This is the fifth installment of a yearlong Capital B series on the country’s current Black migration, the most significant movement of Black people in the U.S. in 50 years. It was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Environmental and Epistemic Justice Initiative at Wake Forest University. Stephanie Roberson wasn’t expecting this phone call from […]
Environmental Justice
Posted inAir Pollution, Climate Change, Environmental Justice
At COP28, a Growing Sense of Alarm Over Air Pollution Crisis
This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. It is republished with permission. Sign up for their newsletter here. In one home video, Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah bops to a choreographed Beyoncé dance. In another, she looks at the camera, and her mom, and plants a big […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice
Black Louisianans Grapple With a Climate Change-Denying Governor-Elect
Every 100 minutes, a football field-sized piece of Louisianan land is swallowed by rising seas. But the state, the second-Blackest in America, recently elected a governor who says that climate change is a “hoax.” Just a year removed from Louisiana’s release of its first climate action plan, Black activists fear that Republican Gov.-elect Jeff Landry […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice
New Fed Report Outlines the Unequal Burden of Climate Change
Athens, Alabama, isn’t unique – and that’s the issue. Streetlights are nonexistent, homes aren’t connected to the city’s sewage lines, and streets are poorly maintained. But in the town, which is the third-fastest growing in Alabama, residents say this reality disproportionately impacts Black people, contributing to residents being expected to live shorter lives than 94% […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice
Why Upgrading the Nation’s Electric Grid Is a Racial Issue
Having grown up in Minnesota, the second-coldest state in the continental United States, Mia Brooks smiled at the thought of the year-round soggy Southern heat before moving to Texas. But as climate change makes summer more oppressive nationwide, it’s made Southern winters particularly more intense. Over the past two decades, the South’s winter and spring […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
Pollution Is Driving Today’s Reverse Great Migration
This is the fourth installment of a yearlong Capital B series on the country’s current Black migration, the most significant movement of Black people in the U.S. in 50 years. It was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Environmental and Epistemic Justice Initiative at Wake Forest University. ENGLEWOOD, CHICAGO — Deborah Payne’s […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather
How Labor Rights and Infrastructure Improvements May Limit This Silent Killer
It was just his second day on the job at the Modesto Junk Company in California’s Central Valley — but it was the region’s 34th consecutive day of 90-plus-degree weather. Feeling dizzy, he asked for a break around 2 p.m. The 40-year-old never received one. Later, a co-worker found him unconscious and sprawled across the […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
An Electric Car Journey Through the South
The Southeast corridor of the U.S. — the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida — is the country’s largest producer of electric vehicles. Roughly 40% of the nation’s electronic vehicle assembly investments, totaling $60 billion, and manufacturing jobs are found here. So when my preferred rental car company ran out of gas-powered cars in Charlotte, North […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice
Is Your Neighborhood at Risk? New Climate Risk Map Breaks Down 184 Hazards by Community
Globally, this year’s hottest summer on record was deadly, and researchers estimate that numbers will continue to rise in the United States. But those deaths aren’t equally distributed, and the disparities result from hundreds of different social, economic, and health factors, which leave Black and Indigenous people most susceptible to extreme heat. A new mapping […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
A Gas Storage Plant and New Pipeline Disrupt Life for This Black Community
HOUSTON — With their heads bowed, eyes shut, and hands locked, the Southwest Crossing Community Initiative starts every meeting with a prayer: “Please, protect us from a deadly explosion.” “And please, cover us … and ease our minds.” Southwest Crossing is an aging community in Houston where nearly 20% of residents are over 65. They […]