Emerging Stronger: NRDC Annual Report 2020 by NRDC

2020 Annual Report

ABOUT THE COVER ARTIST

Chris Burnett is an artist, designer, and musician based in Los Angeles. In 2020, he started Colibri Studios, where he makes everything from album art to shoes to collages. A graduate of the California Institute of the Arts, Burnett has done work for numerous clients, including the Jordan Brand with NBA player Russell Westbrook, rapper YG, The New York Times, and Angel City FC. When he’s not creating, Burnett can often be found skateboarding. Learn more about Burnett and his work at colibristudios.com.

A monarch butterfly

CONTENTS 2

FROM OUR CHAIR

FROM OUR PRESIDENT

PUBLIC HEALTH FIRST Protecting public health is intersectional, and NRDC’s work has focused on raising awareness of the links between health, wealth, work, race, and biodiversity loss.

JUSTICE FOR ALL During a year when staying home and staying local became essential to our wellbeing, keeping people safe took on new meaning for NRDC’s mission to ensure clean water, clean air, and a healthy community for all.

OUR CLIMATE FUTURE As NRDC works to advance a healthy climate future, we will press to ensure the voices shaping that future are guided by, inclusive of, and reflective of communities on the frontlines.

PEOPLE-POWERED CHANGE The NRDC Action Fund seized on the unprecedented energy of 2020 to ensure that state and federal leaders listened to the millions of pro-environment households across the country.

JOIN US

NRDC TURNS 50: A VIRTUAL CELEBRATION

FINANCIAL STATEMENT

MEMBER VOICES

FROM OUR TRUSTEES

IN MEMORIAM

ISTOCK

49 SUPPORTERS

FROM

UST A FEW MONTHS INTO MY NEW ROLE AS CHAIR OF THE

Board of Trustees, I’m filled with great pride in being able to lead this incredibly effective organization and work alongside all of you, our greatest and most spirited NRDC supporters and members, to further our work to protect this world. This pride in NRDC isn’t new to me, of course, after having been with the Board for the past five years and a longtime supporter for more than 20 years. But from this standpoint, I know that what I bring—the decades of advocacy and experience in leading campaigns and in philanthropy—can meld with this powerful collective that we have, and we can harness it together for the change that both the country and the world need, immediately and for the future. NRDC is well positioned to advance our ambitious goals, particularly now that we have a new presidential administration that shares our commitment to strong climate action. After largely playing defense over the past four years, we’re ready to shift and emerge stronger than ever, with clear-eyed focus on what needs to be done. But I have not a shred of doubt that we—this organization and all of you, our incredible supporters—are just the powerhouse to do it. We are aiming high, because we won’t know how much we can achieve without trying. You can be sure that we will seize all the new opportunities presented by the pro-environment and pro-climate presidential administration, as well as Congress. We have a lot to do to make big, bold strides and to make history—all the while undoing the harms inflicted by the last presidential administration. The issues we are facing demand that we act boldly and courageously. We will immediately set out to advance policy solutions at the federal level that will fast-track the country to a 100 percent clean energy economy. At the same time, we also must restore and renew protections for lands, water, and air, and safeguard them now and into the future. And we must do this work swiftly, in this limited window of time, in order to avoid the most severe impacts of the climate crisis. It is an understatement to say it has been a difficult year, between dealing with the fallout of COVID-19; the horrifying climate consequences, including intense wildfires that turned the Bay Area’s skies orange and the unprecedentedly long hurricane season; and the disproportionate overlapping impacts of COVID-19 and climate change on communities of color. In this historically important moment, we will also work with Congress to address

these intersecting challenges and pave the way for a better and more sustainable future for all—to urge lawmakers to rebuild the country in a way that advances equity and climate solutions, invests in communities, and prioritizes the health of people and the environment. This will be a tough climb, but we’re ready. I’m ready because of the NRDC community that will make the climb easier. In particular, I greatly appreciate the leadership of Mitch Bernard, whose keen insights and partnership I’m reliant upon. I’m grateful to Alan Horn, the former chair of the Board of Trustees, for the inspirational work he’s done over the past two years in this position, which has really set the bar for me. I’m also thankful to Gina McCarthy, who is now leading domestic climate efforts for the Biden administration, for the fire, gumption, and immense wisdom and perspective she brought to NRDC for the past year. I know that we will still be working toward shared climate goals, and we will certainly push the administration to act boldly. And I am ready because of you all: the broader— and growing—NRDC community. I’m proud and excited for the work we’ll do together to help secure a sustainable future. I’m indebted to all of you for standing with us through thick and thin, particularly these last four, bumpy years. Now, we haven’t got a moment to lose. Let’s get to work. Sincerely,

Kathleen Welch

F R O M L E F T: C O U R T E S Y O F K AT H L E E N W E L C H ; R E B E C C A G R E E N F I E L D F O R N R D C

OUR CHAIR

FROM

OUR PRESIDENT A

S I NOTE HOW HONORED I AM TO

be serving again as interim president of this storied organization, I’m also taking a moment to recognize just how important a moment this is—a transitional year to seize hold of and to move full steam ahead toward transformation. There’s a lot to do. There’s very little time or room for error. And it won’t be easy. But we can do it with the collective might we have—with all of you, our supporters and member activists. It is remarkable what we have been able to accomplish together. Despite the challenges of this difficult year— between the pandemic, the long overdue reckoning over race in the country, and the ruins of the last presidential administration—we have continued to press forward in the fight for a better, safer, and more just world. We stood up to the Trump administration’s attempts to roll back our bedrock environmental laws, filing 147 lawsuits against the administration—an average of one lawsuit every 9.94 days—and won 90.4 percent of resolved cases to date. But beyond simply playing hard defense, we’re making remarkable progress in laying the groundwork for the change that the country and the world acutely need. This includes the indefatigable work by our advocates in making sure affordable housing, energy, and water are available to marginalized communities. It involves the science studied by our researchers to protect people from the

dangersof air pollution and how it worsens diseases such as COVID-19. And it incorporates efforts to ensure that the roads and transportation systems of the future are not only sustainable but also just and equitable. You can read more about this work, and our talented staff who lead it, in this report. And we will not let up. We will push the Biden administration to achieve bold climate progress, with equity at the forefront. We will seize the momentum we now have to push for the goals that benefit all: a climate agenda that can foster a livable planet; a just and equitable transition that ensures investments in people rather than profit; and the restoring of bedrock laws, science, public health, and democracy that those in power attempted to demolish during the past four years. These interconnecting issues of the climate crisis, systemic racism, and ecosystems health are the most urgent imperatives of our time, and we’re already taking them head-on. After all of the attacks on norms and the damage to our country, we have learned the hard way that we must not take democracy—the foundation on which all of our work rests—for granted. We could not do any of our work without a healthy, functioning government by the people and for the people—whether it be bringing a lawsuit against corporations for polluting our water or air, or by coming together to stand up for climate justice. We cannot ever be a society that lets democracy slip through our fingertips again. The key to all of this is your support, spirit, and resolve. We could not have done the work we did these last four years without your sticking with us, and for that, I’m tremendously grateful. We have a lot more to accomplish together, and we will, because that is the only way we’ll leap forward—by standing with one another. With gratitude,

Mitch Bernard

PUBLIC HEALTH

FIRST

CHAPTER 1

06 Public Health Scientist and Advocate

08 Slowing the Spread of Zoonotic Diseases

10 Connector of the Gulf South, 15 Years & Counting

12 Taking Care of Food Workers

14 On Toxic Ground

DEMETRIUS FREEMAN FOR NRDC

SHORTLY AFTER SUING THE FEDERAL

government early this year for its do-nothing update to the Lead and Copper Rule—the outdated federal protection meant to keep lead out of drinking water—NRDC saw a victory in our ongoing city-level lead work. In Newark, New Jersey, a litigation settlement was reached that will ensure the city of Newark continues to replace all the lead pipes it can identify, conduct free water testing, and distribute free filters and replacement cartridges. The settlement resulted from a citizen suit brought by NRDC and the Newark Education Workers (NEW) Caucus, a group of educators who teach in the city’s public schools. The city’s lead service line replacement program could serve as a model for the nation, once completed. Work like this reinforces our commitment to partner with local activists as we address the burden of contamination facing so many largely Black and brown communities. It also underscores the importance of NRDC’s public health advocacy at every level of the U.S. government, as well as through international treaties and forums. Yvette Jordan, a founding member of NEW Caucus, speaks before a court hearing seeking an emer gency order to force Newark, New Jersey, city officials to provide safe drinking water to residents.

In Conversation

PUBLIC HEALTH SCIENTIST AND ADVOCATE VIJAY LIMAYE, PHD, is pushing for public health

safeguards and policy solutions in service of the communities most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a career as a scientist working at the intersection of environmental policy and public health?

My father was born in the Indian city of Pune, in the western state of Maharashtra. My family took a trip to visit our relatives back in 2004, my first time there. I remember arriving in the megacity of Mumbai, and it being this amazingly bustling, vibrant, and welcoming place. Simultaneously, I was really struck by the stark air pollution problems that I felt firsthand. Just seeing up close the thick haze from cars, mopeds, trash burning, and, of course, coal plants opened my eyes to the key connections between the environment and our well-being. It forced me to take a step back and consider my privilege. While I had the means to take actions to reduce my exposure, those options were unavailable to most. That trip motivated my career path, and my choice to focus on solutions and not just do research for research’s sake.

What sort of research and solutions have you been focused on in your work with NRDC’s India Program?

Our pioneering heat resilience planning in the city of Ahmedabad, in the western state of Gujarat, has been an entry point into our city-level work to improve air quality, a project I helped strengthen during a 2018 trip to India with NRDC colleagues. Working with partners at the Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar, I drew on research

models from my days working as a scientist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to translate wonky technical information about air pollution into what it means for short- and long-term health risks, such as heart attacks and reduced life expectancy. Alongside their innovative heat action plans, Ahmedabad and Pune now implement air information and response plans, which communicate local data about air pollution through a health frame.

How do you approach your work in the United States, where climate impacts like extreme heat waves are a fact of life for some, but not all, and where you have to contend with climate change denial?

I work quite a bit on health cost research to describe all of the illnesses and expenses imposed by air pollution and climate change. Our team published a study in 2019 that identified $10 billion in health damages inflicted on Americans during one year, from just a small sample of climate change– fueled events across 11 states. The events included a searing heat wave, multiple wildfires, ozone smog air pollution, spikes in allergenic pollen, extreme storms, outbreaks of West Nile virus and Lyme disease, and a major hurricane. I spent a year gathering and analyzing the data. All told, those climate-related events caused more than 20,000 hospitalizations, 17,000 emergency room visits, and 900 deaths. Yet health costs like these are largely missing from the public dialogue about the PORTRAIT BY

Chris Burnett

toll of inaction on the climate crisis. While we see headlines about risks to infrastructure, property, or crops—things that are insured and possibly repaired—there’s much less awareness about the profound and expensive toll of human suffering. We undertook that study to help strengthen advocacy on the urgent need for climate action that benefits health and reduces the cost burden.

You’ve been analyzing research on the links between air pollution and COVID-19 mortality rates. What have studies shown?

C O U R T E S Y O F V I J AY L I M AY E

We know that people who suffer from certain pre-existing conditions are more likely to die from COVID-19, and that air pollution—which inflames our lungs, hardens our arteries, deposits toxins in our blood, and weakens our ability to fight infections—disproportionately burdens marginalized communities. Unfortunately, millions of people living in the United States already cope with these serious health issues, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, and lung cancer. More than half of Americans report

WE HAVE TO ADDRESS THE

ROOT CAUSES OF DISEASE, INCLUDING AIR AND WATER POLLUTION.

financial hardship from medical bills—and certainly, because of the pandemic and its ongoing economic disruption, that proportion has only risen over the past year. Millions of people are delaying or forgoing necessary medical care because they simply can’t afford it. Moving forward, we have to address the root causes of disease, including air and water pollution.

What gives you hope for achieving a more equitable planet?

In public health, we’re working to strengthen the upstream factors—like racial equity, education, and environmental quality—that contribute to health and well-being. Those investments reap huge benefits, but we’ve neglected and underinvested in public health in this country for decades. Now is the time to correct that, to name and address the disparities that drive huge differences in health status, and to build systems worthy of our people.

NRDC works with partners in India to high light key actions cities like Ahmedabad can take to fight lethal air pollution.

SLOWING THE SPREAD OF

ZOONOTIC DISEASES

Our efforts to curb wildlife trade and conserve habitat can help minimize the human-wildlife and other interspecies interactions that spread viruses.

ISTOCK

Along with other species, various types of turtles and tortoises are sold for food, medicine, pets, or trinkets around the world.

EARLY A CENTURY BEFORE THE NOVEL CORONAVIRUS

emerged from a wildlife market in Wuhan, China, a novel H1N1 virus swept the globe. That virus, commonly known as the Spanish flu or 1918 influenza, infected more than one-third of the world’s human population. It is suspected to have originated in the United States, most likely from birds. Indeed, more than 60 percent of emerging infectious diseases originate in animals, and most of those from wild animals. Still, the world continues to eat, use, and trade wildlife, as well as encroach upon their habitats, in ways that make the spread of viruses like COVID-19 far more likely. NRDC’s Nature Program is working to help shape domestic policy on wildlife trade, as well as advocating through international treaties, to end nearly all commercial wildlife trade. “The bottom line is that wildlife trade is a threat to our public health that only stands to become greater as humans increasingly exploit species and encroach upon previously untouched habitat,” says Elly Pepper, NRDC’s deputy director of international wildlife conservation. And with many global leaders focusing on how to avoid future outbreaks, NRDC is calling on them to move forward with a response commensurate with the threat. In China, NRDC experts were invited to provide the country’s National Forestry and Grassland Administration with formal recommendations for amending its Wildlife Protection Law, which the government decided to review and modify in response to COVID-19. That law dictates which wild species are deemed protected and which ones Chinese residents can eat, own, sell, wear, farm, or hunt. NRDC also offered the government other policy suggestions on how to reduce the risk of future outbreaks. As part of these recommendations, Beijing-based NRDC policy analyst Ning (Lisa) Hua and her colleagues proposed that China eliminate a list of more than 100 birds, mammals, amphibians, and insects that can be sold for things like food, medicine, pets, or pelts under the law. Many of the species on that list are not only potential vectors of disease but also face extinction, such as the spoon-billed sandpiper, the yellow-breasted bunting, and the elongated tortoise. The NRDC team recommended these species instead be categorized as protected under the law. “For some of the species, their population might still be big now, but if commercial use is always allowed or the species isn’t protected under the law, as time goes by, they may become endangered,” Hua says. The NRDC wildlife conservation team’s recommendations also included increased interagency management and enforcement coordination at both the national and provincial levels, and more public participation during decision-making processes. The issue of risky wildlife trade—both legal and illegal—extends well beyond China’s borders. Countries like the United States, France,

and Italy remain some of the world’s largest consumers of wildlife as food, pets, trophies, fur, and medicine. “To me, that means the United States has an obligation,” says Zak Smith, director of international wildlife conservation at NRDC. “If we want to avoid the cost of a future pandemic, then part of that is clamping down on wildlife trade and being willing to invest in that. I can guarantee it’s going to be cheaper than what we are going through.”

N MAY, NRD C AND THE CENTER FOR BIOLO GICAL DIVERSITY

released an action plan recommending that the federal government immediately ban imports and exports of all live wildlife, permanently close domestic live-wildlife markets, direct increased funds to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and other U.S. agencies, and strengthen the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to prevent future zoonotic pandemics. The message has resonated with some members of Congress, including Senators John Cornyn and Cory Booker, who recently crafted the bipartisan Preventing Future Pandemics Act (PFPA).

Partner Spotlight

CONNECTOR OF THE GULF SOUTH,

15 YEARS & COUNTING How did Hurricane Katrina—which displaced more than one million people in the Gulf region—propel your work, and how does it shape your mission today?

I got into this work in the aftermath of the hurricane in 2005, and it’s been 15 years as of August 29, 2020. Katrina was a massive disaster that I felt compelled to respond to. It was my hometown. I stayed because I began to understand how that disaster was a manifestation of a global climate reality. We are anchoring the Movement for Black Lives work and centering it around a national Black climate agenda, and part of that will include in-depth communications to bring climate into the realm of Black lives—into communities that have been marginalized and targeted by our colonizing system. Part of our work is to begin a process of acknowledging the trauma that comes

In a 2019 TED Talk, Pichon Battle described the stark realities of climate change displacement.

The bill, which would prohibit the import, export, purchase, or sale of live wild animals for food or medicine, has yet to be heard in committee, but advocates are hopeful that it will advance under the new administration. “Considering that the United States imports well over 200,000 live mammals and birds every year—and is one of the world’s top importers of live wildlife—the PFPA is an important start,” Pepper says. “With the risk of future zoonotic pandemics increasing and scientists predicting that one million species stand to go extinct, it’s critical we pass legislation to address these threats.” Habitat conservation is another critical de fense against the unprecedented levels of human- wildlife and wildlife-wildlife interactions spreading disease, fueled by harmful activities such as

As attorney, founder, and executive director of the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy, COLETTE PICHON BATTLE supports the Black and Indigenous communities of Louisiana reeling from the impacts of storm after storm on their homes, their mental health, and their plans for the future.

clearing intact ecosystems for industrial uses. Alongside scientists, Indigenous groups, and partner organizations, NRDC is campaigning to conserve 30 percent of the world’s lands and oceans by 2030—an urgent goal that President Biden recognized through a pledge made in January 2021 as part of an array of environmentally focused executive orders. The stakes are high: Thriving ecosystems, filled with abundant wildlife, are the foundation for human life as we know it. This natural life support system cleans our air and water, supports the pollinators and seafood that put food on our tables, and sequesters the carbon that’s driving climate change. If there’s ever been a time to radically renegotiate our relationship to the natural world, it is now.

with being a person of color in this country, being in an environmental justice community that’s being poisoned every day, and going through a climate disaster.

F R O M T O P : L I N H P H A M / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; S TA C I E M C C H E S N E Y/ T E D

How do you help communities heal from this trauma when the underlying problems have not been solved?

The most difficult and time-consuming layer is building, healing, and strengthening relationships between different communities and acknowledging that many of us, especially people of color, have been systematically pitted against each other as part of a broader social infrastructure. What does it mean to reconcile these communities with each other? For example, we’re making a Sacred Waters Pilgrimage down the Mississippi River for Black and Indigenous women to address the tensions between those two communities in the United States. In the climate movement, these are the people who are tokenized. You’ve got to take some time to reconcile and heal before you can work. Otherwise, the work that you do together will fall.

In addition to building coalitions, what kinds of services does the Gulf Coast Center provide to help residents cope with the impacts of extreme storms?

We started out providing free legal services to folks recovering after a disaster. We are there as service providers but we also offer a political education about what is happening to you and why. We don’t

A Chinese pangolin at a rescue center in Vietnam

THE MOST DIFFICULT LAYER IS BUILDING, HEALING, AND

STRENGTHENING RELATIONSHIPS

BETWEEN DIFFERENT COMMUNITIES. just get your FEMA paperwork completed for flood remittance, although that’s part of what we’ll do. You’re also going to leave with an understanding of the frequency of flooding, the climate impacts, and how your area in particular has just been affected and is going to be affected in the future.

How do you reach community members who are not already part of the climate conversation but face climate change impacts in their immediate futures?

We’re part of larger coalitions that help us build new relationships. And we’re going to do more virtual education because video and social media are just how people get their information now in this COVID reality. But the majority of folks we’re trying to reach do not sit on a computer all day so there’s still the problem of how to make it real. You have to understand that communication is not just words, especially down here in the South. You can sit under a tree next to somebody for a long time without words, yet a lot is actually being communicated, and they can feel that your energy is serious and authentic. I never had a problem communicating urgency to people of the Gulf South. They know I’m from here, that I love this place, and that I wouldn’t be taking their time talking like this if it weren’t serious.

TAKING CARE OF

FOOD WORKERS

Currently, there is no national heat safety standard for farm workers like the peo ple here, who are harvesting zucchini in Florida City, Florida.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the inequities faced by food- and farmworkers who put their health in danger just by coming to work each day. NRDC is pushing to change that.

HEN COV ID-19 SW EP T THROUGH T HE JB S USA

meatpacking facility in Greeley, Colorado, in March 2020, executives and managers left plant employees in harm’s way. Even as hundreds of employees began to fall ill, the company’s leadership urged staff to continue coming to work, without providing any health screens, face masks, or social-distancing guidelines. It was the local union, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7, that relayed critical information to the workers and helped them navigate health care. As UFCW pushed JBS USA to implement COVID-19 safety measures at the Greeley plant, its advocates simultaneously implored the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to investigate that plant’s negligent response to the virus outbreak. The federal agency responded by imposing a $15,615 fine on the company, seven months later.

F R O M L E F T: J O E R A E D L E / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; B R E N T S T I R T O N / G E T T Y I M A G E S

Unfortunately, the situation that played out in Colorado last spring is merely one of many instances where workers lack the protections they deserve as they do jobs that put their health and safety in jeopardy. The risks of workplace illness or death, already magnified by the climate crisis, have been further exposed by COVID-19. Farm and food chain workers—disproportionately immigrants and people of color—are among the most vulnerable. “The pandemic underscores the tragically high toll due to lack of action and accountability within the powerful U.S. food and farming industry,” says NRDC senior health officer David Wallinga, MD, who focuses on advocacy at the intersection of food, nutrition, sustainability, and public health. “There’s a human toll on the workers and residents of surrounding communities, but also on environmental health.” Leading up to and especially throughout the pandemic, NRDC has joined with allies to press for better protections for workers, particularly in the agricultural sector. “The thing I find particularly alarming is how absent federal regulators have been when it comes to worker safety,” says Juanita Constible, a senior climate and health advocate at NRDC. As Constible says, “It’s pretty stark how few people are keeping eyes on employers. The Trump administration also worked to really push a business wish list of attacks on workers’ rights,” which included collective bargaining and other means to stay safe on the job. Unions and other worker collectives play a critical role in worker health and safety, including negotiating for health benefits, such as paid leave, and holding employers accountable for unsafe practices. In February 2020, the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which would guarantee the rights of workers to unionize or collectively bargain, passed the House. Then it stalled. Now, with President Biden’s pledge of support for the proposal, labor unions and their advocates, including NRDC, are poised to propel the bill forward. They’ll also press to restore funding and capacity to OSHA, which saw drastic budget cuts during the Trump administration, despite overlapping climate and COVID-19 crises that disproportionately impact food- and farmworkers. At particular risk are the health and safety of the food- and farmworkers who toil outdoors, harvesting our fruits, nuts, and vegetables. In 2018, as part of a community partnership led by Public Citizen, NRDC supported a petition to OSHA to create a heat safety standard for all workers. Currently only California, Maryland, Minnesota, and

NRDC HAS JOINED WITH ALLIES

TO PRESS FOR BETTER PROTECTIONS

FOR WORKERS, PARTICULARLY IN THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR. Washington have some kind of safety standard, and no two are alike. When OSHA rejected the request, Public Citizen began working with congressional allies to secure protections through the legislature. On October 1, 2020, then-senator Kamala Harris and Senator Sherrod Brown introduced the Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatality Prevention Act, named in honor of a 53-year-old man who died in 2004 after picking grapes for 10 straight hours in 100-plus-degree heat. NRDC helped shape the findings section of the bill; if passed, the legislation would create the first-ever national heat safety standard. It would also provide whistleblower protection for those who speak up about unsafe work practices and workplaces—a critical component because, as Constible notes, “a key part of worker health and safety is to make sure that workers have a voice.” In a July report, “On the Frontlines: Climate Change Threatens the Health of America’s Workers,” NRDC and our partners highlighted the fact that Black people, Latinos, and other people of color are more likely to work in essential industries and jobs than white people. It’s clear that the agricultural industry is among those taking advantage of racist structures in turning a blind eye to the suffering of so many of its employees—and worse, restricting their abilities to advocate for themselves. “With the Biden administration, we expect stronger worker protections, coupled with real enforcement on the ground,” Wallinga notes. “NRDC and its allies will be watching to make sure that happens.”

Farmworkers arrive for their shift in Greenfield, California.

SH BELL

HIGH SCHOOL

NORTHPOINT LOGISTICS PROPOSED ADDRESS FOR GENERAL IRON METAL-SHREDDING PLANT SOUTH SHORE RECYCLING

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL EAST SIDE

Rowan Park

TC TRANSPORT

WATCO TERMINALS

AVENUE O

CRONIMET CORP. KCBX TERMINALS

Lake Michigan

SCHROUD SUPERFUND SITE 126th Pl

LITTLE LEAGUE FIELD

• Predominantly Latino neighborhood • Legacy of industrial pollution & poor air quality • Neurotoxins in soil and air • Nearby piles of petroleum coke, a toxic byproduct of oil refining, now banned • Threat of metal shredder moving to neighborhood • Polluters located along the waterways • Nearby roads saturated with trucks Residential Area Polluted Industrial Area

SEBASTIÁN HIDALGO FOR NRDC

Southeast Side

ON TOXIC GROUND

The city of Chicago treats its predominantly Black and brown neighborhoods as sacrifice zones but faces mounting pressure from residents demanding change.

The industrial legacy that once sustained much of Chicago’s workforce has created an environmental and public health crisis for the city’s Black and Latino communities. According to the Chicago Department of Public Health, these residents are more likely to live close to industrial pollution and have chronic health conditions, such as asthma. The injustices extend to their drinking water supply too: Chicago has an estimated 400,000 aging and hazardous lead pipes in use, located disproportionately in low-income communities of color. A recent report issued by the city noted that “structural racism and economic hardship” are “making it more likely for certain people to live in polluted communities.” That’s a fact that NRDC’s Gina Ramirez knows firsthand. A third-generation resident of the city’s Southeast Side, her father and grandfather worked in the area’s steel mills and were exposed to high levels of pollution, both at work and at home. She grew up knowing her neighborhood was toxic and causing residents of the area to fall ill with cancer, diabetes, and other diseases. After giving birth to her son, she became one of the Southeast Side’s staunchest environmental justice advocates and joined NRDC, where

she currently serves as the Midwest outreach manager. In the summer of 2020, Ramirez and her neighbors faced down a new threat. General Iron, a notoriously polluting metal-shredding plant that had been booted from its home in the wealthier, whiter neighborhood of Lincoln Park, got authorization from the state to move to a new lot on the Southeast Side, opposite a high school. Ramirez and fellow advocates with the Southeast Side Coalition to Ban Petcoke, Southeast Environmental Task Force, Southeast Youth Alliance, and United Neighbors of the 10th Ward spent months organizing against the decision and filed a complaint with the city. Thousands of NRDC activists also supported the cause, signing petitions, sending letters to city officials, and making phone calls. Finally, in December, the city put the company’s permit application on hold, while demanding more proof of pollution and safety controls—but it has yet to reject the permit altogether. “When it comes down to it, it’s inadequate land use and zoning policies,” Ramirez notes. “The city of Chicago continues to roll out these [environmental] ordinances that don’t go far enough. It’s a broken system that really needs to be repaired.

JUSTICE

FOR ALL

CHAPTER 2

18 Defender of Housing Justice

19 An Ally for Frontline Communities 20 The Salmon’s Advocates

22 The Fight for Equitable Access to Water and Electricity

24 COVID-19 Puts Eviction Crisis Front and Center

26 On Flooded Ground

MEL ANIE STETSON FREEMAN/THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

DURING A YEAR WHEN STAYING SAFE

meant staying home, NRDC’s calls for equal access to the most basic necessities—clean running water, unpolluted air, secure housing, and access to healthy food—became even more urgent. After all, guaranteeing these human rights is paramount to society’s ability to weather crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. Investing in them will be essential to moving forward as a more just and equitable society. Neglecting them will only set us back. In alliance with frontline communities— predominantly Black, Indigenous, and people of color—who face the greatest impacts from inaction on climate change and environmental injustice, we at NRDC have recommitted ourselves to those fights and to the pursuit of a smarter, more sustainable, more just tomorrow.

A housing development for low-income residents of the Upper Ninth Ward in New Orleans, built after Hurricane Katrina wrought massive destruction in 2010

In Conversation

DEFENDER OF HOUSING JUSTICE Energy efficiency and social safety net advocate KHALIL SHAHYD, senior policy advocate with the Energy Efficiency for All (EEFA) project, explains why supporting affordable housing is intrinsic to the climate fight. At NRDC, you’ve been an advocate for both affordable housing and energy efficiency. How do those issues intersect?

I’ve been one of the most consistent voices within the organization for pushing our work beyond the boundaries of the built environment and expanding the policy space that we operate in. We’re used to focusing on emissions in a climate conversation; we’re not traditionally a housing organization. But over time, we’ve learned that we have to think about climate policy as not merely the science of emissions or modernizing the grid or infrastructure. It’s also this core social policy about how people can afford to live in a safe, affordable, healthy home that is energy efficient and includes other green amenities. NRDC has come a very long way in thinking of itself as a holistic human institution.

How has NRDC’s energy efficiency work evolved to demonstrate these values under your watch?

I came in specifically to work with EEFA in 2014. The coalition was conceived essentially as a utility advocacy project, so there was a lot of debate about whether or not we as an institution should invest our resources and time into pursuing energy efficiency retrofits for low-income affordable housing. There was a question about whether the savings and emissions reductions we gain would be worth the effort. Of course all those doubts were proved wrong. As residential energy efficiency remains an important tool in addressing climate change, we had to also address the fact that low-income families were not receiving a fair share of utility efficiency investments and were in a sense subsidizing energy efficiency for higher-income households.

What are some of the lessons you’ve learned in blending advo cacy for both upgrading housing and keeping it affordable?

When we first began the work and had success in directing new resources to affordable housing, questions emerged as to what happens when building owners get retrofit dollars that utilities send their way, such as what’s there to ensure they don’t raise the rent? It’s not enough for us to say we want X

amount to retrofit every home and apartment unit in the United States. Even if we got to that, we run the risk of displacing hundreds of thousands of people because the cost of those homes is going to increase one way or the other. Unless we’re also advocating for more resources to support affordable housing, we’ve learned we can’t accomplish the goals for energy efficiency with any sort of justice. That’s why through EEFA, we partner with a national affordable housing organization, the National Housing Trust, which is funded right alongside us. Our coalition has allowed the mission to expand.

What can the United States do better to support people’s rights to healthy homes and thriving communities, and prevent more renters from facing eviction during the COVID-19 pandemic?

We need to reprioritize human development over property development. Nationally and locally, we need to set targets to increase the share of public, social, cooperative, community land trust, and nonprofit developed housing as a ratio of our overall housing stock. We need to invest and create local economies that enable people to live and work with dignity. That’s why we pushed for the COVID-19 legislation and relief packages to include extensions of federal eviction moratoriums and emergency rental assistance. This work represents a deeper commitment and articulation of an intersectional approach to environmental and climate policy. PORTRAIT BY

Chris Burnett

AN ALLY FOR FRONTLINE COMMUNITIES

THOMAS GENNAR A

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

E R E M Y O R R D I D N ’ T G ROW U P SW I M M I N G , PA D D L I N G ,

or hiking, despite his proximity to the Great Lakes, the Detroit River, and the lush border of Canada. The parks in his Detroit neighborhood were unkempt and unusable, he recalls. Instead, he spent much of his childhood playing in the shadow of oil refineries, steel mills, and dozens of other industrial polluters at his grand parents’ house in Michigan’s most toxic zip code. “In my experience, the city wasn’t cultivated as a space that was welcoming for people from communities of color,” he says. “There was no space to enjoy the environment.” But soon after he graduated from Michigan State University in 2009, Orr found himself on the frontlines of an environmental fight. As an organizer for ISAAC, an interfaith advocacy organization in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and as part of a community-based coalition called Clean Up Not Cover Up, he helped residents push for the cleanup of the Allied Paper Superfund site along the Kalamazoo River. The heavily polluted site, contaminated by PCBs, was fouling the watershed for a predominantly low-income, Black, and brown community. However, he recalls, “during that process, it became evident to me that there weren’t any decision makers at the table who looked like me or like the community that was impacted.” Orr also remembers a certain deliberate use of legal jargon and technical language from officials who seemed intent on keeping community members from understanding what was being decided. Jeremy Orr “The experience highlighted not only the imin front of the portance of representation in the environmental Michigan space for me,” he says, “but also the importance of State Capitol in Lansing

LVEJO advocates for the well-being of residents in Chicago’s Little Village, a heavily industrial neigh borhood of largely lowincome Latino families.

being informed and being able to communicate in a way that people can understand, digest, and be able to engage in a meaningful way.” In 2019, six years after he left Kalamazoo, the group secured a $245 million cleanup. “As an organizer, the goal is to train and build community leaders and work that continue long after you are gone—and that happened there,” he says. Orr set his mind on charting his own path as an environmentalist. He returned to Michigan State for law school, then took jobs both on the legal side as an environmental justice coordinator for Transnational Environmental Law Clinic and, later, on the organizing side for Interfaith Worker Justice and the Peoples Climate Movement. When the opportunity to join NRDC arose in early 2019, he couldn’t imagine a better-suited position. “I’d really been trying to find this balance of practicing law but still being in relationship with the community, still advocating, and still using my organizing skills,” he says. “It struck me as a per-

Partner Spotlight

THE

SALMON’S ADVOCATES

Thirty years ago, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes led the effort to save Snake River sockeye salmon from extinction. Today, they’re still fighting for the fish’s survival—along with their own.

OR DR. SAMMY MATSAW AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE

Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, an ancient agreement made between their starving ancestors and the salmon who saved them remains a guiding principle. “They were here to take care of us, so our obligation is to take care of them,” says Matsaw. A tribal research biologist focused on Chinook salmon and steelhead, Matsaw calls the salmon his people’s knowledge system. “They are our Socrates, our Plato, our Aristotle,” he adds. “And they’re still teaching us today. But they are going extinct. It’s just heartbreaking….It’s not just an animal, it’s not just a fish. There’s a whole people and culture that can be lost.” But if the salmon’s struggle is also the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes’ struggle, so too is the fish’s resilience, the people’s resilience. “We are the same as the salmon,” says Jessica Matsaw, Sammy’s wife and a teacher who focuses on developing Indigenous curriculum and instruction. On its path from Wyoming through the Pacific Northwest, the Snake River flows right through the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes’ Fort Hall Reservation in southern Idaho. The river was once one of the most prolific salmon habitats in the world, providing the main nutrition source for the area’s Indigenous People

for thousands of years. Today, due to the impacts of climate change and a set of aging hydroelectric dams, the fish populations have cratered. The most endangered of the runs is that of the Snake River sockeye salmon, which have evolved to spawn in the high mountain lakes of central Idaho’s Sawtooth Valley, in the ancestral homelands of the Shoshone-Bannocks. These fish travel nearly 1,000 miles and navigate more than 6,000 feet of elevation change in their journey to and from the Pacific. At their height, more than 100,000 sockeye would return every year. But Snake River sockeye are particularly vulnerable to high temperatures and will begin to die when water temperatures climb above 68 degrees Fahrenheit. These days, returns barely break double-digits. The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes have watched salmon populations decline for more than a cen-

F R O M T O P : K A R E N C A N A L E S S A L A S / LV E J O : S K I P A R M S T R O N G / R I V E R N E W E

fectway to be able to use my legal advocacy on the ground, working hand in hand with communities.” Almost two years into his staff attorney position for NRDC’s Safe Water Initiative, focusing primarily on Chicago, Flint, and other places in Illinois and Michigan, he feels he’s succeeded in striking that lawyer-organizer balance. In Michigan, for example, he’s served as a community liaison in Flint, answering questions and translating the legal jargon surrounding the settlement that required the city to replace its lead services lines. He has provided litigation support in NRDC and local partner Great Lakes Environmental Center’s intervention to uphold the state’s Lead and Copper Rule. And on the regulatory side, Orr sat on an environmental review committee that oversaw the rulemaking process that led to Michigan’s strong PFAS regulations last summer to protect public water systems. More recently, his focus has turned to Illinois. Guided by the Chicago-based Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO), Orr’s

tury now, all the while working tirelessly to protect them. In 1990, they successfully petitioned the federal government to list Snake River sockeye salmon under the Endangered Species Act. Over the ensuing 30 years, the tribes have collaborated with state and federal governments on various projects to help sockeye recover. “These fish would very much not be here today without all of the work that the Shoshone-Bannock people have done to restore them,” says NRDC senior attorney Giulia Good Stefani. In June, she and her colleagues sought to support the cause by filing a motion for intervention, together with Columbia Riverkeeper and the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association, in a case to uphold a Washington State requirement that the federal government manage its hydropower dams on the Columbia and lower Snake River to reduce heat pollution and protect salmon. “Salmon are connected to almost everything in the ecological web of the Pacific Northwest,” explains Good Stefani, who was one of the case’s attorneys. “If we lose them, it really sets off a cascade that reaches all the way to the ocean.” Meanwhile, when three fish returned to Pettit Lake last year and 38 this year, Rob Trahant, senior sockeye technician and Shoshone-Bannock tribal member who’s worked on the conservation project for 20 years, felt cautiously optimistic. “I think the numbers will keep growing,” he says. “I know in my lifetime I’ll probably never be able to fish for them, but I’m hoping my kids or grandkids will.”

team at NRDC offered financial, resource, and technical support for water distribution and other emergency COVID-19 responses to help residents dealing with water shutoffs due to unpaid bills. Though the city’s mayor issued a moratorium on water shutoffs during the pandemic, thousands of already disconnected homes—many in the Black and Latino communities hardest hit by COVID-19—remained without water. Thanks to a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the partnership between LVEJO and NRDC has recently developed into a two-year joint initiative to address water access and water affordability issues in Illinois. Among other initiatives, the groups are advocating for decision makers to implement a rate restructuring for water and to ensure the removal of lead service lines from the city of Chicago and the entire state of Illinois. “We’re in alignment that any city action should be prioritizing the communities that are the most impacted, and that these communities should have a voice in the process,” says LVEJO policy director Juliana Pino of the partnership. “Jeremy’s willingness to really dig in, roll his sleeves up, and really just respect the expertise of his partners and colleagues no matter how much tenure he has, is something that speaks to his character and deserves recognition. If more people worked in the way that Jeremy does, we would have a more inclusive, meaningful collaboration in the environmental movement focused on environmental justice issues.”

ShoshoneBannock tribal member and research biol ogist Dr. Sammy Matsaw

THE FIGHT FOR EQUITABLE ACCESS TO WATER AND

In Flint, Michigan, residents like Tiantha Williams and her son are still working through the lead crisis, which has been compounded by COVID-19.

ERIN KIRKL AND/ THE NE W YORK TIMES VIA REDUX

ELECTRICITY

In the midst of a pandemic, NRDC advocates are stepping up their work to prevent the risk of mass utility shutoffs, now and for the long-term.

ATE LAST WINTER, WHEN U.S. OFFICIALS BEGAN ADVIS-

ing handwashing and issuing stay-at-home orders in response to an unprecedented public health emergency, they likely weren’t picturing the hundreds of thousands of people across the country who lacked running water or struggled to keep the lights on. “These affordability issues were already simmering in the background… and then COVID hit,” says Mae Wu, who advocated for access to safe and affordable drinking water at NRDC for 14 years. Against a background of staggering unemployment rates, the risk of mass utility shutoffs has skyrocketed—just as residents need these basic services the most. To protect public health, NRDC has been urging governors, utilities, and Congress to ban utility disconnections. By mid-May, after the pandemic’s first wave, 15 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico established short-term moratoriums on water shutoffs. Thanks in part to petitions from more than 17,000 NRDC members, several governors required safe reconnections for all occupied homes and offered emergency water in the interim. Numerous public and private electricity providers also responded to these calls for preventing service disconnections during the crisis. But the successes were only short-term. Many state shutoff moratoriums expired, and by the end of November, only 45 percent of Americans were protected from disconnections of their electricity and gas service. Far fewer were protected from statewide water shutoffs, which has left hundreds of millions of Americans at risk. In the face of this ongoing crisis, NRDC continues to fight for long-term investments in both repairing our national water infrastructure and upgrading homes—particularly for those who bear the largest energy burdens. That includes residents of the country’s 10 million affordable multifamily units, almost half of which were built at least 50 years ago. Many are in desperate need of retrofits to drafty windows, inefficient lighting, and outmoded heating and AC systems, and aging appliances such as refrigerators. Such improvements not only lower bills but they can also reduce greenhouse gases and benefit indoor air quality. To date, the program has helped more than 200,000 renters across the country. “The impact is substantial,” says NRDC’s Deron Lovaas, who works with the Energy Efficiency for All project. “Low-income people pay a big chunk of their household budgets on energy bills, so it’s like a regressive tax.” The pandemic has reinforced the importance of finding ways to help make these basic costs of living manageable and boosting the resilience of homes to economic shocks over the long-term. In few U.S. cities is the burden of high utility bills more apparent than in Detroit. Since 2014, some 140,000 of its residents have faced water shutoffs

due to skyrocketing water rates, a 35 percent poverty rate, and what the ACLU dubbed “sloppy billing practices” by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. Though COVID-19 has brought this crisis to a head, NRDC has been working with the local People’s Water Board Coalition since 2017 to champion solutions such as income-based water rates, more sustainable payment plans, or a redistribution of infrastructure costs to the wealthier Detroit suburbs.

HE PUBLIC HEALTH RISKS OF UTILITY SHUTOFFS ARE GRAVE,

and the impacts trickle down to mental health as well. Nicole Hill, a Detroit resident and longtime advocate for affordable water, described the trauma at a press conference hosted by the People’s Water Board Coalition. “Living with the fear of losing your children to Child Protective Services, or the stigma and stereotypes of the supposed spending habits, or never knowing the circumstances accounting for why my water bills are so high, is very frustrating,” she said.

Activists like Hill have long worked to highlight the link between public health and the lack of running water, says Cyndi Roper, an NRDC policy expert who’s worked on drinking water issues in the Great Lakes state for 25 years. “It took a global pandemic for the obvious to become front and center in Michigan.” Thanks to the dogged advocacy of the People’s Water Board Coalition and its allies, including NRDC, last March, Governor Gretchen Whitmer ensured reconnections for all occupied homes, no matter how long they’d been disconnected. Whitmer also ordered the distribution of emergency bottled water supplies for cooking and drinking and dedicated $2 million for reconnections that will require plumbing repairs in order to make the

COVID-19 PUTS

EVICTION CRISIS

FRONT AND CENTER As the nation’s housing crisis accelerates, NRDC advocates are pushing for systemic changes that will help affordable housing stay that way.

CROSS THE COUNTRY, NEARLY A THIRD OF ALL RENT-

ers spend more than a third of their income on rent. And for one in six—or 18 million households—housing expenses take up more than half their income. In the face of these mounting pressures, the economic fallout from COVID-19 has threatened to plunge millions of vulnerable renters into homelessness—putting them at increased risk of contracting the virus and making them susceptible to a great many more health problems. “Housing insecurity has always been a public health issue, whether that’s been recognized or not,” says Sasha Forbes, senior program advocate in NRDC’s Healthy People & Thriving Communities Program. “Now we’re seeing those health impacts magnified.” As the country reels from this double threat, NRDC is pushing for the systemic changes needed to keep people at risk of eviction in their homes and to ensure those homes can meet residents’ basic needs.

Not all communities have been impacted by the housing crisis equally, Forbes notes. A long history of discriminatory practices like redlining, persistent wage gaps, and chronic disinvestment in low-income communities and communities of color have prevented Black and Latino residents from accumulating the same generational wealth as white families and left them overburdened by the cost of rent. Climate change is adding to this burden. In the coming decades, trillions of dollars will be invested in climate solutions like modernizing public transit, expanding green spaces, and building electric vehicle charging stations. And while transformative climate action is essential, without safeguards for affordable housing, it may inadvertently lead to gentrification and push out longtime residents. In 2016, NRDC helped found the Strong, Prosperous, and Resilient Communities Challenge (SPARCC), which seeks to shape policies and practices that promote public health, racial equity, and climate resiliency. Through SPARCC, NRDC collaborates with affordable housing groups Enterprise Community Partners and the Low

JOHN MOORE/GET T Y IMAGES

tap water safe again. But by October, the Michigan Supreme Court had invalidated the governor’s executive order. Working together with local grassroots leaders, NRDC kept up its fight for the most vulnerable Michiganders by supporting critical state legislation that placed a moratorium on water shutoffs and required water reconnections for all occupied homes until spring 2021. Data compiled by NRDC in collaboration with the People’s Water Board Coalition is credited with garnering bipartisan support for the bill, signed into law in December. Further relief came after Detroit’s mayor, Mike Duggan, announced a twoyear pause on water shutoffs and a commitment to finding a permanent solution. As Roper notes, advocacy remains critical

Income Investment Fund. The groups work in six cities with local SPARCC partners to bring together community advocates, policymakers, mission-driven developers, community business leaders, grassroots groups, and residents to improve the systems that shape such initiatives as the building of new properties near transit stations or the planning of new grocery stores, among others. Key to their mission is the fight for safe and secure housing, which includes everything from enabling more resources for community control to advocating for policies that address climate-related displacement. Often, this means ensuring residents have a voice in local development plans. In 2018, for example, as part of its expansion plan in the Bay Area, Google bought public land near a transit station in San Jose, California. Knowing that the move threatened to increase nearby rent, local SPARCC partners secured seats for residents on a decision-making committee. Thanks to the residents’ participation and the efforts of grassroots advocates, Google committed to investing $1 billion in local housing investments, the equivalent of 5,000 affordable homes. The company also created a $250 million fund to support affordable housing moving forward. Preventing resident displacement will be that much more important in the wake of COVID-19, Forbes explains. “With eviction moratoriums expiring, it’s more likely that private real estate investors are going to use predatory acquisition practices to come in and purchase properties, leaving communities more insecure than they were before.”

THE PANDEMIC HAS REINFORCED THE IMPORTANCE OF FINDING WAYS TO HELP

MAKE THESE BASIC COSTS OF LIVING MANAGEABLE.

to reminding those in power of the injustices that so many people endure and the imperative to make change. “There is really a heightened sense of awareness that there are people living in Michigan without running water,” Roper says, “because there has been coverage of the issue in a way that has never been done before.”

N THE NATIONAL LEVEL, NRDC CONTINUES TO CALL ON

elected officials to pass broader protections for renters in each relief package. While Congress issued a moratorium on evictions in federally assisted properties as part of the CARES Act, and the Centers for Disease Control subsequently passed a nationwide ban on evictions for those hit financially by the pandemic, both measures expired. The curtailed aid poses a grave danger to the nearly one in six renters not caught up on rent payments and shouldering billions in back pay, as well as the tens of millions of people still out of work. “There’s an enormous wage gap that reflects racial disparities and discriminatory practices, so it really comes down to affordability,” says Dawone Robinson, NRDC’s regional director of energy affordability. Low-income families spend, on average, more than triple what higher-income families spend on electricity, heating, and cooling. “That’s where our work on energy efficiency helps,” Robinson adds. “If we can increase the disposable income families have, then it’s not only more likely that they’ll be able to afford to stay in their homes, but they’ll have a safer and healthier living environment as well.”

The Medrano family in Phoenix narrowly avoided eviction from the RV park in which they lived as the pandemic raged on.

Eastex /Jensen

• Located at the intersection of 3 watersheds: Greens, Hunting, and White Oak. • Halls Bayou, part of the Greens Bayou watershed, runs through part of the neighborhood, and poses flooding hazards for residents, businesses, and property owners. • Flooding has been documented at least 14 times since 1970. * During Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, more than 13,000 homes in the Halls Bayou watershed flooded. * Hurricane Harvey damaged nearly 12,000 homes. • As severe rainfall grows more routine, more and more local families experience poverty, high housing costs, and the rising risks of flooding. Eastex/Jensen Severe Repetitive Loss (SRL) Properties Concentration HIGHEST

LOWEST

Waterways Areas of Major Flooding During Hurricane Harvey

F R O M T O P : L U K E S H A R R E T T/ B L O O M B E R G V I A G E T T Y I M A G E S ; D AV I D J . P H I L L I P/A P P H O T O

1 IN 100 PROPERTIES HAVE FLOODED ABOUT 5 TIMES EACH

ON FLOODED GROUND

For many low-income communities of color in Houston, Texas, chronic flooding is a fact of life—and an injustice our government must acknowledge.

As climate change continues to exacerbate sea level rise and extreme weather, more and more people find their homes under water and their lives upended by flooding every year. According to NRDC flood analyst Anna Weber, low-income commu nities and people of color are among the most vulnerable. “These communities are both more likely to be located in areas that face higher flood risks and less likely to have the resources and the power needed to address that risk,” she says. Yet there is surprisingly little good in formation available showing how com munities are affected, adds Weber, part of the team behind a new interactive data tool that illustrates the concentrations of Severe Repetitive Loss (SRL) properties in each state and county, using claim data from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). These properties—the most flood-prone buildings covered by the NFIP—have flooded over five times each on average, and their numbers are growing. As Weber points out, it’s important to note that these properties are just the tip of the iceberg; while the NFIP is likely the best source of national flood damage information, relying on insurance data “leaves out everyone who is uninsured, people who will also get left behind by the

policy decisions those datasets inform.” In Houston, the neighborhood of Eastex/Jensen is one of several that saw massive damage from Hurricane Harvey in 2017—and it’s still recovering. It remains one of the worst places in the city for frequent street flooding and dangerous high-water road crossings, and almost 1 in 100 occupied housing units are on the SRL list. That figure is double the average in flood-prone Harris County, and higher by an order of magnitude than the risk faced by Texans overall. Eastex/Jensen is also a majority Latino area, with a median household income half that of Harris County as a whole and a poverty rate of over 30 percent. The area is also highly vulnerable to gentrification, according to the neighborhood’s resiliency plan. With the dataset underlying the Losing Ground tool now publicly available, Weber expects it will help advocates push lawmakers at every level of government to take the actions needed to reduce flood risk, including prioritizing support for the areas most in need, addressing inequities in recovery programs, streamlining application processes, and reducing wait times for grants. The future of so many communities depends on these actions before the next disaster strikes.

OUR CLIMATE

FUTURE

CHAPTER 3

30 A Champion for Equitable and Sustainable Infrastructure

32 A Catalyst for the Midwest’s Clean Energy Transition

33 Cities and States Chart a Path Forward

34 Opening Doors to the Energy Sector

36 Arctic Defender 38 On Wild Ground

ZACK WITTMAN FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE VIA GETT Y IMAGES

CHANGE CANNOT COME SOON ENOUGH.

Not when the world could face catastrophic levels of warming by the end of the century. Not with economies reeling from the worst hardships in decades and when millions of people are delaying or forgoing necessary medical care because they simply can’t afford it. But change is already before us. In every community across the country, we see people pushing for a more sustainable, healthier, and more lucrative path forward; people demanding cleaner buildings and transportation, more connected neighborhoods, job training for a green economy, and investment in natural climate solutions right under our feet. The best and fiercest advocates to help build that bridge are all around us. They are the ones seeing the impacts of climate change in their daily lives and pushing solutions in their own communities. Our job is to listen, to amplify, and to partner with these voices for climate justice. The movement is stronger when we speak as one.

Perched more than 250 feet above ground, wind turbines in Blackburn Industrial Park in Gloucester, Massachusetts, are expected to save the city $11 million in electricity costs over 25 years.

A CHAMPION FOR EQUITABLE AND SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE

NRDC policy and partnerships director STEPHANIE GIDIGBI JENKINS is pushing for public policy solutions that address social equity and climate justice while strengthening access to reliable transportation, affordable housing, and open spaces. At NRDC and through your previous work at the U.S. Department on Transportation under President Obama, you’ve shown how the siting of infrastructure can reinforce inequity. How do these issues intersect?

When we were building out much of our country’s infrastructure 60 years ago, we divided neighborhoods based on race and class. Our investments (or the lack thereof) have impacted communities to this day. For example, when transportation officials were building out the I-676 highway in the 1960s, they cut through Philadelphia’s Chinatown, creating both an economic division and a cultural division that still exists. Nashville’s I-40, Minneapolis’s I-94, and Spokane’s I-90 all similarly impeded residents’ mobility and access to economic opportunity. Now, where you live plays a huge role in determining your success in life—your zip code often has more of an impact on your life than your genetic code. For economic growth, your ability to move up the ladder is directly tied to where you are physically able to get to and where you need to go. Without that access, you’re stuck. The economic and cumulative impact of harmful infrastructure projects, further exacerbated by the impact of climate change, makes matters worse for Black, brown, and Indigenous communities often relegated to neighborhoods prone to flooding, poor air quality, drinking water violations, and public health challenges.

What are the key hurdles in developing more equitable infrastruc ture in our communities moving forward?

When we talk about equitable development, we mean investment without displacement—in other words, making infrastructure upgrades while also thinking about the long-term impacts on nearby communities. One of the challenges with this is that we often think in silos. For example, when we push for green spaces that can address flooding or other extreme weather concerns, we may not be thinking about how that would impact affordable

housing. So we end up making this big investment, but those who might benefit most from it can’t afford to stay. We need to have a holistic thinking process up front, planning for not just who or what is coming but who is here now. The other piece of gentrification and displacement beyond the loss of people is the loss of culture. I learned years ago from a West African cultural perspective that an ancestor lives on until the last living person remembers their name—and I translate that same truth into my work, by acknowledging the cultural legacy of a community. In some places, there were neighborhoods and communities that existed long before a major investment was made, yet once the investment came, history and culture were lost.

Can you point to a city that is doing good work to prevent displacement while imple menting new infrastructure projects?

Los Angeles is doing a lot of work to ensure communities can anchor in place. One of the groups NRDC works with, the Los Angeles Regional Open Space and Affordable Housing (LA ROSAH) Collaborative, addresses the challenges of green gentrification and displacement in the wake of large public investment projects to increase park spaces, like Measure A and Proposition 68. The group strategizes on how to support affordable housing next to new green infrastructure, PORTRAIT BY

Chris Burnett

prioritizingthose that would be impacted the most: low-income communities and communities of color. Developing strategies for joint affordable housing and park development allows LA ROSAH to tackle the two pressing issues together—not only does the organization want to elevate climate resilience and mitigation plans, but it also wants to make sure that affordable housing is integrated as part of those policies.

What drew you to pursue a career in infrastructure policy, and what keeps you motivated in your work during these chal lenging times?

ANDRE W BURTON/GET T Y IMAGES

For me, infrastructure is a powerful space to advocate because it brings all of our work together in an intentional and inclusive way. No matter what kind of neighborhood you live in, we all need a road, a home, and a community. Our work on buildings, transportation, and parks and other

GO TO ANY NEIGHBORHOOD, AND RESIDENTS HAVE BIG, BOLD IDEAS ON HOW TO

IMPROVE THEIR COMMUNITY. open spaces, combined with our efforts to make sure people—especially those most in need—have access to basic necessities, like clean water and affordable housing, are all connected to ensure that a community can thrive. Recent events have only affirmed the need to have organizations like NRDC be light bearers during this dark time. We need to continue working with local leaders and elevate community-led solutions—you can go to any neighborhood, and residents will have big, bold ideas on how to improve their community. It’s at that local level that you’re able to see the resilience of our country.

New Jersey recently announced its pilot Zero Emission Incen tive Program, which targets the over burdened commu nities of Newark and Camden (shown here).

THE MIDWEST’S CLEAN ENERGY TRANSITION

ASHOK GUPTA, a senior energy economist

at NRDC, spent decades working to clean up New York’s electrical grid and to reduce its reliance on dirty fuels. Now he’s helping to bring the clean energy future to the Midwest.

You’re working to replace coal plants with renewable energy in the deep red states of Kansas and Missouri. What’s your approach?

The short answer is money. If you can show stakeholders that renewables are cheaper than coal, they’ll make the transition. The trick is revealing how expensive coal really is. Coal managed to look cheap for decades, but only if you ignored its toll on public health, climate change, and other parts of our environment. Over the last few decades, NRDC and other groups have worked to make the price of coal reflect its true cost. One tool is the Clean Air Act, which forces coal plants to install equipment aimed at reducing harmful air pollution. Gradually tightening those standards has improved public health and helped integrate the hidden costs of coal into its price, as utilities are forced to clean up their emissions. At the same time, the cost of renewables has declined by 90 percent over the last 10 years.

How quickly is the changeover happening in the Midwest?

Kansas went from 0 percent wind power to 40 percent in 15 years, and all of that renewable energy displaced coal-fired power plants. If we do our job well, the state could get to 70 percent wind power in the next decade and zero carbon emissions by 2035. Constructing new transmission lines will also pave the way for wind power produced in Kansas to cross the border.

How else can the region grow its clean energy economy?

As the grid gets cleaner, we’ll want to transition our vehicles and buildings away from fossil fuels too. We’ll have electric cars, electric HVAC, and electric hot water systems. And we’ll have to find ways to reduce the stress on the grid so it can handle these new demands, beyond just switching over from coal to renewables.

So is that where efficiency comes in?

Yes. In the Midwest, we’re focused on greening the building sector. If we can improve the building envelope (all of the components that separate the interior and exterior and contribute to climate control), much of the electricity that used to go to air conditioning can instead power electric cars. We’re working with policymakers to help push these efficiency policies forward. Kansas City now requires large buildings to disclose energy and water usage. Collecting that data is the first step toward reform. St. Louis recently became the first Midwest city to take the next step, requiring build ings to become more efficient. We’re not talking about new buildings—it’s a relatively lighter lift to tighten standards on new construction. Instead, these standards will apply to existing buildings.

How did your experience with sustain ability initiatives in New York help guide your work with cities in the country’s heartland?

From 2004 to ’13, NRDC partnered on an energy policy task force in New York, which helped us to develop a sustainability template that could be tailored to other cities. Then, through the City Energy Project in 2012 and the American Cities Climate Challenge in 2018, NRDC secured funding to partner with mayors of more than 25 cities—including in the Midwest—and supply them with the expertise and attention required to do that tailoring.

How did it feel to recently receive the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy’s lifetime achievement award?

Workers at a First Solar manuf acturing plant in Perrysburg, Ohio.

The best part was that ACEEE recognized my work mentoring young advocates. People can’t do this work alone. That’s why I’ve always been focused on team building, both inside of NRDC and with external partners. It was very touching to learn that people I mentored decades ago recommended that I be recognized for this honor.

FROM TOP: LUKE SHARRE T T FOR NRDC; DENNIS SCHROEDER /NREL, 47967

A CATALYST FOR

An electric streetcar in downtown Cincinnati

ACCELERATING CLEANER TRANSPORTATION CALIFORNIA passed a policy to spur construction

CITIES AND STATES

CHART A PATH FORWARD

of electric vehicle charging stations and finalized its Advanced Clean Trucks rule—a global first that requires truck makers to sell an increasing number of clean, zero-emission trucks rather than polluting diesel trucks. Thousands of NRDC members submitted public comments in favor of the rule, joining frontline communities, organized labor, public health advocates, and the clean technology industry to support its adoption. NEVADA committed to pursuing California’s Ad-

vanced Clean Cars Program to help cut dangerous carbon pollution from transportation and ensure automakers are introducing more models of new, advanced electric vehicles to the state.

HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO , passed a critical

Even in a year of tremendous struggle, state and local leaders across the nation heeded the calls of community members who demanded climate action now and delivered long-promised solutions.

ballot measure to improve and increase funding for Greater Cincinnati’s public transportation system, fixing roads, reducing traffic, and tackling the climate crisis. Cincinnati participates in the Bloomberg Philanthropies American Cities Climate Challenge, through which organizations like NRDC support local partners and officials in tackling climate projects in the transportation and building sectors.

QUITTING FOSSIL FUELS

POWERING GREENER BUILDINGS

NEW YORK passed new laws banning fracking and protecting communities

HONOLULU , a Climate Challenge participant,

VIRGINIA passed bipartisan legislation to prevent oil and gas drilling off its

S A N J O S E , CA L I F O R N I A , with help from the

from dangerous fracking wastes carted into the state. And following three years of grassroots advocacy from across New York and New Jersey—which included thousands of NRDC members speaking out against the project—the two states rejected plans for the fracked-gas Williams pipeline. coast, which had threatened the $2.7 billion generated annually by industries that rely on clean beaches and a healthy ocean. NRDC worked with coalition partners and state legislators to help shape the bill. P E O R I A , I L L I N O I S , made strides toward closing its dirty coal plant—

scheduled to shutter by the end of 2022—following a landmark settlement agreement between the Vistra Corp. subsidiary that owns and operates the plant and the environmental and public health groups, including NRDC, that sued the plant’s owners in 2013. As part of the agreement, $8.6 million will be invested in local job training, bus electrification, solar, energy efficiency, and lung health projects.

passed a policy to reduce energy use (and energy bills) in new buildings by requiring that they be energy efficient and wired to be ready for rooftop solar and electric vehicle charging. Climate Challenge, passed a groundbreaking policy requiring all new buildings to use clean power instead of dirty fossil fuels. The step made it the nation’s largest city to make new construction all-electric. ST. LO U I S , also part of the Climate Challenge,

became the third city in the United States to adopt building energy performance standards (BEPS) requiring building owners to cut the city’s biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions.

OPENING DOORS TO THE

ENERGY SECTOR

GRID Alternatives’s Dominic Paul-Baha (second from left) leads volunteers in installing a solar module on a rooftop in Washington, D.C.

As NRDC’s California state lead for clean energy and equity, ALEXIS CURETON is working to ensure that communities of color help shape climate policies and reap the economic benefits they offer.

G R I D A LT E R N AT I V E S

ROWING UP IN TULSA, OKLAHOMA, ALEXIS CURETON CAN

still recall his mother’s reminders to turn off the lights and not overuse the dishwasher. Those pleas gave him an awareness of the scarcity, necessity, and costs of energy—heightened during those cold-weather stretches when his family’s finances did not allow them to pay the electric bill. Along the way, he wondered: How is energy helping to create comfort and, in its absence, how am I uncomfortable? Today, these questions shape Cureton’s lens at NRDC, where he advocates for California’s low-income communities of color to be at the energy decision-making table and for their access to clean energy. Cureton knows what it means to be excluded from that table. During graduate school at Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs, he entered a newly formed energy concentration as one of three Black students. Those few students not only found themselves in the racial minority, but they also found no representation of themselves in the curriculum. “The people whose books we were told read were not Black, and they were not writing about Black people,” Cureton says. He worked to counter these feelings of isolation by focusing some of his independent graduate coursework on the government’s inadequate response to environmental injustice. He used stipends he received from summer fellowships to buy books by Dr. Robert D. Bullard, the Black man considered the “father of environmental justice.” Bullard had taught at the Clark Atlanta University, the same historically Black research university that Cureton had attended as an undergrad, and his writings reinforced to Cureton that Black people had been fighting for the environment for a long time. Cureton felt as if the pages said, “Congratulations, you are part of that group.” Cureton went on to work as a researcher with groups focused on creating equitable clean energy transitions, including by supporting related job-training opportunities and access to clean mobility for California’s low-income communities. The state’s affordable housing crisis, he says, has pushed many residents into homes farther away from central business districts. As a result, “many people are spending more than half of their income on gas.” While driving an electric vehicle slashes fuel costs, buying one is out of reach for many. And those who could help raise these affordability issues are too often left out of policy conversations. “I always strive to make sure that what I advocate for comes directly from the community,” Cureton says. At NRDC, Cureton continues to bring community representatives to the table to broaden the discussion around clean energy solutions through the Energy Efficiency For All initiative. Cureton has also been supporting the RePower LA coalition’s #EraseUtilityDebt campaign, which works to relieve the pressure on residents struggling to pay water and power bills due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Equally fundamental to his advocacy is his mission to boost energy literacy so that low-income people of color can become their own advocates. The work is urgent. After all, “energy has played a huge role in the ways that Black people live and experience life in this country,” Cureton says. It is his mission to light the path forward.

ARCTIC DEFENDER

CHIEF DANA TIZYA-TRAMM of the Vuntut

Gwitchin First Nation describes what’s at stake as big polluters and their political allies seek to advance destructive oil and gas exploration and development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

HE FUTURE OF AMERICA’S SERENGETI, AS the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is sometimes

called, is in jeopardy. While President Biden announced plans for a temporary moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the region, the refuge still lacks permanent protections, and the oil and gas industry is prepared to begin seismic surveys, lay service roads, and build pipelines throughout its delicate coastal plains. These industrial developments will cut right through the territories and birthing grounds for herds of musk oxen, denning polar bears, birds from every continent, and caribou that are the lifeblood of traditional Gwich’in Native cultural survival. In late December, the Gwich’in Steering Commitee, village councils, and more than a dozen partners, including NRDC, asked a federal judge in Alaska to step in and block the Trump

F R O M T O P : P E T E R M AT H E R / M I N D E N P I C T U R E S ; A R C H B O U L D P H O T O G R A P H Y

Partner Spotlight

Porcupine caribou herd crossing a river in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

My name is Dana Tizya-Tramm; Vuntut Gwitchin, from Old Crow, 80 miles north of the Arctic Circle. My people’s oral history, stretching back over 28,000 years, teaches us that we are intrinsically tied to the land, the air, waters, and animals. Today, the rights of my people to continue our ways of life are in jeopardy as never before. We face the dual connected threats of climate change and the oil drilling that fuels it. Our sensitive region is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet. The permafrost under our feet is melting while oil companies pump chemicals into it to prolong their operations. As it warms, the permafrost releases earth-altering amounts of methane and mercury.

administration’s sale of oil drilling rights on these lands. Their message echoed an urgent call delivered by Chief Dana Tizya-Tramm at the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit, where he joined NRDC to highlight the need for bolder environmental leadership among an audience of governors, mayors, provincial heads, presidents, and CEOs. Two years later, as we continue to fight alongside the tribe to secure permanent protections for the Arctic Refuge, Tizya-Tramm’s words stay with us.

Chief Dana Tizya-Tramm declared a climate state of emergency in 2019.

Now, the sacred lands of my people, the pristine calving grounds of the largest land animal migration left on earth, the Porcupine caribou herd, are being imminently threatened by the same industry responsible for this warming. Without consulting us, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is slated to endure intensive seismic exploration beginning this winter as the first step in wholesale oil and gas development. Even the weight of the vehicles scar the sensitive landscape beyond recognition. These lands and waters are our very bodies. The caribou and migrating animals, our lifeblood. My people are committed to a future where fossil fuels do not ruin our earth. In my village, we are constructing a solar farm of 2,000 panels, the largest such project in the Arctic north. This is just the beginning in re establishing our ancient balance with our lands through sustainable technologies. But we cannot do this alone. The world must understand that none of us are separated from this planet, each other, or what is happening today. Respect for Indigenous rights is key to stemming and reversing climate change; that the disregard of our people is the disregard of this planet, and even themselves. These are the teachings of my ancestors and elders, people who still remember these ancient truths.

ON WILD GROUND

Preserving Alaska’s massive forests and fertile seas means sustaining Indigenous ways of life, protecting habitat for iconic wildlife, and safeguarding one of our planet’s best climate solutions.

The fate of Alaska’s wild places loomed large in the waning days of the Trump administration’s assault on the environment. In November, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied a permit for the Pebble Mine, a massive gold and copper mine proposed at the headwaters of Bristol Bay. It was the latest 2020 setback for the project, which threatens the world’s most productive wild salmon run and the communities and ecosystems that depend on it. Throughout the year, high-profile opposition intensified as a permit decision neared, undercover videos revealed Pebble’s duplicity to federal regulators, and Morgan Stanley became the latest financial partner to abandon the project. (In June 2020, the investment firm dumped more than 99 percent of its shareholding in Northern Dynasty Minerals, the mine’s owner, following a targeted public pressure campaign.) But the battle isn’t over. Until Bristol Bay is permanently protected, the Indigenous tribes and communities of Bristol Bay won’t rest. Nor will NRDC, as our attorneys prepare for litigation in support of the permit denial, continuing the work with our Alaska-based coalition partners begun more than a decade ago.

PROPOSED SITE FOR PEBBLE MINE

Bristol Bay

C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P : D O N PA U L S O N /A G E F O T O S T O C K ; R YA N M I N U T O / S H U T T E R S T O C K ; R YA N P E T E R S O N ; U . S . F I S H A N D W I L D L I F E S E R V I C E

Meanwhile, in the state’s southeast corner, the 17-million-acre Tongass National Forest found itself again on the administration’s chopping block. The U.S. Forest Service announced in October 2020 that it would exempt more than half of the Tongass from the Roadless Rule, a nationwide protection that helped throttle decades of fast-paced clearcutting. At stake are iconic species like the Alexander Archipelago wolf, the continent’s highest density of brown bears, and the traditional ways of life of Native communities who have relied on the intact forest for food and medicine for millennia. Protecting the Tongass is also critical climate policy: A dense carbon sink, it stores more carbon per acre in its centuries-old trees than almost any other forest on the planet. In response, a coalition of Indigenous groups, local businesses, and environmental organizations, including NRDC, sued in December to block the move. Alaska’s land- and seascapes are the last of their kind. To save them is one of the most obvious and most critical opportunities in our fight against climate change, and on behalf of our matchless biological heritage.

USDA DECISION TO LIFT ROADLESS RULE FROM 9 MILLION ACRES UNDER REVIEW

Tongass National Forest

• 17 million acres of untouched forestland • A dense carbon sink critical to fight climate change • The home of Native Alaskans for millennia • A biodiversity hot spot

Bristol Bay

• Home to the world’s most productive wild salmon run • Generates $1.5 billion in economic activity annually • Supports 14,000 jobs

PEOPLEPOWERED CHANGE The stakes could not have been higher for the NRDC Action Fund in 2020. We seized on the unprecedented energy to act on climate change, environmental injustice, and public health, and worked to ensure that state and federal leaders— as well as those running for office—listened to the millions of pro-environment households across the country.

DRIVING VOTER TURNOUT

• Text Out the Vote: We recruited more than 1,100 Action Fund members who volunteered their time through the primaries and general election to send nearly 3.5 million texts in nine battleground states. • Green Wave: Our contribution to this phone-banking event generated nearly 30,000 phone calls from almost 160 volunteer shifts by NRDC Action Fund members. • Climate Action Voter Calls: Through six virtual town halls featuring special guests such as Stacey Abrams, John Kerry, and Doug Emhoff, we connected with thousands of voters.

• GiveGreen: The NRDC Action Fund PAC, along with its GiveGreen partners LCV Victory Fund and NextGen America, raised more than $20 million for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and $44.6 million total for candidates up and down the ballot, making climate activists the largest single-issue donor group in this cycle. • Mail-in Ballot Requests: Our online tool and peer-to-peer texting program led to 31,500 vote-by-mail applications or early vote commitments—mostly in Michigan, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. • Power the Polls: We recruited 2,773 poll workers through our partnership with this organization, helping to fill the nationwide poll worker void resulting from the pandemic.

NRDC ACTION FUND

The NRDC Action Fund concentrated its efforts in critical states where presidential, Senate, and House races were expected to be close. To that end, we launched our first super PAC, which helped environmentally minded political donors raise more money for candidates than ever before. We brought together our members, activists, and like-minded voters, and worked hard to make the following efforts succeed.

SUPPORTING STATE ACTION In 2020, we supported a slew of state initiatives that will directly impact environmental justice, clean air and water, conservation, endangered species, and the climate crisis. Here are a few highlights.

COLORADO

To support a second chance for wolves, we conducted targeted regional voter outreach and partnered with the Global Indigenous Council and Rocky Mountain Wolf Action Fund. Our advocacy paid off when voters in the general election chose to restore endangered gray wolves to the landscape, supporting a ballot initiative that also ensures officials will solicit Indigenous knowledge as they plan conservation efforts.

ELECTING GREEN LEADERS In the general election, the Action Fund stood with community activists at the center of the climate movement. Together, we sought to protect vulnerable House incumbents and keep the chamber under pro-environment control; to finally weaken Mitch McConnell’s grip on the Senate; and to propel Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House. We endorsed our largest-ever slate of federal candidates—a total of 43 individuals. In the end, we helped achieve 15 wins in the House and 13 wins in the Senate, which helped set a new agenda for our federal government in the wake of the Trump administration’s four-year assault on the environment and public health.

OREGON

Governor Kate Brown signed an executive order in March 2020 to curb greenhouse gas emissions, seeking a whopping 80 percent reduction in emissions from 1990 levels by 2050. The Action Fund leveraged its grassroots activist community to help provide Brown with the public support needed to issue the mandate. The order more than doubled the goal of a clean fuels program, making it the most ambitious target in the country.

PENNSYLVANIA

Our fight against a tax break to petrochemical companies— including a sixfigure television and digital ad campaign with direct mail and phone banking— led to influential media coverage and prompted thousands of Pennsylvanians to contact their state legislators in opposition to this anti-environment giveaway.

FIGHTING FOR ECONOMIC RELIEF

The COVID-19 pandemic only strengthened our resolve to demand positive change and climate solutions to benefit everyone. The NRDC Action Fund focused on ensuring that COVID-19 stimulus and relief funds authorized by Congress would go first to frontline health workers, struggling families, and small businesses instead of major corporations. We will remain in this fight as stimulus turns into recovery, advocating for better, smarter, and sustainable rebuilding of our economy and communities.

DEFENDING FRONTLINE COMMUNITIES

As part of an unprecedented community-wide push to save the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)—which protects the people’s right to speak out against major infrastructure projects, such as pipelines or incinerators, that could threaten communities and public health—NRDC Action Fund activists generated 103,000 original comments during the regulatory rollback comment period. When the Trump administration chose to ignore this public input and authorize the rollback, NRDC rushed to court to defend NEPA alongside environmental justice organizations from around the country.

A pack of coyotes in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

S E B A S T I A N K E N N E R K N E C H T/ M I N D E N P I C T U R E S

For 50 years—and during an unprecedented time in modern history— you have ensured that we have the resources to deploy our strategies in the most effective ways possible. None of this would happen without your passionate support. Thank you for your unwavering commitment to protecting life on our planet.

JOIN US JOIN A LEADERSHIP CIRCLE

With a gift of $500 to $999, join the Friends of NRDC 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. You will also receive a subscription to Nature’s Voice and more. Be a part of our Council of 1,000 with a yearly donation of $1,000 to $4,999, and we will send you a copy of Polar Obses sion by acclaimed wildlife photographer Paul Nicklen, invita tions 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 confidential 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 campaigns in defense of imperiled wildlife and wilderness.

MAKE A ONE-TIME DONATION

Become a full-fledged member of America’s most effective environmental action group by making a contribution of any amount. Your gift will be put to work right away in our toppriority campaigns.

PUSH FOR PROGRESS

NRDC never stops championing new issues as we learn about where our expertise is needed from our grassroots partners and environmental scientists. It is critical that we be able to respond when new opportunities—or challenges—present themselves. Signi ficant gifts to NRDC make it possible for us to pick up that baton and do what we do best: create a brighter future for our planet. To learn more about how to become a major donor, or to join our Green Leaders for Change, please contact us at 212-727-4543.

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 212-7274421 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 partici pates 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 | www.NRDC.org/JoinGive.

December 6, 2020

GINA MCCARTHY

JANE FONDA

GINA MCCARTHY

O CELEBRATE OUR 50TH ANNI VER SA RY, N R D C HOSTED A star-studded virtual celebration that kicked off with a VIP re-

ception featuring a conversation between NRDC’s former president and CEO Gina McCarthy and activist and actor Jane Fonda. Guests were treated to a musical performance by Honorary Trustee James Taylor, who was accompanied by famed musician Yo-Yo Ma. The main event, emceed by James Corden, followed with special appearances by Zazie Beetz and David Rysdahl, Don Cheadle, Jamie Lee Curtis and Christopher Guest, Laura Dern, Hasan Minhaj, Natalie Portman, Meryl Streep, and Sigourney Weaver. The evening paid tribute to NRDC’s founders—John Adams, Richard Ayres, John Bryson, Gus Speth, Ed Strohbehn, and the late Tom Stoel—and NRDC Trustee Leonardo DiCaprio announced the newly established John & Patricia Adams Leadership Fund. Among the evening’s highlights, NRDC Trustee Julia Louis-Dreyfus thanked former Board Chair Alan Horn, who retired at the end of 2020. McCarthy closed out this portion of the evening with a lively discussion about the future

DR. AYANA JOHNSON

of the environmental movement, featuring two important voices: marine biologist Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and youth climate activist Jamie Margolin from Zero Hour. Guests also enjoyed special musical performances by Infinity Song, the Avett Brothers, and Coldplay. The celebration was capped off with a reception saluting E2’s 20 years of bringing business leaders together to shape a brighter, cleaner economy and environment. NRDC Trustee and E2 co-founder Nicole Lederer joined climate luminaries Representative Kathy Castor, former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and clean energy entrepreneur Jigar Shah in conversation. The reception concluded with a live networking session with NRDC members from across the country.

ALL OF US FILMS

JAMIE MARGOLIN

2020 FINANCIAL STATEMENT

10.2 %

R D C C O N T I N U E D T O A DVA N C E O U R A DVO CACY A N D

institutional priorities in 2020, despite the challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. One of our top priorities is the safety and well-being of our staff. We have changed our ways of working to help limit the spread of the coronavirus and protect the health of our communities. All NRDC employees—from Beijing to Delhi to the United States—have been working remotely, and our U.S. offices remain closed as of the time this publication went to press. Staff are equipped to work from their homes, and we are providing flexible time to ensure that they are supported in caring for their families and themselves. We have also suspended all business travel and canceled all in-person events. Our financial position remains strong. NRDC has taken several steps to strengthen our financial position and maintain financial liquidity, including reducing expenses across functional areas, increasing the draw from our endowment and reserve funds, and broadening new donor cultivation activities to offset potential declines in fundraising revenues and investment returns.

$19 million on fundraising efforts to support ongoing operations and membership development

8.7 %

$16.2 million on management and general operations

81.1 %

$151.3 million on programs

SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES

$55,155,920

CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE

$ 42,403,194

WILDLIFE & WILDLANDS

$ 28,489,006

INTERNATIONAL

$ 22,004,341

MEMBERSHIP SERVICES

FILIPPO BACCI/ISTOCK

TOTAL PROGRAM SERVICES

$ 3,259,193 $ 151,311,654

Monument Valley Tribal Park

What motivates three million members and online activists to support NRDC? Here, answers from just a few of the people who inspire us to keep up our fight.

BARBARA KARPLUS AND ROD WOMER Woka Foundation

HOMETOWN Newbury Park, California PASSIONATE ABOUT Leaving behind a better world for children and grandchildren everywhere by taking action to mitigate climate change. WHAT THE PAST YEAR TAUGHT US In the face of severe global problems, such as COVID-19 and climate change, collective human be havior and leadership matters. WHY WE SUPPORT NRDC NRDC is leading innovative and impactful initiatives to educate and inspire people to act on climate change. For example, the Rewrite the Future initiative is using the power of stories in the entertainment industry to increase cultural under standing of this global threat through workshops, science and policy expertise, and storyline development. This is critical to spurring people from awareness to taking the needed collective action that will make a difference—and foster a spirit of connection with Mother Earth.

RUBEN ORTEGA

KAY AND DON HEISE

EILEEN WU

HOMETOWN Seattle

HOMETOWNS Charlevoix, Michigan, and Flint, Michigan

HOMETOWN New York City

Two Herons Foundation

PASSIONATE ABOUT Protecting, conserving, and restoring the environment for future generations. WHAT THE PAST YEAR TAUGHT ME 2020 changed my per spective on the importance of investing in solutions today. The pandemic highlighted the fact that nations and organizations prepared for the virus managed—even while we were still learning the true scope of this crisis. Given the global nature of environmental issues, we should be overinvesting in preparations today and coordinating world wide so that we are all better able to survive. WHY I SUPPORT NRDC NRDC is able to show the long-term benefits of being great stewards of the environment while also addressing issues that are happening today.

PASSIONATE ABOUT Protection of the environ ment, racial justice, and the preservation of cold-water rivers, as well as equal economic and educational opportunities for all. WHAT THE PAST YEAR TAUGHT US The pandemic caused us to rethink our free time and appreciate the calm that comes from spending time with nature. WHY WE SUPPORT NRDC A few years ago, as the political landscape changed, we knew that the environment couldn’t defend itself from these increased assaults. Our research revealed that NRDC was the best organization to address that need. We were impressed with the professional qualifications of the staff—and that the Board of Trustees was unpaid. When we learned of Robert Redford’s involvement, we were hooked.

PASSIONATE ABOUT Climate action, especially for the populations most at risk and directly impacted— humans and animals alike. WHAT THE PAST YEAR TAUGHT ME The pandemic and recent natural disasters have exposed so many underlying weaknesses in our abilities as caretakers— caretakers not only of our individual selves but also of our communities. So 2020 has really been a year of reflection for me and a chance to address how interconnected we are as a species; how consequential each of our actions can be, big or small. To ensure survival in the most literal sense, we must all engage in a more responsible stewardship of the only home we have. WHY I SUPPORT NRDC The work that NRDC does gives me hope that we can still make a difference.

COURTESY OF MEMBERS AND TRUSTEES

MEMBER VOICES

FROM OUR TRUSTEES We asked some of our newest Trustees what excites them the most about joining NRDC’s Board, especially at such a pivotal moment in history.

CATHERINE FLOWERS

DALIA AND NOAH TAFT HOMETOWN Irvine, California PASSIONATE ABOUT Working for a rapid, just transition to renewable energy that strategically benefits the environment, the economy, national security, and social justice. WHAT THE PAST YEAR TAUGHT US The world is at an inflection point right now. The dramatic, though momentary, reduction in transportation emissions illustrated in living color a planet with cleaner air. We don’t need to use our imagination to see the positive impacts of a rapid transition from fossil fuels— but we do need governments and companies to get in on this and to show there’s real value and opportunities here for everybody. WHY WE SUPPORT NRDC A major way to fight the necessary battles is through legal action, and we need NRDC’s talent, expertise, and tenacity to succeed.

Founder, Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice I am excited to be part of NRDC’s Board of Trustees and hope to be able to bring clarity to the role of the organi zation in bringing forth environmental and climate justice. NRDC can use its resources to partner with marginalized communities to empower them to pursue climate and environmental justice.

JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS

Actress/Producer We’ve been going through a time of suffering and multiple crises—but it is also a time of opportunity to address the intersectionality of social justice, environmental justice, and climate. They are inextricably linked. The messaging of the environmental movement has been missing this link, but NRDC has the expertise, the passion, the drive, and the smarts to recognize that connection and come up with solutions to tackle our environmental challenges holistically. I’ve always been an environmentalist because I feel a real responsibility to leave a livable, healthy, planet for my kids—and that desire has only grown for me and for so many others as we’ve all witnessed the calamities of this past year.

DIANA PROPPER DE CALLEJON

Managing Director, Cranemere Inc. NRDC has always understood that the sustained well-being and prosperity

for all people is dependent on the health of the planet and our shared ecosystems. Never has this been more clear. NRDC is focused on our biggest challenges—climate change, equity, and social justice—which are also our biggest opportunities for creating a better world. I am proud to have joined NRDC’s Board of Trustees to support and advance the organization’s amazing staff and work.

ELENA RIOS, M.D.

President and CEO, National Hispanic Medical Association As a Latina who grew up in the Los Angeles basin during the 1950s, when all families burned their own trash in backyard incinerators, and in the ’60s, when the smog was horrendous, I’ve seen how environmental policies can improve air quality. From early on, I was dedicated to increasing health equity, especially as I learned about how low-income neighborhoods, Latinos, Black people, and Native Americans have been marginalized as patients— and I witnessed firsthand diseases in our communities caused by environmental toxins. This is why I look forward to serving on NRDC’s Board of Trustees: to continue to build a great organization that advocates for evidence-based policies to counter climate change and to better the health of our Latino, Black, Native American, and other vulnerable communities.

DAN YATES

Executive Chairman, Dandelion Geothermal I’m thrilled by the opportunity to play a role in guiding one of the world’s most important environmental organizations at a uniquely important time. Never has it been more important than now to shape the future through the lens of environmental stewardship and justice, and no other group else is better positioned to do this than NRDC.

In Memoriam

JOHN

ROBINSON

OHN ROBINSON, ONE OF THE FOUND-

ing leaders of NRDC, passed away peacefully on November 28, 2020. He served as an NRDC Trustee for 35 years and for the past 15 years as an honorary trustee. From his founding support to his decades of leadership, Robinson left an indelible mark on the organization. He stood for the principles we sought to uphold, and he never shied away from a courtroom fight. The lawsuits we’ve filed—more than 130 of them over the past four years—to stand up to the Trump administration’s reckless assault on our air, water, wildlife, and lands are part of Robinson’s enduring legacy. In the early days, Robinson introduced our fledgling organization to another lifelong envi-

ronmentalist and NRDC benefactor, Bill Beinecke, who provided us with our first office in New York. Later, Robinson introduced NRDC to Beinecke’s remarkable daughter Frances, who came to NRDC as an intern—and would eventually serve as the organization’s president for 10 impressive years. And in the late 1980s, a generous contribution from Robinson enabled us to purchase our permanent headquarters in New York City. He was there with us every step of the way, affirming our value and reassuring prospective backers by putting his trust behind us. An original member of our Board of Trustees, Robinson helped define NRDC’s institutional identity as a trusted force for holding polluters to account, both in the court of public opinion and in our courts of law. We will miss our John Robinson (far right), friend more than we can say and will one of NRDC’s founding leaders and an honorary remember him as one of the leading trustee, with NRDC founding architects of NRDC. We will always director John Adams (far left) cherish the times that we shared.

SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL OUR COUNCILS FOR THEIR HARD WORK AND SUPPORT DURING THE PAST FISCAL YEAR. GREEN LEADERS FOR CHANGE The Green Leaders for Change (GLC) is a community of NRDC’s philanthropic supporters and advocates who share NRDC’s goal of developing and promoting solutions that protect the health and well-being of people, communities, and nature. The GLC community works together with NRDC’s lawyers, scientists, policy experts, and communications specialists to develop sound strategies and to advocate for the rights of all people to clean air, clean water, and healthy communities. Armed with the most current and in-depth information from NRDC experts, the GLC community helps expand our sphere of influence, drawing attention to the most pressing environmental and health threats. GLC members receive issue briefings and advocacy updates on pressing topics, case studies on our work and successes, special event invitations, and a quarterly newsletter filled with ways to stay active and up-to-date on the latest from NRDC. Those interested in furthering their participation with NRDC’s advocacy efforts have access to our Advocate Leaders toolkit and advocacy staff to expand their sphere of influence. To join the GLC community or for more information, please contact GLC manager Mandy Pennington at glc@nrdc.org.

LOS ANGELES LEADERSHIP COUNCIL Since 2001, NRDC’s Los Angeles Leadership Council (LALC) has harnessed its members’ exceptional environmental commitment, personal and professional expertise, extensive networks, and financial means to support NRDC’s mission. 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. For more information about the LALC, please contact Robin Desmond at lalc@nrdc.org.

WORKPLACE CONTRIBUTIONS NRDC thanks those individuals who have supported our work through payroll-deduction plans offered by EarthShare. To participate, see information on page 43.

NRDC BOARD OF TRUSTEES

CHAIR

KATHLEEN WELCH, Founder and Principal, Corridor Partners

CHAIR EMERITUS

ALAN F. HORN* Co-Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, The Walt Disney Studios

CHAIR EMERITUS

FREDERICK A.O. SCHWARZ, JR. Chief Counsel, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School; Senior Counsel, Cravath, Swaine and Moore LLP

CHAIR EMERITUS

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 GEETA AIYER President and Founder, Boston Common Asset Management, LLC HON. ANNE SLAUGHTER ANDREW Advisor, Sustainable Energy Investments RICHARD E. AYRES Environmentalist ATIF AZHER Corporate Partner, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, Palo Alto, California PATRICIA BAUMAN President, Bauman Foundation, Co-Chair of the Brennan Center for Justice; Chair, NRDC Action Fund ANITA BEKENSTEIN* Environmentalist; foundation director

CLAIRE BERNARD President, Mariposa Foundation ANNA SCOTT CARTER* Environmentalist; Co-Founder, Clean by Design initiative SARAH E. COGAN Of Counsel, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, New York LAURIE DAVID Producer, Author, Advocate; Co-Founder, NRDC Los Angeles Leadership Council LEONARDO DICAPRIO Founder and Co-Chairman, Earth Alliance JOHN E. ECHOHAWK Executive Director, Native American Rights Fund CATHERINE FLOWERS Founder, Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice NICOLE E. LEDERER Chair and Co-Founder, Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS Actress/Producer JOSEPHINE A. MERCK* Artist; Founder, Ocean View Foundation KELLY CHAPMAN MEYER Co-Founder, American Heart Association Teaching Gardens PETER MORTON Chairman and Founder, 510 Development Corp. WENDY K. NEU Chairman and CEO, Hugo Neu Corporation; grassroots community organizer and activist

FREDERICA P. PERERA, DRPH, PH.D. Professor, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health; Founding Director, Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health; Director, Program in Translational Research DIANA PROPPER DE CALLEJON Managing Director, Cranemere Inc. ROBERT REDFORD Actor; director; conservationist ELENA RIOS, M.D. President and CEO, National Hispanic Medical Association LAURANCE ROCKEFELLER Conservationist TOM ROUSH, M.D. Private investor; environmental activist WILLIAM H. SCHLESINGER, PH.D. President Emeritus, the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies GERALD TORRES Professor of Environmental Justice, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Yale Law School DAVID VLADECK A. B. Chettle Jr., Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center DAVID F. WELCH, PH.D. Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Infinera Corporation ERIC WEPSIC** Managing Director, The D. E. Shaw Group GEORGE M. WOODWELL, PH.D. NRDC Distinguished Scientist; Founder, Director Emeritus, Woods Hole Research Center DAN YATES Executive Chairman, Dandelion Geothermal *Retired from Board in Dec. 2020/ Current Honorary Trustee **Retired from Board in Dec. 2020

NRDC HONORARY TRUSTEES

OFFICERS

DEAN ABRAHAMSON, M.D., PH.D. Professor Emeritus, Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota

SHELLY B. MALKIN Artist; conservationist

CHAIR

DANIEL PAULY, PH.D. Professor of Fisheries and Zoology

TREASURER

CRUZ REYNOSO Professor of Law, UC Davis

PRESIDENT & CHIEF COUNSEL

JOHN R. ROBINSON* President, Jonathan Rose Companies LLC

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

FRANCES BEINECKE President Emerita, NRDC 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

Kathleen Welch Mary P. Moran Mitch Bernard Veronica Foo

JONATHAN F. P. ROSE President, Jonathan Rose Companies LLC

CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER Jennifer Bernstein

CHRISTINE H. RUSSELL, PH.D. Environmentalist; foundation director

ROBERT J. FISHER Director, Gap Inc.

Crystal Frierson

ASSISTANT SECRETARIES

JAMES GUSTAVE SPETH Professor of Law, Vermont Law School; Distinguished Senior Fellow, Demos

CHARLES E. KOOB Partner, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, LLP

SECRETARY

Krista McManus Amanda Ng

MAX STONE Managing Director, The D. E. Shaw Group

PHILIP B. KORSANT Member, Long Light Capital, LLC

JAMES TAYLOR Singer/songwriter

RUBEN KRAIEM Senior Partner, Covington and Burling, LLP

FREDERICK A. TERRY, JR. Senior Counsel, Sullivan & Cromwell THOMAS A. TROYER Member, Caplin & Drysdale

BURKS B. LAPHAM Environmentalist

Made with 100% certified Renewable energy. Printed on 100% recycled Paper with vegetable-based inks.

ELIZABETH R. WIATT Environmentalist; Co-Founder, NRDC Los Angeles Leadership Council

MAYA LIN Artist/Designer

*Passed away Nov. 2020

NEW YORK (HQ)

SAN FRANCISCO

20 North Wacker Drive Suite 1600 Chicago, IL 60606

111 Sutter Street 21st Floor San Francisco, CA 94104

212.727.2700

312.663.9900

415.875.6100

WASHINGTON, D.C.

LEARN MORE AT NRDC.ORG.

MIDWEST

40 West 20 th Street 11th Floor New York, NY 10011

1152 15th Street NW Suite 300 Washington, D.C. 20005 202.289.6868

NORTHERN ROCKIES

317 East Mendenhall Street Suites D and E Bozeman, MT 59715 406.556.9300

SANTA MONICA

1314 Second Street Santa Monica, CA 90401 310.434.2300

BEIJING

Taikang Financial Tower 17th Floor, Suite 1706 No. 38 Dong San Huan Bei Road Chaoyang District Beijing, China 100026 86.10.5927.0688

CHARITY NAVIGATOR AWARDS NRDC ITS 4-STAR RATING. NRDC GETS TOP RATINGS FROM CHARITY WATCH. CITED BY CNBC IN 2015 AS ONE OF THE TOP 10 CHARITIES CHANGING THE WORLD.