January 8, 2025
Climate Change
Climate Change
New Clark City, a $2.5 billion project in the Philippines, is designed to be a climate-resilient urban hub with plans for green infrastructure, renewable energy, and flood-resista
Envisioning Environmental Equity: Climate Change, Health, and Racial Justice
Summary
In a paper published in The Lancet, Thilagawathi Abi Deivanayagam, Sonora English, Prof Jason Hickel, Jon Bonifacio, Renzo R Guinto, Kyle X Hill, and other authors highlight the intersecting issues of climate change, health, and racial justice. The paper argues that conversations on climate change and health often overlook the structural discrimination and the urgent need for racial justice. Through a scoping review, the authors survey the literature on the unequal health impacts of climate change due to racism, xenophobia, and discrimination. They find that racially minoritized groups, migrants, and Indigenous communities bear a disproportionate burden of illness and mortality due to climate change. The paper also emphasizes the inequalities in responsibility for climate change and the resulting effects, particularly the disproportionate burden faced by the Global South. Case studies, testimony, and policy analysis are presented to illustrate the pathways through which climate change, discrimination, and health interact in the most affected areas. The authors call for a holistic approach to addressing the web of determinants of health and emphasize the need to incorporate anti-racism, anti-xenophobia, and anti-discrimination in research and action. They invite scholars to pursue research that interrogates and repairs structural discrimination, highlighting the potential for justice-driven, interdisciplinary collaborations to create policies and practices for equitable health outcomes and flourishing ecosystems. The paper concludes by urging the health community to engage in the principles outlined to confront the impact of discrimination on health and address the root causes of harm and trauma resulting from the interaction between climate change and structural discrimination.
January 8, 2025
Climate Change
Climate Change
President Biden’s new ban on offshore oil and gas drilling excludes the western Gulf of Mexico, the area responsible for 97% of U.S. offshore oil production. The ban protects the
UN Special Rapporteur Elisa Morgera has called for fundamental reforms to the global climate regime, criticizing the current system as ineffective and dominated by misinformation
January 4, 2025
Climate Change
Climate Change
Rising sea levels caused by climate change threaten to severely damage 13 major oil ports globally, including key facilities in Saudi Arabia, the US, China, and the Netherlands. A
January 3, 2025
Climate Change
Climate Change
In a landmark decision, the Montana Supreme Court ruled 6-1 in favor of 16 youth plaintiffs in *Held v. Montana*, affirming their constitutional right to a “clean and healthful en
January 3, 2025
Climate Change
Climate Change
AI-driven weather forecasting models are proving faster, cheaper, and more accurate than traditional numerical methods reliant on expensive supercomputers. These tools leverage ma
January 3, 2025
Energy Justice
Energy Justice
Elon Musk, alongside Vivek Ramaswamy, will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under President-elect Donald Trump. Tasked with cutting $2 trillion in federal spend
January 2, 2025
Climate Change
Climate Change
Texans are increasingly adopting microgrids as a solution to frequent winter power outages, driven by extreme weather events and grid reliability concerns. Unlike generators, micr
January 2, 2025
Climate Change
Climate Change
Chicago’s municipal buildings, including airports and water treatment plants, now run entirely on renewable energy, powered by the new Double Black Diamond Solar Farm in Illinois.
January 1, 2025
Climate Change
Climate Change
In Mexico, extreme heat disproportionately affects young people, with workers aged 18–34 and children under 5 facing the highest heat-related mortality rates. A study analyzing 73
Thermal energy networks, or neighborhood-wide ground-source heat pump systems, are emerging as a revolutionary approach to decarbonizing heating and cooling. These systems use int
December 30, 2024
Environmental Justice
Environmental Justice
Texas’s rapid population growth and infrastructure demands pose challenges for equitable development. With $104 billion allocated in the 2025 United Transportation Program, the Te
New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Climate Change Superfund Act, requiring fossil fuel companies to pay $75 billion over 25 years for climate damage repair and resilience p
Battery storage for clean energy surged in 2024, with U.S. capacity increasing by 71% to 24 gigawatt-hours. Batteries help reduce reliance on polluting "peaker" plants by storing
December 26, 2024
Climate Change
Climate Change
Brooklyn homeowners in historically disinvested neighborhoods are benefitting from EnergyFit, a program retrofitting two- and three-family homes with energy-efficient upgrades.