul, if you’re getting sick, put up a fight and scream it to the mountaintops. Knock on doors and ask, “Hey, does this seem wrong to you?” Then join forces, like my neighborhood did, with local and national coalitions. Strategize. The media will take notice, and people will get embarrassed. It’s unfortunate that city officials aren’t more proactive, but the city has been having meetings with us largely because we embarrassed them. It takes consistent pressure. Even when officials fine a factory, it can take six months for data to come out. Six months is a lifetime for a mother who’s worried about what her child is breathing. My son is already four. Every day he’s breathing polluted air while the city is waiting to get its act together. It’s not fast enough for me. I’m impatient—as any parent and anyone impacted should be.
L E F T: R E B E C C A K A R A M E H M E D O V I C . P R E V I O U S S P R E A D : S A M U E L K E R R ( P O R T R A I T )
including the Southeast Side Coalition to Ban Petcoke and the Southeast Envi ronmental Task Force. We’re asking for comprehensive land use changes. Because our neighborhood is zoned as a manufacturing district, a lot of dirty industry, like steel manufacturing, is allowed to keep coming in and keep leaving its waste behind. That means air pollution like petroleum coke dust, which comes from the oil-refining process and can damage the heart and lungs. That means high levels of the heavy metal manganese in the air and in people’s soil, which can cause neurological damage, particularly in children. So we’ve asked for a complete ban on manganese handling on the Southeast Side. We also need “red zones,” which stop more industry from coming into a neighborhood already dealing with cumulative pollution.
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The American Cities Climate Challenge A $70 million effort led by Bloomberg Philanthropies will spur climate action at the local level and work to meet the country’s Paris Agreement commitments.
M A X- O - M AT I C
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ities play a pivotal role in climate action: Together, they
account for more than 70 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and two-thirds of the world’s energy use. In fact, if U.S. buildings were their own country, they would rank third in the world in energy use. What’s more, residents of many of our nation’s cities are on the front lines of climate change, bearing the brunt of its effects, from heat waves to sea level rise. In light of recent new warnings by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, federal agencies, and other scientific bodies that we could see the worst impacts much sooner than expected if we don’t act swiftly and boldly, cities have a vested interest in doing just that. To help promote a sustainable future for urban residents, Bloomberg Philanthropies has launched a $70 million program for 25 ambitious cities to deepen and accelerate their efforts to tackle climate change. The cities that will participate in the Bloomberg American Cities Climate Challenge (ACCC) were selected because they understand their biggest environmentalchallenges and are committed to keeping
the promise of the Paris Agreement, with concrete plans to cut emissions by reducing building energy use, increasing renewable energy, lowering vehicle miles traveled, and electrifying vehicles. In turn, this will improve the health and well-being of their residents and open up new economic opportunities. NRDC—which has maintained a dogged frontline effort to make America’s cities healthier, safer, and more equitable places to live—is proud to join with Bloomberg Philanthropies and Delivery Associates (a global advisory firm focused on working with governments to improve outcomes for citizens), as well as many other partners, to support the winning cities. NRDC will be a core partner working on overall project strategy, advocacy, outreach and education, and stakeholder engagement. We will deploy technical experts with expertise in buildings and transportation—the two main pollution-causing sectors in most urban areas—to create strong, durable policies for each city. By 2020, the 25 cities will achieve at least 60 million megatons of carbon emission re ductions through ACCC initiatives alone, and they will hit their collective Paris Agreement targets with 28 percent reductions by 2025. “Mayors don’t look at climate change as an ideological issue. They look at it as an economic and public health issue,” says Michael R. Bloomberg, the U.N. Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Climate Action and founder of Bloom berg Philanthropies. “Regardless of the decisions of the Trump administration, mayors are determined to continue making progress. The challenge will work with our country’s most ambitious mayors to help them move further, faster toward achieving their climate goals.”
ACCC WINNING CITIES Albuquerque Atlanta Austin Boston Charlotte Chicago Cincinnati Columbus Denver Honolulu Indianapolis Los Angeles Minneapolis Orlando Philadelphia Pittsburgh Portland, OR Saint Paul San Antonio San Diego San Jose Seattle St. Louis St. Petersburg Washington, D.C.
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The Guardians of Canada’s Boreal The forest’s trees and soils store hundreds of billions of tons of carbon and support important ecosystems and communities. Indigenous leaders are determined to protect it.
Canada’s boreal forest, one of the planet’s last great forests, at the crown of the continent. Their ancestors have resided here for millennia, but indigenous peoples are now facing increasing incursions from industry into their traditional territories, some of which have very little intact forest left. Activities like oil and gas development, mining, and bad forestry management—which wipe out about a million acres per year—threaten many parts of the boreal, undermining indigenous peoples’ right to control their land and impacting their way of life. Based in Ottawa, the Indigenous Leadership Initiative (ILI) aims to change that. The five-year-old organization works to strengthen indigenous nationhood and foster sound land conservation and management across Canada. One of ILI’s goals is the creation of protected areas that reflect tribal law and culture and, under indigenous management, help to sustain fresh water, populations of local wildlife (such as the iconic boreal caribou), and a stable climate. The organization’s director, Valérie Courtois, who is Innu, says indigenous-led conservation efforts across the boreal forest have a pivotal role to play in Canada right now, as the country plans to protect at least 17 percent of its lands by 2020, a commitment made under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. Despite this pledge, many indigenous communities say that Canadian federal and provincial governments are not doing enough to protect the boreal. In response, ILI is spearheading indigenous-led management initiatives, including a national Indigenous Guardians Network to expand the work of those individuals who monitor the forest’s health, maintain cultural sites, protect sensitive areas and species, and engage in land-use and conservation planning. “It is our vision that with an increased presence of guardians everywhere in Canada, the whole system of land and resource management and protection would benefit,” Courtois says.
CLOCK W ISE FROM TOP: SHU T T ER S TOCK; HOWA RD S A NDL ER /SHU T T ER S TOCK; PE T RIN A BE A L S
M
ore than 600 indigenous communities live within
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FA S T FA C T S
BOREAL IN THE BALANCE Carbon stored in the forest’s plants, soils, and wetlands:
306.6
billion tons This makes it a critical tool in the fight against climate change.
Fraction of caribou that could disappear in the next 15 years:
1/3
Clockwise from left: Indigenous Leadership Initiative director Valérie Courtois on Quebec’s George River; Canada’s boreal forest; boreal woodland caribou
For decades, NRDC has worked with indigenous conservation leaders in their quest to protect the boreal forest, whose trees and soils store more carbon than three decades’ worth of fossil fuel emissions. “This is a part of the world that’s still wild,” says Anthony Swift, director of NRDC’s Canada Project. “It’s home to a rich biodiversity for North America and is central to the lives and cultural practices of more than a million indigenous peoples. It also plays an indispensable role in helping us win the fight against climate change.” Given the importance of the boreal forest and the nature of the threats it faces, the “moccasins and mukluks on the ground,” as the guardians are often referred to, will hold the key to its protection.
Despite this, many provinces have doubled down on prioritizing industry at their expense. Tar sands pipeline projects proposed since 2005 that NRDC has helped stop:
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n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n
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A Public Health Advocate for Los Angeles Port Communities
Many people blame Los Angeles’s notoriously clogged freeways for its smog problem. What should they know about the role of its ports? Melissa Lin Perrella: In the 1980s, Los Angeles was known
for the thick haze that just hung over the city. Today it still ranks as the most ozone-polluted metro area in the country, but it’s significantly cleaner than it once was. Cars contribute, of course, but the ports are actually the largest contributor to L.A.’s smog problem. To give you a sense of their size, the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, which are neighbors, make up the San Pedro Bay Complex—the ninth-busiest container port complex in the world. It handled almost a third of the country’s containerized trade in 2017. When we talk about the traffic at the port, we aren’t just referring to the ships, which emit diesel exhaust, but also to the trucks and trains and equipment that transport all the goods.
proposed expanding its China Shipping terminal. We already knew the health impacts from diesel exhaust—the elevated risks of heart disease, of asthma, of cancer. Residents were concerned and came to us for help. So with a coalition, NRDC challenged the expansion. We proved that the port violated the California Environmental Quality Act by not disclosing how the project would impact health and by not doing anything to minimize that impact. The settlement that came out of that fight included a much cleaner version of the original project. Environmentalists and the surrounding communities took on one of California’s largest economic engines—and won. It was a wake-up call for the ports that they could no longer do business as usual. After our lawsuit, the ports began adopting—for the first time— clean air policies and health goals. That work continues today. Who are your main allies in this fight?
How has your work made a dent in L.A.’s air pollution?
It started back in the 1990s, when the Port of Los Angeles
It’s not just environmentalists that are paying attention to port pollution. It’s really the frontline communities, the ones
M A R I O TA M A / G E T T Y I M A G E S
For 15 years, Melissa Lin Perrella has worked to protect the neighborhoods hardest hit by freight-related air pollution, with a focus on environmental justice in Southern California.
Shipping containers stacked at California’s Port of Long Beach
affected. About 900,000 people live in the area surrounding the ports, called the Los Angeles Harbor region. Almost twothirds are people of color. They’re deeply invested in this fight because even with the progress we’ve made, they still have higher cancer rates from diesel pollution than residents elsewhere. And industry is still pushing for new polluting port projects right by schools and homes even though cleaner alternatives exist. NRDC would not have seen as much success as it has over the past 20 years had it not been for these residents, who know the ports are putting their families at risk and have let every politician hear about it. We’re also working within coalitions. The Moving Forward Network has been instrumental. It’s a national coalition that works to reduce the public health impacts of our freight transportation system. NRDC is a proud member. We’re working alongside community organizations, universities, faith-based groups, and other advocates. The only way we’ll get there is if everyone feels invested and everyone brings what they can to the table.
What’s your next goal?
Recently, NRDC and its coalition partners persuaded the mayors of Los Angeles and Long Beach to sign a joint executive directive that set the goal of 100 percent zero-emissions trucks serving the ports by 2035 and all zero-emissions cargo handling equipment by 2030. Keep in mind there are about 13,000 trucks that make multiple trips to the ports every day. We are now working to ensure the ports take the necessary actions to make these goals a reality. While this is a local story about cleaning up two ports, could it offer lessons for others facing similar issues?
Yes! Innovative technologies and policies are being adopted in Los Angeles and Long Beach, and ports around the world are watching. We’re changing the industry. Community members and government officials regularly reach out to NRDC for advice. With that said, we still have a lot of work to do. We are constantly holding the ports’ feet to the fire. Our work won’t be done until we have clean air to breathe.
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Powering a Resilient Future in Puerto Rico After Hurricanes Irma and Maria left the island in the dark, Jonathan Marvel and his team at Resilient Power Puerto Rico sparked a renewables revolution.
Puerto Rico residents outside their homes that were damaged by Hurricane Maria
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rchitect and urban designer Jonathan Marvel has a vi
sion for healing the hurricane-ravaged communities of Puerto Rico, his birthplace, and it begins with the sun. From his current home in New York, Marvel followed the rash of storms that blew through the Caribbean in September 2017. Shocked by the devastation left in Hurricane Maria’s wake—including the destruction of Puerto Rico’s electrical infrastructure, which cut off power for an estimated 3.4 million people—he vowed to help. Using his experience working with energy efficiency and environmentally friendly design at his New York– and San Juan–based firm, Marvel Architects, he developed a plan to bring solar energy to the people of Puerto Rico and set about securing funding. The plan was modeled on a successful recovery effort in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy by a group called Power Rockaways Resilience. That fall, with Cristina Roig-Morris, a Puerto Rican also living in New York City, Marvel launched Resilient Power Puerto Rico. They decided to focus on repowering residential buildings, community centers, and the microgrid (local, freestanding power grids that operate autonomously from the central electrical system). Initial efforts have centered
C L O C K W I S E F R O M F A R L E F T: G E R A L D H E R B E R T/A S S O C I AT E P R E S S ; R E S I L I E N T P O W E R P U E R T O R I C O ; I A N A L L E N ; R E S I L I E N T P O W E R P U E R T O R I C O ( 2 )
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Members of the Resilient Power Puerto Rico team, led by architect Jonathan Marvel (top right), have been installing solar power systems across the island and working with various community groups.
on the community buildings, a critical source of basic necessities like food, water, power, and information for neighborhoods across the island. (In many areas, up to 5,000 people live within a short walk of these hubs.) So far, the team has installed enough solar-plusbattery microgrids to power seven community centers; the goal is to equip more than 200 centers across all of Puerto Rico’s 78 municipalities. NRDC collaborated with Marvel and with the environmental justice community group Proyecto ENLACE on a trial installation in the San Juan neighborhood of Caño Martín Peña, one of the poorest in the metropolitan area and one of the hardest hit by Hurricane Maria. We are also developing a second solarbattery microgrid in Vieques, an island off the southeast coast of Puerto Rico. NRDC was grateful to have the oppor tunity to partner on the initial efforts. “A bottom-up network of distributed microgrids is starting to take shape across all of Puerto Rico,” notes NRDC senior attorney Luis Martinez, who is also from the island and focuses on strengthening renewable energy programs. “Each installation is a replicable model of renewable microgrids that will be placed at critical infrastructure across the island and provide resiliency when the next storm strikes,” he adds, “hopefully helping to make the community infrastructure as resilient as the people who live there.”
New Yorkers Ban Foam Coffee Cups and Clamshells Years of advocacy by the city’s citizen activists vanquish a plastic pollutant: polystyrene foam food and beverage containers.
New York City schoolchildren at New York City Hall to urge city council members to pass a bill to ban expanded polystyrene foam
S
omething is missing from New York’s ubiquitous
street food carts and to-go counters this year. The white foam beverage cups and takeout food clamshell containers that became an ever-present litter and pollution problem in the nation’s largest city beginning the 1970s have finally been banned. The Big Apple joins more than 200 cities and counties that have prohibited the use of polystyrene foam food and beverage containers, which are environmentally problematic, in part because of their brittle composition. Dis carded foam litters streets and sidewalks, parks and beaches,
creating cleanup challenges for property owners and city sanitation employees alike. It also causes pollution problems as the containers enter street-corner storm drains and then get flushed into local rivers and bays, where small pieces of foam are often mistaken for food by fish and birds. The New York City Council sought to curb the use of these types of containers through a 2013 anti-litter and pollutionreductionlaw—legislation that NRDC helped pass. But a five-year industry litigation and lobbying campaign funded by the American Chemistry Council and the Dart Container Corporation (the world’s largest manufacturer of polystyrene food and beverage containers) blocked the law’s implementation. In the intervening years, NRDC defended the law and continued to push for action, joining forces with city officials and other environmental groups to keep attention focused on the issue. Even kids got in on the act. Last spring, New York City schoolchildren rallied outside City Hall on World Oceans Day to highlight the ongoing crisis of marine plastic pollution. The students had been studying the pollution as part of a unit led by the environmental education group Cafeteria Culture. “It should be our decision to ban foam because we live here in New York City,” said a fifth grader, Sharon, from Public School 15 in Brooklyn. “Innocent animals . . . have to deal with the mess that people make.” Finally, in October 2018, a New York State appeals court upheld New York City’s ban on these dirty materials. NRDC had participated in the rule making and filed an amicus brief in the case, providing evidence refuting the plastic industry’s objections to the law and its claims that dirty foam could somehow be “recycled,” even though there is no independent market for this material. The ruling vindicated environmental activists who have fought to reduce litter and pollution on their streets, and it gives a jolt to worldwide efforts to cut back on the ever-growing amount of single-use plastics.
PACIFIC PRESS/GE T T Y IMAGES
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MORE KEY STATE VICTORIES
CALIFORNIA NIXES SINGLE-USE PLASTICS
COLORADO JUMP-STARTS ITS ELECTRIC VEHICLES MARKET Colorado adopts advanced clean car standards—the result of an advocacy campaign led by NRDC and other groups—becoming one of 14 states with lowemission-vehicle programs.
C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P L E F T: P R E D R A G V U C K O V I C / I S T O C K ; B L O O M B E R G / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; D E N N I S S C H R O E D E R / N R E L ; H E AT H E R R O U S S E A U /A S S O C I AT E D P R E S S ; A U D R E Y M C AV O Y/A S S O C I AT E D P R E S S
California introduces a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags and becomes the first state to keep plastic straws off restaurant tables through a law that NRDC helped pass.
THE NORTHEAST EMBRACES OFFSHORE WIND
THE SOUTH VETOES PIPELINES
Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York have committed to developing more than 7,600 megawatts of offshore wind energy, partnering with NRDC to ensure safety for marine life.
HAWAII BANS CHLORPYRIFOS
OHIO OUTLINES A PLAN FOR A HUGE SOLAR FARM
The Aloha State bans the use of this toxic pesticide, linked to developmental delays and behavior problems in children, despite the fact that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency continues to keep it on the market.
If approved, the farm will be built in Appalachian Ohio, an area that has struggled with the coal industry’s decline. It is expected to power nearly 66,000 homes and to include a solar manufacturing hub that will create hundreds of jobs.
A federal court pulls key permits hastily approved by the Trump administration from the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast natural gas pipelines, thereby halting construction, following pressure from NRDC and fierce public backlash in West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina.
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JOINING FORCES
The Beehive Cliffs Trail of Acadia National Park, Maine
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The American people send representatives to Washington, D.C., in order to secure the interests, achieve the goals, and advance the values that define us as a democracy. But recently, our federal leadership has failed to protect our basic human rights to clean air and water, our
natural resources and public spaces, and a safe and healthy future. Against this backdrop of negligence, NRDC is collaborating with and amplifying the voices of a new—and in some ways unexpected—class of environmental leaders. Through shared resources offered by NRDC and
our vast array of coalition partners—and the support of our network of three million activists— labor groups, cultural organizations, retailers, farmers, and firefighters are bolstered to take bold actions in pursuit of protecting the health of the public and this planet that we all share.
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Working With Firefighters to Take On Toxic Chemicals Flame retardants pose health risks to firefighters and consumers—and don’t make our homes safer from fire. In California, they’re finally on their way out.
U
ntil a few years ago, it was difficult to find any uphol-
stered furniture that wasn’t filled with toxic flameretardant chemicals, which were added to these products in the name of fire safety. Despite that purported intention, little evidence exists to support the claim that adding flame-retardant chemicals is effective in preventing the spread of fire. Worse, these chemicals have been linked to cancer, reduced IQ, hyperactivity, and interference with hormone systems. During their production, use, and disposal, they also contaminate our air and water. “These chemicals have been showing up everywhere and building up in people, pets, and the environment,” says Avinash Kar, a senior attorney in the Healthy People & Thriving Communities program. “Children are particularly vulnerable since they are still developing.” Because of these concerns, NRDC, together with a coalition of California-based groups that include the Center for EnvironmentalHealth (CEH) and the Consumer Federation of California, has spent years pushing to stop the inclusion of these chemicals in household products. And it isn’t just public health advocates who have fought for the change. NRDC has also worked closely with the California Professional Firefighters (CPF), who face alarmingly high rates of cancer as well as high exposure to toxic flame-retardant chemicals. “When a firefighter enters a structure fire, we’re surrounded by a haze of cancer-causing toxins, including those contained
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Firefighters responding to an apartment fire in Los Angeles
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in a chemical flame retardant,” said Adam Cosner, Santa Clara County Firefighters Local 1165, in a video made with the NRDC Communications team that was distributed widely on social media in the summer and fall of 2018. “Historically, we fought fires that had natural fiber materials. The combustibles were wood and wool and cotton. They burned clean, they burned slow, and they burned cooler. Now our fires are plastics and synthetics
Upholstered furniture, like sofas, may contain toxic flame-retardant chemicals.
B O T T O M : F R A N K P O L I C H / R E U T E R S . P R E V I O U S S P R E A D : R I C H A R D V O G E L /A S S O C I AT E D P R E S S . P A G E S 4 2 – 4 3 : A L L E N B R O W N /A L A M Y
Santa Clara County firefighter Adam Cosner testifying at a California Senate hearing
and man-made materials, and because of that, everything else in the room is ignited as well.” Alongside our partners, we’ve seen numerous advancements on the issue over the years. These include an update of the upholstered furniture fire-safety standard in 2013, which provides for fire safety without the use of flame retardants. This was followed by the passage of the Toxic Furniture Right-to-Know Bill in 2014, cosponsored by NRDC with CEH and CPF, which gives shoppers clear information about the chemicals contained in their purchases. Then, in 2018, as a continuation of the campaign to address the ongoing use of these chemicals in many products, NRDC, CPF, and CEH worked with California Assemblymember Richard Bloom on new state legislation prohibiting the sale of furniture, certain children’s products, and mattress foam that contain flame-retardant chemicals, which would go into effect in 2020. At a California Senate hearing in June, Cosner testified, saying, “These products are added to furniture in the belief that they are making them safer from fire. As a firefighter, I can tell you that these toxic retardants provide no meaningful fire-safety benefit.” The bill passed the legislature with bipartisan support and was followed by an action alert that resulted in thousands of California-based NRDC activists urging Governor Jerry Brown to sign it into law. In September 2018, the governor followed through, closing the loop on a significant public health issue. Given California’s market influence, this will reduce exposures not only for Californians but nationwide.
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A Game Changer for Industry Sujatha Jahagirdar, director of health campaigns in
the Healthy People & Thriving Communities program, works alongside corporate partners to reduce the global warming impacts of livestock production.
NRDC staff have also helped build the market for “imperfect” fruits and vegetables, healthy foods that otherwise have gone to waste given their off size or shape. That includes catalyzing development of Compass’s Imperfectly Delicious Produce program, which is now rescuing produce from farms across the nation. In another partnership, NRDC works with the food services and facilities management company Sodexo in piloting and evaluating the use of waste-tracking software, a tool we’re currently testing through our food waste reduction initiative in Nashville. How does NRDC help make the case to encourage industries to pursue changes like these?
A big part of our advocacy work is persuasion: i nsider lobbying. For example, we conduct and share case studies that offer examples of corporate innovators around the country experimenting with solutions to find new ways to tackle food waste and show companies how they can follow suit. We’re also demonstrating how much support there is for these changes, which is often very important. Companies recognize there’s a whole lot of public support for sustainability policies right now. That’s largely what’s driving it—consumer preference. In the case for climate health, that means plant-forward menus. People want healthier, more sustainable options.
S A ME UL K E R R (P OR T R A I T ); P E T E R GR UNDY
These days, we can’t count on federal agencies charged with ensuring a healthy environment and public health to carry out their duties. How has your strategy shifted to reflect this new landscape? Sujatha Jahagirdar: Given the gridlock we have seen in
Congress and the regulatory stalemates, we’re working within the market. Because so many industries have be come so consolidated, there’s an opportunity to make big changes quickly. In the food service industry, three companies own 75 percent of the market share. That means if you get three companies to commit to a change, you’ve transformed the entire sector. For example, NRDC is working with Compass—the largest food service company in the country—to help reduce its impact on global warming by pushing it to buy 30 per cent less red meat and more vegetables over the course of three years. Livestock, especially grazers like cows and sheep, are incredibly resource-intensive to produce, and in the United States, beef is responsible for more emissions than almost all other foods combined.
Who else are you pushing to be more sustainable right now?
We’re working to convince Aramark, which is one of the top three service companies providing food to places like college campuses, hospitals, and stadiums. We’ve sent a letter signed by 70 organizations, from the Humane Society to Oxfam to the Sierra Club, asking Aramark to cut its purchases of climate-intensive foods. It’d be a really big deal, cutting their menus’ emissions by 20 percent. They’ve launched a pilot program, but expanding it nationwide is the next step. We’re also working on developing a scorecard to grade food service companies—like the ones that supply cafeterias and college campuses—on how climatefriendly their options are. We’re trying to facilitate a race to the top and publicly recognize those that are succeeding.
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A Coalition Speaks Out for Our National Monuments While filing litigation against the Trump administration for illegally rescinding protections for specific lands, NRDC shares personal stories from tribal leaders, hunters, anglers, hikers, artists, and conservationists to help galvanize public support for our treasured wild places.
A
s a kid growing up in Kansas, Hillerie Patton remembers
learning “This Land Is Your Land” in first grade. Even as an adult, said the former employee of the Bureau of Land Management and resident of North Las Vegas, “when I go out on the public lands, I always think of that song. And whether you’re in Maine or Michigan or New Mexico or Nevada, it’s important that all of us take an active interest in making sure that these areas are here for all of us to enjoy.” Our public lands and waters have come under direct assault by a federal administration that values them only for their oil, coal, gas, timber, minerals, and prospects to exploit, privatize, and profit. But Americans are not standing quietly by. Attorneys with NRDC—along with other conservation groups, indigenous tribes, and scientists—have filed lawsuits against the government’s unprecedented plan to carve up the monuments, including Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, contending that President Trump doesn’t have the authority to change the status of previously protected land. In addition, NRDC joined with the Next 100 Coalition—a group of civil rights, conservation, environmental justice, and community organizations, of which Patton is a member—to highlight stories from some of the 2.7 million people who
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Smoky Mountain Road in Utah’s Grand StaircaseEscalante National Monument
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have called for the protection of lands now under siege. Their impassioned arguments are a clear vision for a more inclusive approach to our country’s public lands, guided by respect for our vibrant cultures. “Our public lands should reflect the diversity of our history and the diversity of our populace now,” says Sharon Buccino, director of NRDC’s Land & Wildlife program. “That diversity has increased—we weren’t nearly as diverse 100 years ago—but our public lands need to catch up.” Here are some of the stories from our collaboration. Acadia National Park, Maine
The first national park I ever went to was Acadia in Maine. It’s one of the most astonishingly beautiful places on earth. And driving up Cadillac Mountain, where you’re going above the clouds and you can see the Atlantic Ocean thundering beneath you, and then you can see all these tree islands in the water and they are lit up by the sun that turns the water gold—it was an unearthly experience for me. And really, that’s the feeling I try to bring to everyone— that being out in nature in the national parks and in our national monuments helps you to connect with something so much bigger than yourself, that you really feel your place in the world. I’m very passionate about that. San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, California By Robert García Civil rights attorney and founding director, The City Project
Within an hour’s drive of most of Los Angeles County, you can hike up into wilderness areas along the San Gabriel River and see wild animals. Once you’re up there on that trail going up into the mountains, you totally forget that you’re in one of the two largest cities in the nation. My connection to the San Gabriel Mountains goes back to when I was growing up in L.A. as a child. I am an immigrant. I came to the United States when I was four years old from Guatemala with my family, and I remember going to the San Gabriels with my mother, father, and sister. It’s not just about conservation, clean air, clean water, clean land, habitat protection. It’s about the people. Dozens of cities and diverse groups—from fishermen’s groups to hiking groups to civil rights and social justice groups—all banded together to support the creation of the national monument. Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, New Mexico By Angel Peña Archaeologist and Rio Bravo regional director, Conservation Lands Foundation
One of my first memories of being in the Organ Mountains is with my daughter. The Organ Mountains–Desert Peaks
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By Audrey Peterman President and cofounder, Earthwise Productions
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Clockwise from top left: Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monu ment, New Mexico; Acadia National Park, Maine; Robert García (in hat) with members of the Anahauk Youth Sports Association and Congresswoman Judy Chu (second from right), who in 2014 proposed legislation to permanently protect California’s San Gabriel Mountains; Switzer Falls in San Gabriel Moun tains National Monument; Angel Peña (front) in Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks
is so special for me and her, my little girl, because we’re learning at the same time, together. When you’re trying to look for something to do with your family that doesn’t cost a lot of money, going outside to play is not only really cheap, but it’s where memories are made. The Organ Mountains–Desert Peaks National Monument is made up of four different parts. The Organ Mountains create the backdrop for Las Cruces, and they’re in just about every painting or picture you’ll see of our little town. The Las Uvas and the Robledos section of the monument is really where the dense cultural resources are, where all the archaeology is. Potrillo lava flows, which, you know, contain some geological formation—these rocks are just a picture in time, frozen. And then you have the Doña Anas, which is set aside and used primarily by our off-road community. There’s a little bit of everything for everyone.
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I N C O N V E R S AT I O N
Making the Case for Energy Efficiency to— and for—All Lara Ettenson directs NRDC’s energy
efficiency initiative and works collaboratively with California-based energy agencies, utilities, and labor groups to help meet the state’s energy needs and ambitious emissions-reduction goals.
Has the conversation around energy efficiency changed in the Golden State since you helped develop the California Energy Efficiency Coordinating Committee in 2014? Lara Ettenson: For a long time, the main reason for focusing
on energy efficiency was energy savings—to reduce air pollution and to stop the construction of new power plants. But we recognize that efficiency programs, like reducing the cost of an efficient refrigerator, also have an impact on people’s comfort and pocketbooks—especially in California, where we have an affordability crisis. Now we’re also focused on making sure that no community lacks the incentives, understanding, or opportunities to upgrade their homes and small businesses and lower their energy bills. Our committee is coordinating among 20 diverse groups, including consumer advocates, labor interests, social justice
organizations, local governments, and the state energy agencies to ensure efficiency access for everyone. What has the committee been tackling lately?
In 2018, the California Public Utilities Commission approved the first-ever set of business plans that manage the majority of the state’s energy efficiency programs and required minimum quality installation standards. In addition to meeting energy-savings goals, programs must be designed to serve customers living in disadvantaged communities. These decisions set the groundwork for California to equitably transition to a clean energy economy. California consistently made headlines in 2018 for picking up the federal government’s slack when it came to climate
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Clockwise from top left: A student with the Rising Sun Energy Center, a Berkeleybased clean energy education center where Lara Ettenson teaches, replacing a light with an LED bulb; California’s Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, which is being shut down and replaced with clean energy; Tehachapi Wind Farm, Calif ornia; Rising Sun Energy students learning new skills during a construction class
change. What was the significance of two of its biggest wins: a 100 percent zero greenhouse gas electricity bill and legislation related to the closure of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant?
These bills, SB 100 and SB 1090, which NRDC advocated for, commit the state to fully eliminating carbon pollution from electricity generation before the middle of the century. This becomes critical as we continue to electrify things like our cars and heaters. Moving away from a direct reliance on oil and gas puts pressure on the electric grid. We want to make sure it’s clean and using smart technologies to be reliable. Likewise, when Diablo Canyon—California’s last nuclear power plant—closes in 2025, we can rest assured that lowcost, zero-carbon energy will be picking up the slack, rather than dirty energy that would ultimately increase emissions.
We also made sure that the people being affected by these policies were ensured a transition into the new, sustainable economy, for example, through provisions funding worker retention and mitigating community impacts. What can these policies teach others looking to transition to a carbon-free energy economy?
In many ways, the state is a microcosm for the entire world, given its size (almost 40 million people live here), economy, and diversity. Any state or nation will be able to look to California as a model. While there are still unknowns about making these goals a reality, California lawmakers are committing their state to finding answers and implementing affordable clean energy solutions—in recognition that the stakes of delaying innovation are too high.
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Pulling Lethal Paint Strippers Off the Shelves
Seven retail giants—including Lowe’s, Home Depot, Amazon, and Walmart—agree to stop selling products containing deadly methylene chloride after NRDC and coalition partners gather 200,000 signatures urging the ban.
D
rew Wynne was fixing up the floor of a walk-in refriger-
ator at his Charleston, South Carolina–based start-up coffee company in 2017. The 31-year-old DIYer purchased Goof Off, a methylene chloride paint stripper, from Lowe’s. While applying the chemical, he wore gloves and a respirator. The following day, his business partner found him dead. After Wynne’s death, his devastated family learned that methylene chloride is responsible for dozens of fatalities in the United States, many of them contractors and DIYers. Its noxious fumes can cause liver toxicity and cancer and can even trigger heart attacks. For a decade, NRDC has worked to strengthen and reauthorize the Toxic Substances Control Act, with the expectation that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would ban certain uses of methylene chloride and two other toxic solvents (NMP and TCE) under 2016 amendments to the law. During the final days of the Obama administration, the agency did finally propose to ban the specific uses of the chemicals— including use of methylene chloride in paint strippers—but President Trump’s EPA has failed for the past two years to adopt these rules. After four more deaths and under mounting public pressure and questioning from Democratic lawmakers, former EPA chief Scott Pruitt testified to Congress in May
Time it can take to die from methylene chloride: FA S T FA C T S
METHYLENE CHLORIDE
10
SECONDS
The toxic solvent can also cause incapacitation, loss of consciousness, and coma.
2018 that he had “made the decision to proceed” with the ban. But neither he nor his successor, Andrew Wheeler, has made any discernible progress toward that supposed goal. In the face of such federal inaction, we joined together with Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families—a coalition of 450 organizations and businesses—and hundreds of thousands of concerned consumers to call on CEOs to stop selling paint strippers containing this dangerous ingredient. NRDC also purchased a stock share in Lowe’s in order to attend its June shareholder meeting to make our case directly to the board and CEO and planned a press conference prior to the meeting. Our calls were heard: After Lowe’s pulled the products from its shelves, Sherwin-Williams, Home Depot, Walmart, Canadian Tire, Auto Zone, and Amazon followed suit. “All these retailers have agreed there are safer alternatives to methylene chloride,” said Brian Wynne, brother of the late Drew Wynne. “Sadly, their actions are too late for my brother and the many others who have been harmed or killed by these toxic products.” Shelley Poticha, managing director of NRDC’s Healthy People & Thriving Communities program, noted that families like the Wynnes were key in educating consumers and inspiring so many to request the ban. “As a result, this victory signals that the chemical industry— with its vast financial resources, consultants, lobbyists, and a friendly EPA trying to dismantle toxics programs— won’t always get its way,” she says. In December 2018, NRDC submitted a 60-day notice letter to the EPA, informing it of the intent to sue over its failure to finalize a proposed ban on the use of methylene chloride in paint strippers. If agency officials continue to stall, our attorneys will see them in court.
U.S. workers exposed every year:
60,000
U.S. consumers exposed every year:
2,000,000
Number of consumer products it’s found in:
27 The list includes paint strippers, spray shoe polish, water repellents, lubricants, rust removers, and wood stains.
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MORE KEY ALLIANCES
STEELWORKERS JOIN THE FIGHT FOR CLEANER CARS
GREENING FIELDS WITH IOWA FARMERS NRDC worked closely with the Practical Farmers of Iowa, Iowa Farmers Union, and Iowa Environmental Council to support an initiative by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship to secure a crop insurance discount for farmers who plant cover crops. These crops (such as rye, oats, and clover) aren’t meant to be harvested but instead ensure healthier, more absorbent soil and cleaner waters for the Hawkeye State.
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NRDC President Rhea Suh and United Steelworkers labor union President Leo Gerard coauthored an op-ed for USA Today that called on President Trump to protect fuel economy standards—which not only are critical safeguards for fighting climate change but also save drivers money at the pump and keep America’s auto industry competitive globally.
CONVINCING MCDONALD’S TO CUT ANTIBIOTICS USE IN ITS BEEF PARTNERING WITH AC MANUFACTURERS TO CURB CLIMATE POLLUTANTS Major air-conditioning manufacturers and chemical producers joined NRDC in urging states to replace the powerful heat-trapping pollutants called hydro fluorocarbons with climatefriendlier alternatives. Four states—California, New York, Maryland, and Connecticut— have taken up the challenge, and more are on the way.
A new policy by the world’s largest burger chain directs its global suppliers to cut back on the use of medically important drugs on cattle as soon as they arrive at a feedlot, marking the first major commitment to reduce antibiotic use by a major beef retailer. Implementation will begin next year with pilot projects in 10 markets around the world, including the United States, and the company’s new antibiotic use reduction policy is slated to take full effect in 2021. NRDC has been a stakeholder engaged on the policy since early 2018.
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MOBILIZING A MOVEMENT
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Over the past year, NRDC members and activists spoke out at public hearings in support of critical environmental policies on the federal chopping block, rallied with their communities to protect locallands and waters from exploitation by industry, and marched in the streets
on behalf of climate justice. They shared NRDC’s calls to action through social media—platforms that now include more than two million followers—and helped us generate a whopping 18 million NRDC petition signatures and public comments since the election of Donald Trump.
And through our 2018 Get Out the Vote initiative, NRDC activists helped usher in the most diverse freshman class to the House of Representatives our country has ever seen, as well as a whole new crop of climate champions into state legislatures and governors’ mansions.
NRDC staff and supporters at the Rise for Climate march ahead of the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco
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A Rallying Cry Against Offshore Drilling
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n January 2018, the Trump administration announced
that it would move to open the entire Pacific coast to new federal offshore oil and gas leasing for the first time in 25 years. That announcement didn’t go over well in the Golden State. Opposition to offshore drilling is broad, bipartisan, and long-standing; a recent poll by the Public Policy Institute of California found that 69 percent of Californians oppose the expansion of offshore drilling, because of the history of oil spills and the threat that pollution poses to the state’s vibrant economy and sensitive ecosystems. Rallied by NRDC and other organizations seeking to protect the coast, thousands of activists in Southern California— on Santa Monica Pier and in Laguna Beach, Mission Beach,
Ventura, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Cruz—participated in a day of action on February 3, 2018. That same week, Californians marched from the state capitol in Sacramento to a so-called public hearing on the proposal—where the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which is responsible for managing offshore drilling, featured a propaganda film extolling the virtues of expanded drilling. It also limited opportunities for citizen comments. In the ensuing months, dozens of California communities passed resolutions opposing new fossil fuel drilling off their coastlines and fracking in existing offshore wells, and the Protect the Pacific coalition (of which NRDC is a member) has continued to push for more.
J E F F B A D G E R /A L A M Y. PREVIOUS SPREAD: ELIJAH NOUVEL AGE FOR NRDC
NRDC and its grassroots partners help channel Californians’ opposition to the expansion of drilling off their coast into new city and state legislation to protect their shores.
Offshore oil drilling platforms in Huntington Beach, California
Meanwhile, at the state level, NRDC, Heal the Bay, and more than 80 other organizations advocated for two pieces of legislation, AB 1775 by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi and SB 834 by Senator Hannah Beth Jackson, to prohibit the California State Lands Commission from approving new leases or lease renewals for infrastructure that would lead to more oil or gas production from adjacent federal waters. In September, Governor Jerry Brown signed both into law. Last spring, Damon Nagami, a senior attorney who directs NRDC’s Southern California Ecosystems Project, spoke to a packed crowd as part of a panel hosted by the city of Malibu about how people can get involved, contact their representatives, and support organizations fighting to protect our
oceans. He described the lawsuit filed by NRDC and several partner organizations shortly after Trump signed his executive order in April 2017 aiming to open the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, and potentially other areas, to oil and gas leasing. That case is moving forward. Nagami says he was heartened to see so many people turn out for the standing-room-only forum. “Their outrage and outpouring against this Trump administration plan was very inspiring to me,” he says. “I saw faces of folks from all different walks of life come out to say they oppose offshore drilling and Trump’s objective. They’re so glad to know groups like NRDC and our great elected local representatives are fighting back against this terrible plan.”
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Standing Up to a Cabinet of Polluters In response to our calls for action on social media and via email and text, activists help boot Trump’s most egregious anti-environment cabinet members from their posts.
T
he past two years are likely to go down as the worst
in the history of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Scott Pruitt’s brief term as EPA administrator included not only a flurry of ethics scandals but also an astonishing slew of environmental assaults. He overhauled and weakened key protections for our air, water, and health; used propaganda tactics to downplay the consensus around man-made global warming; and sidelined the important research of career EPA officials when making policy decisions. In response, NRDC launched a Fire Scott Pruitt campaign last spring that mobilized 133,000 activists to join the nationwide
public call for Pruitt’s ouster. In July, after a series of questionable actions came to light, he resigned. “Ethics matter. So does a commitment to the EPA’s central mission,” says NRDC President Rhea Suh. “Scott Pruitt failed miserably on both counts.” In December, President Trump’s secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, announced his resignation. Zinke’s leadership was another ethics nightmare, and while a growing wave of inquiries into his behavior may have ultimately sunk his tenure, the department chief also neglected the Interior’s most fundamental mission: to safeguard public waters and lands. He exposed the nation’s spectacular wild places and sacred sites to the risk of industrial
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President Trump with (from left) Vice President Mike Pence, former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, and former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke prior to signing his Energy Independence executive order, which rolls back the climate- and life-saving Clean Power Plan
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FA S T FA C T S
A STEADFAST RESISTANCE Jobs sustained by the clean car and fuel economy standards adopted under President Obama:
288,000 Petitions by NRDC activists who demanded that the EPA protect clean car standards:
100,000
Size reduction of national monuments to open up land for fossil fuel industry: BE A R S E A R S
85 GR A ND S TA IRC A SEE SC A L A N TE
Large crowds calling to protect Bears Ears and Grand StaircaseEscalante national monuments, in Salt Lake City, Utah
46 Public comments sent to the Interior by NRDC acti vists in response to the shrinking of monuments:
260 , 000
ruin for the sake of coal, oil, uranium, and gas profits and proposed one of the largest rollbacks of our bedrock Endangered Species Act in history. Nearly 40,000 NRDC activists spoke out against Zinke's actions in the weeks preceding his resignation, and during his tenure they fought alongside us to block his attacks on our natural heritage. Throughout the past year, our activists sent nearly 260,000 public comments to save monuments such as Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, both of which NRDC is fighting to protect in court; more than 115,000 messages opposing rollbacks to the Endangered Species Act; and more than 325,000 messages opposing the department’s
move to open up nearly every United States coastline to risky offshore oil and gas drilling. With our network of more than three million activists, NRDC has galvanized a fierce resistance to federal agency leaders who prioritize the interests of corporate polluters over the well-being of the American people. Pruitt and Zinke may be out, but the EPA’s current administrator, Andrew Wheeler, is a former coal industry lobbyist, and Zinke’s replacement, David Bernhardt, is an ex-lobbyist for Big Oil and Big Ag. We’ll be watching their every move, and if they follow in the footsteps of their predecessors, we’ll keep fighting back—in and out of court.
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I N C O N V E R S AT I O N
An Activist for Art and the Environment Elizabeth Corr directs NRDC’s art
partnerships, working alongside artists of all kinds to create opportunities for the public to engage with our issues through visual media. She also launched NRDC’s artist-inresidence program, bringing environmental exhibitions and programs to community parks, museums, art fairs, and other venues.
A falcon at "Drawing a Falcon," a program held at New York's Storm King Art Center as part of NRDC artist-in-residence Jenny Kendler's Birds Watching
NRDC’s first artist-in-residence, Jenny Kendler, recently had a piece on view at the Storm King Art Center in New York’s Hudson Valley as part of an exhibition called “Indicators: Artists on Climate Change.” How did you work with her on it? Elizabeth Corr: Kendler created a sculpture featuring 100
colorful, reflective birds’ eyes—each representing a different bird species threatened or endangered by climate change. It helped NRDC talk about the importance of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), which is currently facing threats from the administration (see page 16). It was amazing to see the public response—families all coming to the exhibit together and relating to the art in different ways. An important part of this—and any—artistic project is that we’re also
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Birds Watching (2018)—which represents the eyes of bird species impacted by climate change—by NRDC artist-inresidence Jenny Kendler, part of the "Indicators: Artists on Climate Change" exhibit at New York's Storm King Art Center
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What made you choose to partner with Storm King in particular?
The Hudson River Valley has a big place in NRDC’s history. One of our first lawsuits back in the 1970s was aimed at protecting the area from a Con Edison hydroelectric plant set to be built on Storm King Mountain. [The development would have irrevocably damaged the landscape’s beauty, sensitive ecosystems, and the local livelihoods that depended on the river’s health.] It feels like a full-circle moment to see Kendler’s art backdropped by a beautiful region we helped protect. But just as important, this is an important region for migrating birds. In general, we try to be purposeful in finding a place-based connection between the art and our advocacy work.
As part of the "Day of the Bird" at Storm King Art Center, master falconer Leigh Foster (left) spoke about the unique characteristics of falcons, and visitors joined for a live bird drawing class (right) led by Kendler and George Boorujy.
How does your work intersect with NRDC’s policy advocacy? Can art help make the case for legislative change?
One example of this happened after a 2016 exhibition we worked on with Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Photography. It spotlighted the dangers of petcoke, an industrial byproduct of tar sands oil processing that was being dumped near homes on the city’s Southeast Side (see page 30). The exhibition’s artists spent close to a year working in the community to learn about the impacts of the pollution and documenting aspects like the five-story-high piles of dust towering along the banks of the Calumet River. The exhibition was so meaningful because it really put pressure on the city of Chicago to pass an ordinance to clean up these petcoke piles and to have stronger regulations for how that waste was stored. It was, without a doubt, in part because these artists could help amplify the demands of community members and activists. You’ve been with NRDC for nearly 11 years. How has your approach to your work changed?
In the beginning, I spent a lot of time trying to convince people why the perspective of the artist is important in environmental advocacy. I don’t have to do that as much now. It’s clear that artists have a critical role to play in solving climate change, in building awareness. I want art—and the collaboration and partnerships it brings—to continue to be one of the tools for NRDC. Because it’s really about channeling human voices on a human issue. And art is a way of bringing people who may feel alienated by a certain issue back into the conversation. You don’t have to be a policy expert to be moved by what you see.
D AV I D C . S A M P S O N . P R E V I O U S S P R E A D , F R O M L E F T: S A M U E L K E R R ( P O R T R A I T ) ; D AV I D C . S A M P S O N ; C O U R T E S Y J E N N Y K E N D L E R
activating the work through a series of programming. For Kendler’s piece, we organized a “Day of the Bird,” a special day of activities that included a birddrawing class with a live falcon, a musical performance, readings, and a panel discussion to spark conversation about the importance of the MBTA. It really allowed people to engage more deeply on the issue through a variety of media.
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Climate Hearings Draw Massive Crowds Though the federal government is offering few opportunities for the public to weigh in on its disastrous environmental policies, advocates for climate action are showing up in force.
FRANCESCO CICCOLELL A
F
our years ago, our nation was poised to take the biggest
step in its history to fight climate change. With the rollout of the Clean Power Plan, the federal government would set the first-ever limits on carbon pollution from power plants, the largest source of the pollution in the country. It didn’t take long for Trump’s U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to undo that progress. Disgraced Administrator Scott Pruitt tried to suppress public comment on his initial proposal to repeal the Clean Power Plan and scheduled only a single hearing in Charleston, West Virginia, in the fall of 2017. But American citizens demanded more. Under pressure, the EPA scheduled additional hearings in three more cities in February and March 2018, where hundreds of NRDC activists and concerned citizens—including a group of some 200 young students from Oakland—showed up to support the Clean Power Plan. “We can’t afford to go backwards— the impacts of climate change are hitting home every day in California,” said Alex Jackson, legal director of NRDC’s California Climate Project, at the San Francisco public meeting. Meanwhile, during the open comment period, 212,000 people sent petitions opposing Pruitt’s plan. Then, in August, acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced a proposal for what amounted to a “Dirty Power Plan,” a thinly veiled bailout for the coal industry. If finalized, this rule would increase dangerous air pollution from
coal-fired power plants, harming public health and stymieing efforts at the state and local levels to move toward clean energy and combat climate change. The agency again strove to limit feedback on its proposal by scheduling just one public hearing on its plan, in Chicago. NRDC staff attorney Lissa Lynch called it “simply inadequate for meaningful public engagement” on the issue. In the face of this challenge, NRDC worked to alert 35,000 of its Chicagoarea activists to the opportunity to speak out on their home turf. Ultimately, the October 1, 2018, event drew large crowds. “Scores of scientists, consumer and environmental advocates, public health experts, elected officials, and concerned citizens demanded that the U.S. EPA do better and strengthen our climate and health protections—not weaken them,” noted NRDC’s Midwest director for climate and clean energy policy, Samantha Williams, who joined a bench of colleagues at the event to testify against this proposal. A similarly robust public response came after the Trump administration’s move to gut pollution and fuel economy standards for cars and trucks. At hearings the U.S. Department of Transportation and the EPA held in Pittsburgh; Fresno, California; and Dearborn, Michigan, in September, physicians, labor representatives, business owners, environmentalists, and parents and grandparents spoke up in opposition to this terrible idea. NRDC’s digital advocacy and fundraising team worked to boost turnout through a well-received action alert that generated more than 100,000 comments and recruited more than 40,000 new activists. The team’s senior director, Ben Smith, notes that NRDC’s All In activism program has succeeded in “getting people to do more than sign online petitions. They are out taking action in the community.” Smith says the strategy for the Clean Power Plan and clean cars hearings—generating interest through online petitions, then bringing people “up the ladder of engagement by turn ing them out for off-line advocacy activities” by using emails, SMS, and social media—is becoming an increasingly critical tool in an era when our federal government is working to suppress public input on policies that affect us all.
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a chance to win tickets to the opening night of Hamilton in London. He has this devoted audience of fans who want to win tickets, but they’re also really open to his ideas and therefore our message. I N C O N V E R S AT I O N
NRDC’s Partner to the Stars Michelle Theodat, the director of entertainment
and brand partnerships at NRDC, works to broaden NRDC’s demographics through alliances with the entertainment and pop culture worlds.
You’re also seeking to increase brand awareness of NRDC across audiences to help spread the word about the issues we work on. What kind of partnerships have helped accomplish this?
One recent example of this is our campaign with eBay, which has a built-in audience we want to speak to—in this case, the American Midwest. Our outreach resulted in NRDC being chosen as eBay’s environmental partner for its Earth Month campaign in April. eBay auctioned off celebrity gifts, like a drum set from Questlove and tickets to Conan, on its site, with all the pro ceeds coming back to us.
From left: Detroit Pistons' Blake Griffin and comedians Wanda Sykes and Billy Eichner at the Glam Up the Midterms– NRDC voter registration event in Detroit
In this political climate, it’s increasingly hard to make people tune into the issues we find so critical. How does the partnerships team help ensure our messages will break through?
Pop culture and entertainment are one way of getting that attention, especially when we’re trying to attract young people to the issues. But we’re also trying to broaden our audience and create more diversity in the environmental movement in general. So when choosing celebrities and organizations to partner with, we look at who we’re trying to reach and who the best messengers might be to reach those audiences. Our work with Lin-Manuel Miranda is a great example of that. He speaks so passionately about Puerto Rico and the devastation it experienced after Hurricane Maria, and about how climate change is making the storms worse. He talks about these issues by putting their impact on people first— on people’s health, on people’s livelihoods—the same way NRDC does. Last year, we ran a campaign with Lin-Manuel and his wife, Vanessa, where people could donate to NRDC for
We had partnered with Funny or Die a few times, and when they launched their Glam Up the Midterms campaign, it seemed like a natural fit around our own Get Out the Vote campaign. The video—which featured the comedians and actors Billy Eichner, Randall Park, Mandy Moore, Kumail Nanjiani, and others—was based on the idea that young people can be apathetic voters. It was called “Nonvoters Anonymous” and had various nonvoters “confess” their excuses. Deep down, we were asking, how do we reach those people who have checked out of the process and remind them that their vote really matters? Funny or Die did a lot of research into youth campaigns and elections. Looking at what was resonating and what wasn’t, it found that shaming wasn’t going to work. Instead, the ultimate goal was to avoid talking down to young people and make them feel empowered to go vote. We wanted to say, “We understand you probably haven’t cared about this before—but now is the time.” Comedy helped us channel that message.
F R O M T O P : S A M U E L K E R R ( P O R T R A I T ) ; S C O T T L E G AT O / G E T T Y I M A G E S
You worked with Funny or Die on the Get Out the Vote campaign prior to the 2018 midterm elections, which culminated in a viral video and a live event in Michigan. Why did you decide to use comedy to bring young people and new voters into the conversation?
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MORE KEY MOBILIZATIONS
CELEBRATING ENERGY EFFICIENCY DAY
DEFENDING THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P L E F T: G E T T Y I M A G E S ; S C O T T O L S O N / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; C O U R T E S Y O F M A U R I C I O C E R O N B E C E R R A A N D P A B L O M E L O ; E L I J A H N O U V E L A G E F O R N R D C
More than 300 companies, organizations (including NRDC as a founding sponsor), utilities, and local governments representing millions of people across the country took part in Energy Efficiency Day on October 5, 2018, to spread the word about the importance of smarter energy use and strengthening energy efficiency policies that support both our climate and our economy.
HONORING WORLD WATER DAY IN CHILE NRDC drove turnout to a June public hearing and rally in Washington, D.C., on Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil and gas leasing and supported the attendance of indigenous Gwich’in leaders from Alaska and Canada who would be most immediately impacted by oil and gas drilling. NRDC also secured a speaking role on the main stage of the Global Climate Action Summit for Dana Tizya-Tramm, a Gwich’in leader from Yukon, Canada, to mobilize world opinion around the threat of drilling in the refuge. Additionally, NRDC and our partners collected and delivered more than 700,000 public comments to the U.S. Department of the Interior about the dangers of its plan and helped to drive submissions during the comment period on the Interior’s draft environmental impact statement.
COMING TOGETHER FOR THE PEOPLES CLIMATE MOVEMENT In advance of the Global Climate Action Summit in September, 30,000 people marched through San Francisco. Hundreds of other marches were held in sister cities across the world as part of a movement that recaptured the spirit of the Paris Agreement. NRDC is a member of the Peoples Climate Movement Council.
Activists from all over the country regrouped in the Patagonian region of Aysén for the fifth summit of the Red por los Ríos Libres (Network for Free-Flowing Rivers) to support rivers under threat from resource exploitation. The three-day gathering brought together more than 60 representatives of local community groups, indigenous leaders and youth, civil society organizations, journalists, scholars, and international environmental NGOs, including NRDC, to discuss their visions for river conservation and the expansion of sustainable energy projects in Aysén.
A wild black-footed ferret, which came back from the brink of extinction thanks to the Endangered Species Act
L A U R A R O M I N & L A R R Y D A LT O N /A L A M Y
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THANK YOU
For nearly 50 years, our supporters at all levels have ensured that we have the resources to deploy our strategies in the most effective way possible. We couldn’t protect the natural systems on which all life depends without your help.
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JOIN US
JOIN A LEADERSHIP CIRCLE Join the Friends of NRDC with a gift of $500–$999 and receive a complimentary copy of War of the Whales by Joshua Horwitz, the gripping story of NRDC’s fight to protect whales from deadly U.S. Navy sonar; a subscrip tion to Nature’s Voice; and more. Be a part of our Council of 1,000 with a yearly dona tion of $1,000–$4,999, and we will send you a copy of Polar Obsession by acclaimed wildlife photographer Paul Nicklen; invitations to regional events and special teleconferences; and more. Become a member of the President’s Circle with an annual gift of $5,000 or more, and you will receive access to confi dential issue briefings and progress reports; invitations to special events with NRDC’s president; a complimentary copy of Edge of the Earth, Corner of the Sky by acclaimed nature photographer Art Wolfe; and much more.
BECOME A MONTHLY PARTNER Increase the impact of your NRDC membership by becoming part of our valued monthly support network. Monthly Partners provide a reliable and steady source of funding that allows NRDC to wage and win long-term cam paigns in defense of imperiled wildlife and wilderness.
MAKE A ONE-TIME DONATION Become a full-fledged member of America’s most effec tive environmental action group by making a contribution of any amount. Your gift will be put to work right away in our top-priority campaigns. NRDC takes on big fights every year, championing new issues as we learn more about where our expertise is needed from our grassroots partners and environmental scien tists. It is critical that we be able to leap when new policies threaten bedrock environmental laws. Significant gifts to NRDC make it possible for us to pick up that baton and do what we do best: defend the earth. To learn more about how to become a major donor or to join our Global Leadership Council with a gift of $25,000 or more, please contact us at 212-727-4543.
ALAMY
TAKE A LEAP
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Elephants in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
MAKE THE EARTH YOUR HEIR You can make a lasting commitment to the environment when you include NRDC in your estate plans. A gift through your will, trust, or retirement or life insurance plan will help preserve our magnificent natural heritage and protect the planet for generations to come. For more information on how to include NRDC in your estate plans, or if you have already done so, please contact Michelle Mulia-Howell, director of gift planning, at 212-727-4421 or giftplanning@nrdc.org.
GIVE THROUGH YOUR WORKPLACE Donating with an automatic payroll deduction is a simple way to support NRDC. To find out if your company participates in EarthShare, or to add an environmental option to your company’s workplace giving campaign, please call NRDC at 646-448-3804.
For more information, contact the NRDC Membership department. Membership@NRDC.org 212-727-4500 NRDC.org/JoinGive
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EVENTS
OUR MAJESTIC OCEANS I
M A LIBU, CA LIFORNIA JUNE 2, 2018
his summer, leaders in the arts, entertainment, and
high-tech worlds gathered at the spectacular Malibu home of Kelly and Ron Meyer for the “Our Majestic Oceans” celebration to raise funds in support of NRDC’s oceans protection work. With event production generously provided by Chanel, every dollar raised from this extraordinary eveningwent directly toward NRDC’s vital work in defense of the oceans. The evening began with NRDC Trustee and host Kelly Meyer and Board Chair Alan Horn welcoming guests, who were treated to an amazing ocean view, delicious vegetarian food from Lucques, and dazzling musical performances from King Princess and Skip Marley before hearing from actor Pierce Brosnan and NRDC President Rhea Suh. Guests then danced the night away to a special DJ set by Snoop Dogg. Notable attendees included Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston, Barbra Streisand, Josh Brolin, Judd Apatow, Leslie Mann, Mandy Moore, Mark Burnett, Roma Downey, Priyanka Chopra, Sofia Boutella, Corey Hawkins, Molly Simms, Rande Gerber, and Cindy Crawford. NRDC extends our heartfelt thanks to Kelly and Ron Meyer for hosting the beautiful evening and to our partner Chanel for making the night so memorable. We also wish to thank our entire event host committee for its generosity: Katie McGrath, JJ Abrams, Laurie and Bill Benenson, the David Geffen Foundation, Alan and Cindy Horn, Mari Snyder Johnson, Jane Kachmer, Richard Lovett, Peter Morton, Sarah Christensen, Barbra Streisand, James Brolin, and the Ziering Family Foundation.
B I L LY F A R R E L L / B F A . C O M
T
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Clockwise from top left: Actress and model Sofia Boutella; actor Pierce Brosnan; the pool at the home of event hosts Ron Meyer and NRDC Trustee Kelly Meyer; actress and model Kathryn Boyd Brolin and actor Josh Brolin; NRDC Chair Alan Horn; actress Jennifer Aniston with Ron and Kelly Meyer; actress Priyanka Chopra; singer-songwriter King Princess; NRDC President Rhea Suh with rapper Snoop Dogg; producer Mark Burnett and actress Roma Downey; singersongwriter Skip Marley
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STANDING TALL: MAKING ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS IN THE AGE OF TRUMP I
SA N FR A NCISCO NOV EMBER 28, 2018
N
RDC’s San Francisco office hosted its
From left: Panel discussion moderator Sally Kohn and speakers NRDC Chief Counsel Mitch Bernard, NRDC President Rhea Suh, State Senator Kevin de León, and Mayor Sam Liccardo
J O U K O VA N D E R K R U I J S S E N
annual major donor benefit, this year titled “Standing Tall: Making Environmental Progress in the Age of Trump,” at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. More than 330 major donors, members, and friends of NRDC enjoyed a cocktail reception hosted by E2, a delicious vegan meal, and a dessert bar. The evening’s lively panel discussion was moderated by CNN political commentator and activist Sally Kohn, who was joined onstage by NRDC President Rhea Suh, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, California Senate President pro tem pore Kevin de León, and NRDC Chief Counsel Mitch Bernard. Proceeds from the benefit were directed toward NRDC’s litigation campaign, and all benefit gifts were matched, dollar for dollar up to $1.5 million, by an NRDC Trustee. The evening left guests feeling empowered about individual actions they can take and confident in NRDC’s ability to hold polluters accountable and enforce the nation’s bedrock environmental laws.
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TOXICS AND HEALTH LUNCHEON AND PANEL DISCUSSION I
NE W YORK CIT Y M AY 17, 2018
D AV I D W H I T E
A
n engaging conversation on the danger-
ous health effects of toxic chemicals took place at a benefit luncheon at New York’s Colony Club. Expertly moderated by Marie Claire editor-in-chief Anne Fulenwider, the panel in cluded NRDC senior scientist Miriam RotkinEllman, filmmaker and producer Jill Latiano Howerton, investigative reporter Sharon Lerner, and Dr. Megan K. Horton, an assistant professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The luncheon was cochaired by Tracy Toon Spencer and Jasie Britton with NRDC Trustee Mary Moran. NRDC Trustees Tom Roush and Claire Bernard also attended, along with many major donors and supporters. All guests were invited to take home the potted medicinal flowers and herbs that decorated the tables.
Top, from left: Producer Jill Latiano Howerton, Marie Claire editor-in-chief Anne Fulenwider, NRDC senior scientist Miriam Rotkin-Ellman, investigative reporter Sharon Lerner, Dr. Megan K. Horton. Bottom: NRDC Trustee Mary Moran (center) with guests
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LOVE, POWER, JUSTICE I
BROOKLY N, NE W YORK A PRIL 10, 2018
he New York special projects team—working in collab
oration with our environmental justice team, the Latino community-based group UPROSE, the NYC Environ mental Justice Alliance, and DJs for Climate Action (a coali tion of DJs and musicians who raise awareness of climate change)—hosted NRDC’s first-ever environmental justice fundraiser in Brooklyn’s hip Williamsburg neighborhood. The event attracted approximately 150 attendees, includ ing many young people who added excitement and energy— the dance floor was packed, especially when DJ Just Blaze started spinning! Elizabeth Yeampierre, executive director of UPROSE, and Eddie Bautista, director of the NYC Environ mental Justice Alliance, spoke about the transformational partnerships they’ve forged with NRDC; the fundraiser was another step forward in a long history of their attempts to build principled partnerships with green groups. The proceeds from the event were split to support NRDC’s environmental justice work and UPROSE’s Climate Justice Youth Summit.
Above, from left: NRDC policy advocate Rob Friedman, senior attorney Sara Imperiale, program assistant Jhena Vigrass, senior attorney Margaret Brown, senior attorney Kimberly Ong
D AV I D W H I T E
T
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EARTH DAY 2018: PROTECT THIS LAND I
CHICAGO A PRIL 26, 2018
A
call to action, a fundraiser, and a good,
old-fashioned party at the Garfield Park Conservatory, “Earth Day 2018: Pro tect This Land” focused on the theme of safe guarding America’s national parks, public lands, and green spaces. The event, which was hosted by comedian Tien Tran, included performances by musician Kevin Krauter; DJ Jill Hopkins; and poet, activist, educator, and musician Malcolm London. Ticket proceeds supported NRDC’s work to prot ect our public lands from being opened up to industrial activities such as oil and gas drilling, mining, and development.
From left: NRDC artist-in-residence Jenny Kendler, NRDC Nature program legal director Rebecca Riley, Hanley Foundation cofounder Amanda Hanley, NRDC director of foundation relations Nancy Watson, NRDC Midwest Council member Lisa Fremont
EXPO CHICAGO I
CHICAGO SEP TEMBER 27–30, 2018
Artist Brandon Ballengée (left) with “Frameworks of Absence,” his series focused on the long-term and continued decline of biodiversity
F R O M T O P : E L I Z A B E T H C O R R : D AV I D C . S A M P S O N ( 2 )
E
ach year for the past six years, NRDC has
been partnering with an artist to create an interactive public art exhibit that engages visitors on critical environmental issues. The ex hibit is then displayed at the annual EXPO Chicago, the International Exposition of Contemporary and Modern Art, hosted at Navy Pier’s Festival Hall. This year NRDC presented “Frameworks of Absence,” an installation of 70 works by artist and biologist Brandon Ballengée that focuses on the long-term decline of biodiversity. The pieces featured cutout images of animals from historic prints and publications to depict extinct species. As in other years, the haunting artwork sent a powerful message to viewers, this time opening their eyes to extinctions ravaging our planet.
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2018 FINANCIAL STATEMENT
NRDC finished FY18 in a strong financial posi tion. Revenue for the year was higher than ever at $190 million, while ex penses totaled $160 mil lion. Net assets closed FY18 at $351 million— $42 million higher than prior year-end. This ro bust financial picture led to a $5 million operating surplus and allowed NRDC to help secure crucial en vironmental protections. Most of NRDC’s FY18 revenue came from mem bers, individual major donors, and foundations.
The generosity and continued dedication to our work on the part of these critical supporters are deeply appreciated. NRDC also received income from in-kind contributions, awarded attorneys’ fees, as well as drawdowns of the endowment, reserves, and special funds. NRDC devoted 82.6 per cent of overall operating expenses to programs that protect public health, foster sustainable commu nities, preserve natural systems, and work toward
a clean energy future. We applied the remaining 17.4 percent to manage ment and general activities, fundraising, and recruit ment of new members. Thanks to the tremen dous financial success realized in FY18, NRDC has been able to increase resources where needed across the institution, with a focused investment in our Litigation, Policy Advocacy, and Communi cations departments in order to battle the urgent threats we face today and to build a better future.
BOB WICK/BUREAU OF L AND MANAGEMENT
Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona
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HOW WE USE OUR FUNDS
82.6%
$132 million on programs
CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE
63,101,965
REVIVE OUR OCEANS
8,939,935
PROTECT OUR HEALTH
15,627,350
WILDLIFE & WILDLANDS
12,923,025
SAFE & SUFFICIENT WATER
9,540,333
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
14,029,394
MEMBERSHIP SERVICES
3,181,680
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
4,705,433
TOTAL PROGRAM SERVICES
132,049,115
8.3%
$13 million on fundraising efforts to support ongoing operations and membership development
9.1%
$15 million on management and general operations
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Special thanks to all our councils for their hard work and support during the past fiscal year. GLOBAL LE ADERSHIP COUNCIL NRDC’s Global Leadership Council (GLC) is a group of leading supporters and advocates from across the country who help draw attention to the most pressing environmental and health threats facing the planet—along with the solutions at hand. The GLC was launched in 2008 with NRDC Founding Director John Adams at the helm, and since then, members have helped defend and advance meaningful protections at the regional, federal, and international levels. John H. Adams, Co-Chair
Anna Scott Carter
Barbarina Heyerdahl
Nicola Miner
Jacob Scherr
Ira Ziering, Co-Chair
Dr. Peter Danzig
Mary Moran
Liana Schwarz
Celestine Arndt*
Liam Donohue
Jill Tate Higgins and James P. Higgins
John J. Murray
Christopher and Patricia Jen Arndt
Christopher Elliman
David Noble
Ms. Kyra Sedgwick and Mr. Kevin Bacon
Donald Novak
Jill Soffer
Christina Lang-Assael
Nancy Field
Doug Ogden
Elizabeth Steele
Mark Pasculano
Topo Swope
Noel Perry
Carol Tolan
Gale Picker
Julie Walters
Ms. Joanna Pozen Eleanor Phipps Price
Elizabeth and Steven Weinstein
Peter Resnick
David Welch
Susan Cohn Rockefeller
Marianne Welch
John and Nancy Bellett Anthony Bernhardt
John Esposito Jon Friedland
Fred Hipp Cindy Horn Susan Ing Jesse and Mary Johnson Jill Joyce
John Gates
Jo Ann Kaplan
David Goodman
Nathan and Cynthia Kellogg
Robert C. Graham, Jr. and Julie Graham
Jena King
Pierce Brosnan and Keely Shaye-Smith
Oliver Grantham
Mr. D. Roger B. Liddell and Mrs. Florence W. Liddell
Andrea Nadosy Bunt
Larry Lunt
Wendy Rockefeller
Elsa Wood
Jim Cabot
Douglas L. Hammer and Patricia Durham
Timon and Lori Malloy
Marcie Rothman
Anonymous (8)
Katie Carpenter
Amanda Hanley
Kelly Chapman Meyer
Val Schaffner
Paula Bennett, Co-Chair
Christiane Donnersmarck
David Rosenstein
Carson Meyer, Co-Chair
Isabelle Duvivier
Lauren Saltzman
Rosanne Ziering, Co-Chair
Elyssa Elbaz
Audrey Sarn
Hilary and Jack Angelo
Judy Fishman
Milissa Sears
Edie Baskin
Dora Fourcade
Jennifer Silverman
Mr. Robert O. Blake, Jr. Andrew Blank Dayna Bochco
Ray and Nina Gustin
LOS ANGELES LE ADERSHIP COUNCIL Since 2001, NRDC’s Los Angeles Leadership Council has harnessed its members’ exceptional environmental commitment, personal and professional expertise, extensive networks, and financial means to support NRDC’s mission: to protect the planet, its people, wildlife, and wild places. The group’s volunteer members are engaged in NRDC’s work at the local, national, and international levels, with an emphasis on fact-based advocacy and media outreach.
William Kistler III
Laurie Benenson Andrea Blaugrund Nevins Dayna Bochco Gary Borman
Janet Friesen Cami Gordon Rebecca and Aaron Gundzik Jill Howerton
*Passed away July 2018
Mari Snyder Johnson Nancy Stephens Sarah Timberman Esther and Joseph Varet
Ellen Bronfman Hauptman
Jo Ann Kaplan
Steve and Betsy White
Scott Burns
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Josephine Witte
Beate Chee
Barbara Mack
Ira Ziering
Laurie David
Shira and Adam McKay
Suzanne Zimmer
Lauren Shuler Donner
Kelly Chapman Meyer
Kim Zucker
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NE W YORK COUNCIL
MIDWEST COUNCIL
NRDC’s New York Council is a varied group of New Yorkers who share a strong commitment to protecting the environment and who are dedicated to furthering the mission of NRDC on the regional, national, and international levels. Council members work to develop their knowledge of NRDC’s programs, contribute their time and engage their social and professional networks to increase awareness of environmental issues, and raise funds for the organization.
NRDC’s Midwest Council brings together a diverse group of business, civic, philanthropic, and academic leaders to support NRDC’s mission. Council members help shape and implement NRDC’s programs in the Midwest while securing resources and raising awareness of NRDC’s efforts in the region. Amanda Hanley, Co-Chair Doug Doetsch, Co-Chair Bill Abolt Wendy Abrams
Willis Fries, Co-Chair
Stephen Nelson and Alyssa Dodson
Suzanne BookerCanfield, Ph.D.
Olivia Massey, Co-Chair
Matthew Doherty
Stephanie Comer
Elizabeth Horvitz
Emily Bina
George Covington
Lori Meyer
Elizabeth Braswell
Alex Darragh
Sarah Paley
Nancy Bynum
Eric Dayton
Scott Ryan
Cassidy Catechis
Vig Siva
Lisa Fremont
Peter Coffin
Chris Wilson
Jeanne Gang and Mark Schendel
Gale Gottlieb
Bobbi and Mike Ortiz
Leslie Graham
Clarisse Perrette
Karen Gray-Krehbiel
Diana Rauner, Ph.D.
Rhona Hoffman
Debbie Ross
Becky and Brad Holden Stewart Hudnut
Rebecca and Stephen Sheldon
Tony Karman
Rebecca Sive
Nancy Kohn
Anne Slichter
Susan Krantz
Natalie and Barry Slotnick
Peter Lobin
Jennifer and Jeff Spitz
Nancy McKlveen
Kelly R. Welsh
Clare Muñana
Janet Wyman
Kay and Geoff Nixon
Carla and Bill Young
SAN FR ANCISCO COUNCIL Founded in 2006, NRDC’s San Francisco Council is a volunteer group of individuals in the Bay Area who come from a variety of backgrounds and professions but share a strong commitment to the environment and are dedicated to furthering NRDC’s mission. SF Council members join in exclusive educational opportunities led by NRDC scientists, attorneys, and policy experts to stay informed on and build awareness of critical environmental and health issues facing California. Additionally, members help raise funds for the organization’s programs through educational and social activities, as well as other initiatives. Lindsay Hayes, SF Council Advisor
Daniel Chen
Stuart Landesberg
Mason Moss
Lori Sinsley
Lindsey Collins
Jamie Beck Alexander
Sam Leichman
Ken Nabity
Kat Stark
Bryce Gilleland
Erica Liang
Kellam Nelson
Mark Sutton
Max Loeb
Eliza Nemser
Jacob Tehrani
Heather Loomis Tighe
David W. Rhoads
Seashia Vang
Andrew Ma
Lindsay Rollin
Ker Walker
Brian Midili
Kyle Rudzinski
Teddy Ward
Boyd Arnold Emily Baker
Sonia Hausen Deborah Holley Patricia Hong
Susie Bennett
Kimberly Howard
Annie Blaine
William Hutchinson
Ria Boner
Danielle Jezienicki
Lindsay Millar
Dylan Sage
Sara Brown
Laura Kreitler
Wyatt Millar
Charlotte Schmidlapp
Danielle Maya Wegenstein
Chris Chang
Janet Lai
Michael Millstein
Adria Schulman-Eyink
Suelyn Yu
WORKPL ACE CONTRIBUTIONS NRDC thanks those individuals who have supported our work through payroll-deduction plans offered by EarthShare. To participate, see information on page 71.
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NRDC BOARD OF TRUSTEES CHAIR
Alan F. Horn Chairman, The Walt Disney Studios
CHAIR EMERITUS
HONOR ARY TRUSTEES Shelly B. Malkin Artist; Conservationist Josephine A. Merck Artist; Founder, Ocean View Foundation
Frederick A.O. Schwarz, Jr. Chief Counsel, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School; Senior Counsel, Cravath, Swaine and Moore, LLP
Kelly Chapman Meyer Co-Founder, American Heart Association Teaching Gardens
CHAIR EMERITUS
Peter Morton Chairman/Founder, 510 Development Corp.
Daniel R. Tishman Chairman, Tishman Construction; Vice Chair, AECOM; Principal, Tishman Reality
TREASURER
Mary P. Moran Environmentalist; Foundation Director
John H. Adams Founding Director, NRDC; Chair, Open Space Institute
Wendy K. Neu Chairman and CEO, Hugo Neu Corporation; Grassroots Community Organizer and Activist Frederica P. Perera, Dr.P.H., Ph.D. Professor, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health; Director, Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health
Hon. Anne Slaughter Andrew Advisor, Sustainable Energy Investments
Robert Redford Actor; Director; Conservationist
Richard E. Ayres The Ayres Law Group
Laurance Rockefeller Conservationist
Patricia Bauman President, Bauman Foundation; Chair, NRDC Action Fund; Co-Chair, Brennan Center for Justice
Tom Roush, M.D. Private Investor; Environmental Activist
Anita Bekenstein Environmentalist; Foundation Director Claire Bernard President, Mariposa Foundation Anna Scott Carter Environmentalist; Co-Founder, Clean by Design initiative Sarah E. Cogan Partner, Simpson Thacher and Bartlett, LLP, New York Laurie David Author, Producer, Advocate; Co-Founder, NRDC Los Angeles Leadership Council Leonardo DiCaprio Founder and Chairman, LDF John E. Echohawk Executive Director, Native American Rights Fund Nicole E. Lederer Chair and Co-Founder, Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2)
William H. Schlesinger President Emeritus, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Dean Abrahamson, M.D., Ph.D. Professor Emeritus, Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota Henry R. Breck Partner, Heronetta Management, L.P. Joan K. Davidson President, Furthermore Grants in Publishing; Former NY State Parks Commissioner; President Emerita, J.M. Kaplan Fund Sylvia A. Earle, Ph.D. Chair, Deep Ocean Exploration and Research, Inc. Robert J. Fisher Director, Gap Inc. Charles E. Koob Partner, Simpson Thacher and Bartlett, LLP Philip B. Korsant Member, Long Light Capital, LLC Ruben Kraiem Partner, Covington and Burling, LLP Burks B. Lapham Environmentalist Maya Lin Artist/Designer Daniel Pauly, Ph.D Professor of Fisheries and Zoology
Max Stone Managing Director, The D. E. Shaw Group
Cruz Reynoso Professor of Law, University of California, Davis
James Taylor Singer/Songwriter
John R. Robinson Attorney
Gerald Torres Jane M.G. Foster Professor, Cornell University Law School Faculty Fellow, Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, Cornell University
Jonathan F. P. Rose President, Jonathan Rose Companies LLC
David C. Vladeck Professor, Georgetown Law School
James Gustave Speth Professor of Law, Vermont Law School; Distinguished Senior Fellow, Demos
David F. Welch, Ph.D. Founder, Chief Innovation Officer, Infinera Corporation
Christine H. Russell, Ph.D. Environmentalist; Foundation Director
Frederick A. Terry, Jr. Senior Counsel, Sullivan and Cromwell
Kathleen A. Welch Principal, Corridor Partners
Thomas A. Troyer Member, Caplin and Drysdale
Eric Wepsic Managing Director, The D. E. Shaw Group
Kirby Walker Independent Film/Video Producer
George M. Woodwell, Ph.D. NRDC Distinguished Scientist; Founder, Director Emeritus, Woods Hole Research Center
Elizabeth R. Wiatt Environmentalist; Co-Founder, NRDC Los Angeles Leadership Council
OFFICERS Chair Alan Horn Treasurer Mary Moran President Rhea S. Suh Chief Administrative Officer Joseph A. Jackson Chief Financial Officer Steven E. Baginski Chief Development Officer Jennifer Bernstein Secretary Maripat Alpuche Assistant Secretaries Krista B. McManus Amanda Ng
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