Make Green Waves

NRDC efforts resulted in some historic wins for the Earth’s people, animals, and ecosystems this year. We’re pumped and excited to share. After all, these victories are in large part thanks to supporters like you. 

From climate to beloved animals, here are five highlights of what we accomplished together:

1. African Elephants: Protected. 

By winning legislation that helped shut down California’s ivory market, we protected African Elephants from future poaching. California was the third state in the nation to ban ivory sales. 

2. Fossil Fuels: Regulated.

In a significant step for climate and a clean energy future, we succeeded in securing more regulation on dirty fossil fuels from power plants through the Obama administration’s introduction of the clean power plan. 

3. Keystone XL: Rejected. 

This win was big. 8 years in the making big. For almost a decade, NRDC fought the Keystone XL pipeline. President Obama rejected it this November. 

4. Marine Mammals: Saved. 

The Navy’s use of deadly sonar and explosives was injuring, impairing, and killing dolphins and whales. We won a federal court victory protecting their lives and habitats.

5. Global Climate Action: Achieved. 

This December at COP21, the climate conference in Paris, we helped convince 195 nations to commit to a climate agreement. 

There are more! Find out about other NRDC wins for the environment in 2015 here. 

When you drop that used white paper cup into the bin next to the door at a Starbucks, have you done your part to save the planet? Starbucks has long hoped that you would think so. After all, there’s no better way to attract an affluent, eco-conscious clientele than to convince customers that your disposable product is “renewable.”

So, in 2008 the coffee company announced that by 2015 it would offer recycling at all company-operated branches. That seemed like the least that Starbucks – which sells 4 billion disposable cups a year – could do. The coffee giant has the financial wherewithal to install gold-plated recycling bins in all of its stores, if it chose to do so.

Yet last week, Starbucks said in its 2013 Global Responsibility Report that it wasn’t going to meet its recycling goals in 2015 – if ever. In fact, five years into its program, the company had only managed to implement customer recycling at 39 percent of its company-operated stores.

What went wrong? The failure derives less from Starbucks’ lack of commitment than to the almost totemic belief that just because something can be recycled means it can be recycled economically. Put differently: Good intentions don’t turn used Starbucks cups into new ones – profit motives do. And for now, there’s no money in it.

More: Why Starbucks Won’t Recycle Your Cup - Bloomberg View

This Abandoned Puppy With A Deformity ‘Didn’t Give Up,’ And Now She Has A Fresh Start

When an abandoned puppy needed dire medical attention, this group was bent on giving her a life she was always meant to have.

Staff at the Villalobos Rescue Center, in New Orleans — where the TV show “Pit Bulls and Parolees” is set — received an alarming call last spring. They were told that a puppy was found, dumped in a sugar cane field outside the city. Tia Torres, a member of the rescue team, set out to save the dog, and was shocked by what she saw.