Mozambique and me: Contemplating privilege and food riots
But while they prate of economic laws, men and women are starving. We must lay hold of the fact that economic laws are not made by nature. They are made by human beings. ~ Franklin D Roosevelt I am a westerner. It is a painful admittance. I work diligently each day to fight against the [...]
By Gavin Kearney, Director, Environmental Justice, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest The 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day is upon us and I have to admit to some ambivalence. On the positive side, Earth Day can provide a useful platform for educating and engaging the public around critical environmental issues. At the [...]
Continue reading …By Rebecca Johnson, Urban Ecology Blog It was really late on a Friday night in New Orleans. We had started our evening celebration with a Bring the Musicians Home concert featuring the brass funk band Bonearama. I had heard a cut from their new CD, Hard Times. It was a remake of Memphis Minnie’s “When [...]
Continue reading …By Penn Loh, Professor, Tuffs University and Kalila Barnett, Executive Director of Alternatives for Community and Environment Green is “in” and here to stay. Not even the most powerful political and economic players can ignore the risks of climate change. In fact, the largest companies in the world have positioned themselves as our saviors in [...]
Continue reading …By Denise Perry, Executive Director, Power U Center, Miami My great-grandmother was tuned into her surroundings and guess what, she didn’t have the Internet, the Weather Channel or access to the latest scientific studies. When she was in her 90’s she told my mother, “They better stop putting all these planes and rockets in the [...]
Continue reading …By Leslie G. Fields, National Environmental Justice Director, Sierra Club The year 2010 marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, but later this year we will also arrive at the fifth anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Much has been written about the devastation of those hurricanes, but have there been any lessons learned regarding [...]
Continue reading …A gas leak at a pesticide factory operated by Union Carbide Company (UCC) killed more than 20,000 people and exposed over 500,000 people to toxic gas and chemicals. On December 3, 1984 the people of Bhopal, India were subjected to one of the world’s worst industrial disasters. As a result of this exposure, thousands of [...]
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