News & Commentary

Dispatch from South America: MUFPP and C40 Conferences

November 15, 2022 Expert BlogBrazil, Argentina, Chicago, Cincinnati, Washington, D.C.Yvette Cabrera, Madeline Keating

Community Perspectives: Wasted Food in Philadelphia

November 7, 2022 Expert BlogPhiladelphia, PennsylvaniaAndrea Collins, Madeline Keating

There is not a one-size-fits-all approach to crafting inclusive food waste prevention messaging. Philadelphia worked with community-based organizations to run community focus groups to better understand the biggest barriers to preventing food from becoming waste in local communities.

NJ Adopts Nation’s Best Water Affordability Transparency Law

September 13, 2022 Expert BlogNew JerseyLarry Levine

Under the state’s new law, we’ll be able to see where, and to what extent, people struggle to afford utility bills and suffer devastating impacts like shutoffs and tax lien sales.

Addressing Benton Harbor’s Lead Water Crisis Took a Village—and Years

August 9, 2022 DispatchBenton HarborKyler Sumter

As in Flint, Michigan, severe lead contamination in Benton Harbor illustrates the obstacles environmental justice communities face, and why the fight for stronger federal protections continues.

Curbside Composting Legislation on Launchpad in NYC Council

August 4, 2022 Expert BlogNew York CityEric A. Goldstein

Momentum is building for New York City to lock in a citywide curbside food scraps and yard waste composting collection program beginning as early as January 2023.

Top Climate Elements in Senate Budget Reconciliation

July 29, 2022 Expert BlogUnited States, Washington, D.C.Derek Murrow, Amanda Levin

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 will reduce greenhouse gas and other pollutants by giving people clean energy choices at low cost reduce household and business energy bills.

FDA's New Report on Animal Antibiotics Ignores Public Health

July 13, 2022 Expert BlogWashington, D.C., United StatesDavid Wallinga, MD

Amid a decades-long concern about widespread U.S. antibiotic overuse in livestock, the FDA continues ignoring the public health need to track and make that use visible.

Meeting the Challenge of Lead Service Line Replacements

May 16, 2022 Expert BlogNewark, United StatesJoan Leary Matthews

Lithium Mining Is Leaving Chile’s Indigenous Communities High and Dry (Literally)

April 26, 2022 DispatchChileNicole Greenfield

As the metal fuels the clean tech boom, companies race to mine the Atacama Region. At stake: fragile ecosystems, scarce water resources, and ancient ways of life.

Health Experts to New York: Beware of Neonic Pesticides

April 14, 2022 Expert BlogNew YorkDaniel Raichel

Let’s hope that Albany legislators and Governor Hochul listen to the doctors’ orders.

An Environmental Justice Advocate Inspires Others to Become Agents of Change

February 22, 2022 DispatchNewark, New JerseyKyler Sumter

Yvette Jordan is teaching communities impacted by environmental injustice about the power of speaking up.

NYC Must Enact a Universal Food Waste Composting Law, Part II

February 18, 2022 Expert BlogNew York CityEric A. Goldstein

The time has arrived for the nation’s largest city to implement a universal, curbside organics collection program for all residents.

Can NY Protect Bees, Birds, People from Toxic Pesticides?

February 9, 2022 Expert BlogNew YorkDaniel Raichel

The Birds and Bees Protection Act would eliminate 80-90 percent of the neonics entering New York’s environment every year by prohibiting only those uses that provide little-to-no benefit to users or are easily replaced with safer alternatives.

NYC Must Enact a Universal Food Waste Composting Law

February 1, 2022 Expert BlogNew York CityEric A. Goldstein

One of the top environmental challenges for Mayor Eric Adams and the City Council is to establish a sensible program for collecting and sustainably disposing of household organics—food scraps, yard waste, and food soiled paper.

Food Waste Generators Now Required to Recycle in New York

January 13, 2022 Expert BlogNew YorkMargaret Brown, Yvette Cabrera

New York's law adds to the growing drumbeat of adoption of these laws, and we look forward to seeing similarly robust programs in other states in the years to come.

Albany Environmental Roundup: 2021 Victories and 2022 Agenda

December 14, 2021 Expert BlogNew YorkMarisa Guerrero, Rich Schrader

New York State secured several key environmental and public health victories in 2021—and that momentum is continuing into 2022, as we push for bills to expand the use of electric vehicles, improve energy efficiency, promote food security, and reduce toxic…

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.

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.

Divine Intervention Should Not Be Required for Safe Water

September 24, 2021 Expert BlogMichiganCyndi Roper

Benton Harbor has been in the news lately for its elevated lead levels in drinking water, but the problem has gone on for at least three years. Here is Rev. Edward Pinkney's take on the situation in the form of…

New Yorkers—Vote Yes for Clean Air and Water!

September 16, 2021 Expert BlogNew YorkCorinne Bell, Joan Leary Matthews

On November 2nd, New Yorkers can lead a new wave of state environmental rights amendments if they decide that the state should officially recognize everyone’s right to clean air and water.