Other writing
December 29, 2020
This landmark law saved millions of lives and trillions of dollars
FIFTY YEARS AGO, a group of Democratic and Republican senators spent months working together to tackle a danger they all agreed was harming Americans’ health and lives. Huddled in committee rooms for hours on end, they listened to one another’s ideas, traded jokes across party lines and, in the end, produced a bill that won unanimous Senate approval and passed the House of Representatives with just one “no” vote.
July 16, 2020
Ocean Justice: Where Social Equity and the Climate Fight Intersect
Ocean justice, as Ayana Elizabeth Johnson describes it, is where ocean conservation and issues of social equity meet: Who suffers most from flooding and pollution, and who benefits from conservation measures?
December 19, 2020
2020 Was Supposed To Be Our Best Last Chance To Save The Planet. So How Did We Do?
As wildfires and storms raged, and even the Arctic broiled and burned, scientists’ dire climate warnings came to life in frighteningly vivid fashion in 2020. With political leaders and the public preoccupied by COVID-19, the world careened closer to the brink of environmental catastrophe.
June 23, 2020
In Pandemic Recovery Efforts, Polluting Industries Are Winning Big
Oil and gas giants, mining interests, and coal-fired power plants have all received financial and regulatory relief as governments around the world enact pandemic recovery plans. These moves threaten to create a dirty, high-carbon legacy that long outlasts the current crisis.
October 26, 2020
With Justice Barrett, a Tectonic Court Shift on the Environment
The accession of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court cements a conservative majority that is likely to give polluting industries freer rein, limit the ability of citizens to sue, and call into question the very basis of the EPA to issue and enforce regulations.
June 18, 2020
Why COVID-19 will end up harming the environment
Even though the air has been cleaner as a result of the global lockdowns, a more polluted future has been brewing while we weren’t looking.