When it rains in Alabama’s Black Belt, poop gurgles up from the earth. A new federal grant program wants to stop it from happening. It is a crisis that has long roots dating back to slavery, and has been the focus of Black Alabama activists for generations. Last year, the Justice Department determined that the […]
Environmental Justice
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice, Extreme Weather
More Than Half of Houstonians Say They Might Move. Here’s Why.
After learning that forecasters predicted a record-breaking hurricane season this year, Marilyn Rayon and her husband, Leo, spent thousands of dollars to trim trees and shrubbery around their home so a storm wouldn’t throw them into their house. They took a practical precaution, heeding the warnings of elected officials and weather experts. Their utility company, […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice, Partner Content
Facing Climate Gentrification, This Historic Black Community Embraces Conservation
Flooding the Market: First in a series originally published by Inside Climate News about climate change and coastal threats in South Carolina. TEN MILE, S.C. — At high tide, the marsh alongside Seafood Road disappears under an inscrutable mirror of water. Then, as it drains, reeds resurface and begin to trace hundreds of paths through the […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather, Technology
Crypto-Mining Creates New Environmental Injustices for Black Texans
Bitcoin is more than just a shiny new way to lose money. It’s also fueling Texas’ energy struggles as the state prepares for another year of record-breaking heat. And Black communities are caught in the crosswires of climate change, those booming data centers, and the power plants needed to meet both demands. Last year, during […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Politics & Policy
SCOTUS Allows ‘Big Business’ to Have Greater Say in Federal Regulations
Last week, in a monumental decision, the conservative U.S. Supreme Court made it harder for the federal government to regulate virtually everything that impact’s Americans’ daily lives. Arguably the most damning impact of the SCOTUS decisions will be on how the country faces the mounting impacts of pollution and climate change. While the ruling’s impacts […]
Posted inClimate Change, Criminal Justice, Environmental Justice, Incarceration
The Growing Crisis of Heatwave Deaths in America’s Prisons
Last September, at his graduation from Northwestern University, Michael Broadway reconnected with his mother, Elizabeth, for the first time in two decades. Due to her ailing health, she couldn’t visit him. As an incarcerated man, he didn’t have the option to travel to her, either. For those two decades, Broadway was held inside Stateville Correctional […]
Posted inEconomic Development, Environmental Justice
Black Communities Fight for a Voice in Electric Vehicle Manufacturing
Standing on the shoulders of those before them, community members of rural Mason, Tennessee, gathered this past Juneteenth at Cedar Grove Missionary Baptist Church. They were there to publicly announce a list of demands for their new neighbor, a multibillion-dollar Ford electric vehicle plant. Set to open next year, the facility promises billions to the […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice, Extreme Weather
‘We Can’t Wait’: How Black Neighborhoods Are Preparing for the Summer Heat
After closing out May with four days of triple-digit temperatures and New Orleans’ first heat advisory of the season, the group of mainly Black elders welcomed the “dip” in temperature on June 1. Still, it swelled to 96 degrees that morning as roughly 35 people huddled in a community center in the city’s Upper Ninth […]
Posted inClimate Change, Extreme Weather
NOAA Predicts a Record Hurricane Season. Will Black Communities Be Protected?
Edward Buckles was 13 when Hurricane Katrina hit his hometown in 2005. In the aftermath, 1,400 — mainly Black — New Orleans residents died. That spring, researchers predicted the 2005 season to be the most intense in U.S. history, but a 2007 study concluded that confusing directions from authorities, religious faith, and financial barriers led […]
Posted inClimate Change, Extreme Weather, Health, Maternal Health, Partner Content
‘How Did We Miss This for So Long?’: The Link Between Extreme Heat and Preterm Birth
This story was originally published by Grist. This story is part of the series “Expecting Worse: Giving Birth on a Planet in Crisis,” a collaboration between Grist, Vox, and The 19th that investigates how climate change impacts reproductive health — from menstruation to conception to birth. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here. When Rupa Basu was […]
