Last November, as the world focused its attention on the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, high school students in Dane County, Wisconsin, co-sponsored and moderated a climate action conference of their own that connected COP26 to local climate initiatives and progress. Rebecca Kihslinger, a Senior Science and Policy Analyst at ELI, talks to four of the student organizers — Daphne Wu, Claire Neblett, Kirshna Elwell, and Felicia Zheng — to learn more.
Interest and urgency in advancing environmental justice has gained new momentum. The Biden-Harris Administration has placed an unprecedented federal focus on environmental justice using a whole of government approach. Meanwhile, a growing list of states continue to develop, implement, and enforce EJ-focused legislation, accelerated by the intensity at the federal level. Will this momentum carry into the new year? In this episode, Stacey Halliday of Beveridge & Diamond talks to two EJ leaders at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Charles Lee, Senior Policy Advisor, and Matthew Tejada, the Director of the Office of Environmental Justice – to find out what’s in store for 2022. This episode is part of the Groundtruth series created in partnership with Beveridge & Diamond, one of the nation’s leading environmental law firms.
Top U.S. environmental regulator to visit Houston neighborhoods where Black and Latino residents bear brunt of pollution
Texas Tribune (by Erin Douglas)
November 16, 2021
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan will visit Houston on Friday as part of a weeklong tour of neighborhoods across the South where pollution has impacted people’s health — predominantly for Black and Latino residents. In Jackson, Mississippi, on Monday, Regan said he would discuss what people deserve from the federal environmental agency and the disproportionate impact pollution has had in historically marginalized communities. . . .
Paul Hanle ’69 Is Educating Judges About Climate Science
Princeton Alumni Weekly (by Elisabeth H. Daugherty)
October 6, 2021
Paul Hanle ’69 has a gift for explaining science to non-scientists. He’s been doing it for decades — to families and teachers through science museums, and later to adults through agencies on up to the White House and the United Nations. Now he’s explaining the science of climate change to a group of people with real power to act on it: judges. About three years ago, Hanle helped found the Climate Judiciary Project at the Environmental Law Institute. It fills a need that’s growing primarily in the U.S.
New EPA Adviser Looks to Juice Investing in Communities of Color
Bloomberg Law (by Stephen Lee)
September 1, 2021
The new head of the EPA’s in-house financial advisory board wants to prove low-income communities of color aren’t risky places for private investors to park their money. That goal is crucial because President Joe Biden has made environmental justice one of his central concerns. But it’s historically been hard to convince bottom line-oriented investors that projects such as laying down permeable pavement or shoring up disaster resiliency are worth financing, especially in rural areas without much economic activity. . . .
Young environmental hero: Sonja Michaluk
The Trentonian (Michele Byers)
September 24, 2021
“Think globally, act locally” is a motto used for years to encourage local action on environmental problems. Seventeen-year-old Sonja Michaluk has been thinking globally and acting locally since she was a six-year-old monitoring streams for water quality in her hometown of Hopewell Township. And the Carnegie Mellon University student went on to act globally as well – and for that she was just named a winner of the 2021 Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes.
FEMA Knows a Lot About Climate-Driven Flooding. But It’s Not Pushing Homeowners Hard Enough to Buy Insurance
Inside Climate News (by James Bruggers)
August 4, 2021
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been collecting a lot of information about flood risks across America, including the increased risk of flooding linked to climate change. But the agency has not effectively used that new knowledge to persuade more Americans to buy flood insurance, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. . . .