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Page Updated:
Sept. 21, 2025

• • Danger For Environmental Defenders

  Over 2,250 Have Been Killed or Disappeared in the Last 12 Years
  
  
  

  Sept. 18, 2025 -The latest tally from Global Witness is a grim ledger. In 2024, at least 146 people were killed or disappeared while defending land, water and forests. That brings the total to at least 2,253 deaths and disappearances since 2012, a steady toll that turns local acts of stewardship into mortal hazards. The organization’s report reads less like an activist’s briefing than a casualty list from a slow-moving war.

  Latin America remains the deadliest region. Of the 117 killings documented there last year, 48 took place in Colombia, which has led the world in such murders for three years running. Guatemala recorded 20 deaths...

• • Dominion’s Proposed Peaker
  Plant Flouts Environmental Justice

  The Utility’s Environmental Justice Analysis Lacks Community Health Data
  
  
  

  Sept. 18, 2025 -For the first 60 years Duane Brankley lived here, about a mile and a half from a coal plant owned by Dominion Energy, coal ash coated the shingles on his roof and the insides of his lungs.

  The coal plant finally closed in 2023, but soon Brankley could be facing an even more insidious air pollutant: fine particulate matter, or PM 2.5, from a new natural gas plant, the Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center, that Dominion wants to build on the site of the old coal facility.

• • Young Activists Say 3 Trump
  Orders Violate Constitutional Rights

  A Group of Young People Argued That a Judge Should Halt Three of Trump’s Sweeping Executive Orders On Climate and Energy Policy
  
  
  

  Sept. 18, 2025 -A group of young climate activists attempted to put the Trump administration’s energy agenda on trial in Montana this week.

  In two days of hearings in a packed federal courtroom in Missoula, the plaintiffs and a slew of expert witnesses testified that three of President Trump’s executive orders aimed at “unleashing” American energy violated their Constitutional rights to life and liberty.

• • EPA Seeks $140 Million Penalty Against
  DTE Energy in Zug Island Pollution Trial

  Freeze-Thaw Recycling
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Sept. 17, 2025 -The EPA is asking a federal judge to impose a $140M penalty on DTE and subsidiaries over sulfur dioxide emissions from its ES Coke Battery on Michigan’s Zug Island.

  A federal judge has already ruled DTE qualifies as an operator of the facility under the Clean Air Act, making the parent company liable for violations.An expert witness testified that DTE could afford to pay the fine without financial hardship, estimating the utility gained $185M–$226M in economic benefit during years of noncompliance.

• • Labor, Environmental Abuses
  Detailed in China’s Vast Squid Harvests

  A New Environmental Justice Foundation Report Exposes Violations in the Vast Chinese Squid-Fishing Industry...
  
  
  

  Sept. 16, 2025 -China’s vast, uncontrolled squid-fishing effort in the unregulated waters off South America is putting marine ecosystems at risk of depletion and leaving crew members vulnerable to physical abuse, overwork and even death, according to a new report by the Environmental Justice Foundation.

  The investigation by the London-based nonprofit sheds light on the working conditions of largely Southeast Asian crews and murky fishing supply chains that link to more than 80 U.S. importers and buyers.

• • G.O.P. Plan on Pesticides Faces Revolt From MAHA Moms

  The provision in the Government Funding Bill Could Shield Pesticide Companies From Billions in Lawsuits
  
  
  

  Sept. 15, 2025 -China’s vast, uncontrolled squid-fishing effort in the unregulated waters off South America is putting marine ecosystems at risk of depletion and leaving crew members vulnerable to physical abuse, overwork and even death, according to a new report by the Environmental Justice Foundation.

  The investigation by the London-based nonprofit sheds light on the working conditions of largely Southeast Asian crews and murky fishing supply chains that link to more than 80 U.S. importers and buyers.

• • Young People Suing Trump Over
  Climate Have Their Day in Federal Court

  They Claim Trump’s Executive Orders Are Unconstitutional
  
  
  

  Sept. 15, 2025 -Young climate activists suing President Trump have a big ask for a federal judge in Montana this week: Immediately block three of the president’s executive orders aimed at “unleashing” American energy.

  The 22 young people filed a federal lawsuit against the president, 13 agencies and numerous officials in May, arguing that Mr. Trump’s executive orders were unconstitutional. Their lawyers, led by the nonprofit Our Children’s Trust, have asked Judge Dana L. Christensen to block the Trump orders until there is a final judgment in their case.

• • Kids from Marginalized Communities
  Are Learning in the Hottest Classrooms

  The Study Shows That Children From Marginalized Communities Are More Exposed to Extreme Heat Events
  
  {Scientific American}
  
  

  Sept. 5, 2025 -A heat wave can turn a classroom without proper cooling into an oven. Excessive heat can interfere with the learning process of any child—but in the U.S., the students who are most affected are disproportionately from low-income families and communities of color.

  A recent study published in SSM Population Health has now quantified these inequities across U.S. public schools for the first time. Researchers found that Hispanic/Latino, Native American/Alaska Native and Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander students, along with children who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, are significantly more likely than their white and wealthier peers to attend schools located in places that experience the highest number of days with extreme heat.

• • Pennsylvania Plastics Pollution Settlement
  Could Set a National Precedent for Control of Pellets

  The Case Is the First Citizen Suit to Successfully Settle Over “Nurdles” In an Inland Waterway
  
  
  
  

  Sept. 4, 2025 -A Pennsylvania plastics manufacturer will pay $2.6 million for allegedly violating the federal Clean Water Act and will ensure that no more of its plastic pellets leak into waterways, under a proposed settlement with two environmental groups.

  PennEnvironment and Three Rivers Waterkeeper sued Styropek USA, claiming the company discharged large quantities of “nurdles”—tiny pellets used to produce a wide variety of plastic products—into a western Pennsylvania creek, polluting the water and leaving the pellets on creek-side vegetation.

• • Opposition to an Alabama Medical
  Waste Treatment Facility Boils Over

  Dozens of Residents Opposed to Harvest Med Waste Disposal’s Site In Remlap, Alabama, Packed the Blount County Courthouse to Voice Their Concerns
  
  
  
  

  Sept. 4, 2025 -One of the county commissioners was reading from a list of those who’d asked to speak at a public meeting concerning the potential approval of a medical waste treatment facility in nearby Remlap.

  “Darlene,” a resident at the back of the room repeated to those outside. Community members opposed to the new facility, proposed by Harvest Med Waste Disposal, wouldn’t all fit in the boardroom where commission meetings are typically held. They also lined the hallways of the courthouse nearly to the building’s exit. One court employee said they’d never seen the facility packed with as many citizens. The woman’s name continued down the line.

• • Inside Trump’s Unorthodox Climate Attacks in Courts Nationwide

  The Administration Cranks Up Efforts to Kill State Laws and Legal Cases That Would Force Fossil-Fuel Companies to Pay For Climate Damage
  
  
  
  

  Sept. 4, 2025 -The Trump administration is escalating its attacks on “polluter pays” laws and lawsuits that try to force fossil fuel companies to help cover the costs of climate change.

  There are dozens of these legal fights playing out nationwide. They have become increasingly significant as the Trump administration weakens federal efforts to fight global warming.

• • Leaving EPA Behind, Environmental Justice
  Pioneer Preaches Hope Amid Trump Cutbacks

  In 26 years at the Agency, Charles Lee Worked to Keep the Focus On Communities...
  
  
  
  

  Sept. 2, 2025 -One year ago, Charles Lee could look across the federal government and see his life’s work in action on multiple fronts—new grants awarded to minority communities overburdened with pollution, a new expert science panel established to look at their unique mix of health risks and the first White House Summit on Environmental Justice in Action underway.

  “This has been an incredible week for justice!” Lee posted on LinkedIn, as he detailed the work being done by his colleagues at the EPA and throughout President Biden’s administration.

• • UN Experts Accuse Top Oil Firms of
  Rights Violations Over Nigerian Asset Sales

  Divestments Were Made Without Paying Hefty Clean-Up Bills or Compensating Communities in the Pollution-Scarred Niger Delta
  
  {CLIMATE HOME NEWS}
  
  

  Sept. 2, 2025 -Oil giants Shell, Eni, ExxonMobil and TotalEnergies breached international human rights law by selling their assets in Nigeria without cleaning up decades of pollution or compensating local people in the Niger Delta region, according to a group of UN experts.

  The southern Nigerian region has long been blighted by oil spills, gas flaring and discharges of toxic wastewater that have devastated ecosystems and jeopardized the livelihoods of farmers and fishermen, as well as hitting human health.

• • Leaving EPA Behind, Environmental Justice
  Pioneer Preaches Hope Amid Trump Cutbacks

  In 26 years at the Agency, Charles Lee Worked to Keep the Focus On Communities. Now...
  
  
  
  

  Sept. 2, 2025 -One year ago, Charles Lee could look across the federal government and see his life’s work in action on multiple fronts—new grants awarded to minority communities overburdened with pollution, a new expert science panel established to look at their unique mix of health risks and the first White House Summit on Environmental Justice in Action underway.

  “This has been an incredible week for justice!” Lee posted on the social media site LinkedIn, as he detailed the work being done by his colleagues at the Environmental Protection Agency and throughout President Joe Biden’s administration.

• • Victims of Zambian Copper Mine Disaster
  Demand Multibillion Dollar Payout

  Dozens of Families Are Threatening to Sue China’s Sino-Metals Over a Devastating Spill of Toxic Mining Waste That Caused One of the Nation’s Worst Environmental Disasters
  
  {CLIMATE HOME NEWS}
  
  

  Sept. 2, 2025 -Zambian farmers are threatening to sue a Chinese copper mining company unless it pays billions of dollars in compensation following a massive toxic waste spill in February that killed fish, wrecked crops and contaminated water supplies.

  International mining experts have warned that communities will be exposed to long-term health risks for decades without drastic measures to tackle the pollution.

• • Can the ICJ Opinion Bring Climate
  Justice For Indigenous Peoples?

  The Landmark Ruling By the World’s Top Court Says National Climate Policies Must Protect Indigenous and Minority Rights – But...
  
  {CLIMATE HOME NEWS}
  
  

  Sept. 1, 2025 -For centuries, Indigenous peoples have demonstrated the indivisibility of human and ecosystem well-being. Now, the highest court in the world is behind them.

  A milestone in an existential battle – that’s how the recent advisory opinion on climate change from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has been hailed. Does it signal climate justice for minorities and Indigenous peoples, groups among those most vulnerable to climate change, or is it just another piece of paper?

• • 20 Years After Katrina, We’re
  Less Prepared For Disaster Than Ever

  Hurricane Katrina Remains One of Our Country’s Most Colossal Failures
  
  
  
  

  Sept. 1, 2025 -The disaster was not just in the ferocity of the storm itself, but even more in the dismal ineptitude of every level of government to provide the leadership, aid and resources needed to prevent loss of life and the worst human misery imaginable.

  The agony and horror of U.S. citizens desperately screaming from their rooftops for rescue and tens of thousands packed without sufficient water, food or sanitation in the Superdome and New Orleans convention center will be forever seared into my consciousness.

• • The Shocking Reality of Indoor Heat Deaths in Arizona

  It Happened So Fast
  
  
  
  

  Aug. 31, 2025 -It was the hottest day of the year so far when the central air conditioning started blowing hot air in the mobile home where Richard Chamblee lived in Bullhead City, Arizona, with his wife, children, and half a dozen cats and dogs.

  It was only mid-June but the heat was insufferable, particularly for Chamblee, who was clinically obese and bed-bound in the living room as the temperature hit 115F (46C) in the desert city – situated 100 miles (160km) south of Las Vegas on the banks of the Colorado River.

• • An Industry Insider’s Changes at the
  E.P.A. Could Cost Taxpayers Billions

  The New Version Would Shift Costs From Polluters
  
  
  
  

  Aug. 28, 2025 -Early this year, Steven Cook was a lawyer representing chemical companies suing to block a new rule that would force them to clean up pollution from “forever chemicals,” which are linked to low birthrates and cancer.

  Now Mr. Cook is in a senior role at the Environmental Protection Agency, where he has proposed scrapping the same rule his former clients were challenging in court. His effort could shift cleanup costs away from polluters and onto taxpayers, according to internal E.P.A. documents reviewed by The New York Times.

• • Judge Orders Alligator Alcatraz to Wind Down Operations

  Environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe had Sued Over a Lack of Any Environmental Review
  
  
  
  

  August 22, 2025 -A federal judge has ordered a winding down of operations at Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz, the hastily assembled Everglades detention site where the Trump administration aims to incarcerate thousands of undocumented migrants before deporting them.

  Judge Kathleen Williams Thursday granted a preliminary injunction for environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe, which had sued to stop the facility on the grounds that it was rushed to completion without any public comment or environmental review. Such a review is necessary under federal laws such as the Endangered Species Act and also the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires environmental impact statements on major federal actions.

• • It Costs Less Than A Hundredth of a
  Cent To Stop An Hour of Chicken Pain

  Researchers Attempt to Measure Animal Pain in Dollars and Hours
  
  
  
  

  August 19, 2025 -Walk into any supermarket and you’ll see rows of cheap chicken. But behind those plastic-wrapped breasts and drumsticks is an invisible ledger — one that tallies not just dollars, but hours of suffering. A new study argues we can finally calculate that hidden cost, and the math may change how we think about food.

  Researchers have developed a way to calculate how many hours of suffering each bird endures under today’s industrial farming system, and how much it would cost to prevent it. Their conclusion: for about one extra dollar per kilogram of meat, we could spare chickens at least 15 to 100 hours of intense pain. It costs less than one-hundredth of a cent to prevent each hour of intense pain.

• • DOE Faces a Slew of Legal Challenges This Week

  DOE is Under Legal Fire on Two Fronts: One From States, the Other From Environmental Groups
  
  
  
  

  August 18, 2025 -19 states and the District of Columbia sued DOE late last week over its effort to cap grant funding used for “indirect costs” (like buildings, equipment, and personnel) at 10%. They say it 1) guts budgets for clean energy, weatherization, and emergency programs 2) violates federal law and 3) was imposed with zero evidence it would “improve efficiency.”

  Two environmental groups (the Environmental Defense Fund and the Union of Concerned Scientists) filed a federal lawsuit alleging DOE secretly assembled climate skeptics who reject the scientific consensus to write a report downplaying global warming, which the EPA then used to justify repealing the 2009 endangerment finding.

• • Texas AG Launches Investigation
  Into Utilities Connected to Wildfires

  The Administration has Almost Fully Redacted a NOAA Study Used to Justify The Stop-Work Order On New York’s Empire Wind Project Earlier This Year
  
  
  
  

  August 15, 2025 -Texas attorney general Ken Paxton has launched an investigation into several utility companies connected to the Smokehouse Creek and Windy Deuce Fires, his office said on Friday.

  The office said it issued civil investigative demand letters to Xcel Energy (XEL.O), Osmose Utilities Services and Southwestern Public Services for documents related to the wildfires in order to ascertain if any Texas laws were violated.

• • An Environmental Justice Test Case for Trump’s EPA

  A Creek That Smells Like Death
  
  {Inside Climate News}
  
  

  August 13, 2025 -On a summer afternoon in Burton Park, hip-hop throbs from a car stereo over the backbeat of a basketball slapping on concrete. The sun bakes a grid of identical brick buildings, whose wheezing window air conditioners can barely keep pace with the 96-degree heat. Three young boys laugh and shout as they speed down the sidewalk on their bikes.

  They stop and point at a creek. It lies stagnant behind an orange snow fence smothered in kudzu.

  “You can’t go in there,” one of the boys blurts. He pulls the collar of his T-shirt over his nose. “It stinks.”

  Two years ago, in August 2023, the city fenced off the creek in east Durham after chemical distribution company Brenntag Mid-South detected high levels of acetone, toluene and ethanol in water at its property edge a half-mile upstream.

• • Can Colorado Recycle Toxic Water from Oil
  and Gas Drilling Without Increasing Emissions?

  Environmentalists Fear the Answer is “No,”
  
  {Inside Climate News}
  
  

  August 13, 2025 -The vegetation along the Colorado River as it runs next to Interstate 70 is lush in early June, soaking up the tail end of this year’s meager spring runoff as it makes its way West.

  But as you approach Rifle, Colorado, splotches of dry grass begin popping up on the slopes above the river’s southern bank. In the second half of the 20th century, oil shale companies began moving into the small town and “bought up the ranches for the water rights,” said Leslie Robinson as she looked out across the river from a well pad near her home. “Oil and gas gets water first,” she said.

• • After Floods and Failed Harvests, Korean
  Farmers Sue State Power Utility For Damages

  Six Farmers are Seeking Compensation From South Korea’s KEPCO, Arguing Its Fossil Fuel Emissions Have Contributed to Economic and Emotional Harm
  
  {CLIMATE HOME NEWS}
  
  

  August 12, 2025 -Six South Korean farmers have announced plans to sue the country’s state-owned utility company, arguing that its burning of fossil fuels has contributed to climate change and damaged their crops.

  The farmers are seeking compensation from the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) for the economic and emotional damages they have suffered from extreme weather driven by climate change.

• • Meet the Activist Fighting PFAS Pollution — and Winning

  Emily Donovan Wants to “Make the Polluters Pay” For What They’ve Done to Her North Carolina Community and Others
  
  
  
  

  August 11, 2025 -The mother of twins took on the role of activist when she started fighting for her North Carolina community in 2017. Her main target: PFAS “forever chemicals,” which do not degrade and at even low levels have been linked to a wide range of human health risks, including fertility issues, immune interactions, cancer, liver damage, thyroid disease, asthma, and more.

  A recent report from the nonprofit Waterkeeper Alliance found that 98% of waterways in the United States contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS. One of the country’s most polluted rivers, according to the report, sits at the heart of Donovan’s own Cape Fear community in North Carolina.

• • Chemical Makers to Pay N.J. $875
  Million to Settle ‘Forever Chemicals’ Claims

  It Was the Largest Environmental Settlement Ever Achieved by a Single State
  
  
  
  

  August 4, 2025 -In what officials say is the largest environmental settlement ever won by a state, chemical giants Chemours, DuPont and Corteva agreed on Monday to pay New Jersey $875 million over the next quarter-century to settle claims linked to pollution from so-called “forever chemicals.”

  Under the deal, the companies are required to fund the cleanup of four former industrial sites, create a remediation fund of up to $1.2 billion and set aside a reserve of $475 million to ensure that the cleanup will be completed if any of the companies go bankrupt or default.

• • Urging Brazil’s President to Veto a Law
  That Would Cut Environmental Reviews

  The Country Can’t Claim a Climate Leadership Role at COP30 While Harming the Environment and Trampling Human Rights
  
  
  
  

  July 30, 2025 -Independent experts with the United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday publicly called on President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil to veto parts of a new law that would carve giant loopholes in the country’s environmental regulations.

  The expert group of independent human rights rapporteurs said the law would roll back environmental protections, which would violate basic human rights non-regression principles.

• • Global Goal for Clean Cooking By 2030 Out of Africa’s Reach

  A Shortage of Funding and Infrastructure Means Sub-Saharan Africa Will Have to Delay the Deadline to 2040
  
  {CLIMATE HOME NEWS}
  
  

  July 23, 2025 -In a progress report released last Friday, the Paris-based body said the number of Africans without access to clean cooking on the continent has continued to grow, reaching around 1 billion people and affecting four in every five households.

  IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a statement that lack of clean cooking “remains one of the great injustices in the world”.

• • World’s Top Court Opens Door to Compensation
  From Countries Responsible for Climate Crisis

  International Court of Justice Rules That Governments Have a Legal Duty to Prevent and Repair Damage to the Climate System
  
  {CLIMATE HOME NEWS}
  
  

  July 23, 2025 -In a landmark case brought by the sinking Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, the ICJ’s 15 judges decided unanimously that governments have a legal duty to protect the climate. Breaching that duty, they said in a keenly awaited advisory opinion, could result in the affected countries claiming compensation.

  Climate litigation expert Joana Setzer, of the London School of Economics’ Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, said that “for the first time, the world’s highest court has made clear that states have a legal duty not only to prevent climate harm – but to fully repair it.”

• • A Just Stop Oil Activist On Her Time in Prison

  Is It a Return to Life
  Or a Toxic Timebomb?
  
  
  
  

  July 21, 2025 -Louise Lancaster, 59, was one of a group of Just Stop Oil activists given the longest-ever UK sentences for peaceful protest for planning disruption on the M25 in November 2022. This year, she wrote a diary for the Guardian, detailing her first six months behind bars. Here, written before her release on 8 April and after her sentence was reduced on appeal, she reflects on her final months of incarceration.

  Click now to learn more.

• • 30 Years After Chicago’s Deadliest Heat Wave...

  Systemic Racism Is
  Still the Root Problem
  
  
  
  

  July 17, 2024 -This week marks 30 years since that heat wave, which killed 739 people in Chicago over five days. It remains one of the deadliest U.S. weather events in generations.

  The 1995 heat wave was starkly unequal, disproportionately killing Black residents in poorer neighborhoods, especially elders, many of whom lived alone without air conditioning in brick buildings that trapped heat and baked like ovens.

• • Death Threats and Falsehoods Among Online
  Abuse Reported By Land and Climate Defenders

  Survey Across Six Continents Uncovers Accounts of Abuse Causing Defenders to Fear For Their Safety
  
  
  
  

  July 16, 2024 -Death threats, doxing and cyber-attacks are just some of the online threats recounted by land and climate defenders in a new report, amid concerns that harassment is having a chilling effect on environmental activism.

  Interviews and questionaires sent out to more than 200 environmental defenders across six continents by Global Witness found that nine in 10 activists reported receiving abuse over their work. Three in four defenders who said they had experienced offline harm believed that digital harassment contributed to it.

• • The Surprising Consensus On Carbon Fairness

  And the Self-Deception Undermining It
  
  
  
  

  July 15, 2024 -Members of the public broadly agree that carbon emissions are too high, and that the wealthy should do more of the heavy lifting to reduce them, according to a new study based on survey data from Germany. But people tend to have a too-rosy view of their own personal carbon footprint—a pattern that is especially pronounced among the wealthy.

  “Our findings challenge the notion that climate action is deeply divisive or that public opinion is polarized,” says study team member Johanna Köchling, a graduate student at the University of Konstanz in Germany. “Instead, they reveal a broad consensus on both the urgency of action and the need to ensure fairness.”

• • Baltimore’s Wetlands Restoration Pushes Ahead

  Despite Federal Funding Setbacks
  
  
  
  

  July 13, 2024 -Critics caution that the efforts, as designed, cut off some historically Black and disadvantaged communities in South Baltimore from the promised benefits of shoreline restoration.

  Click now for more on the story.

• • Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration’s
  New Arizona Border Wall Waivers

  Conservation Groups Back the Challenge
  
  
  
  

  July 9, 2024 -Conservation groups sued the Trump administration today for unconstitutionally waiving dozens of environmental laws to speed border wall construction through the San Rafael Valley in Arizona’s Sky Island region, a biodiversity hotspot that includes the most significant wildlife corridor remaining along the Arizona-Mexico border.

  The planned 27-mile border wall would block migration for dozens of imperiled species — including federally endangered jaguars and ocelots, as well as black bears, pronghorns and mountain lions — who roam freely between Arizona and the Mexican state of Sonora to find mates, prey and safety, according to a recent Center for Biological Diversity report.

• • DuPont Agrees to $27 Million Payout
  in Hoosick Falls Water Contamination

  The Chemical Company Was One of Four Businesses That Contaminated the Water Supply in the Upstate New York Community
  
  
  
  

  July 9, 2024 -A small town in upstate New York may be close to a final victory in a nearly decade-long legal battle against some of the nation’s biggest companies over the contamination of its water supply.

  A small town in upstate New York may be close to a final victory in a nearly decade-long legal battle against some of the nation’s biggest companies over the contamination of its water supply.

• • The Road to Environmental Justice

  A Call for Collective Action
  
  {NWF Blog}
  
  

  By Dr. Adrienne Hollis, July 8, 2025 -It was an incredible honor to serve as one of the keynote speakers at Johns Hopkins University’s HOP25 Conference, at the invitation of the Environmental Sciences and Policy/GIS Program. My keynote was entitled “The History of Time and This Time in History” and the opportunity to speak on such an important issue felt both humbling and urgent—especially when considering the state of our nation today. And because the message I shared is more relevant than ever, I’m extending it beyond the conference, hoping it will inspire a broader conversation and action.

  Click now for more on this story.

• • Black Alabamians Sue State Department
  of Transportation Over Repeated Flooding

  Residents in the Shiloh Community Have Fought For Years to Remedy Excessive Stormwater Runoff Caused By an Elevated Highway
  
  
  
  

  July 8, 2024 -Pastor Timothy Williams said he’s not giving up his fight for justice.

  It’s a battle that has garnered national headlines and brought prominent leaders, including then Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, to the small, historically Black community with the goal of addressing repeated flooding caused by the elevation of US-84, a project overseen by the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT).

• • Environmentalists Sue to Stop Opening
  of ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ in Everglades

  Florida Officials Have Said the Facility, Nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz” by Republicans, Will Open Early Next Week and Hold Up to 3,000 Detainees
  
  
  
  

  June 27, 2025 -Two environmental groups on Friday sued to halt the construction of an immigrant detention center in the middle of the Everglades, arguing the state had ignored required ecological reviews.

  Florida officials have said that they plan to open the facility, nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz” by Republicans, as early next week and that it would hold up to 3,000 detainees.

• • Bonn Climate Talks Rife With Roadblocks and Dead Ends

  As Some Wealthy Countries Backslide On Climate Promises, the World’s Least Developed Countries Warn That “Every Fraction of a Degree Matters.”t
  
  
  
  

  June 27, 2025 -As the UN climate talks came to a faltering end Thursday in Bonn, Germany, the world’s least developed countries and island nations feared for their future while some rich, developed countries backslid on climate promises and doubled down on fossil fuels.

  Preventing long-term warming of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial level should remain the laser focus of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change talks, said Evans Njewa, chair of the United Nations group of Least Developed Countries.