Activism - Inside Climate News

In the ‘Armpit of the Universe,’ a Window Into the Persistent Inequities of Environmental Policy

By Kiley Bense, Victoria St. Martin — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Researchers found that the effectiveness of the Clean Air Act is often a function of race and socio-economic factors. In Clairton, Pennsylvania, residents say they see that firsthand.

By Kiley Bense, Victoria St. Martin

Germaine Gooden-Patterson has lived in Clairton, Pennsylvania, for more than 15 years, but it wasn’t until she began a job as a community health worker in 2019 that she understood how much air pollution was affecting her neighbors’ lives—and her own.

To Stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a Young Activist Spends 36 Hours Inside it

By Keerti Gopal — Sun, 17 Mar 2024 08:55:00 +0000

Two seniors also locked themselves to a derelict car to block workers. The actions marked the end of an escalated week of pipeline opposition, including nine arrests.

By Keerti Gopal

Last week, a 22-year-old activist spent nearly 36 hours inside the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Virginia, halting construction on a section of the pipeline for two days.

California Votes to Consider Health and Environment in Future Energy Planning

By Emma Foehringer Merchant — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 08:30:00 +0000

State regulators approved a plan to determine how to weigh “non-energy benefits” in decisions about energy resources, as the state pursues 100 percent zero-carbon electricity by 2045.

By Emma Foehringer Merchant

The California Energy Commission voted unanimously on Wednesday to begin a process to incorporate the value of “non-energy benefits,” such as health impacts and job creation, in future decisions about the state’s energy mix.

Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, Shouts Down Pennsylvania Gov. Shapiro Over a Proposed ‘Hydrogen Hub’

By Kiley Bense — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 17:20:00 +0000

Activists want more public participation in a proposal to produce hydrogen in southeastern Pennsylvania. Touted by the Biden administration as “crucial” to the nation’s climate goals, advocates fear the federally-funded project will create more pollution and further burden environmental justice communities.

By Kiley Bense

Protestors disrupted a public meeting on Monday about a federally-funded “hydrogen hub” to be located in southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware that would produce, transport and store the controversial fuel at sites across the region.

Q&A: California Nurse and Environmental Health Pioneer Barbara Sattler on Climate Change as a Medical Emergency

By Liza Gross — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Sattler is revolutionizing the way health professionals think about how climate disruption is harming human health. “We can't have healthy people on a sick planet.”

By Liza Gross

Barbara Sattler is on a mission to transform the way nurses, physicians and the general public think about threats to health. For Sattler, a registered nurse, emerita professor of public health at the University of San Francisco and founding member of the international Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, it starts with being able to describe what climate change is.

‘Insure Our Future:’ A Global Movement Says the Insurance Industry Could Be the Key to Ending Fossil Fuels

By Keerti Gopal — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 10:10:00 +0000

As insurers cancel policies in regions threatened by sea level rise and wildfires, activists around the world rallied for a week of actions pressuring the companies to drop oil, gas and coal projects driving climate disasters.

By Keerti Gopal

NEW YORK—Roishetta Ozane would have rather been sitting in a rocking chair at home in Louisiana with her seven-month old grandbaby than standing outside of a multinational insurance company’s office in New York City, surrounded by dozens of police officers, speaking to a rally.

United Nations Official Says State Repression of Environmental Defenders Threatens Democracy and Human Rights

By Keerti Gopal, Bob Berwyn — Sun, 03 Mar 2024 10:05:00 +0000

Citing rising criminalization of environmental activism in Europe, a new paper calls on states to reinstate protections for protest enshrined in binding international law.

By Keerti Gopal, Bob Berwyn

A United Nations authority on environmental activism says rising state repression of environmental defenders in Europe threatens human rights and democracy, citing international legal frameworks with implications in the U.S. and beyond.

A White House Advisor and Environmental Justice Activist Wants Immediate Help for Two Historically Black Communities in Alabama

By Lee Hedgepeth — Sat, 02 Mar 2024 10:15:00 +0000

Robert Bullard says a federal civil rights probe shouldn’t forestall a “rapid response” to alleviate flooding and provide sewer access. After meeting with Department of Transportation officials in Washington, he’s frustrated with the administration he advises.

By Lee Hedgepeth

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—As federal officials continue their civil rights investigation of the Alabama Department of Transportation, a White House environmental advisor says more could be done for Black Alabamians.

A National Tour Calling for a Reborn and Ramped Up Green New Deal Lands in Pittsburgh

By Keerti Gopal — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 10:30:00 +0000

At stops across the country, environmental groups are joining local activists and politicians pushing for investments in union climate jobs to boost communities suffering from decades of environmental injustice.

By Keerti Gopal

In the communities most heavily impacted by the fossil fuel industry, a national movement pushing the Green New Deal is amplifying calls for government investment in climate jobs.

Q&A: Robert Bullard Says 2024 Is the Year of Environmental Justice for an Inundated Shiloh, Alabama

Interview by Steve Curwood, Living on Earth — Sat, 24 Feb 2024 10:00:00 +0000

“If we plan for environmental standards that would protect children, the most vulnerable in our society, we protect everybody. When we place the most vulnerable at risk, we place everybody at risk.”

Interview by Steve Curwood, Living on Earth

From our collaborating partner “Living on Earth,” public radio’s environmental news magazine, an interview by host Steve Curwood with Robert Bullard, a Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy at Texas Southern.