Henry Henderson's Blog
About
- Bio:
I was born in Granite City, Illinois, a steel town where the coke plant sits on property once farmed by my Great-Great Grandfather. Other family members came to work in the steel mill, drawn both by the jobs as a way out of mining coal, and by the strong union culture of the community. Nonetheless, the jobs were hard and the environment polluted. Now, most of those jobs are gone, but the legacy of pollution remains. I think the experience of growing up in that community has been the basis for my interest in law and the environment: providing a focus and training to address public policies, institutions and priorities that affect the health, safety and sustainability of people and their communities.
Prior to joining NRDC, I served as Assistant Attorney General for the State of Illinois, the founding Commissioner of Environment for the City of Chicago, and as a principal in an environmental and public policy consulting firm. I have also taught environmental law and policy at the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago.
- Roots in:
- The Celtic Diaspora, form the Scottish and Welsh sections, that somehow fetched up on the southern Illinois side of the Mississippi River in a steel and agricultural litoral.
- Favorite place:
- To quote Sun Ra: "Space is the Place."
- Why "environmentalism" matters:
- Environmentalism provides a practical, integrated perspective for understanding and acting to fix, preserve and improve the complex world we depend upon for our well being.
Recent Blog Posts
- The Value of Water (November 19, 2009)
- BP Slapdown: EPA really is back on the job! (October 22, 2009)
- Blue-Green Olympics: Chicago can still go for the gold standard (October 2, 2009)
- Water, Democracy and Citizen Engagement: New York Times reinforces why citizen participation is essential for the public health, safety and wellbeing (September 17, 2009)
- Fish Fence is a Shocking Failure: Is it time to zip up the Great Lakes? (September 7, 2009)
- You’re Not the King of Me: Midwest Gen Runs Afoul of the Clean Air Act (August 28, 2009)
- Coal Clunkers: The Post Looks at Chicago's Aging Coal Plants (August 19, 2009)
- Dangerous, Dirty, and Done for: Suits Should Help the Sun Set on Dirty Coal Plants in Chicago (July 28, 2009)
- Chicago River: From open sewer to crown jewel? (July 2, 2009)
- EPA Report Brings Pollution Dangers Home…Literally (June 30, 2009)
Read more in Henry Henderson's Archives→
- Henry Henderson
- Director, Midwest Program NRDC
- Chicago, Illinois