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.

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.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies kicked off its monthly webinar series on EPA's Regulatory Agenda with the inaugural topic focused on "Utility Air Toxics Rule." The webinar took place on Wednesday July 13, 2011 from 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. and was free and open to the public.

The mission of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to protect human health and the environment.  This Joint Center webinar explored the agency's current initiatives, with a particular focus on its regulatory activities. Presenters covered both climate rules and the air rules, and explained the rulemaking process.  An overview of the Utility Air Toxics Rule was provided, and the critical issues identified as important considerations were discussed. Topics included the immense health benefits of the rule; the disproportionate impact of toxic air pollution on communities of color; the existence of cost-effective technologies to reduce emissions (which are currently being used by several companies); and an assessment of the overstated projected economic damages cited by industry as well the actual damages borne by vulnerable populations due to toxic air pollution.

The webinar is available for viewing and slides are available for download.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies invites you to join us for our webinar series on EPA's Regulatory Agenda and the inaugural topic focused on "Utility Air Toxics Rule."

The webinar will take place on Wednesday July 13, 2011 from 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm EDT and is free and open to the public.

The mission of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to protect human health and the environment.  This Joint Center webinar will explore the agency's current initiatives, with a particular focus on its regulatory activities. Presenters will cover both climate rules and the air rules, and will explain the rulemaking process.  An overview of the Utility Air Toxics Rule will be provided, and the critical issues identified as important considerations will be discussed. Topics include the immense health benefits of the rule; the disproportionate impact of toxic air pollution on communities of color; the existence of cost-effective technologies to reduce emissions (which are currently being used by several companies); and an assessment of the overstated projected economic damages cited by industry as well the actual damages borne by vulnerable populations due to toxic air pollution.

Click here to register.

This week we celebrate Earth Day, an international campaign for environmental awareness and protection. While this is a time to celebrate our planet, we are also reminded of the great environmental risks facing communities of color and their resilience to protect both the planet and their communities. We need to address environmental justice in communities of color and recognize their valuable contributions toward a larger climate movement. This should be part of the policy discussion going forward.

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Conservatives claim the enforcement of clean air laws will amount to a loss of jobs and a “death for business across the country.” But communities of color rejected that argument. A recent poll conducted by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies demonstrates that the majority of African-American voters believe the United States should pass legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and that clean energy will create more jobs and combat climate change. A large majority of the respondents believe everyone can do something to combat global warming. Similar majorities and views are found within the Latino and Asian communities as well.

Read more at the Center for American Progress.

We live in a moment in the United States where civil rights are enshrined in the law and racial epithets are considered especially offensive. Ironically, when the attacks on people of color and low-income citizens are of an environmental nature, they are seldom met with condemnation, or modest redress, like remediation or clean-up, let alone prosecution. This reality comes after a decade of data revealing that race, not income, is the best predictor of exposure to hazardous waste, toxic chemicals and environmental harms in general. Researchers from across the country name the phenomena environmental racism.

In 2007, Congress passed the Green Jobs Act, the first-ever federal investment in training low-income and disadvantaged Americans for career opportunities in emerging green industries.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies (Joint Center) has long been a leading authority on trends related to the opinions and voting preferences of the nation’s black electorate.  Two years ago, when the Joint Center launched its Commission to Engage African Americans on Climate Change, we undertook a major poll of African Americans’ opinions on the issue of climate change, in which we found that more than half of black voters believe it to be a serious problem that the nation must address.  Last year, our second comprehensive survey of African Americans on  climate change issues produced further evidence that a strong majority of African American voters want government action on climate change, and revealed additional details about what they are willing to do as individuals to help mitigate the problem.

In this report, we present the findings of surveys we conducted in four key states—Arkansas, Indiana, Missouri and South Carolina—with a focus on determining how African American views on climate change and other issues might affect the outcomes of the mid-term national elections this November.  While it is always difficult to predict election outcomes, the information from these surveys will no doubt contribute to the body of knowledge that political and policy analysts will use to understand how the climate change issue is viewed by a key electoral constituency, particularly at a time of tremendous economic upheaval in the nation.