Posted by Frances Beinecke in Curbing Pollution , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
High over the Gulf of Mexico, I looked down in horror and sadness Wednesday at the site of the massive BP oil spill. Clear blue waters were streaked with rivers of crude oil, a thick brown stew of petroleum toxics...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Curbing Pollution , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
As Senators Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman get closer to introducing their clean energy and climate bill next week, there has been a lot of speculation about whether it will displace the EPA’s and the states’ authority to regulate global warming...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Climate change is already having "pervasive, wide-ranging" effects on "nearly every aspect of our society," a task force representing more than 20 federal agencies reported Tuesday. "These impacts will influence how and where we live and work as well as...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Curbing Pollution , Moving Beyond Oil
Tomorrow night I have the honor of introducing Bobby Kennedy Jr. at a free event open to the public in New York City. Bobby will be talking about "Our Environmental Future," and I invite you to join us for an...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil
Tomorrow night NRDC will do something it has never done before: give out the inaugural Growing Green Awards to leaders in the sustainable food movement. Selected by a panel chaired by Michael Pollan, the best-selling author of the Omnivore's Dilemma,...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment
Over the past year, I have noticed a disturbing trend. More and more people approach me to say that they or someone they love has dangerously high levels of mercury in their system. When actor Jeremy Piven recently bowed out...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Curbing Pollution , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Tomorrow President Obama is traveling to Canada. Most American presidents head to Ottawa on their first state visits, using the trip to our northern neighbor as an easy transition to the world stage. But this time, in addition to the...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment
President Obama has deftly used his time in office to make bold statements on everything from Guantanamo to global warming. In two weeks, he will have another opportunity to send a message to the world that the United States is...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Solving Global Warming
Americans have been assaulted on the airwaves with ads about so-called "clean coal." What happened in East Tennessee, where a breach of a coal ash pond at a power plant send a billion gallons of toxic sludge into nearby communities,...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency registered its discontent with NRDC. Why? Because it claims we are overstepping by asking a public agency to share more public information. Maybe you don’t view the behavior of honeybees as a matter of...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably
In the past week, there have been a lot of news reports and blog chatter about BPA, also known as bisphenol-A. Finally, government agencies, consumers, and manufacturers are starting to take this toxin seriously. But BPA is only one member...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Curbing Pollution , Solving Global Warming
Many of the issues we work on take decades to get the results we want. But at other times, things begin to fall into place with surprising speed. That’s happening now with dirty coal.Over the past year, one after another...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Curbing Pollution , Green Enterprise , Solving Global Warming
I am in Washington today for meetings. The weather is alright--it’s raining, but warm, probably in the mid-fifties. The air is harder to read, however. As I walked along the sidewalk, I couldn’t tell if I was breathing Republican air...
