Freda Linder walks daily past a small sign donned with 20 words in Crescent Park Apartments, a majority-Black housing complex in Northern California’s Bay Area. “WARNING,” the placard reads. “This area contains chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm.” Linder lives in Richmond, a city of […]
Adam Mahoney
Adam Mahoney is the climate and environment reporter at Capital B. He can be reached by email at adam.mahoney@capitalbnews.org, on Bluesky, and on X at @AdamLMahoney.
Posted inCulture, History
Activist Recounts the Forgotten History of Black-Native Solidarity
In 1966, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Black mega-celebrity and activist Dick Gregory was sentenced to 90 days in the Thurston County jail in Washington for illegal net fishing. As a coordinated movement of sit-ins for voting rights and desegregation spread across the South like wildfires, “fish-ins,” an effort for increased native […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
Black Joy Can Be Found in Nature’s Simplicity
Chris Allen is most at peace outside. Like a disproportionate amount of Black Angelenos, he is considered unhoused. Having called a shelter home on and off for nearly two years, he’s lived through everything from rat infestations to consistent police violence. But his time outside, something as simple as sitting at a bus stop or […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice
Ominous Orange Skies Have Subsided – but Threat of Poor Air Quality Isn’t Over
Orange skies in the Northeast and Midwest from the fires burning in Canada may have subsided for now — but the threat of poor air quality is far from over. Just this past weekend, New York City was again under an air quality alert because of wildfire smoke. As the region experiences drier springs and […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather
How Biden’s Goal to ‘Electrify Everything’ Contributed to a Flooding Crisis
Sometimes, even when it’s not raining, 78-year-old widower Willie Horstead Jr. thinks he hears the floodwaters seeping beneath his home, sucking the metal box deeper into Alabama’s rich soil. When it does rain – which is often in Coffee County, Alabama – the U.S. Army veteran is afraid he’ll fall through the floor of his […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice
The Ways Pollution and Climate Change are Linked to Policing and Incarceration
Hurricane Ida was the second strongest storm to hit Louisiana over the last three centuries, dwarfing the beast that was Katrina. As virtually every Gulf Coast city was put under evacuation orders, thousands of incarcerated people were forced to stay put, some in flooded facilities that lacked electricity and running water, and had sustained intense […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Unsafe Water
Dirty Water, Distrust, and a Crisis
Black Americans struggling to live through a water crisis are urging the rest of the country to recast what is viewed as violence. “People just don’t get the big picture,” says Brooke Floyd, coordinator for the Jackson People’s Assembly, a social justice organization in Jackson, Mississippi. “There are a lot of things that are making […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Unsafe Water
Record Investment Merely Scratches the Surface of Fixing Black America’s Water Crisis
Gwendolyn Reed-Davis recalls living without running water during the holiday season last year, merely months after a water crisis left Jackson, Mississippi, residents struggling to bathe, cook, and flush their toilets. The mother of 12 says the city’s years-long struggle has harmed public health and threatened the development of a whole generation of children. Since […]
Posted inTransportation
The Movement to Make Black Neighborhoods Better for Walking and Biking
Dijon Kizzee’s last living act was riding his bike on the wrong side of a residential road in Westmont, Los Angeles’ poorest neighborhood. In Black neighborhoods where car congestion is routine, protected bike lanes are lacking, and blocked sidewalks are expected, riding on the sidewalk or against traffic is a regular practice. It’s used as […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Water Quality
Alabama Discriminated Against Black Residents, Feds Confirm
For the first time in U.S. history, the Justice Department has concluded an environmental justice inquiry through the Civil Rights Act of 1964, determining that the state of Alabama and Lowndes County discriminated against Black residents for decades. The findings from the investigation have led to an agreement involving the Alabama Department of Public Health […]