Video:Natural Resources Defense Council

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Transcript:Natural Resources Defense Council

Profile of the Natural Resources Defense Council

The Natural Resources Defense Council, or NRDC, is an environmental action organization that consists of 350 lawyers, scientists, and other professionals, and commands a membership of about 1.3 million people. The NRDC uses the law, science, and their wide network of members and activists to protect wildlife and habitats around the globe. The issues the NRDC focuses on include: curbing global warming, creating clean energy, preserving wildlands, restoring ocean habitats, stopping the spread of toxic chemicals, and working towards greener living in China. NRDC members can use the organization's online action center to not only identify the environmental problems that most interest them, but to verbalize their concern with their elected officials. The NRDC's e-activism approach empowers members to take action by making it easy for them to compose and send messages to their senators and representatives on key issues.

Origin of the Natural Resources Defense Council

The NRDC was founded in 1970, and in 1971, the NRDC won the passage of the Clean Air Act, powerful legislation that today enables US citizens to sue polluters directly for the damages they cause. During the 1970's, the NRDC contributed to actions that sought alternatives to offshore drilling, improved mass transit, phased-out the use of leaded gasoline, insisted on land-use planning to help combat water pollution, removed ozone-depleting CFCs from aerosol cans, and fought acid rain. The list of the NRDC's accomplishments continued during the 1980's and 1990's. The organization helped to win federal protection for 100 million acres of land in Alaska, worked to improve the Endangered Species Act, helped pass legislation that requires the Pentagon to report on the environmental consequences of nuclear war, and forged an international treaty to save the ozone layer.

Current NRDC Projects

More recently, the NRDC has secured protection for the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia, halted oil exploration in public lands adjacent to Arches National Park in Utah, and fought tirelessly to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from the oil industry's penchant for drilling there. 83.2% of the NRDC's expenses are aimed towards conservation projects. The website is nrdc.org and you will also find NRDC on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. The NRDC's headquarters are in New York.

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