Lisa Jackson: Environmental Rights are Civil Rights

Lisa Brown, EPA Administator

Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), was recently profiled in theRoot.com. Jackson, a chemical engineer by trade and the first African American to head up the EPA, is quoted in the article as saying, “environmental rights [are] a natural extension of civil rights.”

Jackson is credited with changing the image of the EPA. “We’re here to help,” Jackson told reporters shortly after taking here post. “We have protection in our name. We’re not the Department of Defense, but part of our job is protecting human health.”

Read the fill article here, at theRoot.com.

UN Commission on the Status of Women Addresses Climate Change

The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women will meet March 1 through 12 in New York City. There are a number of side events open to the public that coincide with the event, many of which address the role of women within the dialogue of climate change and social justice.

Events include the NAACP-sponsored “Overcoming Copenhagen: Black Women Organizing Climate Justice” (March1); “Climate change and gender responsiveness in Asia-Pacific,” sponsored by the Korean Institute for Women Politics (March 2); and “Gender and Climate Change–the Untold Story of Copenhagen,” sponsored by the International Alliance of Women (March 4).

For a complete list of events and their dates and times, visit the website of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women.

Joint Center to Release Report on Trends in Broadband Adoption and Use Among Minority Americans

WASHINGTON – The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Media and Technology Institute will release a groundbreaking report on Thursday, February 25, 2010, examining how minority groups compare in using the Internet and broadband services, including mobile broadband, to advance their social and economic interests. The National Minority Broadband Adoption Study obtained telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 2,741 adults living in the continental United States. The survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International (PSRAI) in English and Spanish from December 1, 2009 to January 4, 2010.

WHO: Joint Center Media & Technology Institute

WHAT: Release of report, “National Minority Broadband Adoption: Comparative Trends in Adoption, Acceptance and Use.” For live streaming of the event, go to www.jointcenter.org or www.NextGenWeb.org.

WHEN: Thursday, February 25, 2010 from 2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

WHERE: Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, Valley Forge Room
400 New Jersey Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20001

Hip Hop Caucus Clean Energy Bus Tour Starts

The Hip Hop Caucus, an organization that engages young people of color on issues of social and economic justice, human rights, the environment, and international peace, launched its clean energy bus tour last week. Scheduled stops include locations in Indiana, Arkansas, Missouri, and Washington, DC.

The goal of the tour is to connect communities in need of economic development with organizations and businesses working toward a clean energy economy.

Bus tour events include community rallies, round table discussions at college campuses, tours of clean energy job sites and musical events. According to the website, “The Tour will amplify the voices of young people and communities of color fighting for a clean energy future.”

For information on tour stops and to read their blog, visit the Hip Hop Caucuses’ website. http://www.hiphopcaucus.org/bustour

Michael Dorsey featured on CBS’s Smart Planet

Dr. Michael Dorsey in Copenhagen, December 2009.

Dartmouth College professor Michael K. Dorsey, a Joint Center visiting scholar and an advocate for U.S. leadership on global climate change mitigation, was recently interviewed for CBS’s SmartPlanet blog. Dr. Dorsey spoke about climate change policy and social justice, with a particular focus on ensuring that legislated solutions take into account the concerns of marginalized communities.

Read the full article here.

Majora Carter on Environmental Justice

Majora Carter. Photo credit: Zack Seckler

The NBC Nightly News recently produced a feature on environmental justice advocate and founder of Sustainable South Bronx, Majora Carter. In it, Carter said, “The green movement to me actually means environmental justice, which is a principal that no community should bear the brunt of lots of environmental burdens and not enjoy some of the environmental benefits.”

Carter, a recipient of the $500,000 MacArthur Foundation Genius Award, now runs her own environmental development consultancy, the Majora Carter Group.

Watch clips of her interview at GreenFudge.org, a website that promotes discussion of environmental issues.

The NBC piece was inspired by thegrio.com’s “100 History Makers in the Making,” in which the Joint Center’s Climate Commissioner Dr. Robert Bullard was also named. The Grio is a division of NBC News dedicated to showcasing African American perspectives.

The Science Behind the Mid-Atlantic Snow

A whiteout obstructs the view of the US Capitol Building. Photo credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images

While record snowfall in the mid-Atlantic region has many doubting the earth’s temperature is really rising, a recent article in Time magazine explains that, in fact, climate change means more severe weather patterns, including heavy snow.

According to writer Bryan Walsh, “That’s in part because of global warming — hotter air can hold more moisture, so when a storm gathers it can unleash massive amounts of snow.”

“There is some evidence,” he wrote, “that climate change could in fact make such massive snowstorms more common, even as the world continues to warm.”

Veronica Johnson. Photo: NOAA website

Veronica Johnson, a meteorologist with Washington, DC’s News4s Weather Plus Team and a member of the Joint Center’s Commission to Engage African Americans on Climate Change said, “While we can’t prove Climate Change with one storm, I do believe we will be seeing more extreme events every season. Here in DC we just had our snowiest winter ever with 55-plus inches.”

Meanwhile, The Hill, a newspaper that covers the national government, ran a story this week about how all the snow was bad news for the climate bill. While jobs and the economy remain a top priority, “the paralyzing snowfalls have made the prospect of winning support for a climate bill this year even less likely.” Republicans, it said, were using the snow as evidence to support global warming skeptics.

The snow, as a case against climate change, said Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) “makes it more challenging for folks not taking time to review the scientific arguments.”

The full Time story: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1962294,00.html

The Hill article:
http://thehill.com/images/stories/news/2010/february/020210/20100210.pdf

Climate.gov Launched

The Obama administration has launched a climate website,  www.climate.gov, that provides data on such factors as atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and arctic sea ice, USA Today reported Monday.

Like the National Weather Service, the website will be part of a national Climate Service, a department of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). A primary goal of the Climate Service is to assist businesses with long term planning.

“The better climate information that alternative energy companies have,” said U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, “the more profitable they can be, the more jobs they can create and the more they can actually meet the energy demands of our country and indeed the world.”

The website offers an interactive look at global climate science and feature stories through its Climate Watch Magazine.

Climate Commissioners in Action

Dr. Mary Hayden, left, was recently in Uganda working on a project related to health care access in the West Nile region.

Dr. Mary Hayden, a postdoctoral fellow and visiting scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Institute for the Study of Society and Environment, a Guest Researcher with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and a member of the Joint Center’s Commission to Engage African Americans on Climate Change, is set to travel to Ghana to take part in a public health survey.

Dr. Hayden and her team will “undertake a household level survey of 400 houses in the north of Ghana to investigate the socio-economic determinants of meningitis transmission,” she said. “This is a collaborative undertaking with the Navrongo Health Research Centre and the National Center for Atmospheric Research.”

In other Climate Commissioner news, Dr. Warren Washington, head of the climate change research at the NCAR, and a member of the Joint Center’s Commission to Engage African American’s on Climate Change, was honored with a symposium in his name at the American Meteorological Society annual meeting in Atlanta last month.

“Many of the pioneers in the science of climate modeling and climate change gave talks on my and their past contributions and the future of this area of science,” Dr. Washington said.

At NCAR, Dr. Washington is continuing with a multi-million dollar Department of Energy grant that is used for improving climate models and performing climate change simulations for the next IPCC assessment. “One of new things that we are exploring is geoengineering the climate system to prevent the worst effects of future climate change,” he wrote. “Of course, … the best choice is to drastically lower fossil fuel emissions; however, the political will do so is still not there.”

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and The Honorable Bernette J. Johnson to speak at Howard University

Howard University School of Law is hosting the Seventh Annual James M. Nabrit, Jr. Lecture Series on February 18 in the Moot Court Room. This years’ Lecture Series will feature U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, and Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Bernette J. Johnson.

Administrator Jackson will discuss the importance of environmentalism and environmental justice; while Justice Johnson will pay tribute to the life and legacy of Alexander Pierre “A.P.” Tureaud, Sr., a legendary New Orleans civil rights attorney and Howard Law graduate. In addition to Justice Johnson’s speech, excerpts from the documentary Journey for Justice: The A.P. Tureaud Story will be shown, along with an unveiling of his portrait.

This special event will promote environmental justice as a prominent civil rights issue in the 21st century and honor a father to the civil rights movement in Louisiana.

For more information: http://www.law.howard.edu/1342