Ralph B. Everett, President and CEO of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, released the following statement on Administrator Lisa Jackson’s departure from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:

Under Administrator Lisa Jackson’s historic tenure at EPA, America has moved decisively forward in fulfilling its mandate to protect public health and the environment.  Thanks in no small measure to her leadership, we now have federal standards for power plant emissions of mercury and air toxics.  We have aggressive new fuel economy standards that will save families more than $1.7 trillion at the gas pumps, and our government has moved significantly forward on addressing the public health threats from climate change.

Importantly, Administrator Jackson has set EPA on a course to reduce environmental justice burdens on our communities and, in fact, make the entire conversation on environmentalism more inclusive.  She recognized that expanding citizen input is as critical as gathering analytical data when it comes to shaping smart policies that will protect public health and spur sustainable economic development.  In doing this, she helped put to rest the false assumption that communities of color do not want to be engaged on environmental issues.

Download the entire press release by clicking the icon below.

Watching Ken Burns’s film on the Dust Bowl recently, I wondered whether we could learn anything from the government’s response to that earlier environmental disaster. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was counseled by some advisers to abandon much of the Dust Bowl region; they argued that it was never meant to be farmed or settled. Ultimately some areas were restored to their natural grassland state. But Roosevelt also envisioned families staying on the land, and he moved quickly and decisively to confront the causes of the topsoil erosion: he sent crews to plant millions of trees as windbreaks and began coaxing reluctant farmers toward fundamental changes in the ways they worked their fields.

Hurricane Sandy has presented us with an opportunity to take stock of what kind of communities are viable and sustainable along a fragile stretch of coast. And the best route may very well be to rebuild in some communities while restoring other land to its natural state in order to create a shield against future catastrophes.

Read more at The New York Times.

The University of Maryland School of Public Health will be hosting its First Annual Symposium on Environmental Justice and Health Disparities in Maryland and DC on December 1st from 9:00am-4:00pm at the Student Union. Topics include: Environmental Justice in the Chesapeake Bay Food Injustice and Health Disparities Traffic, Air Pollution, and Respiratory Health Disparities Maryland Health Disparities Reduction Act Community Capacity-Building and Empowerment. For more information, please contact Dr. Sacoby  Wilson at swilson2@umd.edu.

The Alliance to Save Energy will hold a lunchtime session on Congregations and Energy Efficiency on Wednesday, November 7, from noon to 1 PM at the Alliance to Save Energy headquarters in Washington, DC. A panel of experts will discuss the Energy Star Small Business and Congregations Program, which helps religious organizations retrofit their buildings to be more energy and cost efficient, and the role of congregations can play in raising awareness about energy efficiency.

Joint Center Energy and Environment Program Director Danielle Deane will participate in this event.

For more information and to register, please click the REGISTER button to your right.

Danielle Deane, Director of the Joint Center's Energy and Environment Program, and Faith Taylor, Director of Sustainability for Wyndham Group Worldwide, discuss climate change, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability at a panel held by the American Sustainable Business Council. The panel was part of a larger event, "Summit for a Sustainable Economy," held by ASBC at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, September 6, 2012.

Moving toward energy independence and improving minorities vantage point in the energy industry were some of the issues discussed during the “Solving the Energy Equation: Demand, Supply, Infrastructure and how it Impacts our Communities” panel at the 2012 Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Conference last Friday.

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Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association and board member of the Joint Center for Political and  Economic Policies Health Policy Institute’s Advisory Committee agreed that striving for energy independence “…is an opportunity for a win-win” considering how climate change disproportionately affects minority and low income communities.

Read more at Politic365.

Expanding climate change mitigation approaches beyond greenhouse gases to also target related pollutants would have enormous public health benefits in the nation's most disadvantaged communities, according to a report released today by E3 Network and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

The report, Cooling the Planet, Clearing the Air: Climate Policy, Carbon Pricing, and Co-Benefits, found that the same industrial facilities that emit carbon tend to generate other harmful pollutants that actually pose a more immediate and direct threat to the health of nearby residents.  Adding these harmful 'co-pollutants' to a climate change mitigation strategy would have an almost immediate positive health impact on the health of millions of poor and minority Americans.  The research showed that the benefits would be comparable in economic value to the benefits of the carbon reduction by itself.

Read more at Environmental Expert.

Webinar for climate, clean air and public health leaders on the new report

The Joint Center, in partnership with Ecotrust, recently hosted a launch event to release the groundbreaking report entitled, Cooling the Planet, Clearing the Air: Should Climate Policies Give Extra Credit for Maximizing Short-term Health Benefits? by Professors Manuel Pastor and James Boyce.  This is the first national level study to take a careful look at the potential to reduce harmful air pollution as part of strategies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The report argues that we need to build GHG reduction into energy policy not simply for efficiency reasons – why leave public health benefits lying on the ground? – but also for equity reasons: the facilities that emit GHGs and the associated co-pollutants are disproportionately in low-income communities and communities of color.

In response to requests, a Joint Center webinar with the authors will be held on Tuesday, October 9, 2012 at 12 noon EST/ 9 a.m. PST to share the findings and policy recommendations and take questions from a national audience. REGISTRATION HERE.

  PANELISTS:

James K. Boyce, Ph.D.
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Director, Program on Development, Peacebuilding, and the Environment
Professor of Economics

Manuel Pastor, Ph.D.
University of Southern California
Professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity

  MODERATORS:

Danielle Deane
Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
Director, Energy and Environment Program

Elizabeth Martin Perera
American Public Health Association
Environment Section, Climate Change Topic Committee

Kristen Sheeran
Economics for Equality and the Environment Network
Director

The Joint Center, in partnership with Ecotrust, recently hosted a launch event to release the groundbreaking report entitled, Cooling the Planet, Clearing the Air: Should Climate Policies Give Extra Credit for Maximizing Short-term Health Benefits? by Professors Manuel Pastor and James Boyce.  The Honorable James E. Clyburn, the Assistant Democratic Leader in the House of Representatives, was guest speaker and discussed the importance of the report before a packed room.

In response to requests, a webinar with the authors will be held on Tuesday, October 9, 2012 at 12 noon EST/ 9 a.m. PST to share the findings and policy recommendations and take questions from a national audience. This is the first national level study to take a careful look at the potential to reduce harmful air pollution as part of strategies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The report argues that we need to build GHG reduction into energy policy not simply for efficiency reasons – why leave public health benefits lying on the ground? – but also for equity reasons: the facilities that emit GHGs and the associated co-pollutants are disproportionately in low-income communities and communities of color.

Download the entire press release below and register for the webinar here!

Expanding climate change mitigation approaches beyond greenhouse gases to also target related pollutants would have enormous public health benefits in the nation’s most disadvantaged communities, according to a report released today by E3 Network and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

The report, Cooling the Planet, Clearing the Air: Climate Policy, Carbon Pricing, and Co-Benefits, found that the same industrial facilities that emit carbon tend to generate other harmful pollutants, such as particulate matter and nitrogen oxides, that actually pose a more immediate and direct threat to the health of nearby residents.  Since these facilities are typically located in or near low-income and minority communities, adding these harmful “co-pollutants” to a climate change mitigation strategy would have an almost immediate positive health impact on the health of millions of poor and minority Americans.  The research showed that the benefits would be comparable in economic value to the benefits of the carbon reduction by itself.

The peer-reviewed report is the first national level study to take such a careful look at the potential to further reduce harmful air pollution as part of any strategy to lower greenhouse gas emissions and reverse climate change.

Download the full press release below.