How was the Natural Resources Defense Council formed?

The Natural Resources Defense Council, referred to as NRDC, is a non-profit organization with 300 scientists, lawyers and environmental experts dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. The Natural Resources Defense Council has 1.2 million members who support it and is one of the most influential environmental organizations in the United States. Its offices in the United States are located in New York, Washington, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and its headquarters is in New York.

The Natural Resources Defense Council was originally developed by a public interest law firm. In 1970, the United States was still in the era of industrialization and pollution was very serious. At that time, several environmental public interest lawyers founded a public interest environmental law firm to initiate litigation on behalf of the public whose environmental rights had been violated. As their careers expanded, lawyers realized that court proceedings needed to be based on sound science. In this way, the Natural Resources Defense Council has developed into an environmental organization composed of lawyers, scientists, and experts dedicated to protecting public health, natural resources, and the global environment.

The main projects of the Natural Resources Defense Council include: controlling global warming; saving endangered wildlife; creating clean energy for the future; revitalizing the world's oceans; toxic chemicals and human health; and accelerating the greening of China.

The Natural Resources Defense Council is committed to protecting public health and the environment and solving global environmental problems. The mission of the Natural Resources Council is to: Defend the Earth—its people, plants, and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends; Establish sustainability and kindness to the environment as core ethical imperatives in human society; Promote human rights for all The right to have a voice in decisions that affect the environment. The Natural Resources Council has launched advocacy in the United States to demand higher environmental standards and promote legislation in areas such as water pollution, air emission standards and environmental efficiency. The committee is funded by membership donations, public fundraising, and private foundation grants. Activities have been carried out in China, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Peru, Russia and other countries.

Since 1970, the Natural Resources Defense Council has played a major role in most environmental protection efforts in the United States. It has helped the United States’ comprehensive national acid rain control plan, improve and perfect the U.S. federal and state governments’ A public participation system for environmental protection and the development of national energy efficiency standards for electrical appliances and equipment.

The Natural Resources Defense Council helps the United States formulate most of the norms governing citizen participation in environmental decision-making, public access to environmental information, and the enforcement of environmental laws. Its experts played a useful role in the drafting process of the Aarhus Convention, the main international treaty for public participation in environmental protection. By submitting suggestions to the State Environmental Protection Administration such as extending the time for soliciting public comments and removing the limit on the number of people in hearings, the Natural Resources Defense Council has helped make up for deficiencies in the project review provisions under the public participation system for environmental impact assessments. The Natural Resources Defense Council also works with local partners to provide training to hundreds of environmentalists, journalists, and government officials on the implementation of domestic and international environmental laws and public participation.

The Natural Resources Defense Council of the United States is also committed to solving global environmental problems and has helped prepare many international treaties on issues such as public participation in environmental protection, global warming, toxic pesticides, etc.; it has proposed to Russia and Kazakhstan Advice on how to deal with nuclear waste and save energy; work with local partners to protect pristine territories in Latin America.

The work of the Natural Resources Defense Council in mainland China began in 1997. In 2006, the Natural Resources Defense Council officially established an office in China. In the field of environmental protection in China, the work of the Natural Resources Defense Council in China covers environmental public participation, NGO capacity building, environmental law and environmental litigation, energy efficiency, clean energy, green buildings, sustainable transportation, and public health. Among these areas, NRDC supports promoting the generation of cleaner energy, increasing the energy efficiency of buildings, and reducing the environmental impact of transportation. Promote the establishment of environmental laws and public participation systems by developing demonstration projects to catalyze broader energy policy advocacy. Its projects in China include the China Agenda 21 Management Center Demonstration Office Building, clean energy, sustainable transportation, environmental law and public participation.

China Agenda 21 Management Center Demonstration Office Building: Build an office with an area of ??130,000 square feet, which can accommodate the China Agenda 21 Management Center and other government departments engaged in sustainable development. The house was built to high standards of energy and water conservation and has passed the U.S. Green Building Assessment Standard System certification.

Clean energy: Cooperate with the Ministry of Construction to develop national energy-saving standards and residential building standards; actively promote the solution of China's energy problems, especially promoting clean coal technology and carbon recovery and storage.

Sustainable transportation: Work with local partners to promote the demonstration and commercialization of fuel cell vehicles in China.

Environmental Law and Public Participation: Cooperate with China’s environmental NGOs, lawyers and government to improve and implement environmental laws through public participation, public interest litigation and public education. The work of the Natural Resources Defense Council includes working with Chinese partners to draft national norms for public participation in environmental decision-making, capacity-building training for NGOs, lawyers, judges and government officials, and the public, and publishing newsletters on different topics around environmental law and public participation. Carry out collaborative research. As part of the project, they established a partnership with the Environmental Resources Law Research and Service Center of China University of Political Science and Law, with *** providing advice on the drafting of the "Measures for Public Participation in Environmental Protection" and serving as lawyers in environmental law and public interest litigation. , judges, NGOs, etc., and jointly conducted research on the difficulties encountered in resolving environmental disputes. In addition, the China Office of the Natural Resources Defense Council cooperated with the China Environmental Culture Promotion Association to establish the "Environmental Law Public Research Network" (www?greenlaw?org?cn) in 2007 to help the public interpret domestic laws and regulations related to environmental protection, and Introducing foreign legal practices not only serves as a window, but also serves as a bridge to allow more people to understand the rights and obligations granted to them by law.

The Natural Resources Defense Council also pays attention to the environmental pollution situation in the supply chain of multinational companies in China, helping companies and their users to improve environmental behavior from the source, thereby promoting global consumers to establish awareness of environmental responsibility and adopt it in their daily lives. Fulfill environmental responsibility in consumption activities.

In promoting emerging urban planning, the Natural Resources Defense Council of the United States has introduced the concept of "rational urban development" to carry out rational and sustainable planning for urban infrastructure, such as transportation, drainage, building layout and other factors.