Founded in 1970, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a major national environmental organization active in most areas of concern to environmentalists and conservationists. It boasts a membership of 500,000 nationwide and had an annual budget in 2001 of nearly $41 million dollars. These resources are employed in the organization's quest to use science and law to create "a world in which human beings live in harmony with our environment." NRDC seeks a sustainable society and believes that economic growth can continue only if it does not destroy the natural resources that fuel it. NRDC's stated goals include access to pure air and water and safe food for every human being. NRDC's philosophy is based increasingly on a belief in the inherent sanctity of the natural environment. As its mission statement proclaims, NRDC ultimately "strives to help create a new way of life for humankind...