VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMPLETES ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE STUDY. Located here.
Tag: Environmental and Racial Justice
Wildfires and Health – 4 articles
Investigate West discusses how racial and economic divides extend to wildfire smoke, too. Thanks to centuries of housing, education and economic discrimination, African-Americans and Latinos are more likely to be poor, more likely to live in substandard housing that can easily let smoke in, more likely to be homeless, more likely to rely on jobs that require them to work outside, less likely to have paid time off, and less likely to have health insurance. (For example, 70% of farmworkers, who are over 90% Latino in California, go without health insurance in the heart of the state’s wine country.)
KQED discusses how Smoke From California’s Record Wildfires Is Its Own Disaster. Hundreds of wildfires have scorched over 3 million acres in California this year. That’s the most burned land for any year on record in the state, and we’re still only about halfway through the fire season. Smoke from those fires polluted the air in the Bay Area for 30 straight days in August and September, prompting the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to issue the longest consecutive string of “Spare the Air” alerts in its history, more than doubling the previous record of 14, set during the Camp Fire in November 2018. Within the recent period of smoke inundation came the six worst air quality days in the Bay Area in 20 years.
The Fern discusses how, As California wildfires rage, the harvest goes on. Advocates worry about farmworkers who were in Sonoma County vineyards during the LNU Lightning Complex fire. As California suffers through its worst wildfire season in modern history, agricultural workers are still going to work, risking heat, smoke, and Covid-19 to pick grapes and harvest strawberries. Activists like Guzman worry that 2020’s historic combination of disasters is also fueling labor abuses. After receiving a worrying tip from a former farmworker, he and a small group of labor organizers drove from vineyard to vineyard, trying to see if labor violations were occurring in the fields.
The New York Times discusses how fires Pose a Risk To Young children’s Lungs. The wildfires blazing in the West could hinder developing lungs, worsen asthma and even lead to the condition in those who don’t have it but are genetically disposed to it. Healthy children exposed to wildfire smoke at the current levels, even for just a few weeks, can become vulnerable to infection, too, in some cases triggering latent asthma. Such exposures can heighten existing asthma symptoms and increase hospital visits, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and research from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Yale Climate Connections, September 25, 2020
Articles include: climate migration begins; importance of ‘sliding baselines’; human activity is principal cause of global warming; Miami – vulnerable to sea-level rise; transition to renewable energy will strengthen national security; nurturing soil is more climate-friendly; Low-income communities in climate action; Caribbean islands, Renewable Energy and hurricanes;
5 articles on wildfires
OPB discusses We know climate change set the conditions for Oregon fires. Did it stoke the flames, too? The extreme weather conditions that led into the Labor Day weekend wildfires were unlike anything Oregon’s seen before but could become more frequent.
Grist discusses how California can recover from wildfires without leaving its most vulnerable behind.
The New York Times has 2 articles:
- We Made Wildfire an Enemy for 110 Years. It Could Have Been an Ally. Starting with the Big Blowup of 1910, the U.S. Forest Service’s strategy mostly has been to put out fires as fast as possible. With climate change and shifting populations, we’re losing that war.
- ‘This Does Not Look Good for Children’: Fires Pose Risk to Young Lungs. The wildfires blazing in the West could hinder developing lungs, worsen asthma and even lead to the condition in those who don’t have it but are genetically disposed to it. Healthy children exposed to wildfire smoke at the current levels, even for just a few weeks, can become vulnerable to infection, too, in some cases triggering latent asthma. Such exposures can heighten existing asthma symptoms and increase hospital visits, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and research from the Environmental Protection Agency.
The New Yorker discusses the tragedy of the West Coast wildfires. The disaster encapsulates a moment in which both science and the everyday rhythms of American life seem to be under assault.
Here’s How Big Farms Got a Big Government Pass on Air Pollution
Mother Jones discusses how big Farms Got a Big Government Pass on Air Pollution. An EPA deal came with a promise to help communities exposed to animal emissions. That’s still unfulfilled.
Versions of this story are playing out in communities across the country: frustrated, worried residents suffering near hog operations in Iowa, dairy farms in Wisconsin, massive cattle operations in California and Texas. Problems have been building for decades as more of the eggs, meat and milk we consume—and sell overseas—are produced by a consolidating, industrialized farming system that puts the agriculture equivalent of factories next to people’s homes.
Experts say this poses health risks, ones disproportionately felt by Black, Hispanic and low-income Americans. But the pollutants wafting from these operations are largely unregulated by the federal government.
EPA chief criticizes Democratic governors, vows to concentrate on cleaning up vulnerable communities in a second Trump term
Washington Post discusses the EPA chief criticizing Democratic governors, vows to concentrate on cleaning up vulnerable communities in a second Trump term. ‘I have seen no actions that lead me to believe they have any interest in protecting those lives,’ one environmental justice advocate said of rollbacks under Trump.
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency argued Thursday that the Trump administration, which has aggressively rolled back environmental regulations in recent years, has done more to help vulnerable communities deal with pollution than the “misdirected policies” and “misused resources” of its predecessors.
Fifty years after President Richard M. Nixon created the EPA, its current leader, Andrew Wheeler, traveled to his presidential library in California on Thursday to outline a vision for the future that emphasizes economic development instead of tackling climate change.
A Texas Town Takes on Fracking as a Racial Justice Issue
Bloomberg discusses how a Texas Town Takes on Fracking as a Racial Justice Issue. Just after passing resolutions to elevate the needs of Black and Hispanic residents, the Arlington City Council took an unusual stand on drilling.
Arlington, Texas, became one of a number of U.S. cities to pass racial equity resolutions in recent months after the police killing of George Floyd, acknowledging the “devastating impact” of Covid-19 on the African-American and Hispanic communities. The resolutions also committed to lifting up “the medical and social needs” of the marginalized.
6 WAYS ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATES CAN CHANGE CLIMATE CONCERN INTO ACTION
Ensia discusses how to change climate concern into action. Many Americans are ready for meaningful progress on climate change — so how can they make it happen?
In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Americans have not forgotten about climate change. In fact, our recognition of the problem is at or near all-time highs, according to research from Yale and George Mason universities. Polling data from the universities from April 2020 revealed that 61% of registered voters accept that humans are changing the climate, and most support policies like a carbon tax or a fee-and-dividend program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
It’s impressive that the public commitment to act on climate change remains steadfast in the face of new challenges. But the flip side is that only 13% of registered voters have urged an elected official to address the problem. They may be primed for action, but we have yet to fully step into that role. So what’s the best way to do that?
What follows is a inexhaustive list of concrete ideas and tools individuals can use to boost civic engagement on climate change — steps that experts say can translate data like those from Yale and George Mason into meaningful progress, right now.
1. Learn where the public is already aligned with policies that address climate change
2. Build racial and social justice into climate solutions
3. Dig into energy production
4. Follow the money
5. Get to know elected officials
6. Hit the campaign trail
Study: 3 articles about coal
The Christian Science Monitor discusses what happens in states where wind dethrones King Coal. In an age of global warming, coal consumption is dropping and renewable energy is rising. Nowhere is that trend – and the tension caused by the shift – more evident than in Wyoming, a state with prodigious amounts of fossil fuels and wind resources.
Ohio Valley Resource discusses “The Proof Is In The Pudding.” Coal Country Responds To Democrats’ Clean Energy Transition. Democrats made their pitch to the American people during a largely virtual Democratic National Convention and addressing climate change emerged as a central tenet of the party’s plan. The party platform spells out a major investment in green energy jobs and infrastructure in order for America to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emission no later than by 2050. Environmental justice is a key component of the Democrat’s climate plan and it references ensuring fossil fuel workers and communities receive investment and support during this clean energy transition.
Renew Economy discusses how coal generation kills 800 a year in Australia, says new report. The human cost of burning fossil fuels to generate energy has been laid bare in a new report from Greenpeace this week, with pollution from Australia’s coal-fired power plants found to be causing hundreds of premature deaths a year, as well as asthma symptoms in thousands of children. The report, titled Lethal Power, was put together by a group of scientists, researchers, and medical professionals, including former Australian of the year Professor Fiona Stanley, coal pollution expert Dr Aidan Farrow, and economist and former leader of the federal Liberal Party, Dr John Hewson.
Study: Children raised in greener areas have higher IQ
The Guardian discusses a study showing that children raised in greener areas have higher IQ. Research also found lower levels of difficult behavior in rich and poor neighborhoods.
Growing up in a greener urban environment boosts children’s intelligence and lowers levels of difficult behavior, a study has found.
The analysis of more than 600 children aged 10-15 showed a 3% increase in the greenness of their neighborhood raised their IQ score by an average of 2.6 points. The effect was seen in both richer and poorer areas.
There is already significant evidence that green spaces improve various aspects of children’s cognitive development but this is the first research to examine IQ. The cause is uncertain but may be linked to lower stress levels, more play and social contact or a quieter environment.
The increase in IQ points was particularly significant for those children at the lower end of the spectrum, where small increases could make a big difference, the researchers said.
The study, published in the journal Plos Medicine, used satellite images to measure the level of greenness in neighborhoods, including parks, gardens, street trees and all other vegetation.