Posted by Frances Beinecke in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
I still remember my first visit to a national park. I was nine years old, and my family traveled to the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. For a child from Northern New Jersey, it was a revelation. I was stunned by...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
Climate Week has begun, and I am already inspired by the sense of momentum. From the U.N. Secretary General's Summit on Climate Change on Tuesday to the G20 Summit in Pittsburg at the end of the week, world leaders are...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Like many Americans in summertime, I escaped the city this August and sought refuge in the natural world. For me, it was the shady woods and cool mountain lakes of the Adirondacks, but thanks to our nation's long history of...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Having recently returned from the extensive tar sands oil fields of Alberta, I was alarmed to learn that our State Department just approved a new pipeline for funneling tar sands fuel straight into the U.S. Midwest. This decision locks us...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
President Obama heads Saturday to Yellowstone National Park, where he and his family join the millions of Americans who thrill each year to the sulfureous steam of Old Faithful, the wild domains of bison and elk and the summer splendor...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
Most Americans recognize that our love affair with the automobile--and the oil addiction that comes with it--has implications for our foreign policy and military commitments in the Middle East. What is less well understood are the environmental and human consequences...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
Last Friday, two intrepid explorers finished their trek across some of Greenland's most remote territory. The travelers, Larry Lunt, a member of NRDC's Global Leadership Council, and Alain Hubert, the founder of the International Polar Foundation, set out on this...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Reviving the World's Oceans , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
It's been a hard week for polar bears. Last Wednesday, the New York Times reported that scientists and officials from the five Arctic nations concluded that climate change is "the most important long-term threat" to the bears. Now the U.S....
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
NRDC Trustee Robert Redford has received the new LEAF award from Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment. The award honors Lifetime Environmental Achievement in the Fine Arts, and I think Redford is great inaugural recipient. Robert Redford has been...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
People often ask me these days what it is like to advocate for environmental protections under the Obama administration. My answer is simple: it is a tremendous relief. It has only been six weeks since President Obama took office, but...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Reviving the World's Oceans , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Visiting a gray whale nursery in Laguna San Ignacio, Baja, California last week reminded me of one of the fundamental truths about environmental advocacy: it is great to win victories, but then you have to secure them for the long-term....
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Reviving the World's Oceans , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
I spend most of my working hours sitting in meetings in office buildings. But over the past few days, I came face to face with what those meetings can achieve: wild baby gray whales, whales whose last unspoiled nursery was...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
Last month, NRDC Trustee Robert Redford boldly took a stand against the Bush administration's cynical efforts to take Utah landscapes out of public ownership and auction them off to private industry. Redford met with almost uniform praise for championing these...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy
I welcome the news that President-elect Obama has appointed Senator Ken Salazar at the Secretary of the Interior. After years of corruption and corporate dominance at the Interior Department, we desperately need to change the way America's national parks, public...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
I thought I couldn't be shocked any more. After all, the past eight years have taught me that despite the availability of clean energy technology, the Bush administration will always place oil and gas drilling above all other options. But...
