Climate & Environment

277 posts

More Democratic candidates push toward centering environmental justice

After years of campaigning against climate issues and environmental justice, a slate of Democratic candidates in this general election cycle are centering their platforms on the issue area that speaks to economic and social justice. Marquita Bradshaw, candidate for U.S. Senate in Tennessee, is one candidate running on a

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5 Min
By: ray levy uyeda

Q&A: ‘Goddess on wheels’ Maria R. Palacios talks performance art and disability justice

When Prism spoke to poet, spoken word performer, and disability activist Maria R. Palacios, she was “nervous and excited” to film four original performance pieces as part of “We Love Like Barnacles: Crip Lives in Climate Chaos,” a show focusing on the ways that climate change is disproportionately affecting disabled

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10 Min
By: Tina Vásquez

Environmentalism must address environmental racism to achieve true justice

Twenty-four-year-old sustainability advocate Zureyma Johnson was born in Belize but lived in Midland, Texas—a big oil town—for most of her life. When she left Texas to go to school in Boston, she started experiencing some health problems. It wasn’t until she talked to a doctor with a

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5 Min
By: Olivia Harden

The Georgia town that was home to Ahmaud Arbery has an environmental racism problem

In the wake of the Feb. 23 killing of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery by white vigilantes on the outskirts of Brunswick, Georgia, the idyllic veil is being lifted off the state’s so-called “Golden Isles” that include St. Simons Island and Brunswick, revealing a history of systemic oppression and systematic racism.

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5 Min
By: Neesha Powell-Ingabire

To reduce the impact of climate change, society must focus on post-pandemic recovery

The COVID-19 pandemic has left its permanent imprint on society in just a few short months and cost thousands of lives needlessly due to government inaction and negligence, ineptitude, and malice. The virus has laid bare the longstanding inequities and injustices of American society and forced the nation to confront

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4 Min
By: David A. Love

As Californians face pandemic, ‘environmental racism’ puts many lives at risk

Cesar Aguirre has spent incalculable hours tracking air pollution levels around Kern County, California. In the region responsible for an estimated 75% of the state’s oil production, Aguirre, a community organizer with the Central California Environmental Justice Network (CCEJN), says it’s not uncommon to encounter houses, schools, and

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5 Min
By: Audrey Carleton

Now more than ever, public transit is a racial justice issue

Across the U.S., COVID-19 is hitting communities of color the hardest. Here in greater Boston it’s no different. There are high rates of infection in Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, and Hyde Park—the heart of Black Boston. In fact, Black people account for more than 40% of COVID-19 cases

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5 Min
By: Collique Williams

Regular people are already the heroes behind the Green New Deal

For so long, debates about climate policy have been rooted in questioning people’s individual choices. What kind of lightbulb should we buy? Is it time to go vegan? Is this really the most eco-friendly car on the market? But as the climate crisis rose to the forefront of public

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6 Min
By: Maurice Mitchell

Affordable chicken may be nice, but the poultry plants behind it are harming the environment

For many, the idea of a $4.99 rotisserie chicken is appealing. You get a lot of meat for a relatively low price, and for most Americans living paycheck to paycheck, the need to put dinner on the table doesn’t compete with the long-term environmental and public health problems

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6 Min
By: ray levy uyeda

Why ‘birth strikes’ aren’t the right way to end the climate crisis

British activist and musician Blythe Pepino coined the term “birth strike” in early 2019 to describe pledges people make to not to have children until significant climate justice is achieved.   She says such decisions are a “radical acknowledgment” of the threat that climate change poses to our futures. She does

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6 Min
By: Shailee Koranne

Contaminated water in Newark threatens residents’ health and strains finances

Beads of sweat threaten to roll down 22-year-old Kiyanna Vasquez’s face. A groan escapes her lips as she lifts yet another gallon of water from the supermarket shelf. Three 24-pack cases of bottled water, two 2.5-gallon jugs, three individual gallons, and four packs of sparkling water pile up

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7 Min
By: Jenna Caldwell

Debunking the myths and misinformation about the Green New Deal

The right is using every tool it has to stop a world-saving climate agenda. It’s funneled millions of dollars to sow fear and false narratives among the public. And its forces exploit the climate crisis to advance eco-fascism and white nationalism. Conservatives are terrified of what the fight against

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7 Min
By: Maurice Mitchell

Showing 12 of 277 total posts

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