Overview The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is the nation's most effective environmental action organization. We use law, science, and the support of more than 3 million members and online activists to protect the planet's wildlife and wild places and to ensure a safe and healthy environment for all living things. NRDC was founded in 1970 and our staff helped write some of America's bedrock environmental laws; our marine mammal cases and campaigns have played a major role in shaping current policy on whale and dolphin conservation in the United States and internationally. Today, our staff of more than 500 lawyers, scientists, economists, policy and communications experts, and others, work out of offices in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Bozeman, Monta