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How Cities Are Centering Equity in Benchmarking Policies

Expert BlogDenver, Colorado, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Seattle, WashingtonCaroline Keicher
A new resource from the City Energy Project—Incorporating Equity into Energy Benchmarking Requirements: Guidance for Policy and Program Practitioners—helps cities understand the opportunity to leverage benchmarking and transparency policies to address racial and social equity.

Latinx Leaders Paving the Way for Climate Action

Expert BlogLos Angeles, Chicago, New York City, San AntonioEloisa Portillo-Morales
Cities are leading the charge on climate action—reimagining how streets can be used, passing bold climate legislation, and creating green, equitable jobs. At the core of many of these efforts are Latinx leaders, whose activism has been instrumental in paving…

NRDC's Statement on the Derek Chauvin Verdict

Expert BlogMinneapolis, MinnesotaNRDC
Today, a Minnesota jury found Derek Chauvin guilty of the murder of George Floyd, the man who cried out for his mother as Chauvin dug his knee into his neck until he couldn’t breathe.

Time to Bury Big Oil's Criminal Enhancement Bill for Good

Expert BlogIllinoisJ.C. Kibbey
An Illinois legislator is pushing for a bill which would significantly enhance criminal penalties for anyone entering or causing damage to a very widely defined group of “critical infrastructure facilities,” effectively chilling peaceful exercise of freedom of speech, and threatening…

A Monumental Matter at Bears Ears—Land of Sacred Power

Expert BlogUtahSharon Buccino
Secretary Haaland knows with every fiber of her body the value of the 1.35 million acres of lands originally designated as Bears Ears National Monument—not simply for their beauty and tranquility, but for their cultural significance and sacred power.

Environmental Justice Protects Public Health

Expert BlogChicago, IllinoisGina Ramirez
Chicago’s health care professionals are calling on the city’s Department of Public Health to be accountable to policy decisions that put communities at risk. This is a major step in our fight for environmental justice because racism is a public…

Fighting Inequity with Solar Power

DispatchMinneapolis, St. PaulSusan Cosier
Minneapolis’s 4d program to boost energy efficiency and affordable housing in the city is kicking it up a notch.

Victory in California

Expert BlogCalifornia, Chicago, IllinoisLauren P. Phillips
A court rules that California must stop exempting metal shredding facilities from hazardous waste laws, clearing a path to finally protect California communities from metal shredder pollution.

Chicago, a “Sweet Home” for an Endangered Bee?

Expert BlogChicago, IllinoisDaniel Raichel
The rusty patched bumblebee's appearance in Chicago underscores how one patch of native habitat can be meaningful, but what’s most needed is a network of interconnected habitat so that the bee’s populations can recover and once again thrive.

Stressed by Heat, Farmworkers Deserve Federal Protections

Expert BlogCalifornia, Washington, MinnesotaTeniope Adewumi-Gunn
Unprotected from many basic workplace rights and in the face of a growing climate crisis that threatens their well-being, farmworkers deserve federal safeguards from extreme heat and its dangerous effects.

The Case for Equitable Building Decarb in the Midwest

Expert BlogMidwestAmulya Yerrapotu
By taking an equity-first approach to building decarbonization, the Midwest can unlock not just a core climate solution, but also vital health, economic, and jobs benefits, and ensure they reach the communities that need them most.

South Florida’s Dirty Secret Is Oil

Expert BlogFloridaAlison Kelly
As many city dwellers flee states with cold winters and expensive costs of living looking to quarantine in this paradise, there is a dirty little secret lurking in the Florida swamp—impending oil development.

Biden Can Protect Communities, Halt Mountain Valley Pipeline

Expert BlogWest Virginia, Virginia, North CarolinaAmy Mall
We have new leadership in Washington under President Biden, and his administration should take action to send the Mountain Valley Pipeline right where it belongs—into the dustbin of history.

UPDATED: Science, Polling Support NY Bill to Save Bees

Expert BlogNew YorkDaniel Raichel

Senator Brad Hoylman introduced new language today for the Birds and Bees Protection Act, a bill that would make the state a national leader in safeguarding its bees, birds, water, and people from widespread neonicotinoid pesticide contamination.

Major Victory in Coalition Push for Renewable Rikers Island

Expert BlogNew York CitySara Imperiale, Eric A. Goldstein

The New York City Council passed two bills that, when signed into law, will mark the beginning of the end for the notorious Rikers Island jail complex and transform the island into a model of green infrastructure and jobs.

Judge Halts Action on Utah Helium Drilling

Expert BlogUtahJosh Axelrod
NRDC and partners today headed off an attempt by the Trump administration to rush approvals for new helium drilling operations within one of America’s newest and most iconic wilderness areas: Labyrinth Canyon in southeastern Utah.