By Basav Sen, Foreign Policy In Focus
This was no mere “natural” disaster. The impacts of Hurricane Maria were to a large extent attributable to inequalities of race, income and — critically — access to political power.
By Kenya Downs, Grist
So in response to the Koch brothers’ attempt to sway their flocks, Wilson and others affiliated with black churches in Virginia have channeled their outrage into a new calling: climate advocacy. For Wilson, environmentalism has become a biblical mission.
By Mark Hand, Climate Progress
Residents of a city along Colorado’s Front Range are fighting the construction of a major oil and gas drilling site set to be completed next year near a public school attended mostly by low-income students of color.
By Yessenia Funes, Grist
Simply put, the environmental sciences have a diversity problem, and it’s not just costing us eureka moments like Burchard’s. After all, people of color are more likely to live in places with dirty air and are, thus, more often at risk from health problems linked to polluting industries and climate change. Yet they’re often getting overlooked.
By Samantha Harvey, Earth Island Journal
Perhaps one gift the Trump administration has given us is the final lifting of this veil — just in case there was any lingering faith that authority still meant something and could be depended on. Now we no longer need suspect. Benefit of the doubt is over — it’s all a façade, a sham, a bully’s blow-horn silencing a people’s wisdom. So now we know. What we do with this knowledge holds the key to the future.
By Masai Andrews, YES! magazine
As more Americans have taken to the sharing economy to bypass conventional resource consumption, it seems charitable donations may be next on the list. New donation alternatives, such as Safety Pin Box, have proven that time-tested charity models are becoming outdated. The impact of Harvey will undoubtedly be felt for many years to come, but the quick thinking of Black women activists has already helped to ease the burden for thousands of households—and counting.
By Raj Mankad, Grist
Juan Parras gives one hell of a tour of Houston’s east side. He’s charming and funny. Wearing a beret, he strikes an old-world look, like he might lead you to a cafe on a plaza. He doesn’t charge a fee for his services. After all, you’re on a “toxic tour,” and Parras is on a mission.
By Nora Belblidia, Uneven Earth
Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) is behind both the Bayou Bridge project and the more infamous DAPL, but the parallels run deeper than a mutual stakeholder. Just like in DAPL, those who resist the project are drawing connections between past wrongdoings, conditions today, and a future climate.
By Caylinn Klingbell, Future Perfect
In Nova Scotia, minority and low-income communities are disproportionately located near degraded environments. An ongoing research project raises awareness of the issue, while also mobilizing affected residents to action.
By William Fowler, Waging Nonviolence
Thousands of protesters from across the Northeast came to Albany, New York on Saturday to block a “bomb train” transporting fracked oil and exposing communities along its path to major risks of derailment, oil spillage and explosion.