Articles include: Fighting climate change: Cheaper than ‘business as usual’ and better for the economy; 12 books on climate and environment; painful deaths’ from heat waves; 2020 Atlantic hurricane center; Flooding in Norfolk, VA, now a chronic problem; Farmworkers need protections from smoke; ‘Climate TRACE’ aims to pinpoint carbon pollution; Redlining’s lingering legacy; Wisconsin farmer mimics ancient ecosystem.
Tag: Environmental and Racial Justice
New York Times Climate Fwd, December 2, 2020
Articles include: Kids, toxic smoke and inequality; toys and sustainability; wildfire smoke; EPA staff fights back; diesel tampering.
In Georgia, 16 Superfund Sites Are Threatened by Extreme Weather Linked to Climate Change
Inside Climate News discusses In Georgia, 16 Superfund Sites Are Threatened by Extreme Weather Linked to Climate Change. With climate a major issue in two Senate runoff elections, the state’s voters need look no further than coastal Brunswick for potential risks.
From a distance, the inland marsh a few miles from the Atlantic Ocean in Brunswick, Georgia, looks like a broad, green mat broken by silvery threads of meandering rivers and creeks. There’s cordgrass four feet tall, and sea daisies that add a splash of starburst color.
The marsh is home to shrimp, blue crab and sea trout, and it’s the nesting site of Great Egrets. Bottlenose dolphins inhabit the nearby Turtle/Brunswick River Estuary in Glynn County.
But looks can be deceiving.
Beneath the bucolic green expanse, the water and sediment contain toxic mercury and PCBs from the now closed LCP Chemical plant, which produced chlorine gas, hydrogen gas, hydrochloric acid and other caustic chemicals from 1955 to 1994, at what has since been declared a Superfund hazardous waste site, managed by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Yale Climate Connections, November 27, 2020
Report: Worsening land inequality widens gender, climate change gaps
Reuters discusses Worsening land inequality widens gender, climate change gaps.
The International Land Coalition (ILC) report is here and their website is here.
Land inequality is growing worldwide, threatening the livelihoods of 2.5 billion people who directly rely on farming and widening disparities in gender, health and climate-change impacts, researchers warned on Tuesday.
The widening gap in ownership and access to land especially hurts small and marginal farmers, women, and indigenous and rural communities, according to a report by the International Land Coalition (ILC) and anti-poverty charity Oxfam.
While rural and indigenous communities are being squeezed into smaller parcels of land or uprooted entirely, land is increasingly concentrated in fewer hands, mainly those of large agriculture businesses and investors, the research showed.
Here’s How Scientists Want Biden to Take on Climate Change
Scientific American discusses Here’s How Scientists Want Biden to Take on Climate Change. Ambitions include promoting electric vehicles and incorporating environmental justice.
For the past four years, climate experts have watched with dismay as Donald Trump’s presidential administration has systematically weakened climate regulations, bolstered the use of fossil fuels that drive rising temperatures, and sidelined government climate science and scientists. These actions have combined to set the country behind on the crucial work of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to keep the worst impacts of climate change at bay—and of protecting vulnerable communities and ecosystems.
The election of Joe Biden has changed the prospects for action. The former vice president ran on a platform that included specific, ambitious measures to tackle climate change, including rejoining the Paris climate agreement (which the U.S. exited on November 4) and setting a goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Climate scientists and environmental advocates have applauded these goals but warn that it will take substantial work to reach them. Among other things, the Biden administration needs to help transition U.S. energy systems, gird against future damage from climate-fueled disasters, and make sure policies incorporate considerations of equity and justice.
And now, everything the country is not talking about
Environmental Health News discusses And now, everything the country is not talking about … And here’s at least one thing to do about it all.
It’s hard to argue that COVID-19 and the U.S. elections shouldn’t be dominating the headlines, but let’s not forget all the festering problems we’re currently forgetting.
Most activists need no reminding on these, but maybe journalists, policymakers, and teachers do.
Plastics, Chemicals, Amazon, Water, Environmental Justice, Climate and Beyond.
Luis Magaña Has Spent 20 Years Advocating for Farmworkers, But He’s Never Seen Anything Like This
Inside Climate News discusses Luis Magaña Has Spent 20 Years Advocating for Farmworkers, But He’s Never Seen Anything Like This. The Covid-19 pandemic and the megafires have made it clear to him: Farmworkers need much better protections.
The hardest harvest season Luis Magaña has known in half a century in California’s San Joaquin Valley is winding down. Produce stands are getting boarded up, fields are clearing and farmworkers are scrambling for busboy jobs and day labor.
Magaña, 65, picked and planted in the valley for nearly 30 years before becoming a full-time advocate for farmworkers 20 years ago. He knows the seasonal patterns well, or did. Every year, for example, when harvest wraps up, he organizes a Day of the Dead commemoration in Stockton, a small city ringed by agricultural lands where he and thousands of farmworkers live.
“Over Half of the People Who Used to Grow Crops Here Can’t Do It Anymore”
New Republic discusses why “Over Half of the People Who Used to Grow Crops Here Can’t Do It Anymore”. Canyon de Chelly, part of Navajo Nation lands in Arizona, has been suffering from worsening droughts.
Since 2017, extreme drought has ravaged Canyon de Chelly, on the Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona. In normal years, the area receives an average of 12 inches of rain. That’s not the case recently. The problem is exacerbated by lack of water infrastructure. State and federal government officials have sometimes withheld water or funding for water infrastructure from Navajo, or Diné, communities during disputes over water rights.
Yale Climate Connection, October 23, 2020
Articles include: measuring a city’s carbon footprint; encounter with Colorado wildfire; Gas-powered cars in California; growth or ‘de-growth’ climate solution; Rejoining the global fight against climate change; extreme weather can affect children; energy efficiency and affordable housing; save energy through simple living; fracking and human health;