The history of environmental racism is a long one in the United States, far longer than the efforts to address the problem. But reporting on environmental justice continues to tick upwards, and an analysis in the latest Backgrounder points to promising progress, explaining why for journalists the year ahead may yield important stories, whether about future footholds or new missteps.
Join the International Institute for Environment and Development in person or online for a lecture by Rebeca Grynspan (pictured, left), the secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, to discuss "Costa Rica’s journey to global climate leadership – what can we learn from a good example?" 1:30 p.m. ET.
Meet SEJ member Ayurella Horn-Muller! Ayurella is an award-winning freelance journalist and a correspondent at news and research nonprofit Climate Central.
"CARMEL, Ind. — It’s getting harder and harder to run a stoplight here, because there are fewer and fewer of them around. Every year, at intersections throughout this thriving city, traffic lights and stop signs have disappeared, replaced with roundabouts. Lots and lots of roundabouts."
"When Chesapeake Bay oysters and other shellfish become contaminated with sewage or other pollution, Maryland environmental officials normally alert the public before any are harvested or eaten. But that didn’t happen after a recent sewage spill in Southern Maryland — and at least two dozen people became ill."
"Dan Tronchetti received a letter in August that alarmed him: Summit Carbon Solutions, a company he'd never heard of, wanted his permission to conduct survey work for a 2,000-mile pipeline it planned to route through his Iowa corn and soybean fields."
"The Biden administration’s proposal to bolster environmental permitting review is a good first step but doesn’t go far enough towards scrapping Trump-era rules, according to a coalition of Democratic attorneys general."
"Hilcorp Energy Co. has a spotty pipeline safety record and refuses to make its financial records public. Can it safeguard the pipeline from climate change?"
"Environmental organizations and pipeline experts continue expressing concerns about a secretive Texas petroleum company with a spotty safety record that acquired the largest share of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline last year as thawing permafrost and flooding linked to climate change threatened the massive oil conduit.
"Boston Mayor Michelle Wu signed an ordinance Monday designed to divest the city from fossil fuels."
"Maine’s environmental commissioner suspended a permit Tuesday for a $1 billion electricity transmission line, delivering another blow to the project aimed at bringing Canadian hydropower to New England."
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