The community groups are calling BCDC’s vote a historic moment given the deep-seated inequities that have resulted in people of color and low-income communities disproportionately bearing the environmental and public health burdens of the climate crisis.
On Dec 3rd, 2018, the State Lands Commission voted unanimously to adopt a new Environmental Justice Policy designed to support more fair and inclusive management of California’s public lands. The revised policy incorporates many of the recommendations released in June by the Environmental Justice Working Group, a coalition of organizations representing environmental justice and Tribal communities throughout the state. The Working Group called the new policy a step in the right direction to honor the relationship of Indigenous Peoples to state lands, accelerate a just transition to clean energy, and reduce the impact of transportation and commercial activities on low-income communities and people of color.
Environmental Justice Working Group released case studies that are drawn from the experience of California Native American Tribes and environmental justice (EJ) communities to illustrate the need for a strong Environmental Justice Policy at the California State Lands Commission (SLC).
The California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA) and California Environmental Justice Alliance Action (CEJA Action) are proud to release our 6th Environmental Justice Scorecard for the 2018 Legislative Session. is scorecard is the only one in the state that assesses how well California’s elected o cials have supported actions to address environmental issues that impact low-income communities and communities of color.
California is a global leader in using, investing in, and advancing research to set proactive climate change policy, and its Climate Change Assessments provide the scientific foundation for understanding climate-related vulnerability at the local scale and informing resilience actions. The Climate Change Assessments directly inform State policies, plans, programs, and guidance to promote effective and integrated action to safeguard California from climate change.
The Climate Justice Working Group developed a climate justice policy and funding strategy to address the physical, environmental, economic, and health impacts on vulnerable communities caused by climate change.
How do voters of color perceive climate change in California? They see it as a major threat to the future generations and an issue we must address before it’s too late.
While the world wrestles with the immediate impacts of the coronavirus crisis, the more gradual climate crisis continues to accelerate in the background.
As Californians shelter at home amid the COVID-19 outbreak, an estimated 1 million of them lack access to clean drinking water, largely in rural parts of the state.
For city residents, equitable access to local green space is more than a coronavirus-era amenity. It’s critical for physical, emotional, and mental health.
The coronavirus lockdown is giving the world’s oceans much-needed breathing space, let’s hope we don’t go back to bad habits when it ends, writes the Ocean Conservation Trust.
Wastewater-based epidemiology might be an effective way to track the disease in a particular population since the deadly novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 was found in the feces of those who tested positive.
Growing fruit and vegetables in just 10 per cent of a city's gardens and other urban green spaces could provide 15 per cent of the local population with their 'five a day', according to new research.
California is aiming to slash planet-warming emissions faster than ever over the next decade — and critics say state officials aren’t acting with nearly enough urgency.
Sanitizing is on everyone's mind these days because of the coronavirus pandemic, but don't flush those disinfecting wipes and paper towels down the toilet.
California State Parks announced today the temporary closure of all campgrounds in the state park system to support state and local efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus).
Young adults free of diabetes and cardiovascular disease developed heart damage after only five years of exposure to low-to-moderate levels of arsenic commonly found in groundwater.
The new coronavirus typically spreads via droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes. The droplets carry viral particles and can land on someone else's nose or mouth or get inhaled.
Onshore wind power, utility-scale solar power, reduced food waste: These are just the first three of Project Drawdown’s plan to end the climate crisis with existing technologies.
Disaster Days: How megafires, guns and other 21st century crises are disrupting California schoolssFrom climate-driven natural disasters to crumbling infrastructure and threats of mass shootings, modern dangers are sending California kids home from class in record numbers.
Sand crabs, a key species in beach ecosystems, were found to have increased adult mortality and decreased reproductive success when exposed to plastic microfibers
Nature does the body good. And a sprawling new analysis of more than 8 million people suggests that to boost residents' longevity, cities should get a lot less gray and a lot more green.
Water is incredibly, astonishingly precious. Water allows us to stay hydrated and quench our thirst. Water allows us to clean our bodies and maintain proper hygiene.
The plastic crisis is one of the biggest challenges that our planet is facing, and one that desperately needs to be tackled, especially if we want to save the fate of our oceans.
It’s time to shift the conversation around parks in California. New data is illuminating the need to look at state parks in communities a bit differently
A study released by the University of Washington found the birds, called common murres, probably died of starvation between the summer of 2015 and the spring of 2016.
2019 was a record year for global warming. This week, NASA and NOAA announced that global surface temperatures in 2019 were the second warmest since modern record keeping began.
California authorities are addressing the problem of lead in drinking water at public schools through a statewide program to test pipes and upgrade plumbing, but experts warn the threat goes well beyond schools
A major new United Nations report, issued on Wednesday, warns that the Earth’s oceans are under severe strain from climate change, threatening everything from the ability to harvest seafood to the well-being of hundreds of millions of people living along the coasts.
The Presidio in San Francisco is the first park in the United States to get the award that recognizes the best parks and green spaces in the world, the park's officials said Tuesday.
The historic ruling marks the first decision by a UN human rights treaty body based on a complaint filed by an individual seeking protection from the effects of climate change.
New laboratory test commissioned by EWG have for the first time found the toxic fluorinated chemicals known as PFAS in the dirnking wáter of dozens of U.S. cities, including major metropolitian areas
New California testing guidelines that take effect this month are expected to reveal widespread groundwater contamination from the chemicals associated with Teflon.
After recently announcing its first success at collecting plastic waste from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, The Ocean Cleanup team is widening efforts by addressing the main entry point of litter — rivers.
Diners at some of San Francisco most popular restaurants might notice a new line item on their bills this month, a one percent add-on that’s known as the Restore California surcharge
Studies that connect green space to mental health and wellbeing abound. And this connection is intuitive—people have long retreated to parks and natural places to recharge from the pressures of daily life.
Halting overfishing and the plastic pollution of the oceans could help tackle the climate emergency by improving the degraded state of the world’s biggest carbon sink, a report has found.
A new study that rising temperatures brought on by climate change could be shortening pregnancies by as many as two weeks suggests worrisome implications for babies’ health and children’s later development.
There's a mystery lurking in the Pacific Ocean just off the coast of Big Sur, California. An underwater survey has found thousands of small, round divots scooped out of the soft sediment on the seafloor.
After years of scorching summers, storms of fire and ash, floods, and drought, Californians now rank climate change as their No. 1 political priority, according to a new poll of Democratic primary voters.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency validated new testing methods Thursday to measure the presence of widespread contaminates called PFAS in the nation's drinking water.
In first-of-its-kind research, NOAA scientists and academic partners used 100 years of microscopic shells to show that the coastal waters off California are acidifying twice as fast as the global ocean average—with the seafood supply in the crosshairs.
