Can we solve the climate crisis without confronting global inequities?
A recent study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA found that white residents in the USA produce more climate pollution than black or hispanic residents, but black and hispanic people are exposed to more air pollution.
And that is just the USA! Think about the global inequities in the "haves" and the "have nots".
And how are we going to lift people out of poverty without making the climate crisis even worse?
If you are a resident in a wealthy country, is it your responsibility to address both problems at once? And what would that look like in terms of national and international policy?
Environmental Justice >
Are our littering prevention systems really working?
Along highways in the US, I see signs that threaten readers with messages like "1,000 dollar fine for littering" and yet all along the highway there are trampled McDonald's cups, paper napkins, greasy cardboard pieces, magazine pages, and candy wrappers, just to name a few. Clearly, this method is not working, because who can enforce such a claim? If we want (and need) to reduce the level of waste that ends up in our environment through human complacency, then we need to find a more effective way of preventing people from littering.