Opening of e-Activism center at NRDC in Santa Monica

January 22, 2004

"NRDC was founded 34 years ago as a law firm to defend our air, water and open space. Today, it's an international environmental advocacy group that operates in courts, in legislatures and, increasingly, on a grassroots level coordinating citizen action to protect our planet.

Grassroosts political action is being revolutionized by the internet, and NRDC has been at the cutting edge from the beginning. With its campaign to save the last breeding ground of the California gray whale, NRDC began reaching out to people online; organizing boycotts, protests, and letter writing campaigns, and raising the money needed to take on one of the world's largest corporations.

Since then, e-activism has become critical to NRDC's mission -- helping us achieve some of our biggest victories. Like stopping the Bush administration's oil-drilling scheme in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; preventing the Navy from blasting deadly LFA sonar in over 75% of the world's oceans; and blocking an anti-environmental energy bill that rewarded big polluters with billions in taxpayer subsidies.

Each of those victories happened; in large part, because NRDC was able to reach out to an army of e-activists who put their names and/or their dollars on the line to defend our natural heritage.

Over the last three years, nearly 500,000 NRDC online activists have sent 5,000,000 messages to public and corporate officials, helping again and again to tip the balance in favor of the environment. We think that's just the beginning.

The e-activism zone has four high-speed internet terminals linked to NRDC's activist network. It's meant to help visitors learn about environmental issues of immediate concern, and to influence public debate instantly by sending messages to government and corporate officials.

For the thousands of young people who'll visit this building each year, I hope it will be the start of a lifetime of civic involvement.

Thank you."