Topics

Support Independent Journalism. Donate today!

Environment

From Voting Rights to Clean Energy, Georgia Voters Favor Democratic Policy Priorities in Senate Runoff

Executive Summary With control of the United States Senate hanging in the balance, new polling from Data for Progress and The Justice Collaborative Institute shows that a bipartisan majority of Georgia voters are more likely to support Senate candidates who embrace Democratic policy priorities on a broad range of issues, including health care, clean energy, […]

,

Struggling to Breathe: Asthma, Pollution, and the Fight for Environmental Justice

Executive Summary Asthma rates in the United States are intimately connected with environmental policy choices. Weak regulation or non-compliance with pollution control has resulted in uneven air quality across the country and corresponding elevated health risks. The disease burden has fallen primarily on nonwhite communities, and particularly nonwhite children, who—due to America’s racialized housing geography—tend […]

Fossil Fuel Industry Should Bear the Costs of Climate Change, Voters Say

Executive Summary “If you are in denial about climate change, come to California,” Governor Gavin Newsom said in August. The record-setting wildfires that have devastated the American West this year have forced thousands of people from their homes and caused toxic chemicals to leach into drinking water. In the middle of a pandemic, the air quality and excessive heat […]

,

Why We Need a New Civilian Conservation Corp – And How To Do It

Executive Summary The United States currently faces three deepening and converging crises. The first and most obvious is the health crisis produced by COVID-19, which has killed more than 200,000 people nationwide and resulted in acute social isolation for millions of Americans. Second, the state and local lockdowns imposed to stem the virus’ spread have […]

Voters Support Reviving the Federal Civilian Conservation Corps Jobs Program

Executive Summary At the height of the Great Depression, with national employment soaring to over 25%, President Franklin D. Roosevelt championed federal jobs programs that put Americans to work—part of the New Deal that used public works projects to ignite the economy and stem unprecedented job loss. Among those programs, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) combined […]

,

Water Regulation and Injustice in the United States

Executive Summary The notion of “environmental justice” reflects the disproportionately high burden of environmental hazards—such as pollution—borne by low-income communities, communities of color, and indigenous communities, as well as the disproportionately low access of these communities to environmental benefits—such as clean water. This already unequal distribution of environmental costs and benefits has been gradually exacerbated […]