Environmental Justice
Environmental Justice
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United Nations Human Rights Officials Release Report Calling for an End to the Environmental Racism of Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’
The more I learn about how horrific the nooks and crannies of this country are, the less I understand how anyone can proudly declare we’re the best in the world. If this country is best at anything, it’s managing to embed racism in just about every facet of American life, including the goddamn environment. A…
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Africa Is Experiencing Some of the Worst Climate Disasters, But the World Watches California Burn. America Needs to Lead on Climate Change
Editor’s Note: This story is being published as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalistic collaboration to strengthen coverage of the climate story. This summer, on my social media feeds, I’ve been watching the hellish pictures of California burning, of Louisiana being torn down by hurricanes, of extreme temperature changes hitting Colorado, as these…
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Meet the Black Woman Who Is the Brains Behind the Green New Deal
Rhiana Gunn-Wright is constantly figuring out how best to engage black people on environmental justice and crafting policy that empowers them against under-investment and structural racism. As she sees it, environmental justice is central to black liberation. But, as Gunn-Wright explained to me, issues like climate change aren’t explained to people in ways that relate…
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Harriet A. Washington's A Terrible Thing to Waste Injects a Dose of Hard Truth Into the Conversation About Black Lives
Harriet Washington’s 2007 tome, Medical Apartheid, not only outlined the pervasive use of medical experimentation on black Americans throughout history but circumscribed blacks’ credible distrust of the medical establishment. In fact, a large part of why J. Marion Sims’ statue was removed from New York’s Central Park more than a decade later was because of…
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How Ilhan Omar's Daughter Isra Hirsi Is Connecting the Fight Against Climate Change to Black Lives
Teen activists from Johannesburg to Los Angeles are striking today to demand the world take action on climate change. Among the organizers is Isra Hirsi, co-founder of the U.S. Youth Climate Strike and daughter of Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. As Vice writes in a recent profile of the 16-year-old organizer, Isra helped launch the U.S.…
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The Children of Philadelphia Have Been Attending Toxic Schools for Years. This Is a National Crisis
The children of Philadelphia are in dire need of our help. They are at the mercy of a man-made, ticking time bomb that is nearly inescapable. I’m talking about toxic schools. Conditions in Philadelphia schools have needed a remedy for many years. Lead, asbestos, mold and other toxins are far too common in our aging…
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Gullah-Geechee Community: Hear Us On Climate Change
ST. HELENA ISLAND, S.C.–Ed Atkins Jr., 68, is proud of his family tradition. He’s a third-generation fisherman and owner of Atkins Live Baits and Local Oysters, which was started by his mother and father. But Atkins is worried that the effect of climate change on the waters are hurting not only his business, but also…
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Oglala Sioux Tribe Tells South Dakota Governor ‘You Are Not Welcome’ in Dispute Over Right to Protest Keystone Pipeline
The Oglala Sioux Tribe has yanked the welcome mat right out from under South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s feet, basically telling her to stay off their lawn. In a letter to the Republican governor Thursday, Julian Bear Runner, president of the indigenous nation, told Noem she was no longer welcome on one of the largest…
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'A Gumbo of Unhealthiness': A New Report Reveals How Air Pollution Disproportionately Affects Black Americans
It’s been well documented that while climate change affects everyone, its impact is not evenly shared. In the U.S., black and Latinx communities have been disproportionately hit by environmental disasters like storms and flooding; and a number of recent reports have found even the air they breathe isn’t safe. A new report by the American…
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On Earth Day, Our Fight for Environmental Justice and Against the Trump EPA’s Toxic Agenda Continues
The Trump administration and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler have failed African-American communities. Earth Day is the ideal time to renew our commitment to ensure everyone has equal access to clean air and safe environments regardless of which zip code they live in. It is also a time to remember our history is rooted…