environment
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Study Finds Air Pollution Disproportionately Affects the Health of Black People in California’s Bay Area
I’m just kind of tired of Black people being disproportionately affected by things, y’all. It’s never for anything good. It’s never anything like “Black people are disproportionately more likely to find 20 bucks on the sidewalk.” Instead, it tends to be situations like the one in Oakland, Calif., where a recent study found that Black…
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Sen. Duckworth Introduces Bill Addressing Environmental Racism
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) introduced a bill Thursday that aims to provide health equity and climate justice for underserved communities and communities of color that have historically been impacted by environmental injustices. The Environmental Justice for All Act acknowledges that communities of color face public health challenges that make them much more susceptible to…
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#Flint: Judge Denies Former Michigan Governor Request to Dismiss Charges Regarding the Flint Water Crisis
Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is currently facing charges for his role in the ongoing Flint water crisis. A request by Snyder’s legal team to have those charges dismissed was rejected by a judge on Thursday. According to the Associated Press, Snyder’s legal team attempted to get the charges dismissed on a technicality, arguing that since…
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Michael Regan Confirmed as 1st Black Man to Lead Environmental Protection Agency
On Wednesday, the Senate confirmed President Joe Biden’s pick for the next Environmental Protection Agency chief administrator, Michael Regan, making him the first Black man to lead the agency in its 50 years of existence. Coming on the heels of a Trump administration that treated science like it was merely a suggestion—a Tinder recommendation conservatives…
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Black Farmers Finally Get Plentiful Harvest as COVID-19 Bill Includes $5 Billion in Relief
It’s a miracle that Black farmers have made it this long when you consider that for over 100 years, they’ve faced discrimination from the US Department of Agriculture and were largely excluded from federal loans and farm improvement initiatives. But the enduring seeds of hard work and faith have finally come to bloom, as the…
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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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From No Power to Unaffordable Power: Texas Households Receive Electric Bills as High as $10,000 Due to Snowstorm
Texas is still recovering from the snowstorm that caused the state’s power grid to collapse and left millions without electricity during freezing weather. For days, millions of Texans lived without power, sufficient warmth, accessible roads or empathy from certain elected officials. (I’m looking at you Sen. Ted Cruz and former Colorado City Mayor Tim Boyd.)…
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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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Team Trump Threatens to Yank Billions in Fed Cash From California for Not Cutting Air Pollution—but Won’t Let the State Cut Air Pollution
Does Donald Trump want California to battle air pollution, or not? That’s a question lawmakers there likely have on their minds with the Trump administration’s latest salvo against the politically liberal state. Last week, Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency and Transportation Department revoked California’s right to set higher emissions standards in the state’s longstanding bid to…