Check out the new NRDC BioGems website at www.savebiogems.org.

It is a next step in the evolution of NRDC's advocacy.

In 1970, NRDC was founded as a public interest law firm; and over the last 38 years, we have continued to expand and refine our capacity to engage in the full range of arenas and fora necessary to achieve our mission of protecting the planet.  One key challenge now is how can be most effective in a globalized world where we have little time left to preserve the natural world - essential to our own well-being and survival.

It was during the campaign to save Laguna San Ignacio in the late 1990s that NRDC really began to use the internet as an advocacy tool.  Located on the Pacific coast of the Baja Peninsula of Mexico, the lagoon is the last pristine nursery of the gray whale and an internationally-recognized, legally-protected natural area. Yet in 1995, Mitsubishi announced plans to build the one of the world's largest industrial saltworks right on shores of the laguna. 

Using our website, we were able to engage thousands of citizens to take action to stop Mitsubishi's plans. We made citizen electronic advocacy an important element of our multi-faceted effort.  With the internet, we are also able to cooperate effectively with dozens of institutions, organizations and individuals in Mexico, U.S., Europe, and Japan in opposing the saltworks scheme.

The Japan Times called the campaign to save Laguna San Ignacio a glimpse of how environmental battles would be fought in the 21st century where through the use of the Internet all of us can become engaged. In the end, more than a million messages were sent to Mitsubishi; and Mexican President Zedillo canceled the project in March 2000.  It was a victory for the whales and a demonstration of the new power of internet advocacy.

We decided to apply the lessons learned from this campaign to a dozen other special natural areas under threat in Americas where NRDC could make a difference - which we labeled "BioGems".  In March 2001, the BioGems Initiative was launched with the savebiogems.org website and the recruitment of our electronic activists. Over the years, I have been delighted to meet many people around the country who tell me are "BioGem Defenders".  There are now more than 400,000 of them; and they have sent more than 10 million messages to government leaders and corporate heads to protect more than 30 sites in the US, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America.  Our timeline of victories to date is worth taking a look at. 

Our new website reflects the changes we have been making in the Initiative over the last few years.  We began to focus more actions on "featured creatures" or "special species" which were associated with our BioGems - like the polar bears of the Arctic or the wolves of Yellowstone.  We have also begun to identify larger landscapes as "BioGems".  Finally, we are addressing not only immediate threats, but working for permanent protection of our areas or other measures to reduce pressures on them. 

Much thanks to all of the members of TeamBioGems from across NRDC, particularly our Web Department, who worked on the relaunch of the savebiogems website.  The website is designed to make it both easier for e-activists to take action and to keep abreast of developments in our various campaigns.  We hope you like it.  Let us know what you think.