The Young Lords’ Fight for Environmental Justice in NYC
Erik Wallenberg reviews Johanna Fernández's award-winning book on the Young Lords and connects their political project of securing garbage pickup and medical access for New Yorkers to the broader environmental justice movement.
A Black Herbalist’s Guide to Breathing and Grieving with Yellow Dock
Herbalist Asia Dorsey reflects on a pandemic year when life and death cycles were especially present and describes Yellow Dock's role as the grief worker of the plant world.
On Ojibwe Lands, Protecting Water and Life from the Line 3 Pipeline
The new Enbridge Line 3 pipeline poses a slew of threats on treaty land. Ojibwe people lead the movement against its construction in Minnesota.
Poet’s Body as Archive Amidst a Rising Ocean
Western media often portrays Pacific Islanders as helpless victims of “sinking islands." Kuhelika Ghosh shows how Marshallese poet Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner brings performance poetry to climate activism and resistance.
How Wendy Red Star Decolonizes the Museum with Humor and Play
“When talking about Indigenous history you can just devastate yourself," says Apsáalooke artist Wendy Red Star. "And so, humor has been a way for me to cope with that." Drawing from an original interview with the artist, Nicole Seymour and Salma Monani examine how Red Star uses humor, play, and
Faculty Favorites: Reading Through the Pandemic
Six scholars recommend books and essays they're teaching this fall to navigate the pandemics of coronavirus and racial injustice.
Defending Tomorrow Today
In light of the recent Global Witness report, Rob Nixon discusses the dangers environmental defenders face and their role as frontline workers in the fight against climate breakdown and zoonotic pandemics.
This Shark Can Outlast Nuclear Waste. But Will It?
This mysterious deep-sea shark is built to live centuries. Will it survive to tell the tale of the Anthropocene? Sadie E. Hale considers the Greenland shark, nuclear waste, and ocean plastics, showing how their sclaes of time and space converge.
The Environmental Injustices of Forced Migration
Guadalupe Remigio Ortega shares her family's histories and describes how Mixtec forced migrations are part of a global story of environmental injustice.
La Lucha Yaqui: A Conversation with Mario Luna Romero
In Spanish and English, activist Mario Luna Romero discusses the Yaqui struggle for water and land rights with Ben Barson and Gizelxanath Rodriguez.
OK, Doomers! The Climate Generation Has Arrived
The climate generation is coming of age. Sarah Jaquette Ray, author of A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety, explains what older generations have to learn.
What Is Land? A Conversation with Tania Murray Li, Rafael Marquese, and Monica White
Land is the scene of a crime and a site of liberation. Tania Murray Li, Rafael Marquese, and Monica White discuss land and the Plantationocene with Elizabeth Hennessy.
Infrastructure’s Inequalities: A Conversation with Nikhil Anand and Nausheen Anwar
Geographer Siddharth Menon interviews anthropologist Nikhil Anand and urban planner Nausheen Anwar about infrastructures and development in India and Pakistan.
The Future of Landscape Architecture is TV
Inspired by TV as a medium, Marc Miller's course in landscape architecture has students make environmental fiction about the future rather than design for the present.
Phosphate Mining and the Paradox of Abundance
Phosphorus fertilizes the land. Phosphate mining poisons it. Artist Christian Danielewitz visits sites of extraction in western Senegal and considers the Plantationocene.
Decolonizing Infrastructure in India and the US: A Conversation with Malini Ranganathan
Two urban geographers discuss decolonization in theory and practice, the politics of water and infrastructure, and the social sides of environmental science.
Writing Ecopoetry During Doomstead Days: A Conversation with Brian Teare
A new book of poems, Doomstead Days, explores our intimate entanglements with watersheds, environmental loss, and the toxic burdens we carry.
Pollution Doesn’t Care About Borders: A Conversation with Elizabeth Hoover
An anthropologist uses community-based research methods to investigate environmental justice, reproductive health, and food sovereignty in Indigenous communities like the Akwesasne Mohawk in upstate New York.
Imagining a Green New Deal Through Climate Fiction
Is the Green New Deal real or science fiction? Kim Stanley Robinson's novel New York 2140 imagines a flooded world where climate action is unavoidable.
The WWII Incarceration of Japanese Americans Is an Environmental Story
The environmental conditions of Japanese American incarceration camps in World War II were pivotal to the way detainees navigated their experience. But these histories are as diverse as their landscapes.
Where Have All the Fish Gone?
Subsidized fishing fleets are rapidly depleting fishing stocks and harming communities in the Central Pacific. It’s time island nations get a seat at the negotiating table on global trade and climate change.
Our Waters, Our Selves: A Conversation with Astrida Neimanis
"We can't contain water." Feminist philosopher Astrida Neimanis discusses the environmental inequalities and queer rhythms of the elusive fluid.
Activism and Hope in Flint: Five Questions for Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha
Pediatrician, scientist, and activist Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha uncovered the effects of the Flint Water Crisis on children. Her new book tells this story and how the Flint community came together to fight environmental racism and science denial with perseverance and hope.
Weathering This World with Comics
Comics and graphic novels help us picture new worlds and imagine how to save our own. Four writers recommend their favorites.
Prisons for Sale, Histories Not Included
Environmentalists played a disturbing role in the Adirondacks' prison-building boom. As the state now shutters many of those facilities, we're at risk of forgetting that.
Water Justice vs. Western Development in Nepal
A development practitioner and anthropologist explores the promises and realities of water development projects in Kathmandu, Nepal, where luxury hotels have pools while poor city residents struggle to find clean water sources.
Earth First! and the Ethics of American Environmentalism
Why were American radical environmental movements able to gain political and philosophical ground in the second half of the 20th century? Keith Woodhouse looks at this question through the history of Earth First! and its legacy today.
The Year of the Plastic Straw Ban
Controversial plastic straw bans continue to make headlines. A cultural analysis helps weigh the most recent legislation and asks whether bans on single-use plastics offer a path toward a more sustainable future or a distraction from systemic change.
Woke Environmentalism
Environmental justice is the future of environmental activism. A new documentary reader edited by Christopher Wells chronicles the birth of the environmental justice movement.
The Water’s Not Fine: A Conversation with Anna Clark
The Flint water crisis is not over. Anna Clark’s new book tells the history of how we got here and how lead is here to stay.
Muslims Stand Up for Environmental Justice: A Conversation with Huda Alkaff
The founder of Wisconsin Green Muslims talks about her group’s solar and water conservation work rooted in faith and justice, and its Greening Ramadan initiative for the Islamic holy month that begins this evening.
Indigenous Art as Creative Resistance: A Conversation with Dylan Miner
How can we use the arts to decolonize our relations to the land? An artist, activist, and scholar discusses the many forms of creative resistance we can use to imagine and enact new and better worlds.
Is There a Place for Environmental Justice in Global Health?
Environmental justice and global health research collide in the Nicaraguan sugarcane fields over the causes of chronic kidney disease (CKDnt).
Photographing Plutonium’s Invisible Legacy
In a series of photographs, a landscape designer and artist uncovers the invisible toxic legacies of nuclear technology in Hanford, WA.
Indigenous Youth and the Changing Face of Settler Colonialism: A Conversation with Jaskiran Dhillon
An anthropologist and activist discusses her work with Indigenous youth and how social services and other state programs may be colonial intervention by another name.
The Violent Environments of the Mexico-U.S. Border
An artist honors the struggles of undocumented immigrants in the Mexico-U.S. borderlands and shows the emotional and environmental toll of immigration policies.
Five Reasons Why Henry Ford’s Failure in Brazil Still Matters Today
In this quick guide to Henry Ford's lasting impact in the Amazon, the director of Beyond Fordlândia shares the untold stories of violence, pollution, and activism he uncovered while filming the new documentary.
Food Justice Requires Land Justice: A Conversation with Savi Horne
The fight against African American land loss isn't just about economic justice. It's about environmental sustainability.
How’d We Get So Cheap? A Conversation with Bryant Simon
The author of "The Hamlet Fire" discusses a deadly blaze at a chicken-processing facility and the logics of cheapness which provided the kindling.
Al Gore and the Global South: A Review of “An Inconvenient Sequel”
Climate change advocacy requires finding common ground. Al Gore's new documentary highlights the importance of listening to the Global South to find solutions.
“Stop Calling Me Resilient”: Addressing Environmental Degradation in Louisiana
Louisiana's coast restoration project, and its underlying framework of climate resiliency, is generating pushback from environmental justice organizations.
Toxic Bodies and the Wetter, Better Future of “Mad Max: Fury Road”
Most Hollywood catastrophe films offer neat endings and the promise of a fresh start. Fury Road asks what happens when the broken world cannot be made whole.
Environmental Resentment on the Political Right
When is political resentment legitimate, and who gets to decide? Two recent books examine the emotional world of politics in rural Wisconsin and Louisiana.
A Syllabus for Teaching Water Politics
A new syllabus outlines a series of readings for teaching the politics of water.
Politics for a Maimed World: A Conversation with Jedediah Purdy
The acclaimed cultural critic and author of "After Nature" set off to explore the uncharted depths of the Anthropocene. But he found Thoreau there waiting for him.
Learning from Einstein and Tupac: A Conversation with Tyrone Hayes
The biologist who became famous standing up to agribusiness reflects on the politics of science, getting mistaken for a conspiracy theorist, and the unexpected ways race and gender matter in the academy today.
Global Environmental Change in Indonesia: A Roundtable
Indonesian is known both for biodiversity and environmental degradation. This tension resonates with the stories we tell about global environmental change.
The Itchy Ecology of Segregation: A Conversation with Dawn Biehler
For many of us, mosquitos are an annoying fact of life in the summer. But for Dawn Biehler, they are also a symptom of social inequality.
How Activists Are Taking on Factory Farms
Activists gather at a summit over factory farm expansion, offering an economic vision based on the value of clean water.
The Ethics of Ceremony at Standing Rock
Activists at Standing Rock bring a sense of ceremony to environmental politics.
Wasting Space: Composting for Change in New York
A compost organization in New York City offers up an alternative vision of urban green space and waste labor.
From White Privilege to White Supremacy: An Illustrated Interview with Laura Pulido
Pursuing environmental justice requires recognizing the varied forms of racism.
Chernobyl at Thirty: A Special Edition Environment and Health Roundtable
Drawing from presentations at the recent meeting of the American Society for Environmental History in Seattle, a historian, an ecologist, and a political scientist bring their different perspectives to bear on central questions of knowledge stirred by Chernobyl. What have we learned, or not?
Dueling Manifestos: Responses to an Ecological Crisis
This comparison of the Leap and the Ecomodernist Manifestos finds hope in an ethic of care.
Doing Environmental Studies During Times of Racialized Violence
In the last few weeks, two grand juries declined to indict the police officers who killed Michael Brown and Eric Garner. What can scholars in the environmental humanities and social sciences say about racialized state violence?