Podcasts about justice40

In today's episode continuing our eight-part series, we examine how nonprofits are effectively advocating for environmental justice. We'll analyze practical strategies for building awareness and securing advocacy funding while navigating the regulatory frameworks that govern nonprofit activism. Join us for a clear-eyed look at how organizations are making meaningful progress in environmental protection and climate action.    Attorneys for this episode   Tim Mooney  Quyen Tu  Susan Finkle Sourlis    Shownotes   Current Events / Executive Orders:  • Trump Administration Environmental Rollbacks  • Rescinded EPA's Environmental Justice Screening Tool (EJSCREEN)  • Repealed Biden-era executive orders on Justice40, climate equity, and cumulative impacts assessments  • Reinstated NEPA rules from 2019, reducing environmental review for pipelines, highways, and factories  • Revoked protections for sacred Indigenous lands (e.g., Bears Ears downsizing, drilling leases on Chaco Canyon perimeter)  • Impacts on Vulnerable Communities:  • Halted all EPA funding for community air monitoring programs in EJ-designated census tracts  • Suspended grants to community-based climate resilience projects  • Cut FEMA's BRIC (Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities) equity prioritization language  • Reopened refineries and power plants previously closed for Clean Air Act violations, especially in Black and Latino neighborhoods  • EPA DEI cuts:  • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced plans to cancel nearly 800 environmental justice grants, totaling over $1.5 billion, which were intended to support projects mitigating climate change impacts in vulnerable communities .  •  Additionally, the EPA is undergoing a reduction in force, affecting employees in its Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, as part of a broader effort to realign the agency's mission    ·      Non-Lobbying Advocacy o   Nonpartisan Advocacy 101: 501(c)(3)s cannot support or oppose candidates for public office, but they can… o   Educate the public about issues of importance to your organization. §  Waterkeeper Alliance is holding EPA Admin Lee Zeldin accountable for cuts to PFAS research. o   Hold a rally §  Memphis Community Against Pollution rallied to celebrate a victory for clean water, while turning its attention to a clean air fight against an Elon Musk-owned company's proposed data center. o   Initiate or participate in litigation §  AFJ member Earthjustice has sued the Trump administration's improper withholding of IRA grant funds for projects that included Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) grants to install solar panels on small farms. o   Fund Advocacy §  Meyer Memorial Trust funded  41 organizations with EJ awards totaling $6.9 million in 2024 with a focus on frontline and indigenous communities   ·      Lobbying o   501(c)(3) public charities are also allowed to use unrestricted funds to engage in some lobbying activities. o   Tax Code Lobbying 101: Public charities can lobby, but they are limited in how much lobbying they may engage in. §  Insubstantial part test vs. 501(h) expenditure test. §  Under either test, lobbying includes attempts to influence legislation at any level of government. §  Track your local, state, and federal lobbying, and stay within your lobbying limits. o   State/local level lobbyist registration and reporting requirements may also apply when engaging in legislative and executive branch advocacy. o   Ballot measure advocacy (direct lobbying) could also implicate state / local campaign finance and election laws. o   Lobbying wins §  Hawaii just passed a first-of-its-kind climate tax on short-term accommodations to fund defenses against climate change fueled disasters. Sierra Club of Hawaii has been actively lobbying on climate change legislation for years. §  Ballot measure wins (h/t The Nature Conservancy) ·      California: $10 billion climate bond that funds climate resilience, protecting clean drinking water and preventing catastrophic wildfires.  ·      Washington: An effort to roll back the state's Climate Commitment Act was defeated. The CCA provides millions for conservation, climate and wildfire funding, including funding for Tribal nations and at-risk communities. ·      Minnesota: Renewal of the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund for another 25 years. The fund will provide $2 billion ($80 million per year from state lottery proceeds) to protect water, land and wildlife across the state. Resources – ·      Earth & Equity: The Advocacy Playbook for Environmental Justice ·      Public Charities Can Lobby (Factsheet) ·      Practical Guidance: what your nonprofit needs to know about lobbying in your state ·      Investing in Change: A Funder's Guide to Supporting Advocacy ·      What is Advocacy? 2.0  

We know that climate change disproportionately affects those of us who are already struggling. But can climate mitigation and adaptation policy be designed in a way that promotes environmental justice? And if so, how? We speak with Anna Shipp, Principal Policy Associate, and Joseph Schilling, Senior Research Associate, from the Urban Institute's Research to Action Lab about Justice40 — a Biden-era initiative that directed 40% of federal climate spending benefit equity-deserving communities. The Urban Institute, a nonprofit focused on equity and social mobility, has studied climate justice in depth, including the challenges of implementing Justice40. Although the initiative was repealed under the Trump administration, it remains one of the most ambitious attempts to embed environmental justice into federal climate policy — and offers valuable lessons for future efforts.   Pullback is a proud member of the Harbinger Media Network Enjoy our work? Support us on Patreon!

Pour le retour de Clémence Houdiakova, une belle matinale Tocsin. Au menu : 2:30 Un Salon de l'Agriculture 2025 volcanique !

What was it like to receive a call out of the blue from President Joe Biden's transition team about leading the Department of Energy's Justice40 initiative? Catherine spoke with Shalanda Baker about this as well as implementing the DOE's first ever Equity Action Plans (EAP), which addressed foundational issues with how data is collected concerning underserved & underrepresented populations. Shalanda also shared how the Regional Energy Democracy Initiative (REDI) was formed & about its kickoff to support the delivery of community benefits in over 50 DOE-funded projects in the Gulf South totaling over $8B. She said that the last three & a half years have been the hardest of her life, but that they have also allowed her to integrate the most sacred parts of her life with the academic & policy work she has been committed to for over a decade. This episode was recorded at the WRISE Leadership Forum.If you're a clean energy employer & need help scaling your workforce efficiently with top tier staff, contact Catherine McLean, CEO & Founder of Dylan Green, directly on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3odzxQr. If you're looking for your next role in clean energy, take a look at our industry-leading clients' latest job openings: bit.ly/dg_jobs. 

We know that these post-election blues are a thing, but here's the deal – the need for climate justice isn't changing. This week on Let's Hear It, we're diving deep into the work that's pushing environmental justice to the forefront of philanthropy, policy, and big-dollar investments. Eric sits down with Danielle Deane-Ryan, Senior Advisor to the EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and a long-time climate justice funder. Danielle shares her journey from her roots in Trinidad and Tobago to the halls of power in Washington, breaking down how billions in clean energy investments can—and must—center the communities hit hardest by environmental injustice. The conversation explores how policies like Justice40 and collaborations between grassroots leaders and major funders are changing the game. Danielle also doesn't hold back when it comes to the communication gaps that still need fixing—and she's got plenty of ideas for how to make progress stick. Meanwhile, Kirk rallies the optimism brigade, Eric holds his ground, and they both agree – without good communications, even the best policies will fall short. If you want to hear how leaders are tackling the climate crisis with equity, resilience, and serious grit, this episode is for you. Don't forget to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts—it helps others find the show!

We know that these post-election blues are a thing, but here's the deal – the need for climate justice isn't changing. This week on Let's Hear It, we're diving deep into the work that's pushing environmental justice to the forefront of philanthropy, policy, and big-dollar investments. Eric sits down with Danielle Deane-Ryan, Senior Advisor to the EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and a long-time climate justice funder. Danielle shares her journey from her roots in Trinidad and Tobago to the halls of power in Washington, breaking down how billions in clean energy investments can—and must—center the communities hit hardest by environmental injustice. The conversation explores how policies like Justice40 and collaborations between grassroots leaders and major funders are changing the game. Danielle also doesn't hold back when it comes to the communication gaps that still need fixing—and she's got plenty of ideas for how to make progress stick. Meanwhile, Kirk rallies the optimism brigade, Eric holds his ground, and they both agree – without good communications, even the best policies will fall short. If you want to hear how leaders are tackling the climate crisis with equity, resilience, and serious grit, this episode is for you. Don't forget to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts—it helps others find the show!

Join host Amanda Hsieh for a special crossover episode of ESG Decoded and Energy Crossroads.  In this conversation Marina Badoian-Kriticos of Houston Advanced Research Center and Emma Cox of ClimeCo break down key elements of a Just Transition and highlight public projects and corporate strategies that incorporate these elements.  The role of federal initiatives like Justice40 in driving equitable climate investments How community engagement and transparency are vital for inclusive energy transitions Measurement frameworks for tracking progress towards a Just Transition Federally funded  projects in Texas that are leading the way in integrating equity into clean energy initiatives Are you interested in insights about advancing social equity and environmental goals in the energy sector?  Don't miss out on this special episode! Episode Resources:  HARC Website: https://harcresearch.org/  Energy Crossroads Podcast: https://harcresearch.org/news/energy-crossroads-a-harc-podcast-series/ EJScreen: Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool: https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool: https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov/en/#3/33.47/-97.5 Just Transition Score: Just Transition Score (socialprogress.org)

In the first days of his term, President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14008 on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, introducing the Justice40 initiative and setting important climate priorities for the nation. Built upon principals of the U.S. environmental justice movement begun by Dr. Robert Bullard four decades prior, Justice40 set a goal that 40% the overall benefits of federal climate and affordable housing investments must flow to historically disadvantaged communities.  As with any ambitious government spending plan, Justice40 has been subject to scrutiny of the administration's ability to deliver on its intentions. Since January of 2024, the initiative has faced criticisms for its difficult grant application process and inconsistent tracking of where associated benefits and dollars are touching ground in the U.S.  Other developments over the summer of 2024 have also undermined public confidence in Justice40. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court's overturn of the Chevron doctrine with its Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision introduced doubts by eliminating a forty-year-old precedent of deferring to agency interpretations of ambiguous federal laws. President Biden's subsequent withdrawal from the presidential race in July has added to the uncertain outlook.  With Vice President Kamala Harris as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, it remains to be seen whether Justice40 in its current form will carry over among a new administration's priorities.  Environmental justice will remain a critical focus for many Ten Across communities whether Justice40 is renewed or not. And though there may be room for improvement, the initiative increased federal support where it has long been needed most and drew national attention to important climate and equity issues.  Listen in as Ten Across founder Duke Reiter talks with Chitra Kumar, a former director in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, about her observations of renewed vigor for environmental justice across federal agencies and the internal culture shift that resulted from the work of the Justice40 Initiative.  *Note: In this discussion, the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool is sometimes referred to by its acronym, “CJEST.”*  Articles/resources referenced in this discussion:   Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool  “Strengthening Justice40” (Chitra Kumar, The Equation, April 25, 2024)  “Why the White House's Justice40 is an Important Tool to Build On” (Chitra Kumar, The Equation, April 25, 2024)

In this episode, we meet with Alexa White - Alexa White's dedication to sustainable agriculture and environmental justice is clearly demonstrated through her Ph.D. candidacy in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan. Her work, grounded in agroecology and biology, critically assesses sustainable agriculture's biophysical indicators and probes the efficacy of international climate governance, particularly in light of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. Alexa's significant contributions were recognized in 2023 with the prestigious Federation of American Scientists Policy Entrepreneurship Award, an honor she shared with notable figures including Director Christopher Nolan, Senator Chuck Schumer, and Dr. Alondra Nelson. This accolade celebrated her pivotal role in establishing the AYA Research Institute, a think tank dedicated to progressive environmental justice policy. In her role as a Senior Harvard Climate Justice Design Fellow, Alexa has been instrumental in developing innovative environmental justice screening and mapping tools for governmental bodies in the Mid-Atlantic United States. Her expertise in this field also led to a collaboration with the White House Council for Environmental Quality, where she played a key role in developing the inaugural Justice40 tracker and report, further cementing her position as a leader in sustainable development and environmental justice. Alexa's groundbreaking research in food sovereignty and justice earned her the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Conservation Leadership Award in 2020, underscoring her contributions to the field. Her active participation on the boards of the United Negro College Fund and the Edfu Foundation serves as evidence that her leadership goes beyond research. Moreover, as a 2022 Columbia Mailman School of Public Health Agents of Change in Environmental Justice Senior Fellow, Alexa has harnessed her skills as a storyteller to eloquently share her experiences and insights, further amplifying her impact in the realms of environmental justice and sustainable agriculture. We learn about food sovereignty and the right to have control over your food We learn about agricultural and food policy We learn about how representation and leadership of people of color in environmental justice work is crucial Follow and connect with Alexa on socials: Instagram: @alexabwhite LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexa-white-a1214987/ Check out Alexa's website: alexawhite.co Check out an opinion piece Alexa wrote: https://www.ehn.org/supporting-small-scale-farmers-2664302999.html

In episode 207 of America Adapts, Dr. Kelly Turner of UCLA and Dr. Ladd Keith at the University of Arizona join host Doug Parsons to discuss groundbreaking work in extreme heat governance and planning, specifically focusing on the recent NOAA grant awarded to launch the Center for Heat Resilient Communities. The grant aims to enhance heat resilience in communities by encouraging connections between stakeholders and the federal government, with a heavy emphasis on climate justice and environmental justice as part of President Biden's Justice40 initiative. The discussion also covers federally funded research programs supporting rural and tribal communities with heat resilience, mapping shade equity nationally, and initiatives on indoor cooling. Kelly and Ladd encourage involvement in the field of heat policy and governance, inviting individuals to reach out and engage with the three year project. Topics covered: NOAA Grant Overview Biden Administration's Role Principals and Key Partners/Community Partnerships Heat Resilient Communities Framework Evaluating Heat Resilience Policies Training Future Heat Leaders Funding and Support for Communities Climate and Environmental Justice Media Coverage of Extreme Heat Plug for Other Research Programs for Kelly and Ladd Call to Action: Visit heat.gov Principal Researchers for the Grant: Dr. V. Kelly Turner, UCLA (lead)   Dr. Ladd Keith, University of Arizona   Dr. Sara Meerow, Arizona State University Transcript of episode available here.    Quotes from the episode: Dr. Kelly Turner:  Really, there are two main goals. One is to to create a robust framework across a diverse set of contexts that communities could use to do heat resilience work. And so we have a series of six cores that the whole center is organized around. So the first goal is for us to create this framework. And the second goal is to then fund and to support communities. So 10 communities per year over three years to test that framework and refine it. And I could get into a little bit about each one of the cores if that's of interest.   Dr. Ladd Keith  And we'll be co-developing essentially this heat resilient framework that the communities will be going through. And it involves all the cores and is really focused on supporting heat action planning at the local level and really drawing on that network of experts that we have involved in the center. I think one of the exciting things is we'll be co-developing this heat resilient framework with the communities that we're working with. And of Of course, we'll be supporting the initial 30 communities, but we'll also be putting a lot of that information on heat.gov so that it's accessible to all of the other 19,000 communities in the United States. And another part of it that's really exciting is all of the lessons that we're going to learn through the center is feeding that back to federal agencies and really partnering with them so they know how to better support community heat planning as well.   Check out the America Adapts Media Kit here! Subscribe to the America Adapts newsletter here. Links in this episode: Center for Heat Resilient Communities Biden-Harris Administration invests $4.55 million for community heat resilience through Investing in America agenda UCLA to lead the Center of Excellence for Heat Resilient Communities ASU is lead partner in new national Center for Heat Resilient Communities New federally funded center will rely on UArizona expertise to help communities manage extreme heat   Living Planet Podcast Promotion in this episode: Podcast: Deep Dive: Reviving repair culture Donate to America Adapts Listen to America Adapts on your favorite app here! Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/americaadapts/ @usaadapts https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-parsons-america-adapts/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/laddkeith/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/v-kelly-turner-a321a21b/ Donate to America Adapts Follow on Apple PodcastsFollow on Android Doug Parsons and Speaking Opportunities: If you are interested in having Doug speak at corporate and conference events, sharing his unique, expert perspective on adaptation in an entertaining and informative way, more information can be found here! Now on Spotify! List of Previous Guests on America Adapts Follow/listen to podcast on Apple Podcasts. Donate to America Adapts, we are now a tax deductible charitable organization! Federal Reserve Bank of San FranciscoStrategies to Address Climate Change Risk in Low- and Moderate-income Communities - Volume 14, Issue 1https://www.frbsf.org/community-development/publications/community-development-investment-review/2019/october/strategies-to-address-climate-change-low-moderate-income-communities/ Podcasts in the Classroom – Discussion guides now available for the latest episode of America Adapts. These guides can be used by educators at all levels. Check them out here! The 10 Best Sustainability Podcasts for Environmental Business Leadershttps://us.anteagroup.com/news-events/blog/10-best-sustainability-podcasts-environmental-business-leaders The best climate change podcasts on The Climate Advisorhttp://theclimateadvisor.com/the-best-climate-change-podcasts/ 7 podcasts to learn more about climate change and how to fight ithttps://kinder.world/articles/you/7-podcasts-to-learn-more-about-climate-change-and-how-to-fight-it-19813 Directions on how to listen to America Adapts on Amazon Alexahttps://youtu.be/949R8CRpUYU America Adapts also has its own app for your listening pleasure!  Just visit the App store on Apple or Google Play on Android and search “America Adapts.” Join the climate change adaptation movement by supporting America Adapts!  Please consider supporting this podcast by donating through America Adapts fiscal sponsor, the Social Good Fund. All donations are now tax deductible! For more information on this podcast, visit the website at http://www.americaadapts.org and don't forget to subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.   Podcast Music produce by Richard Haitz Productions Write a review on Apple Podcasts ! America Adapts on Facebook!   Join the America Adapts Facebook Community Group. Check us out, we're also on YouTube! Executive Producer Dr. Jesse Keenan Subscribe to America Adapts on Apple Podcasts Doug can be contacted at americaadapts @ g mail . com

PlanRVA is seeking community feedback on a new plan aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions throughout the Richmond region by 2050. The effort is part of the Comprehensive Climate Action Plan, which itself is a portion of the Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Pollution Reduction Grants Program. PlanRVA, the region's planning district commission, last year received a [post_excerpt] million grant to fund climate action planning efforts in the Richmond Metro Statistical Area, which includes 18 localities and five local tribes. As part of the federal government's Justice40 initiative, the CCAP includes a workforce development analysis to assess the benefits of climate...Article LinkSupport the Show.

Today Laura and Kevin talk to Colin Gounden the CEO and co-founder of VIA about privacy and energy. We discuss why data privacy matters in energy, if the average person really cares about privacy, compensating renters for sharing in energy conservation, how EV owners think about privacy,  which countries are the most (and least) advanced in data privacy, the 2014 class action lawsuit against Honda, Toyota, VW and GM about data collection in cars, why cars are even our collecting data and whether smart meters are worth "Big Brother" watching us. We also discuss a federal privacy law, what you can infer about someone based on their energy usage, the Justice40 initiative, and George Clooney. Colin Gounden is CEO and co-founder of VIA. Colin recruited five of the top 20 global utilities and the U.S. Department of Defense as co-developers and now major users of VIA's Trusted Analytics Chain™ (TAC™), a data privacy-enhancing blockchain-based platform. With seven patents issued and nine pending, TAC™ is the bridge that securely connects infrastructure data, distributed across many locations, to AI solutions. Previously, Colin was the first investor and board director of five MIT and Harvard spinouts, focused on energy and deep science technologies. Two of these spinouts became profitable in their first year of operations and three of them are now valued at more than $400M each. In 2009, he sold Grail Research, where he was founder and CEO. Under Colin's leadership, Grail Research grew from its first employee to more than 300 full-time employees in three years. In the 2000s, Colin was a partner and elected board director at a top five global strategy consulting and private equity investment firm with $2Bn in assets under management. He started his career with IBM working with utilities in Europe and North America before co-founding a database-driven web-development company based in London, with major customers such as Royal Dutch Shell. Colin has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fast Company, Wired, and the Financial Times. He is also a frequent guest speaker on the subject of blockchain and energy at events held by industry experts and energy regulators (public utilities commissions and FERC). Colin's leadership at VIA has been featured in seven Harvard Business School case studies, three with VIA. Colin graduated from Harvard University.

Join Francie as she dives into the details of the most recent Biden-Harris Administration investment into EV infrastructure throughout the country. She details the press release, the mission of the grant funding, which projects have received funding from Alaska to Texas, and more.Shoutout to our sponsors for more information find their links below:- Star Charge: https://www.starcharge.com/charging?id=20 - Kempower: https://kempower.com/america/charging-solutions/Sources used to support today's show:- CFI Page: https://highways.dot.gov/newsroom/biden-harris-administration-announces-623-million-grants-continue-building-out-electric- Justice40: https://www.whitehouse.gov/environmentaljustice/justice40/- Our Podcast on EV Recruitment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af0_DcSynSsFind us on all of these places:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/outofspecpodcastApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/out-of-spec-podcast/id1576636119Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0tKIQfKL9oaHc1DLOTWvbdAmazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/473692b9-05b9-41f9-9b38-9f86fbdabee7/OUT-OF-SPEC-PODCASTFor further inquiries please email podcast@outofspecstudios.com#evcharging #hydrogen #electricvehicle Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This Day in Legal History: Happy Birthday Cicero!On January 3rd, we mark a significant moment in legal history with the birth of the Roman lawyer, Marcus Tullius Cicero, in 106 BC. Cicero, a figure renowned for his oratory and prose style, was not only a lawyer but also a philosopher and politician, playing a pivotal role in the late Roman Republic. His legal career, characterized by his eloquence and deep understanding of Roman law, made him one of the era's most respected and influential lawyers.Cicero's legal philosophy was deeply entrenched in the concept of natural law, a principle suggesting that certain rights are inherent by virtue of human nature. He believed that law and justice were not a product of human creation, but rather derived from a higher, universal source. This belief laid the groundwork for many modern legal principles that emphasize natural rights and justice.Cicero's view of natural law was not just philosophical; it had practical implications for how laws should be crafted and interpreted. He argued that human-made laws should reflect the fundamental principles of justice and fairness inherent in natural law. This idea was a significant departure from the notion of legal positivism, which holds that law is defined solely by the edicts of the state or the decrees of rulers. Cicero's approach advocated for a higher moral standard in legal proceedings, suggesting that laws unjust in their essence were invalid, regardless of their source.As a statesman, Cicero often found himself entangled in the complex political machinations of the Roman Republic. His commitment to the Republic's ideals often put him at odds with more autocratic figures. His orations, including the famous "Catiline Orations," showcase his skill in using the law and rhetoric as tools to address public policy and political corruption.Cicero's legal writings, such as "De Legibus" (On the Laws) and "De Re Publica" (On the Republic), offer insight into Roman law and political theory. These works have had a lasting impact on Western legal thought, influencing legal theorists and practitioners for centuries. His ideas contributed significantly to the development of the concept of individual rights and the rule of law, principles that are central to many modern legal systems.Interestingly, Cicero's career also highlights the dangers faced by legal professionals in politically turbulent times. His outspoken nature and political stances eventually led to his downfall and assassination. Despite this tragic end, his legacy endured, and his works continued to be studied and revered.Cicero's influence extends beyond the legal realm; he is considered one of the greatest Roman orators and prose stylists. His writings not only provide historical insight into Roman law and governance but also offer timeless wisdom on ethics, duty, and the nature of good and evil.As we reflect on this day in legal history, Cicero's birth serves as a reminder of the profound impact one individual, born at a pivotal point, can have on the legal profession and the enduring nature of the principles Cicero specifically championed. His life and work continue to resonate, underscoring the importance of justice, integrity, and the power of the law in shaping society.The Biden administration's negotiations with hydrogen industry leaders about legally binding commitments for new jobs and lower emissions are crucial for community support and achieving U.S. environmental justice goals. However, the secrecy surrounding these negotiations is a major concern in the Department of Energy's strategy to engage communities in its $8 billion hydrogen hub program. The department and hub leaders have kept their applications private, citing confidential business information, leading to frustration among communities and environmental justice advocates.These hydrogen hubs, a key federal clean energy program, are drawing attention from various sectors, but the lack of transparency is creating issues for hydrogen proponents. The DOE is aware of the negative public perception risks and sees the community benefits plan as a way to shape the industry. This plan requires applicants to explain how they will benefit residents and meet the Biden administration's Justice40 goals.The DOE estimates that by 2030, the U.S. demand for hydrogen could create 100,000 new jobs and the hubs alone could reduce 25 million metric tons of CO2 emissions annually. The hub model aims to demonstrate hydrogen production, transport, and consumption technologies in diverse U.S. regions. However, measuring the benefits and harms of these hubs and making them public is seen as crucial.A significant concern is the extent to which the hubs will rely on fossil fuel production. Although two-thirds of the project investment is for green hydrogen, a substantial portion involves natural gas with carbon capture and storage, raising questions about the overall 'green' impact of these hubs. Transparency in project details, given the use of public funding, is a priority for industry experts.In the Midwest, a hub plans to use all three types of hydrogen production, raising concerns about seismic activity, water quality, and potential CO2 contamination. Community benefits and labor agreements are in place, but releasing plans too early might create false expectations among communities. The hub leaders aim for transparency but are cautious about revealing details prematurely.Secretive Hydrogen Hub Talks Test Energy Agency Community PlansIn the case of In re Envision Healthcare Corp., the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas addressed a conflict between the Bankruptcy Code and the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act (LLC Act). The court ruled that section 541 of the Bankruptcy Code, which creates an estate of all a debtor's interests at the bankruptcy commencement date, overrides section 18-304(1)(b) of the LLC Act, which strips an LLC member of its membership interest upon bankruptcy filing. This decision means that a member of a Delaware LLC retains all legal and equitable interests in the LLC when they file for bankruptcy.Before the bankruptcy filing, one of the debtors, Amsurg Holdings LLC, along with other entities, held management and voting membership interests in Folsom Endoscopy Center, a Delaware LLC. After the bankruptcy filing, other members amended the operating agreement, reflecting the debtor's loss of voting and managerial interest. However, the court, rejecting a motion to compel arbitration, found that the dispute was about the legal rights held by the debtor in the LLC at the bankruptcy's commencement.The court rejected the argument that the debtor only retained an economic interest in the LLC, asserting that any managerial or voting rights became part of the bankruptcy estate. It concluded that section 18-304 of the LLC Act conflicts with the Bankruptcy Code and cannot strip LLC members of their rights upon filing for bankruptcy. This decision emphasizes the protection of property rights of debtors who are LLC members and has implications for LLC members in terms of counterparty risk and business dealings in the event of co-member or manager bankruptcy.Court refuses to enforce Delaware statutory provision stripping LLC interests upon bankruptcy filing | ReutersUS Senior District Judge William Young, based in Boston, recently presided over a bench trial remotely for a case in Asheville, North Carolina. This unique trial involved judiciary officials' handling of misconduct claims by former federal defender Caryn Strickland, where all judges in the circuit had to recuse themselves, leading to Young's appointment. Despite the distance, Young effectively managed the trial, showcasing the growing normalcy of remote legal proceedings, a trend accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic.The trial, which stretched over five half-days, wasn't without technical difficulties, such as audio delays and screens occasionally turning off. These challenges highlighted the imperfections of remote courtroom technology. Judge Young, known for conducting remote jury-waived trials for years, took on this case as part of his efforts to assist overburdened court districts. He has a history of helping in various districts, including managing tobacco product liability litigation in Florida and handling dispositive motions for the Northern District of Oklahoma post the McGirt v. Oklahoma decision.During the trial, there were moments of disconnect due to the technology, with Young apologizing for not being able to distinguish the attorneys and sometimes asking for identification before they spoke. Despite these challenges, the trial proceeded with Young and his staff adeptly handling logistics.The physical contrast between the two courtrooms was notable, with Asheville surrounded by local businesses and the Boston federal courthouse located in a trendy district. The trial culminated with Young insisting on the public nature of court proceedings, denying a request for attorneys to appear remotely for closing arguments, emphasizing the importance of maintaining the public and formal aspects of the judicial process.Veteran Boston Judge Leads a North Carolina Trial From Afar Get full access to Minimum Competence - Daily Legal News Podcast at www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

Welcome to the first episode of the "Political Determinants of Health" season! In this eye-opening installment, we delve into the groundbreaking initiative, WEACT, spearheaded by the remarkable community organizer and activist, Peggy Shepard. WEACT's mission is nothing short of ensuring that policies designed to uplift minority neighborhoods genuinely benefit the community and take their desires and needs into account.In this episode, Peggy Shepard enlightens us about the trailblazing efforts undertaken by WEACT to guarantee the proper allocation of Justice40 benefits and to educate policymakers about the often-overlooked necessities of these communities. This episode provides listeners with a profound glimpse into the intricate process of advocating for effective and pertinent policy, as well as the crucial steps required to ensure its proper implementation.Tune in to kick off our exciting season, where we will explore the indispensable role of policy and legislation in fostering healthier neighborhoods. Peggy Shepard's insights and WEACT's incredible journey serve as a compelling testament to the transformative power of community-driven advocacy. Follow us on Instagram: @hnhn_podcast Subscribe to our YouTube: Healthy Neighborhoods, Healthy Nation Contact us: neighborhoods.podcast@gmail.com Episode Links: WEACT website Justice40 Initiative

This episode is part of our Skilled Labor Series hosted by MCJ partner, Yin Lu. This series is focused on amplifying the voices of folks from the skilled labor workforce, including electricians, farmers, ranchers, HVAC installers, and others who are on the front lines of rewiring our infrastructure.Mary MacPherson, a program manager in the Office of State and Community Energy Programs at the DOE, oversees energy efficiency and electrification workforce development programs funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the IRA.In this episode, Mary and Yin discuss residential energy efficiency training programs, addressing crucial challenges in the skilled labor workforce. They explore the underlying reasons for the workforce gap, from an aging labor force to accessibility barriers in education and certification processes.Funding is a significant lever to address these bottlenecks. In mid-July of 2023, the US Department of Energy announced that states and territories could apply for a pool of $150 million to train the next generation of residential efficiency and electrification contractors. These include electricians, energy auditors, HVAC contractors, plumbers, and more. The ultimate goals include lowering training costs, enhancing certification support, fostering diversity in the energy efficiency workforce, and providing economic mobility opportunities while promoting high-quality contracting in the residential sector.In this episode, we cover: [02:46]: Contractor Training Grants in the IRA[04:23]: Mary's clean energy background[07:08]: Overview of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE)[09:39]: The role of State Energy Offices [13:00]: Skill and accessibility gaps in the energy efficiency trades[15:27]: Challenges in the residential heat pump workforce[18:11]: Reducing barriers to entry[20:10]: The significance of certification and testing[22:56]: State examples: Maine and Illinois[25:24]: How DOE allocates funds to states[28:34]: How to help funds flow to your state[30:52]: Community benefits and advancing Justice40 goals[33:55]: Mary's vision for success in 2030Get connected: Mary MacPherson X / LinkedInYin X / LinkedInMCJ Podcast / Collective / Instagram*You can also reach us via email at info@mcjcollective.com, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.Episode recorded on Aug 11, 2023 (Published on Sep 22, 2023)

Our guest this episode is Erandi Trevino of Public Citizen, Houston. Erandi grew up in Houston and has been concerned about the pollution in her neighborhood since she was a young child.Before joining Public Citizen in Houston as a Climate Policy and Outreach Specialist, she was an Advocacy Fellow with the Fulbright Association in Washington, DC, where she worked on education policy, nutrition, and financial regulations. During her time in DC, Erandi also volunteered for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.Earlier in her career, Erandi assisted the Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations in New York. She has a law degree from Fordham University and degrees in International Relations and Latin American studies from Seton Hall University. Following her graduation there, she received a Fulbright Grant to teach English in Belo Horizonte, Brazil where she became fluent in Portuguese.In this episode we discuss the following topics:The coalition of companies and other institutions that are partners with this new project called the HyVelocity Hub and their claims to be able to build an “ecosystem” from the existing hydrogen and pipeline industry in Houston to make clean hydrogen.HyVelocity Hub claims that they will be able use carbon capture to make “clean” hydrogen (called blue hydrogen) using existing hydrogen production plants.How credible is Houston's Clean Hydrogen Roadmap in general?Is HyVelocity's goal of achieving 2kg CO2 / kg of H2 is realistic?RMI currently estimates 20 kg CO2 / kg H2 with Texas's current fossil-heavy power grid.How credible is HyVelocity's vision “to serve disadvantaged communities by providing jobs and higher labor standards, reducing local pollution, and supporting and complying with the Justice40 initiative?Who are the powerful investors in this endeavor and how are they affecting the plans for these plants? Are they listening to local concerns or just greenwashing their environmental challenges?What is Public Citizen doing as a local activist to get some oversight on this HyVelocity Hub project?Resources:Center for Houston's FutureHouston Healthy Port Communities CoalitionEnvironmental Defense Fund - Better Hubs - Expring Decarbonizing IndustryGreater Houston Port Bureau's Project 11On Breath Partnership's "What is Port Houston's Project 11?" Erandi's Contact InformationSupport the showVisit us at climatemoneywatchdog.org!

In November 2021, President Joe Biden signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Job Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). It provides $1.2 Trillion in federal funding designed to transform, enhance, and augment all sorts of vital projects across the country. To get you acquainted with the funding we are talking Justice40, sharing resources, and more.

Welcome back for a bonus episode of A Matter of Degrees! We were lucky enough to sit down with Rebecca Solnit — author, historian, and climate activist — to talk about her newest climate anthology, Not Too Late. Leah and Nikayla Jefferson both wrote essays for the book and joined Rebecca onstage for this live episode. Not Too Late gets at the tough, vital work of culture change and features diverse climate voices from around the world. In this episode, Leah, Nikayla, and Rebecca hold an expansive conversation about hope, love, and how to stay engaged in the climate movement.  Rebecca has written over twenty books on a diverse range of topics, including feminism, history, social change, and of course climate change. Our listeners may also recognize Nikayla as a guest host from our episodes on “The Stages of Black Climate Grief” and “The Journey of Justice40”.  Read up on the top ten social drivers of climate change that Nikayla mentions in the episode. For more inspiration, visit the Not Too Late website, created by Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young Lutunatabua to shift the climate story from despair to possibility. Discover meaningful ways to take climate action via The All We Can Save Project.

NEVI is one of the first Justice40-covered programs to be implemented nationally, and we now have a chance to avoid repeating harmful transportation investments in underserved communities. Through conversations with stakeholders and a comprehensive review of initial state NEVI plans, we'll hear from EV equity advocates Rachel Patterson from Evergreen and Moe Khatib from Atlas Public Policy on how states can lead on equitable charging deployment centering disadvantaged communities.

The Justice40 initiative was established by Biden to direct 40% of the benefits of federal investments in woke climate nonsense to disadvantaged communities in order to fight against the invisible enemies of CO2 and “climate racism”, whatever that means. Leave it to Government to create “solutions” to problems that don't exist. What's telling about the so-called “climate crisis” that the Biden Administration swears is the second most important thing to be focused on, besides White Nationalist Domestic Terrorism, is that nobody wants to talk about the solution to the clean energy problem: nuclear power. It is already responsible for almost half of the clean energy being produced inside America, but it's hard to make a lot of money selling oil and gas when nuclear power is available for a fraction of the cost. Sponsors: Emergency Preparedness Food: www.preparewithmacroaggressions.com Chemical Free Body: https://www.chemicalfreebody.com and use promo code: MACRO C60 Purple Power: https://c60purplepower.com/ Promo Code: MACRO Wise Wolf Gold & Silver: www.Macroaggressions.gold True Hemp Science: https://truehempscience.com/ Haelan: https://haelan951.com/pages/macro Solar Power Lifestyle: https://solarpowerlifestyle.com/ Promo Code: MACRO LegalShield: www.DontGetPushedAround.com EMP Shield: www.EMPShield.com Promo Code: MACRO Coin Bit App: https://coinbitsapp.com/?ref=0SPP0gjuI68PjGU89wUv Macroaggressions Merch Store: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/macroaggressions?ref_id=22530 LinkTree: linktr.ee/macroaggressions Books: HYPOCRAZY: https://amzn.to/3VsPDp8 Controlled Demolition on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ufZdzx The Octopus Of Global Control: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3VDWQ5c Barnes & Noble: https://bit.ly/39vdKeQ Online Connection: Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/Macroaggressions Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/macroaggressions_podcast/ Discord Link:  https://discord.gg/4mGzmcFexg Website: www.theoctopusofglobalcontrol.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/theoctopusofglobalcontrol Twitter: www.twitter.com/macroaggressio3 Twitter Handle: @macroaggressio3 YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCn3

Have you ever wondered what would happen if Federal Programs were more equitably distributed? Or what would happen if those programs could have positive environmental impacts in communities overburdened and underrepresented? Well, the girls certainly have. The Justice40 Initiative, sets out to make those visions a reality. Is this an Executive Order the girls can get behind? Regardless, it has a data tool worth its salt. Check out an address near you: https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov/en/#10.37/27.9947/-82.3824  https://www.regulations.gov/document/EPA-HQ-OPPT-2021-0202-0012  https://www.whitehouse.gov/environmentaljustice/justice40/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/M-21-28.pdf https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Justice40-Covered-Programs-List_v1.1_07-15-2022.pdf https://www.whitehouse.gov/ceq/news-updates/2021/12/02/delivering-on-justice40/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/ceq/news-updates/2021/03/29/white-house-announces-environmental-justice-advisory-council-members/  https://www.wri.org/insights/tracking-justice40-environmental-justice-initiative

BIPOC communities are most likely to bear the effects of climate change, but BIPOC-led environmental justice groups are severely underfunded in climate philanthropy. In this episode, Abdul Dosunmu of the Climate Funders Justice Pledge talks about his group's aim to challenge big donors to give more equitably.(PDF transcript)(Active transcript)Text transcript:David RobertsWhether it's suffering the effects of fossil fuel pollution or fighting back against it, black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) are on the front lines of climate change. Yet they are starved for resources. More than a billion dollars a year goes toward climate philanthropy, but of that amount, little more than 1 percent goes to BIPOC-led environmental justice groups.The two-year-old Climate Funders Justice Pledge, run by the Donors of Color Network, is trying to change that. It challenges big donors to a) be more transparent about where their grants are going, and b) within two years of signing the pledge, raise the amount going to BIPOC-led groups to 30 percent.The pledge, featured in a just-released report from Morgan Stanley and the Aspen Institute on how to increase the impact of climate philanthropy, has already led to more than $100 million in annual commitments to BIPOC-led groups.I talked with Abdul Dosunmu, who runs the pledge campaign, about why BIPOC leadership is important to the climate fight, how transparency changes the behavior of foundations, and how to improve the relationship between environmental justice groups and big funders.Alright. Abdul Dosunmu. Welcome to Volts. Thank you so much for coming.Abdul DosunmuThank you so much for having me.David RobertsThis is an interesting topic to me with lots of ins and outs, but let's start with just, I'd like to get a sense of what is the pool of philanthropic money available to climate and environmental organizations? And then how much of that currently is going to EJ groups?Abdul DosunmuThe Morgan Stanley-Aspen report, that we were honored to be part of, and was just released really details a stark challenge in terms of what the author of the report, Randall Kempner, says is both the quantity of climate philanthropy and the quality of climate philanthropy. So, on the quantity side, according to the report, only about 2% of all global philanthropy is focused on climate.David RobertsThat's wild to begin with, honestly.Abdul DosunmuInsanely wild. And what's interesting about that, what's hard to square about that is the fact that if you ask philanthropists how urgent the crisis is, 85% of them say it's extremely urgent. So they're talking one game but walking another game.David RobertsRight.Abdul DosunmuSo, of all global philanthropy, only about 2% is focused on climate. And then of that 2%, only about 1.3% of it is focused on BIPOC-led environmental justice organizations. So if you think about the quantity versus quality framework that Randall has, the Morgan Stanley-Aspen report is really focused on the quantity side of it. The climate funders justice pledge, which I lead, is focused on the quality side of it.David RobertsRight. We'll get to that in just one second. I got a bunch of questions about that, but I just want to in terms of quantity, do we know that 2% that goes to climate related stuff. Do we know what that number is? I don't have any sense of scale at all.David RobertsIs that a billion dollars? A few million?Abdul DosunmuSo our data, and I'm not sure Randall goes into this in the report, but our data is really focused on about 1.3 billion or so of climate funding.David RobertsGot it.Abdul DosunmuSo we're looking at single digit billions. But we also know that in recent years, frankly in recent weeks, that number is steadily escalating as new Climate Funders come onto the scene with last names like Bezos, and Powell, Jobs, and others. And so we really don't have a solid sense of what that new number is.David RobertsRight.Abdul DosunmuBut in terms of the 1.3% number that we focus on at CFJP, we're looking at about 1.34 billion of that which was awarded to National Climate Funders. And of that, only about 1.3% is going to BIPOC-led environmental groups.David RobertsSo that's less than 20 million. Say something in that neighborhood, right?Abdul DosunmuAbsolutely.David RobertsOne other distinction on this is I know that there is giving that gets categorized under EJ activities, which is separate from money actually going to EJ led groups.Abdul DosunmuThat's right. So that's a critical distinction, and you've really just jumped in on the core part of the work that I do. We believe that it's important that EJ work is funded when it is BIPOC-led just as much as it's funded when it's not. And currently what we have is a system where EJ work led by communities of color, conceptualizing communities of color is not funded at the same scale that other work might be funded. And the reality of that is that there are deep consequences because as we often say, the communities that are closest to the problem are closest to the solutions, but they're also the furthest away from the resources.David RobertsSo let's get right into that then. I guess probably a lot of listeners will take this as self-evident, but when you go to big funders, people sitting on big endowments and stuff, and you are trying to make the case that BIPOC-led groups are important to tackling climate change, what's the case? What's the evidence? What do you tell them?Abdul DosunmuWell, we start with a basic concept that says that the climate does not discriminate, people and systems do. And the reason we start there is that we really want to drive them to the data that most of your audience will probably be familiar with around the fact that most frontline communities, the communities that are hit first and worse by the effects of climate change are Black and Brown communities. Most fenceline communities are Black and Brown communities that when it comes to the ways in which this crisis is manifesting itself on the ground and in people's lives, it disproportionately impacts BIPOC communities. So we start there.That if you're actually interested in mitigating the effects of this crisis, by necessity, you would start with BIPOC communities, right? The second piece is if you're actually interested in shifting the systemic landscape that has led to this crisis, you would start with BIPOC communities. And here's what I mean by that. Power differentials in society is what has created the condition for exploitation, extraction, and pollution. It's the power differentials that have created the foundations of this crisis. It's the fact that certain communities have been politically disenfranchised and subjugated and those are also the communities that have been impacted by environmental exploitation and extraction.David RobertsYeah, I feel like this is an important point because sometimes what you hear from, I don't know that they'll say it publicly a lot anymore, but sometimes what you hear in private from climate people is climate is about emissions. And we should attack emissions, right? We should be lowering emissions. And insofar as you are being distracted by other social, like you're mixing your ice cream of peanut butter or whatever, like you're letting your social issues get involved in your emissions issues, you're just going to be less effective at reducing emissions. I think that mindset still has quite a hold on quite a few people.So this point that they're linked is important, I think.Abdul DosunmuYou said. You don't know if people will actually share it publicly. I hear it almost every day.David RobertsSo they still do say it publicly.Abdul DosunmuThey still do say it publicly.David RobertsRight, that there is a sense that you can somehow disconnect the climate crisis from the social and racial inequities that exist in our society, when in fact, the communities that have been the most exploited and the most extracted have been communities that have been denied political voice, right. And they've been BIPOC communities. I often tell the story of a neighborhood in my hometown, Dallas, Texas, called the West Dallas neighborhood. And it's largely Black and Brown, historically has been as a result of housing segregation. And this community was home for 50 years to a lead smelter plant. And this lead smelter plant obviously polluted the environment.Abdul DosunmuIt also poisoned generations of young Black and Brown kids growing up in that community. And it was the political powerlessness of that community, it was the political subjugation of that community that allowed that lead smelter plant to operate with impunity for 50 years. And this is the critical point that we make. It was the rising up of that community. It was the mobilization of that community that ultimately booted that lead smelter plant from the community. And so it's important for us to see that these things are linkedDavid RobertsJust to sort of restate, the whole problem of environmental pollution generally, including climate, is this ability to basically produce waste and impacts that you don't pay for.Abdul DosunmuThat's right.David RobertsBut you can't do that unless there's some community that's disempowered enough that it can't stop you from doing it, right? I mean, the whole setup relies on there being disempowered communities that have no choice but to accept this junk.Abdul DosunmuThat's exactly right. I have a dear friend in the movement, Felicia Davis from HBCU Green Fund, who says we don't just have a climate crisis, we have a power injustice crisis.David RobertsRight. And relatedly, I think, another old piece of conventional wisdom, though, this I think has been changing in recent years. But if you go back I've been doing this for close to 20 years now, and if you go back like 15 years, I think the sort of conventional wisdom was climate is something that educated, affluent, White people worry about because they have the luxury and time to worry about it. And BIPOC communities, vulnerable communities, EJ communities have other things to worry about that are more proximate and more difficult and they don't have time to worry about climate change.And thus those communities are not going to be a big part of a social movement for climate change. And of course, now the data shows that that's wrong, like almost inversely wrong. So what is the level of kind of knowledge and engagement among these communities on the subject of climate change?Abdul DosunmuWell, and this is a key point that I like to make. The first part of that that I would like to deconstruct is this notion that climate is separate from the other issues that impact these communities, right? That in many ways, part of the innovation and the imagination that these communities are bringing to the fight is to recognize the interconnections between climate and housing, climate and labor policy, climate and transportation, right? That they are uniquely positioned to see that climate is connected to a whole range of other systems that decide and define how we live. So that's part of the deconstruction that has to be made.David RobertsAnd you might also say that a White affluent businessman is uniquely positioned to want to not see those interconnections, right? Like there's a lot of incentive not to see them if you benefit from them, basically.Abdul DosunmuRight. There is a desire to focus the fight against the climate crisis on a little intervention here, a little technology here. And the reality is that the crisis is the result of systems that shape how we live. And in order to fight the crisis, we've got to actually change those systems, right? And communities of color are uniquely positioned to be able to understand that and to lead that fight.David RobertsAnd that shows up in the data, and surveys, and polls and stuff. Do you feel like that sentiment, that knowledge is pretty widely dispersed in those communities at this point?Abdul DosunmuOh, absolutely. I think one of the things that we do at CFJP is we actually look at and profile a lot of the movement work that is happening on the ground in communities. And so we're not just talking at a level of theory, we're talking at a level of understanding the movements that are being led by communities of color. So there is a reason that billions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions are disrupted every year by indigenous organizers. There is a reason that it was the BIPOC-led organizations that pushed President Biden on Justice40, and that conceptualized the New Jersey and California environmental justice laws that preceded Justice40.There is a reason that the Climate Justice Alliance, for instance, has had a massive impact on shifting away from extractive energy practices. And so it's important for us to see that we don't need a poll to tell us, all we need to do is look at the work and the organizing that is happening in these communities and see the ways in which it is moving the needle on this conversation.David RobertsYeah, and I'll just say, from my perch, my perspective, like, I remember when the climate bill was being put together back in 2008 and 2009, I don't know if you were unfortunate enough to be in this area when that was happening, but EJ was it wasn't absent, but it was clearly an add on, right? It was like an amendment. It was like a thing you stick on at the end as an afterthought. And it's been remarkable to me just to see, over the years, EJ just becoming much more assertive and having a much bigger place at the table.David RobertsTo the point now that the Democratic, official sort of Democratic Party climate agenda has it right there at the core, and it's included in a lot of these Inflation Reduction Act grants. So it's like night and day in terms of the engagement on both sides. To me, obviously there's a long way to go, but I've seen the change.Abdul DosunmuThat's absolutely right. And that change was led by BIPOC-led organizations. And here's why that's important, right? Obviously, you know this better than I do. We're dealing with a movement that has historically excluded and alienated the voices of People of Color. And there are organizations out there that are doing this work around diversity, equity, and inclusion in the environmental movement, right? And the data has never been good. It's always been bad. And here's the core point that we make. I draw an analogy. One of my favorite football teams, I'm a great Texan, I'm a great Dallasite.So the Dallas Cowboys, what we're doing right now in the climate movement is the equivalent of the Dallas Cowboys finally making it to the Super Bowl but fielding only about a 10th of a team on the field. That's what we're doing right now in the movement. Our best players, our most imaginative players are not on the field because we have historically excluded them.David RobertsLet's talk about that. So the Climate Funders Justice Pledge, what is it specifically? What is it asking of large philanthropies?Abdul DosunmuSo it's pretty simple, which is not to say that they always receive it as such.David RobertsNot easy. Easy and simple are different.Abdul DosunmuEasy and simple are different. But it's pretty simple. It says two things. Number one, it says commit to transparency. So we call on the nation's top climate funders, primarily institutional funders, so we're talking foundations, big foundations to commit to transparency, right? And what that means is we ask them specifically, "how much of your current climate giving is focused on BIPOC-led environmental justice organizations? Not just environmental justice organizations, but BIPOC-led EJ organizations." And we define that very concretely.We say 50% of your board has to be People of Color, 50% of your senior staff has to be People of Color, and you have to have an explicit mission of serving communities of color. So how much in dollar amounts of your current climate giving is going to BIPOC-led environmental justice organizations? That's a transparency component.David RobertsAnd that information is not available today.Abdul DosunmuIt's not easily available. And to be honest with you, most funders have not asked themselves those questions, right?So one of the things that has been a learning journey for us is actually getting feedback from funders that have taken the pledge. And what they tell us is that for them, the most transformative part of it has been the transparency component because they had never actually looked at the data.David RobertsI bet they're not finding out good things, right? They're not pleasantly surprised.Abdul DosunmuNo, they're not. In the main, they are not pleasantly surprised. I mean, the data is what it is, right, nationally. And part of what we wanted to do with this pledge is we wanted to make that data available to communities and movements so that they could actually hold these funders accountable, right? And so that the funders who are committed to environmental justice can hold themselves accountable. So it matters that a Kresge Foundation, for instance, says, "you know what, what has been most imaginative about this for us is that it has forced us to go internal and look at our data."So that matters. And we don't just ask for the data, and hoard it, or put it in a report that we release annually. We actually post that number on our website. So if you go to our website, you can find that number for each of the funders that have taken the pledge. And then we do a whole bunch of media amplification around it because we actually want communities to organize around this data.David RobertsWhat's a typical number, like Kresge or whatever, once they looked, what are they finding?Abdul DosunmuWell, Kresge is actually, they're an anchor pledger of ours, which is great. And I don't want to misquote their number. If I'm remembering correctly, they were under the 30%, probably in the 20s range. And it's important to note that, again, they have had this as a commitment for a very long time. So actually challenging them to, "okay, let's look at the data," has been super helpful for them.David RobertsInteresting. Okay, so transparency is step one.Abdul DosunmuStep one is transparency. And I actually looked at the number. They're actually at 33%. Let me give Kresge their credit, they're at 33%.David RobertsI'm going to guess that's unusually high.Abdul DosunmuThey are one of the leaders in the field, no question about it. It is very high for the pledgers that we have, and they are making continued strides. So the transparency piece is very important because it allows us to have conversations like this one. "Where is this funder? Where is that funder, and how can we hold them accountable to the commitments that many of them have?" Right? So let me just put a pin in this and say after George Floyd, we saw a number of funders make new commitments around environmental justice, around BIPOC communities. And in the couple of years since, we've seen most of those commitments fade into the background, right?And so this has become a tool that communities can use to actually hold funders accountable to what they say they're going to do.David RobertsGot it.Abdul DosunmuAnd then the second component of the pledge is the 30% requirement. So what we say is after you tell us your number, if you're not at 30% and a good number or not, we challenge you to within two years of taking the pledge to get to 30%. So scale your grant making to at least 30% going to BIPOC-led environmental justice organizations over the course of two years.David RobertsCan I ask where 30% came from? I mean, is it just sounds reasonable or is there something more to it than that?Abdul DosunmuYou know, if you look at it, BIPOC communities, about 40% of the population, what we said was 30% seems like a good floor. It is not intended to be a ceiling. And what we hope to see is that over time, that number is far exceeding 30%. But at least as a floor, 30% felt right to the networks of movement organizers and leaders that we pulled together to help develop this campaign.David RobertsAnd so this funders pledge has been going on for how long, and what's the state of play? Are foundations signing on? How much money have you shifted? How long has this been running?Abdul DosunmuSo you're talking to me pretty much on the eve of our two year anniversary. And so we've been around for a couple of years. And to date, twelve of the Top 40 climate funders have taken the pledge.David RobertsInteresting.Abdul Dosunmu32 foundations overall have committed to at least one portion of the pledge. And so some of them will say we'll do transparency, but we're not quite ready to go to 30%.David RobertsRight.Abdul DosunmuAnd we accept that because sunlight is the best disinfectant.David RobertsYeah, I think you're right that transparency is the big piece here. It's like that dream where you wake up in school, and you're naked in school or whatever, all of a sudden everybody can see ... that alone, I think is going to create a lot of push.Abdul DosunmuRight. Nobody wants to be at the bottom of the list, right. Nobody wants to be in single digits when everybody else is in double digits. And the ones who are in double digits, like Kresge, they want to do better, right? They want to get more shine. They want to tell their story, more impactfully. And so we offer the transparency piece not just as stick, but also as carrot to those who are doing well in this fight, and want to help us tell the story, and amplify the mission. And so what we have seen is that there is momentum around the pledge.And we're very proud to say that we have helped to catalyze a new baseline, funding baseline through the pledge for BIPOC-led organizations of around $100 million in the two years that we have been around. But $100 million is really just a drop in the bucket because right now we're seeing, again, as I said earlier, new funders come into the field every single day.David RobertsWell, this was my very next question, is do we have any sense of what sort of dollar figure we would be talking about if this succeeded, if all the big philanthropies signed on, and if all the big philanthropies actually did it? Do we have any idea sort of like, what the ultimate pool of money is?Abdul DosunmuSo I don't have that hard number, but I can tell you that our campaign has a goal, right? An aim of catalyzing $500 million. So if we could get to $500 million, we feel like we would be radically transforming the possibilities for BIPOC-led environmental justice organizations. But that's going to require that we make the transition, the pivot, from what I would call the legacy funders, right? So legacy funders like Pisces, and Kresge, and Schmidt, and Rockefeller Brothers and Hewlett and ... a number of the ... MacArthur, a number of the others that have Heising-Simon's Energy Foundation, Packard Foundation, a number of those that have taken the pledge.We've got to make the transition from just those to now some of these more entrepreneurial startup funders in the space, like a Bezos, like a Waverley Street, like a Sequoia.David RobertsHave you talked to any of them? I mean, I assume you're reaching out. I guess one of the questions I'm sort of curious about is, is there a big difference in culture that you found between these established groups and the new ones coming in?Abdul DosunmuThere is. We are outreaching every day to the new funders. One of the reasons I make the distinction between legacy and entrepreneurial is that when you're a legacy funder, you have deeper roots in communities because you've been funding them for a long time, or at least you've been giving lip service to funding them for a long time, right? And so you're more susceptible to their accountability, right?David RobertsRight.Abdul DosunmuYou're more accountable to them than a new funder who's coming in, who is somebody who's made a bunch of money in tech and just wants to give it away out of a good spirit and a good heart. But there isn't the same level of connectivity there to communities, and so that has been the biggest challenge. And then the other piece of this is when you're an entrepreneur and you've come in right on the heels of having made a lot of money, a lot of money in business, you tend to think you know how to do things.David RobertsWhat? Tech guys?Abdul DosunmuI know, it's a crazy thought, right?David RobertsYeah. I was going to say I don't want to cast aspersions, or use any stereotypes, but when I think about tech-bros fresh off making billions of dollars like sensitivity to racial justice is not what leaps to mind.Abdul DosunmuWell and they may have the sensitivity, some of them, but they also have the kinds of neurosis that come from having made a lot of money and been very successful, and you think you kind of know everything, right? And so oftentimes they will come into the field and say, "here is what I want to do on climate," and it has no relationship to what communities actually are doing and need to do. That's really probably the biggest culture challenge that we face is that it's both the accountability piece, and it's the part of this that understands that, ultimately, this is a learning experience both for the funder and for the broader field. This is not top down, it's bottom up, and the best solutions come from the bottom up.David RobertsAs you've talked to foundations, have you received any straight up kind of disagreement about your goals?Abdul DosunmuWell, we mostly don't get that, right. We mostly get, "well ... we're going to work on ... " That's my impersonation. "We're going to work on it, and we're going to see, and talk to us in six months and ..." that sort of thing. But every now and then you do just hear "no, we're just not going to do it."David RobertsRight.Abdul DosunmuBut generally that doesn't come from a disagreement with the goals or the objectives of the campaign because it's hard to disagree with the goals and objectives of the campaign. It generally comes from a sense of, "you know what, this is just not part of our agenda. This is not what we do, and we're not going to have anybody external to our organization directing our strategy."David RobertsYeah.Abdul DosunmuAnd so that's generally where most of the resistance comes from.David RobertsIf you imagine a huge new flood of money descending on these groups, over the course of the next two or three years, you can imagine ways that that could go poorly. That's a big disruptive thing. And one of the things I was thinking about is when you talk to these small groups, often what they'll tell you they need is just operating expenses. Like they need to be able to pay decent salaries, right? Just to begin with. Trying to run a whole movement on underpaid people is difficult, and they need sort of just like cost of living, cost of operations, operations money.Abdul DosunmuRight.David RobertsAnd what you often find, or what they tell me they run into when they talk to funders is, of course, funders are wealthy, and therefore overestimate their own cleverness, and often have their own ideas about what they want groups to do. So I worry, like, is this going to be the right kind of support? And you can certainly imagine a big new pot of money coming with a bunch of sort of big footed demands about how these groups do things, right? Like, you can imagine big funders trying to sort of dictate the strategies of these groups rather than listening and learning from them.So I don't know how you go about, I mean, I don't know exactly what I want you to say in the switch, but are we confident that this support is going to be the kind of support that these sort of small struggling groups need most?Abdul DosunmuRight. You are really touching on a critical part of this that our campaign is going to be doing more work on. It hasn't been a core part of it thus far because we really see ourselves as the accountability mechanism in the field, but we do think there's an opportunity for us to engage on these questions. So to start, what we really need is a shift in the culture of philanthropy, right? And so part of that shift is a shift in the "philanthropy knows best" mindset. And we've been talking about that. Part of that shift is a shift in the desire of philanthropy to really dictate all of the terms of engagement. And they do that primarily by focusing most of their grant making on program grants.Right.And so you might get a grant to run a specific program, but you're not going to get a grant to actually scale your organizational capacity.David RobertsRight. This is a notorious complaint from nonprofits across the board from time immemorial, right. They're like, we can get a grant to do a specific thing, but we just need, like, printer paper,Abdul DosunmuRight! "We can get a grant to do a specific thing, but we need to hire people to do the thing, and we need to be able to offer them insurance, health insurance, and we need to be able to keep the lights on in the building." And that is a part of this conversation that, again, we have not touched on, but we see there's an opportunity for us to touch on as we continue to move forward. So those are really the two of the areas where there's room for additional intervention. The other thing I'll say is this. It's a bit of a vicious cycle that these groups are in because they don't get the funding, so they can't build the capacity. And because they don't have the capacity, that lack of capacity is used as a pretext to deny them more funding, right?So it's a vicious cycle. And now we're in a moment where there's some $500 billion coming down from the federal government, on climate related resources. And a lot of that is sort of focused on, or earmarked on a climate justice lens. And we're happy about that, right? We fought for that, the movement organized for that. But the concern that we have now is that because of this disparity in funding and private philanthropy, many of the organizations that are BIPOC-led, that are going after these grants won't be able to successfully compete because they've been locked out of the private funding, right?And so a lot of work is being done on the ground, and movements, and organizations to actually try to help organizations build capacity over time to be able to compete for these new dollars that are coming down and to actually be able to fulfill the spirit of Justice40, but we need more funding to do that, and the private funding market is critical.David RobertsYeah. And another thing I've heard from these groups, these are most often pretty small under-resourced groups. And another thing I've heard is that even the process of applying ...Right ...For these things, is burdensome, and difficult, and expensive. Like, if you're a two, or three, or four person operation, it's nothing for a Kresge to sort of send someone out to hear your pitch. But for you to make the pitch is a lot of hours of labor which you can't really well afford. And I've heard from groups where they say, they'll come consult with us and ask us how to do better in their EJ funding and et cetera, et cetera, and we make these elaborate presentations and then they vanish and we never hear from them again.So I just wonder, are there broader ... you could imagine a regime where a big wealthy funder pays some small stipend to a group to offset the cost of consulting, the sort of free consulting they do, or the cost of applying for grants or something like that. And that would just be can you think of are there larger ways that we need to change the relationship between small EJ groups and big funders, beyond just the monetary beyond just giving them money, in terms of just the kind of social aspects and cultural aspects of their interaction? Are there larger reforms we need in that aspect?Abdul DosunmuHow much time do we have?David RobertsI thought you might have something to say about that.Abdul DosunmuRight. I have the privilege of wearing a bunch of hats in my work.David RobertsYeah, I meant to say, I read your LinkedIn page. I had to take a nap halfway through. You're a busy man.Abdul DosunmuI'm a busy man. I do a lot, and I sit across a lot of different buckets, right. And so on the CFJP side of things, obviously, I'm wearing a bit of a philanthropic hat. We don't necessarily consider ourselves philanthropy, but we're not movement. We're somewhere in between, right. But we definitely wear a philanthropic hat. And then in my other work, I actually lead a grassroots voting organization of Black lawyers and law students. And so on one side of my work, I am challenging funders to do more. And then on the other side of my work, I am living every day the ways in which this system is inequitable toward founders of color and leaders of color.And so I see this from both sides. Really, I think the first place to start in this conversation is with a conversation. And so typically the exchange between funder and organization is a one-way conversation, right. It's a one-way street.David RobertsYeah. Speaking of power differentials.Abdul DosunmuExactly. These broader power differentials in society are being replicated in how foundations engage with organizations. "And so you can apply for a grant if we invite you to apply, we want it in this 60-page application format."David RobertsAnd then you get the grant. And like we need a 60-page report every year.Abdul DosunmuThat's right, "we need the 60-page report every year. Oh, and by the way, you probably won't get the grant in time to actually do the work you need to do with it because we're going to take our time delivering the grant to you, and you interface with us and interact with us when we invite you to."David RobertsRight.Abdul DosunmuThat has to change. And so part of the culture change that you're talking about that so many organizations are advocating for, starts with making that one-way conversation, a two-way conversation, and actually listening to organizations on the ground and having those organizations inform your grant making practices, right?So let me go back to Kresge for a minute. One of the other things that they have said to us has been impactful for them is actually the transformation that the pledge has wrought in their grant making practices, in their day to day grant making practices, and how they engage, and how they interact with grantees.David RobertsSo that just means they've been learning by doing, they've been learning by interacting with these groups?Abdul DosunmuThat's right. That's right. Absolutely. And we've heard that from multiple funders. And so really what has to happen is that the funder has to become a learner, right. And that's what we're pushing through this pledge. We're challenging funders to become listeners and learners and actually hear from the organizations on the ground about what needs to change in their grant making practices in order to be more equitable. And a lot of them are making changes. I think that's really where this starts is the conversation, shifting it from one-way to two-way.And one of the things, by the way, that we have tried to do is that a number of these funders have said, "well, how do I actually get this data? How do I actually get the demographic data information? How do we kind of navigate that?" And what we have done is actually provide resources for them, so that when they're seeking out this data, they're not creating more layers of burden on these groups, right? So we have tried to incorporate that even into our own program.Right, so these groups don't have to sort of do another report on our demographic makeup, et cetera, et cetera. So that's a little bit more public. And it also occurs to me I mean, maybe this is even too obvious to point out, but it also occurs to me that it would be nice if these big funders going to these groups were not like 18th century British royals visiting the islands like strangers in a strange land. Like, it might be nice if they were composed if the makeup of the actual big funders changed.Well, there you go. There you go. I mean, you've made exactly one of the critical points, which is that the work that Green 2.0 and so many other organizations are doing to actually change the makeup of these funders is directly connected to our work. Because you're absolutely right. You should not be visiting these communities as though you're visiting from Mars. You should have people on staff in senior positions who are deeply rooted in these communities, that know the work that's happening, that know the challenges facing these organizations and are directly invested in this work, right? Part of what I have seen in the time that I've been doing this work is that there are so many brilliant folks across the country who are directly and deeply invested in this work, and they are the people who have been laboring in obscurity.They are the people who've been laboring without resources. And in order for this system to change, the system of philanthropy to shift, part of what we've got to do is bring those voices from the outside in and make sure that they actually have the ability to transform these funding institutions. And that last point is critical because it is not enough to have People of Color faces in high places if they do not have the ability to actually engineer change.David RobertsI used to work for a nonprofit. The first journalistic organization I worked for, Grist, was a nonprofit. And especially back when I first started, we were very small. There's like four or five of us. So I became intimately familiar with the grind of begging foundations for money. Luckily, I didn't have to do that part for long, but I saw enough of it. And one thing that just struck me immediately and overwhelmingly is that we were an organization that was specifically targeting young people. We wanted to be sort of irreverent, and funny, and just all these kind of things that appeal to young people.But the people we're talking to and begging for money are, to put it bluntly, White boomers. They're older White people who are not necessarily who you'd go to to learn about what the youth of today want out of a journalistic outlet, right? And so I wonder if you have gotten any sense that younger people in general are hipper to this issue than their elders?Abdul DosunmuIn some ways, yes, and in some ways, no, right. And so what's clear is that younger people just generally understand the climate crisis better than their elders. So we start there, right. You have less of a case to make to younger folks about the urgency of this crisis, but I think it's important for us to be clear that when it comes to age, that does not necessarily portend more enlightenment on racial justice issues.David RobertsYes.Abdul DosunmuAgain, I work in sort of the democracy space, and I think there's always this assumption that the younger the electorate gets, the more progressive it's going to get, just because younger people have grown up in more diverse environments. On some level, I think that is true, but I would not want to bet the house on that. And I think we have to continue to be more intentional about cultivating, even among younger people, an understanding of the racial justice implications of this crisis. And so, as a case in point, I was in Miami for the Aspen Climate Conference last week.David RobertsYes.Abdul DosunmuAnd I did a number of panels during the week, and most of the programming had a climate justice angle to it, right. Most of the speakers referenced it. It was rare that you would sit through an hour long panel, and it wouldn't come up.David RobertsRight.Abdul DosunmuBut I'll be honest, there were still rooms that I walked into where I was the only Black person in the room. And I don't want to put any blame on anybody. This is not me trying to do that. This is not about assigning blame. But it is about recognizing that even among the cool, hip kids who are invested in the climate movement, that investment in racial justice still needs to be intentionally and actively cultivated. And we cannot assume that it is going to happen by osmosis.David RobertsRight.Abdul DosunmuOr that it will happen just because younger people are younger people, right.David RobertsJust because the arc of history right.Abdul DosunmuThe arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice. I firmly believe that. But I also believe that we have to bend it.David RobertsYeah, there's a reason it bends towards justice, because all the people are working to bend it, right?Abdul DosunmuAll the people are working to bend it. And so I think there is more consciousness than ever about climate, and there's more consciousness than ever about racial justice, but we still have to do the work to actually translate that consciousness into action.David RobertsWell said. Well said. Thank you. Abdul Dasumo, thank you so much for coming on. This is very illuminating. I'm glad you took the time.Abdul DosunmuThank you so much for having me. Thank you for the platform. It was an honor to be with you.David RobertsThank you for listening to the Volts podcast. It is ad-free, powered entirely by listeners like you. If you value conversations like this, please consider becoming a paid Volts subscriber at volts.wtf. Yes, that's volts.wtf, so that I can continue doing this work. Thank you so much, and I'll see you next time. Get full access to Volts at www.volts.wtf/subscribe

In Episode 8 of Behind the Switch's "Building a Microgrid" series, Alex Papali, Dave Dayton, and Lee Matsueda talk to the team about federal funding opportunities, the Justice40, and how these projects can be commercially viable. Complex topics! Tune in to hear their thoughts. As always, thanks to our guests, Team Climable, and Izaak Biewald for their efforts in pulling this episode together!

Agencies are bolstering the Biden administration's environmental justice push with mapping initiatives that help users understand complex data, as the White House also directs agencies to use a new tool to guide their “Justice40” investments. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, last August, released the Environmental Justice Index (EJI), a tool featuring an interactive map designed to measure the cumulative impacts of environmental burdens on communities throughout the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Agencies are bolstering the Biden administration's environmental justice push with mapping initiatives that help users understand complex data, as the White House also directs agencies to use a new tool to guide their “Justice40” investments. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, last August, released the Environmental Justice Index (EJI), a tool featuring an interactive map designed to measure the cumulative impacts of environmental burdens on communities throughout the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his early days in office, President Biden took executive action to deliver environmental justice. Are those policies delivering justice in practice? This episode, we talk to EJ activists and federal policymakers about Biden's Justice40 Initiative, which directs 40% of the overall benefits of climate investments toward disadvantaged communities. We explore the decades of organizing that led to this moment, and what it will take now to fulfill the promise of the Justice40 Initiative.  Our special guest host Nikayla Jefferson is back for this episode! She speaks with former People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH Buffalo) Executive Director Rahwa Ghirmatzion; Evergreen Action policy lead Rachel Patterson; and Shalanda Baker, Director of the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), who leads the agency's Justice40 implementation.  In this episode, Rachel cites the Council on Environmental Quality's Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool that aims to identify “disadvantaged communities.” Nikayla names the nonprofit, Justice 40 Accelerator, which is helping community groups building capacity to access government funding. Check out the NY Renews coalition, also mentioned in this episode, and listen to another episode hosted by Nikayla, The Stages of Black Climate Grief. Next time we follow Katharine on her journey to the Tongass, a vast temperate rainforest in Alaska and a massive carbon sink, alongside the people and creatures who call it home. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and don't miss a single episode this season!

Below is an overview of the Justice 40 Executive Order and the purpose relating to Disadvantaged Communities and the commitment to 40% of the benefit regarding the same: "Justice40 is a whole-of-government effort to ensure that Federal agencies work with states and local communities to make good on President Biden's promise to deliver at least 40 percent of the overall benefits from Federal investments in climate and clean energy to disadvantaged communities" (DOE's initiatives in relation to Justice 40 to Disadvantage Communities include: (1) Decrease energy burden in DACs. (2) Decrease exposure to pollutants and environmental burdens in DACs (3) Create solar parity and increase clean energy access in DACs. (4) Increase access to low-cost capital in DACs. (5) Increase enterprise creation in the clean energy sector in DACs, and more. ______________ NABWIC's Vision: The Vision of the National Association of Black Women in Construction (NABWIC) is to build lasting strategic partnerships with first-rate organizations and individuals that will provide ground-breaking and innovative solutions for black women in construction and their respective communities.| NABWIC.ORG

California's 2022 Legislative session is long-gone. While our state's environmental and climate justice advocates saw some wins this cycle – we also saw some disappointing failures, such as Justice40, which died in the Senate. AB 2419 — introduced by Assemblymember Bryan (CA-54) – would have created an equity framework for federal climate and infrastructure funds, mandating that 40% of those federal funds directly benefit communities facing the greatest environmental burdens. The California Justice40 Act would have served as a model for the rest of the country for how to equitably invest federal funds. So the question stands – is California really a leader in climate and environmental justice? After facing brutal summer temperatures and increasingly destructive wildfires, climate change is on all of our minds. So join us as we dive into all things climate change and what we as Californians can do today to ensure our state invests in infrastructure and protects our most vulnerable communities. And remember… Registered voters will begin receiving their General Election vote-by-mail ballot after October 10. The last day to register to vote in the Nov. 8 election is October 24, visit www.couragecaliforniainstitute.org for voter registration resources.Our California Voter Guide is coming! To make sure you don't miss it, sign up for our newsletter, at www.couragecalifornia.org  With You, fashioned in Courage, We can create a California that represents and serves us all. Connect with us: @CourageCA #CourageLooksGoodOnYouProduction: LisaMarie Betancourt and Angela ChavezEditorial: Jay Chotirmal and Irene Kao Graphics: Isidra ChávezSound Engineer: Lucianna Hernandez

A report from Everytown for Gun Safety examines the economic toll of gun violence in Mississippi.Then, federal agency serving the Mississippi Delta is making a commitment to address the needs of under-served communities in the region.Plus, what do we know about monkeypox? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode:Tom and Bob's professional background, the partnership between River Oaks Communications and LSI, how the $42b BIL funding is being allocated for broadband, BEAD NOFO's, and the Justice 40 element to all of the BIL funding. Then, filing the application for funding, capacity grant programs, Middle Mile infrastructure programs, Digital Equity programs, and how this funding will change generations and infrastructure for decades to come.   If you are a state or organization who wants to involved in the BIL funding, in any capacity, REACH OUT TO US TODAY! Deadlines are ticking. It's not too late to start applying and getting the process started. Reach out to us at social@lsiwins.com today. Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for more exciting updates.

A live webcast will be streamed at 1:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to join us for a briefing about the Justice40 Initiative and how it can deliver benefits to frontline communities. In January 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 14008 on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. The executive order launched a new initiative, Justice40, which aims to target 40 percent of the benefits from specific federal investments—such as those for clean energy, energy efficiency, and water infrastructure—to “disadvantaged communities.” Justice40 is a critical part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of advancing environmental justice, but efforts must be made to ensure communities see maximum benefits from the initiative. To inform the Justice40 Initiative, the Council on Environmental Quality recently launched a Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool. During this briefing, experts will discuss the transformative potential of Justice40 as well as the current status of the initiative. Panelists will describe the wide range of benefits frontline communities could realize from fair and just implementation of the initiative. Introductory remarks from Representative Donald McEachin (D-Virginia).

A live webcast will be streamed at 1:00 PM EDT at www.eesi.org/livecast The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to join us for a briefing about the Justice40 Initiative and how it can deliver benefits to frontline communities. In January 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 14008 on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. The executive order launched a new initiative, Justice40, which aims to target 40 percent of the benefits from specific federal investments—such as those for clean energy, energy efficiency, and water infrastructure—to “disadvantaged communities.” Justice40 is a critical part of the Biden-Harris Administration's goal of advancing environmental justice, but efforts must be made to ensure communities see maximum benefits from the initiative. To inform the Justice40 Initiative, the Council on Environmental Quality recently launched a Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool. During this briefing, experts will discuss the transformative potential of Justice40 as well as the current status of the initiative. Panelists will describe the wide range of benefits frontline communities could realize from fair and just implementation of the initiative. Introductory remarks from Representative Donald McEachin (D-Virginia).

In this episode, host Gil Jenkins speaks with Paula Glover, president of the Alliance to Save Energy – a bipartisan, nonprofit coalition of business, government, environmental, and consumer leaders advocating to advance federal energy efficiency policy. Since its founding 45 years ago, the Alliance has played an integral role in nearly every major energy efficiency policy achievement on the national stage.  Paula and the Alliance team believe that a nation that uses energy more productively can achieve economic growth, a cleaner environment, and greater energy security, affordability, and reliability. It was wonderful to sit down with Paula roughly one year into her tenure as president of the Alliance. We are lucky to have such a wise, passionate, joyful, and dedicated person leading the charge for energy efficiency in America!Links:BioPaula on TwitterPaula on LinkedInAlways Bet on Black: Conversations with African American energy thought leaders covering a variety of topics hosted by Paula GloverAlliance to Save EnergyAlliance to Save Energy TwitterActive Efficiency CollaborativeOp-Ed: Want Environmental Justice? Look to Energy Efficiency (Politico, Paula Glover, February 1, 2021)Op-Ed: The clean energy economy has a diversity problem. Let's change that as we build back.(Canary Media, Paula Glover, July 22, 2021)Article: 21 Wins For Energy Efficiency In 2021 (Ellie Long, December 30, 2021)Robert's Rules of OrderESPN 30 x 30: What Happened to the Big EastEpisode recorded: February 23, 2022Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at climatepositive@hannonarmstrong.comor tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod.

In one of his first actions after assuming office, President Biden signed an executive order with the explicit purpose of acknowledging and addressing how environmental racism has devastated the economic and human health of Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities. But now the administration sounds very different as the White House introduces their Justice40 system. Justice 40 is an initiative to identify and provide disadvantaged communities with 40 percent of overall climate and clean energy benefits and with Federal investments. And while this initiative is supposed to address environmental racism — race is absent from the formula being used to identify these disadvantaged communities. White House officials have said that they're taking this approach in order to avoid possible legal challenges.  For more on this, The Takeaway spoke with Sheila Foster, a Professor of Law and Public Policy at Georgetown University and co-author of From the Ground Up: Environmental Racism and the Rise of the Environmental Justice Movement.

In one of his first actions after assuming office, President Biden signed an executive order with the explicit purpose of acknowledging and addressing how environmental racism has devastated the economic and human health of Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities. But now the administration sounds very different as the White House introduces their Justice40 system. Justice 40 is an initiative to identify and provide disadvantaged communities with 40 percent of overall climate and clean energy benefits and with Federal investments. And while this initiative is supposed to address environmental racism — race is absent from the formula being used to identify these disadvantaged communities. White House officials have said that they're taking this approach in order to avoid possible legal challenges.  For more on this, The Takeaway spoke with Sheila Foster, a Professor of Law and Public Policy at Georgetown University and co-author of From the Ground Up: Environmental Racism and the Rise of the Environmental Justice Movement.

In this segment of By Any Means Necessary, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Anthony Rogers Wright, Director of Environmental Justice with New York Lawyers for the Public Interest to discuss Joe Biden's empty rhetoric on environmental justice and the health of Black people, the failure of the Justice40 initiative to allocate infrastructure funds to poor Black communities, how corporate control of politicians continues to contribute to the harms faced by working class communities, and the possibility of worsened infrastructure and economic inequality for communities suffering from environmental racism.

In this episode of By Any Means Necessary, hosts Sean Blackmon and Jacquie Luqman are joined by John Kiriakou, co-host of Political Misfits, which you can hear from 12 to 2 PM EST right here on Radio Sputnik to discuss the resignation of Bureau of Prisons Director Michael Carvajal and the rot that characterized the prison system under his watch, Carvajal's refusal to act on the spread of COVID in prisons as people died directly because of his refusal to act, how this refusal and treatment of prisoners reveals a larger disdain for incarcerated people in society, and how the harsh treatment of prisoners contributes to high rates of recidivism.In the second segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Miko Peled, human rights activist and author of “The General's Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine,” and “Injustice, the Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five.” to discuss efforts by Israel to displace a family in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem, how it fits into Israel's campaign to expel Palestinians from the neighborhood and its colonization campaign, the greenwashing of Israel's ethnic cleansing campaign in the Naqab, and the US taxpayer money that goes into these displacement campaigns.In the third segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Anthony Rogers Wright, Director of Environmental Justice with New York Lawyers for the Public Interest to discuss Joe Biden's empty rhetoric on environmental justice and the health of Black people, the failure of the Justice40 initiative to allocate infrastructure funds to poor Black communities, how corporate control of politicians continues to contribute to the harms faced by working class communities, and the possibility of worsened infrastructure and economic inequality for communities suffering from environmental racism.Later in the show, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Margaret Kimberley, editor and senior columnist at Black Agenda Report and author of the book "Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents" to discuss the first year of Joe Biden's presidency and his rejection of progressive reforms and so-called “harm reduction” that is responsible for his election in the first place, the crisis of legitimacy that has opened up due to Biden's abandonment of working and poor people, the opportunity to organize for a system that works for working and poor people that has arisen because of that crisis, US attempts to overthrow the government of Nicaragua and the system that it represents, and the cooptation of progressive language in the service of imperialism.

A BBC investigation based on interviews with former Byju employees and customers has revealed several allegations against India's most valuable startup, according to a report by the BBC. Byju's has denied the allegations. Disgruntled parents allege they were misled by sales agents. They said they were lured into contracts by agents who convinced them of an urgent need only to go incommunicado a few months after the sale, making it difficult to get a refund, according to BBC. Former employees complained of "pushy managers", claiming there was a high-pressure sales culture that emphasised aggressive targets. Sales staff have been marked absent and seen their salaries docked for not meeting targets. The aggressive culture has also affected both the physical and mental health of some staff, the report says. There are also hundreds of complaints in online consumer and employee forums against the company, according to BBC. Byju's has said its products are only sold to parents interested in them, and that it has a strong set of employee welfare policies, according to the BBC report. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said $443 million will be spent on land conservation and restoration and efforts to reduce environmental burdens on marginalised communities via his Earth Fund's next round of grants, The Verge reports. This year, the fund has pledged more than $3 billion for similar initiatives. In 2020, Bezos promised $10 billion — about 5 percent of his current net worth — towards tackling climate change this decade. The grants include $130 million to advance the Justice40 initiative in the U.S.; $261 million to further the 30x30 initiative to protect 30 percent of land and sea by 2030, with a focus on the Congo Basin and Tropical Andes; and $51 million to support land restoration in the U.S. and Africa, the Earth Fund said in a press release. Pinterest is further investing in creator tools and video. The company has acquired a video creation and editing app Vochi for an undisclosed sum. The company will be bringing in both the IP at Vochi and its 40-person team, including its founders, to expand Pinterest's set of video creation tools and to help its creators make more dynamic videos, according to TechCrunch. “The Vochi app gives creators the ability to apply high-quality effects based on computer vision on objects in a video instantly,” Ilya Lesun, CEO & Co-founder at Vochi, said in a press release. “These technologies are unique in the industry, and we're excited to bring them to an even larger audience as a part of the Pinterest team.” WhatsApp is adding new functionality to its disappearing messages feature, which lets users set messages in a chat to automatically be deleted after a set period of time, the company said in a blogpost. WhatsApp says users will now have the option to turn on disappearing messages automatically for all their new one-on-one chats so that all future messages will be automatically deleted from the service. WhatsApp also says it's giving users more options for how long before a message is deleted. Epic Games has created The Matrix Awakens, an interactive tech demo built in Unreal Engine 5. A teaser for the interactive Matrix experience appeared yesterday, and the tech demo will be available on PS5 and Xbox Series X / S consoles, The Verge reports. You can pre-install the demo right now (29GB) on PS5 or Xbox Series X / S, and it will launch during The Game Awards on December 9th. Members of the original movie team, including Lana Wachowski, have worked with Epic Games to create The Matrix Awakens. The Xbox store listing promises “a wild ride into the reality-bending universe of The Matrix that features performances by Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss.”

Environmental Justice has gained new momentum in recent years, amplified by a global focus on social justice, climate, and equity. Shortly after taking office, President Biden released Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crises at Home and Abroad. The Executive Order includes a new initiative, Justice40, which states that 40% of the overall benefits from specific federal investments—including energy efficiency, clean energy, clean water infrastructure, and training and workforce development—will be directed toward disadvantaged communities. In this episode, Gwendolyn Keyes Fleming, a partner at Van Ness Feldman, and Mustafa Santiago Ali, Vice President of Environmental Justice, Climate, and Community Revitalization for the National Wildlife Federation, discuss the Justice40 initiative. This episode is part of the Groundtruth series created in partnership with Beveridge & Diamond, one of the nation's leading environmental law firms. ★ Support this podcast ★

In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out: With the summer heat in full swing, your local energy nonprofit, LEAP, wants you and yours to keep cool. LEAP offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If you’re age 60 or older, or have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!On today’s show:Highlights from the Resilient Recovery Conference being held by Resilient VirginiaThat includes a broad overview of the link between transportation systems and climate changeUniversity of Virginia Health moves to make COVID vaccination mandatory for employeesThe COVID surge in Virginia continues with the seven-day average for positive tests increasing to 9.8 percent and another 3,453 new cases are reported today. The seven day average for new cases is at 2,731. At the same, the seven-day average for vaccination shots per day has risen to 15,011. Officials at the University of Virginia Health System announced they would require all employees to become vaccinated, or to face disciplinary action. Wendy Horton is the Chief Executive Officer for the UVA Health System.  (press release)“Between now and November 1 we will be working with anybody that isn’t vaccinated to get vaccinated and that means for us fully vaccinated with the last dose of vaccination plus two weeks by November 1,” Horton said. “We feel that it’s really an important time to make this change with the delta variant and with the information that we know about the effectiveness of vaccines, we feel it’s an important step that we can take.” As of today, 86 percent of the health system’s staff are vaccinated though that does not include contractors. The move comes two days after the Food and Drug Administration granted full authorization of the Pfizer vaccine. The bulk of today’s show is coverage of a conference underway. Resilient Virginia is a nonprofit formed in 1995 to help raise awareness of ways communities across the Commonwealth may need to adapt in response to any number of calamities that may come our way due to climate change. Heatwaves. Drought. Extreme rain. Invasive species. Seven years ago, the organization changed its name from the Virginia Sustainable Building Network in order to put a sharper focus on the topic. This week they’re holding an online gathering they’re calling the Resilient Recovery Conference. Governor Ralph Northam kicked off the event this morning. “Over the past sixteen months, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of comprehensive resiliency plans that address health, social, and economic concerns together with the increasing and significant impacts of climate change,” Northam said. Northam said one of the top priorities in his one four-year term has been climate change. Individual initiatives include the Coastal Adaptation and Resilience Master Plan and the Community Flood Preparedness Fund. Virginia has joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. “Last year, I signed the Virginia Clean Economy Act into law,” Northam said. “Virginia is now one of just a few states and the first in the south to adopt a 100 percent clean electricity standard,” Northam said. Northam signed Executive Order 24 in November 2018 to direct the administration to prepare for sea-level rise and other natural hazards. (read the order)“The number of federally declared disasters has steadily increased nationally and in Virginia,” reads the order. “The number has experienced a 250 percent increase in federally declared disasters over the past 20 years, including declarations for flooding, hurricanes, severe storms, and wildfire.”That order cites an earlier report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, one that is now outdated because the IPCC entity released another one earlier this month that suggests change is inevitable to the weather system we have known throughout our lives.  We’ll hear that report being referenced throughout this show. (IPCC report)“As these types of events become more frequent and more intense, so do the threats to public health and safety, our environment, and our economic well-being, including our courts, military installations, infrastructure, tourism, assets, farms, and forests,” Northam said. Just before the event began, Northam’s press office announced that Dominion Energy  will lease space from the Port of Virginia at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal as a staging area for wind turbines that will be erected 27 miles off of the coast of Virginia Beach. (press release)Krystal Laymon is the deputy director for climate resilience of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. She repeated the impacts of predicted climate change are being felt now. “Over the past few years, the U.S. has seen the number of weather and climate disasters with losses exceeding $1 billion sky-rocket,” Laymon said. “From the years 2000 to 2009, there was an average of six disasters a year, each totaling a billion dollars. Last year alone, the United States faced 22 such events with a cumulative price tag in excess of $100 billion.” Laymon said investment in mitigation before disaster strikes can save money, but acting now can also help to save lives. President Biden signed Executive Order 14,008 in February with the title “Tackling the Climate Crisis Home and Abroad.” (read the order)“Every agency must be a climate change agency,” Laymon said. “A whole of government response ensures that the federal government presents a unified front on climate and considers climate resilience with every decision.”The executive order established a national task force on climate change. That group’s fifth “readout” came just after the latest IPCC report. A particular concern is sea-level rise. “It’s important to recognize that while coastal areas make up less than ten percent of the land area of the United States, they’re home to nearly 42 percent of the population,” Laymon said. This week, volunteers across the country including Charlottesville are measuring the urban heat island effect. Laymon said extreme heat is another concern. “The devastating heat waves are harming so many facets of people’s lives and the community,” Laymon said. “The urban heat island effect increases those vulnerabilities. In addition, extreme heat hits people’s wallets with increased energy costs which creates greater energy burden.” Laymon also mentioned other initiatives such as Justice40, a program that seeks to ensure that 40 percent of federal investment in mitigation goes to disadvantaged communities. (read more) In April, President Biden set an ambitious target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (fact sheet)“President Biden has set a new target of 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030,” Laymon said. “I’ll repeat that again. Fifty percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.”  Current targets for Albemarle and Charlottesville are to hit 45 percent of emissions by 2030 and to be carbon neutral by 2050. The University of Virginia seeks to be carbon neutral by 2030 and fossil free by 2050. But that’s the future. Where are things now?“The recent IPCC report on climate change showed that the sum amount of the climate change activities are already unavoidable,” Laymon said. “While we’re working to reduce carbon emissions, we need to prepare for the climate impacts that we are already seeing today.” You’re listening to Charlottesville Community engagement, and an edition almost solely devoted to the first day of today’s Resilient Virginia conference. But, now, time for another subscriber supported public service announcement. Do you ever look at a tree and wonder what kind it is? In September, the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards will hold several identification walks in city parks for people who want to know more about the bark, leaves, and the flowers of our wooden neighbors. These walks are free, but you’ll have to register because groups are limited to 16. September 5 at 11 a.m. at Pen Park (register)September 11 at 11 a.m. at the Botanical Garden of the Piedmont (register)September 24 at 11 a.m. at the University of Virginia (register)Learn more at charlottesvilleareatreestewards.org.One of the first panels dealt with one of my favorite subject areas - transportation. Angela Conroy is the senior air quality planner with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. “We’re having this conversation this morning because the scientists have measured a one degree Celsius increase in global temperature,” Conroy said. “The increase in global temperature is being due to human related carbon dioxide emissions that have drastically risen over the past several decades.”Transportation makes up a good portion of those emissions, and reforming the way we move around is intended to reverse the trend. “Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector is essential to curbing national and statewide emissions,” Conroy said. “Currently the mainstream strategies to achieve transportation decarbonization include; the deployment of light, medium, and heavy-duty zero emissions vehicles; the deployment of electric vehicle charging stations; investing in research, development, demonstration, and deployment efforts of new generation renewable fuels, particularly in the aviation sector.” Conroy said other investments include transit as well and other ways to reduce overall vehicle miles traveled. She also said other tools will be required such as carbon sequestration, taking out carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and reducing methane and other gases that contribute to the warming of the global atmosphere. While attempts are made to reduce emissions, effects are also presenting themselves. “Virginia climate change poses a significant threat to Virginia’s community infrastructure and the economy,” Conroy said. “The state has the highest rates of sea-level rise on the Atlantic seaboard with more than 34,000 buildings, 534 square miles of coastal land at risk of flooding by 2060.”Some of the cost to prepare and adapt will be covered by Virginia’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Conroy said there have been two auctions so far in which various polluting agencies pay to exceed their allowed emissions allotment. (review all RGGI auction results)“Two auctions in Virginia to date produced over $84 million of available revenue for flood mitigation and resiliency projects and for energy energy efficiency projects,” Conroy said. “Decarbonizing the electricity sector is absolutely necessary for decarbonizing transportation as well as buildings and the industrial sector.”Virginia has also been tapping into its share of the Volkswagen Mitigation Trust Fund, a fund created when that automaker was caught lying about some of its vehicles emission standards. About sixty million of the $93.6 million the Commonwealth has received has been awarded, including an announcement last week of the purchase of electric school buses, including two for Albemarle County. Looking to the future, legislation passed the General Assembly this year to require the State Air Pollution Control Board to set up a low-emission and zero emission vehicles program to regulate tailpipe emissions in new vehicles. Conroy said over 60,000 electric vehicles sold in Virginia in June, the highest amount to date. (read the bill)Another bill passed to create a rebate program for electric vehicles, but it has not yet been funded. Conroy said rapid deployment on many fronts is required if warming is to be kept below the 1.5 degrees Celsius figure.So, that’s the view from the state level. What about the view of the state level from a regional perspective? Jeremy Holmes is the executive director of the Roanoke Valley Alleghany Regional Commission. That’s a group akin to the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. Before Holmes took on his current job, he ran a sustainable transportation program in that part of southwest Virginia. “We actually worked with four other planning districts and covered a geography the size of the state of Massachusetts in Southwest Virginia so that included our urban centers of Roanoke, Lynchburg, and Blacksburg but as you can imagine most of what we dealt with was our rural communities, rural counties, cities and towns,” Holmes said.Holmes said the economic shutdown that occurred at the beginning of the pandemic gives a glimpse into what could happen if people change behavior, but he was frank about the transportation problems facing rural Virginia. “One of the fundamental things to remember is that these transportation systems are almost exclusively based on single occupant vehicle travel, so the infrastructure, the services, the locations of stuff almost entirely assume that you are getting to these places and accessing these services by yourself in your own motor vehicle,” Holmes said. Holmes said this leaves many rural communities isolated. Many are already shrinking in population and in job opportunities.“The impact here really is that people in order to access jobs and work now have to drive farther and farther than they did before,” Holmes said. “In Virginia, the Martinsville and Danville used to have the largest percentage of billionaires in the country driven by the furniture and textile industry. Now it’s one of the highest areas of poverty in the state and Martinsville and Danville commuters are commuting to Lynchburg, Roanoke, farther away, an hour each way. Which means they’re driving more, they’re driving by themselves and taking more time. They’re emitting more on these long trips and they’re more vulnerable.”Vulnerable in particular to the volatility in fuel prices. Specialized health care is also located in urban areas. And, state transportation funding formulas and processes mean more funding goes to urban areas. That includes maintenance funds, which may lead to more damage as rainfall increases. “These communities often have fragile infrastructure,” Holmes said. “They have relatively few roads, bridges that are way beyond when they should have been maintained, and surprises like sinkholes and things just waiting to happen as they address issues of flooding and storm surges and mudslides and that sort of thing.”On the plus side, Holmes said telework and telehealth may be ways to reverse those trends if they can become more commonplace as the pandemic continues. He also said efforts to increase rural broadband may help with some kinds of trips. Holmes said many rural communities that have been on hard times might have more positive futures as the 21st century continues if there is investment. “Our small communities have great bones,” Holmes said. “These are places that were built and lived in at a human scale for a long time. They still have that scale. There’s been huge disinvestment. Buildings are empty or abandoned or need a lot of work, but mostly the community scale is there so that if folks don’t have to drive long distances to get to things, the infrastructure is in place to revitalize these communities to places that people want to live and can have access services that they are now going out further to get to.”We’ll have more from the Resilient Virginia conference over the next few weeks or so. There are two more days if you’re interested in purchasing a ticket. They are not a sponsor, hence this text is not italicized. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

As a slew of extreme weather events hits the headlines, the evidence mounts we are headed for dangerous thresholds of climate disruption beyond the reach of adaptation to cope. Why sea level rise could be counted in the dozens of feet by 2100, and how an unchecked climate emergency imperils human civilization. Also, the Biden Administration has now rolled out details of its environmental justice plan called Justice40, which aims to share at least 40% of benefits from federal climate and infrastructure spending with disadvantaged communities. And Charlotte McConaghy, the author of last year's best-selling novel Migrations, talks about her newest book Once There Were Wolves. It's a mysterious tale of a woman-led team working to re-introduce wolves to the Scottish Highlands, the people who confront them and the deadly toll of domestic abuse.    

In today's Federal Newscast, The White House issued interim guidance yesterday directing agencies to develop plans for meeting the Biden administration's Justice40 initiative.