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Frances Beinecke, President of NRDC, New York City

Frances Beinecke
I am the president of NRDC. I started here in 1973, just a few years after John Adams and a handful of other wildly dedicated people founded this organization. Back then, there were about a dozen people in the country practicing environmental law, and most of them worked at NRDC. The whole concept of writing laws and public policy to protect the Earth was brand new, and it was thrilling to be a part of it at that early point.

I came to NRDC with a background in environmental studies and a strong desire to help protect the Northeastern forests and wild Western landscapes I loved so much. I started as an intern working to preserve forests through careful land use planning. But when the 1970s oil crisis unleashed a drive to open the Atlantic Ocean to oil and gas drilling, I advocated for stronger safeguards for marine life. I left NRDC for a few years when my three daughters were young, and I came back as the group’s first executive director. In 2006, I became president, and I remain honored and awed to lead this remarkable institution.

And I love my job. First of all, I get to work with some of the best minds in the business. And second, I love that NRDC is all about finding solutions. I am a pragmatic person and an optimist, and I believe that most of the challenges facing the Earth can be solved with the right combination of passion, policy, and technology. With this job, I get to see many of those solutions firsthand--from wind farms off the coast of Denmark to marine reserves around California’s Channel Islands to green buildings in China--and work to bring them to more landscapes and more people.

Recent Posts

New Draft Fracking Rules Give Industry a Free Pass

Posted May 17, 2013 by Frances Beinecke in Health and the Environment

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When I talk to people who live near fracking operations, they often ask me the same question: “What is this doing to my drinking water?” Homeowners have shown me jugs of water from their kitchen sinks that look like rusty...continued

White House Arctic Strategy Is Clear in Drilling Goals but Not Conservation Goals

Posted May 16, 2013 by Frances Beinecke in Reviving the World's Oceans, Solving Global Warming

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As Secretary of State John Kerry headed to the Arctic Council meetings in Kiruna, Sweden this week, he described the way melting ice is altering life in the Arctic. “Our warming planet means the Arctic's ecosystem is experiencing significant, rapid...continued

NRDC Advocate Named "Hero of the Seas" for Creating Underwater Parks

Posted May 15, 2013 by Frances Beinecke in Reviving the World's Oceans

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Imagine if you had a chance to hold the pen when the boundaries of Yosemite National Park were drawn. Or imagine if you were able to protect mountain goats and big horn sheep by establishing Glacier National Park. In a...continued

As Arctic Council Gathers, Kerry Has Opportunity to Push for Ocean Conservation

Posted May 14, 2013 by Frances Beinecke in Reviving the World's Oceans, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places, Solving Global Warming

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Just two decades ago, most of the Arctic Ocean was covered in ice all year long. But climate change has caused the Arctic to heat up twice as fast as the rest of the planet, and the region is rapidly...continued

Energy Efficiency Helps India Save Money and Breathe Easier

Posted April 25, 2013 by Frances Beinecke in Green Enterprise, Health and the Environment, Solving Global Warming

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Rolling blackouts plagued India last summer. More than 700 million people were left without power for hours a day.  The outages became routine but troublesome. Imagine if you were in the middle of a business meeting when the power cut...continued

New Report Offers Sound Principles for Managing the Arctic, Now We Need Action

Posted April 23, 2013 by Frances Beinecke in Reviving the World's Oceans, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places, Solving Global Warming

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The Arctic is changing rapidly. Rising temperatures are heating the region twice as fast as the rest of the planet, and scientists predict the Arctic will be ice-free in our lifetime. Many Alaska residents are scrambling to adjust. Native Alaskan...continued

Earth Day 2013: Say No to KXL Tar Sands Pipeline

Posted April 22, 2013 by Frances Beinecke in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming

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Today is Earth Day and, barring any last-minute change, it's also the final day the public can send the State Department our comments on the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.              Here's mine:            This is a plan to pipe some...continued

Three Years Later: Act on the Lessons of BP Disaster

Posted April 17, 2013 by Frances Beinecke in Curbing Pollution, Moving Beyond Oil, U.S. Law and Policy

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This Saturday marks the third anniversary of the BP blowout that killed 11 men aboard the Deepwater Horizon and sent some 170 million gallons of toxic crude oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, in what President Obama called the...continued

Indian City Leads the Way on Protecting People from Extreme Heat of Climate Change

Posted April 16, 2013 by Frances Beinecke in Health and the Environment

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I arrived in India this week just as temperatures have started to climb. I have experienced my share of blistering heat waves in New York City, but those hot sticky days pale in comparison to summer in Western India. The...continued

Five Reasons to Support Gina McCarthy's Nomination to Lead the EPA

Posted April 11, 2013 by Frances Beinecke in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment

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If your child has asthma or if your parent suffers from heart disease or if you are one of the millions of Americans who value clean air, then the Senate confirmation hearing for Gina McCarthy on Thursday will be of...continued

How the New Interior Secretary Can Protect the Public's Land for Generations

Posted April 10, 2013 by Frances Beinecke in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places

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We applaud the Senate for confirming Sally Jewell as the new Secretary of the Interior. Jewell brings a strong business background and a personal conservation ethic to the position. We look forward to working with her as she undertakes the...continued

Engaging the Public Builds Collaboration and Communities

Posted April 8, 2013 by Frances Beinecke in U.S. Law and Policy

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When the CSX Corp. wanted to relocate an existing transportation hub in downtown Baltimore to Elkridge, Maryland, it triggered a federal environmental review to assess the impact that a new 24/7 operation visited by 300 trucks a day would have...continued

Pioneers in Sustainable Food Show We Can Eat Well and Protect Environment

Posted April 4, 2013 by Frances Beinecke in Green Enterprise, Health and the Environment, Living Sustainably

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Today NRDC announced the winners of the 2013 Growing Green Awards. These awards celebrate the farmers, business owners, and bold thinkers who are transforming America’s food system. Each one of them has pioneered ways to provide food that nourishes our...continued

After Shell Fiasco, Oil Companies Acknowledge Hazards of Arctic Drilling

Posted March 29, 2013 by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil, Reviving the World's Oceans

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Shell Oil announced it will suspend its Arctic Ocean drilling program until at least 2014. But it turns out that after you ground a drilling rig, leak oil into the water, and crush your emergency response equipment, you don’t get...continued

Senate Spurns Bid to Block Carbon Standards

Posted March 25, 2013 by Frances Beinecke in Solving Global Warming, U.S. Law and Policy

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The U.S. Senate cast key votes on the fiscal 2014 budget resolution Friday that sent a clear message on climate change: we won't stand in the way of executive action to cut the carbon pollution from our nation's power plants....continued

About

Switchboard is the staff blog of the Natural Resources Defense Council, the nation’s most effective environmental group. For more about our work, including in-depth policy documents, action alerts and ways you can contribute, visit NRDC.org.

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