February 2, 2021 9:29 AM EDT
The last time the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) got a new leader, I was decidedly unimpressed. Okay, understatement…I was incensed by a secretary who cared little for science and was fully in the pocket of big agribusinesses (looking at you, Dow). After four years of all that, it’s refreshing to see a new administration listening to scientists and pledging to address the multiple crises we face. At the same time, the hill facing us is steep, and bold actions are needed. Read more >
February 19, 2020 3:56 PM EDT
Exposure to PM2.5 pollution from cars, trucks, and buses varies greatly within Illinois. Concentrations are highest in urban areas and downwind of those areas; Chicago and its immediate surroundings are affected the most. Cook County, including Chicago, not only has the state’s highest PM2.5 pollution exposure, but it also is one of the nation’s worst affected counties. Read more >
October 16, 2019 12:44 PM EDT
Air pollution has significant impacts to public health and the cars, trucks, and buses on America’s roads contribute to this problem. While we are all exposed to this pollution, there are significant differences in the average exposure to this air pollution by different racial groups in the U.S. and exposure also varies greatly depending on where in the U.S. you live. Read more >
April 24, 2018 2:35 PM EDT
The institutionalized killing of black and brown people in the United States is not a new phenomenon. The government’s role in the overt harming of black bodies goes as far back as slavery, when patrollers (paid and unpaid) stopped enslaved people in public places, entered their quarters without warrant, and assaulted and harmed them. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the government further sustained public devaluation of black lives through tolerance of lynching and by failing to pass anti-lynching legislation. Read more >
April 2, 2018 4:41 PM EDT
It has been only six weeks since last I wrote about gun violence in America, following the Parkland shooting that took seventeen lives and impacted a nation. In that time there have been 22 more mass shootings, at least 10 of them at schools. The number of deaths by guns in 2018 is at 3,423, and we’re only 89 days into the year—that’s about 38 human lives lost per day. In that time, hundreds of thousands of people have voiced their outrage and concerns over our country’s inaction around gun violence, as we witnessed at last weekend’s March for Our Lives. Read more >
