News & Commentary

California Leads the Way in Fighting the Biodiversity Crisis

December 22, 2021 Expert BlogCaliforniaSandy Aylesworth, Helen O'Shea

California once again has an opportunity to lead the country with visionary conservation efforts that put equity and access at the forefront of decision making.

Ten New Environmental Laws in California

November 30, 2021 Expert BlogCaliforniaVictoria Rome

The environmental community continued to chalk up wins in the state legislature despite another unusual year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a gubernatorial recall election.

For Thousands of Years, Indigenous Tribes Have Been Planting for the Future

November 30, 2021 DispatchIowa, Canada, Pennsylvania, OklahomaSusan Cosier

With yields of biodiversity and a more climate-resilient food supply, a movement is sprouting in BIPOC communities across North America to save heirloom seeds and preserve culture.

How to Stop a Highway

November 19, 2021 DispatchHouston, Texas, United StatesTim Vanderpool

Houston activists fuel a growing movement to increasingly center environmental justice in infrastructure and protect urban neighborhoods from endlessly expanding road projects.

A Lawyer That Sees Grassroots Relationship-Building as the Path Toward Social Change

November 16, 2021 NRDC in ActionCaliforniaKeith Mulvihill

NRDC’s first chief equity and justice officer, Melissa Lin Perrella, believes the way to strengthen advocacy work is to prioritize community partners who are closest to the problem—and often closest to the solution.

Haaland Takes Important Step to Protect Sacred Chaco Canyon from Fossil Fuel Extraction

November 15, 2021 Expert BlogNew MexicoNRDC

The move is a major win in the larger fight to safeguard the Greater Chaco region, but permanent protection is still needed.

Will Los Angeles Finally Put an End to Oil Drilling in Neighborhoods?

November 12, 2021 DispatchLos AngelesNicole Greenfield

For close to a decade, the STAND-L.A. coalition has been calling on the city to stop extracting oil near homes and schools. Victory, at long last, is within reach.

LA Must Tackle Clean Buildings & Affordable Housing Together

November 8, 2021 Expert BlogLos Angeles, CaliforniaStefan Schaffer, Michele Knab Hasson, Megan Ross

Currently, LA’s building stock is responsible for 43% of the city’s total greenhouse gas emissions. A recent report dives deep into the complex relationship between getting fossil fuels out of buildings and creating and preserving affordable housing in Los Angeles…

Denver’s Climate Fund to Focus on the Most Impacted

November 4, 2021 Expert BlogColorado, DenverEloisa Portillo-Morales, Alana Miller

New Program Provides Energy Burden Relief for Tenants in LA

November 3, 2021 Expert BlogLos Angeles, CaliforniaMichele Knab Hasson

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the largest municipal utility in the country, has worked with advocates to develop a comprehensive program that provides benefits to low income tenants and is accessible by affordable housing providers.

Senator and WA Governor Join Forces to Tackle Snake Dams

November 1, 2021 Expert BlogWashington, WestGiulia C.S. Good Stefani

U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Washington Governor Jay Inslee answered advocates’ calls to energize the decades-long push to save our iconic salmon from extinction.

No Longer a Laggard: California's Bold Setback Proposal

October 29, 2021 Expert BlogCaliforniaAnn Alexander

Californians have the opportunity now to make their views known about the proposed regulation—what’s excellent, and what needs improvement.

From Memphis to the White House, This Advocate Is Confronting Redlining and Environmental Injustice

October 25, 2021 DispatchMemphis, FlintShelia Hu

LaTricea Adams, who founded Black Millennials for Flint, is now pushing the Biden administration to remediate the impacts of our country’s historically racist policies.

Biden Admin Takes 1st Step to Undo Trump’s Delta Destruction

October 15, 2021 Expert BlogCaliforniaDoug Obegi

The Trump Administration’s biological opinions were the result of scientific misconduct, political interference, and bias. The end result is nothing short of a plan for extinction that is playing out before our eyes.

Orcas Lose a Grandmother, Matriarch L47

October 15, 2021 Expert BlogWashington, OregonGiulia C.S. Good Stefani

This Saturday is Orca Recovery Day and people are coming together for some healing—and to demand action.

California’s Wildly Inequitable Water Rights System

October 11, 2021 Expert BlogCaliforniaKate Poole

It's time to put the interests of the community above the interests of the ancestors of a handful of white settlers who staked their claim to our public resources over a century ago.

California Oil Disaster Brings New Urgency to Calls to Ban Drilling

October 7, 2021 Expert BlogCalifornia, United StatesValerie Cleland

We have to transition away from fossil fuels. That’s why it’s essential that Congress pass budget reconciliation with offshore drilling provisions—and enact President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda.

Latina Farmworkers Speak Out about the Hazards of Life in California’s Fields

October 4, 2021 DispatchCaliforniaNicole Greenfield

From farms to public hearings, the women of Líderes Campesinas are standing up against the pesticide exposure, COVID-19 risk, and other threats disproportionately impacting their community.

Through a Solar Transformation, a Former Landfill Is Poised to Become a Community Lifeline

September 28, 2021 DispatchHoustonMaudlyne Ihejirika

In Sunnyside, Houston—a neighborhood that recently registered the city’s highest unemployment rate—residents are preparing for an influx of jobs to come from the Sunnyside Energy Community Solar project.

Agencies Planning a Disaster for CA Salmon if 2022 Is Dry

September 20, 2021 Expert BlogCaliforniaDoug Obegi

If next year is dry in California, modeling from the Bureau of Reclamation shows that Shasta Reservoir would store nearly 750,000 acre feet less water in April 2022 than it did in April 2014—a year that was an unmitigated disaster…