Description

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An illustrated celebration of NRDC’s 50-year battle to safeguard the planet, from the Clean Air Act to the Clean Power Plan

In 1970, a group of young lawyers launched a new kind of organization and helped secure the country’s bedrock environmental laws. Ever since, the Natural Resources Defense Council has harnessed its legal and scientific expertise to become one of the fiercest protectors of public health and the environment. In this recounting of NRDC’s 50-year history, cofounder John Adams tells the ongoing story about fighting the world’s most powerful polluters—and winning.

Alongside archival photography and insider accounts, Adams celebrates a half century of victories, everything from saving whales to getting lead pipes out of Flint, Michigan, to protecting treasured landscapes, like Alaska’s Katmai National Park & Preserve (pictured). But the book is also a road map for the future, offering hard-won lessons on how to tackle problems that lie at the intersection of science and society. Today, as humanity faces the climate crisis, the stakes have never been higher nor the solutions more complex—which is why NRDC remains uniquely positioned as the earth’s best defense.

About the Author

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John H. Adams cofounded NRDC—the nation’s first environmental advocacy group—in 1970, serving as the organization’s first executive director and later as its president until 2006. Throughout his career, Adams has received various awards, including the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom. Adams is currently the chair of the board of the Open Space Institute and sits on the boards of numerous environmental organizations, including NRDC.

George Black is a writer specializing in the environment and international affairs. In his 35-year career as a journalist, Black has contributed to a wide range of publications and television news, including The New Yorker, The Nation, BBC, and PBS. He also served as the executive editor of NRDC’s onEarth magazine from 2004 to 2014. Black is the author of several books, the latest of which, Empire of the Shadows: The Epic Story of Yellowstone, was a finalist for the 2013 Los Angeles Times Book Prize.