Every year the US burns more than 34 million tons of garbage in incinerators. These plants are major pollution sources, and most are clustered in disadvantaged communities.
Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland National Park, UK.
Dave Head/Shutterstock
Nauru is best known as a site of Australian offshore asylum detention. But everyone on the island - not just refugees - is struggling with the issue of environmental change that threatens their lives and homes.
A whale shark moves towards a piece of plastic in the ocean.
(Shutterstock)
If we are truly invested in addressing the issue of marine plastic and offsetting the potential harms, we have to understand which fish eat plastic and which ones don’t.
The sun sets behind the Statue of Liberty, July 1, 2018.
AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, File
July is the hottest month in much of North America. Experts explain who is most affected by heat waves and ways to cope with them.
A barn that can hold up to 4,800 hogs outside Berwick, Pa. The state says the farm is in compliance with regulations, but residents have gone to court seeking relief from odors.
AP Photo/Michael Rubinkam
Many people who live near large-scale livestock farms complain about noxious smells, air and water pollution and health risks. With little help from regulators, they are turning to lawsuits.
All bottled water comes from somewhere.
Steven Depolo
Michigan officials have ended distribution of free bottled water in Flint, but many residents believe the city’s water crisis is not over and have lost all trust in government.
Small tankers unload along New York’s Newtown Creek in 2008.
Jim Henderson
Gentrification is not the only path for improving urban neighborhoods. A cleanup in Brooklyn and Queens offers another, more inclusive model that scholars have dubbed ‘just green enough.’
A trash truck discharges solid waste at the South East Reserve Recovery Facility’s refuse storage pit in Long Beach, California, August 24, 2010.
AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
Most Americans don’t want incinerators in their neighborhoods, so waste management companies are burning trash in other facilities such as cement kilns. Is this a sustainable way to deal with garbage?
Warning sign at Kerr-McGee uranium mill site near Grants, N.M., December 20, 2007.
AP photo/Susan Montoya Bryan
The Trump administration’s push for ‘energy dominance’ could spur a new wave of domestic uranium production. A scholar describes the damage done in past uranium booms and the visible scars that remain.
Colin Kaepernick, centre, and his San Francisco teammates kneel during the national anthem before an NFL football game in 2016.
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
Much of the discussion about “Take a Knee” has overlooked the issues of justice and social exclusion, and especially environmental matters. That’s something to think about during the Super Bowl.
Breezy Point, New York off the coast of Long Island after the storm surge from Superstorm Sandy.
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
Chris Sellers, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York)
Five years after Superstorm Sandy, we see how disadvantaged social groups suffered more from the storm before and after – much as we’re seeing in Hurricanes Harvey and Maria.
Under the El tracks, downtown Chicago.
Franck Michel
New research shows that noise pollution in US cities is concentrated in poor and minority communities. Beyond regulating airplane noise, the US has done relatively little to curb noise pollution.
Coal stockpile at a Milwaukee, Wisconsin power plant, 2011.
Michael Pereckas
A recent study shows that large piles of coal produce measurable quantities of fine particulate air pollution within a 25-mile radius. Covering coal trains and storage piles could reduce the problem.
This 1899 drawing depicts Uncle Sam disciplining his newly acquired pupils/possessions, including Puerto Rico, following the Treaty of Paris.
Library of Congress
In Puerto Rico the Trump administration’s ‘energy dominance’ policy echoes colonial practices by fast-forwarding fossil fuel projects over community resistance.