As Hurricane Helene barrels across the Southeast, Black communities in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama face devastating floods and power outages, with concerns mounting over inadequate post-disaster resources. All but one of Florida’s counties were placed under a state of emergency, and tens of thousands of people living in the state’s coastal communities, which are disproportionately […]
Environmental Justice
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice, Rural Issues
Black Communities Left to Sink as Insurance Companies Abandon the South
On Sept. 29, Pastor Timothy Williams will lose the property insurance coverage for his home in rural Elba, Alabama. It’s another mark on a long list of recent letdowns for him in the aftermath of a persistent flooding crisis born by the expansion of a highway next to his home. Since the state raised and […]
Posted inExtreme Weather, Rural Issues
Louisiana’s Black Rural Communities Feel Neglected After Hurricane Francine
On Tuesday, six days after Hurricane Francine smashed into Louisiana’s coast as the strongest storm of this year’s hurricane season, the Biden administration announced a major disaster declaration for the state and ordered federal aid to supplement the recovery process. How quickly states and local counties can help individual households largely depends on how quickly […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather, Housing
Flooded, Foreclosed, and Forgotten: The Unkept Promises to Hurricane Katrina’s Victims
NEW ORLEANS – Robert Green guesses it was about 5 a.m. when the water first broke through. By 5:10, he, his mother, brother, cousin, and three grandchildren, ages 4, 3, and 2, were on the roof. Within five minutes, their house was floating down the street. By 5:20, the home, pinned against an oak tree, […]
Posted inExtreme Weather, Housing
Hurricane Francine Leaves 400,000 Louisianans Without Power
Hurricane Francine zig-zagged through southern Louisiana on Sept. 11, leaving widespread power outages and flooding behind. Some parts of the state experienced winds of 100 mph and 10 inches of rain. As thousands of Gulf Coast residents were under mandatory evacuation orders, those remaining, particularly in the state’s largest city, New Orleans, were left riding […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice
America’s Rural South Is Paying the Price for Europe’s Energy
Treva Gear doesn’t want the forest in her town of Adel, Georgia, to be the next place “sacrificed” for someone else’s energy needs. However, a new tax credit proposed in the nation’s largest climate spending bill may make it more likely for her community and dozens of others. The credit could accelerate the construction of […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice, Partner Content
Can ‘Biden’s Billions’ Deliver True Environmental Justice?
This story was produced for In These Times’ August/September magazine edition. It is published digitally in partnership. Two days after a series of tornadoes ripped through Chicago’s South Side, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without electricity, Naomi Davis and Suzanne Waddell met in the front yard of Emmett Till’s childhood home to assess the […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice
The Court Ruling That Guarantees a Future of Environmental Racism
About 45 minutes from New Orleans, cities founded by formerly enslaved people make up St. John the Baptist Parish. As the regional economy has shifted from chains and plantation slavery to smokestacks and petrochemical plants, their descendants still make up most of the people who live there. Those original deadly threats have not disappeared. Today, parts […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice, Extreme Weather, Partner Content
As Baltimore’s Sewer System Buckles Under Extreme Weather, City Refuses to Help Residents With Cleanup Efforts
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. A sewage cleanup program meant to assist Baltimore residents with backups in their homes has been in limbo for more than a year because of […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice
Biden’s $150M Cancer Pledge Clashes with Reality in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley
NEW ORLEANS — In one of President Joe Biden’s first public appearances since ending his reelection campaign, he spoke on something very personal to him — cancer. But Louisiana’s Black activists say he still missed the point. Over the past decade, Biden has not shied from explaining how the life of his son, Beau Biden, […]
