The Natural Resources Defense Council is a pro-environmental protection nonprofit. It works “to protect wildlife and wild places and to ensure a healthy environment for all life on earth,” according to its website.
The website offers information on a number of key environmental issues, including climate change, clean energy, reviving oceans, protecting the Great Lakes from Asian carp, reintroduction of wolves in the western United States and so on. The group also does independent research on environmental policy questions and makes policy recommendations. The affiliated NRDC Action Fund lobbies Congress on issues pertaining to the environment.
The group has a site for younger viewers as well: The Green Squad, which contains tips for kids on making their schools greener.
In 2008, 85 percent of the NRDC’s funding came from membership dues and individual contributions, while just 12 percent came from foundations. For that year, it claimed 1.3 million “members and online activists.”
Comments: The NRDC makes no secret of its pro-environmental protection stance. Reports and fact sheets often contain solid research, but, like materials from other advocacy groups, generally don’t include other perspectives.
Political Leanings: Liberal