For National Librarian Day (April 16), Rodney Freeman, librarian and producer of the documentary Are You a Librarian?, penned a Newsweek essay celebrating librarians as heroes. He highlights librarians’ long history of promoting a healthy democracy and standing up for access to information, from Black librarians fighting to end the segregation of libraries during the Jim Crow era, to present-day librarians pushing back against censorship and book bans.
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Our Southern forests are a national treasure. On President’s Day weekend, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran an op-ed by Treva Gear, PhD, founder of Concerned Citizens of Cook County, calling on Pres. Biden to address a blank spot in his environmental justice agenda: protecting Southern forests and communities from the dangerous and destructive wood pellet industry.
Read MoreIn Chicago’s Morgan Park neighborhood, 16% to 35% of residents are at risk of experiencing food insecurity. To help address the problem, Dion’s Chicago Dream and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois unveiled a Dream Vault – a set of network-enabled smart lockers that provide free, fresh produce – at the Blue Door Neighborhood Center Morgan Park. FOX 32, CBS Chicago, and Block Club Chicago covered this uplifting story.
Read MoreEnvironmental justice leader Katherine Egland is calling on President Biden to stop the biomass industry from harming our climate and disadvantaged communities in the South.
Read MoreOn October 19, environmental justice leaders held a press conference to call on President Biden to stop the expansion of the biomass industry, which is polluting Southern communities and clearcutting Southern forests.
Read MoreIn a Newsweek opinion piece, Kathy Egland of EEECHO — who chairs the national NAACP board’s Environmental & Climate Justice Committee – calls on President Biden to patch a hole in his ambitious environmental justice agenda: industrial-scale logging and highly polluting wood pellet mills cropping up in low-income, majority-Black communities across the South.
Read MoreDion Dawson of Dion’s Chicago Dream is developing innovative ways to ensure all people have the healthy food they need to thrive. Story & Reach was proud to work with MatchPoint Studios to produce this video about Dion’s latest innovation: the Dream Vault.
Read MoreIn a small, majority Black town in Mississippi, residents are sounding the alarm on Drax – the owner of a local wood-pellet plant – for exposing them to dangerous levels of air pollution.
The Drax factory has been fined for exceeding its air-pollution permits, but still received federal subsidies to build more wood-pellet plants across the South.
Despite claims that burning wood pellets for power is climate-friendly, studies show it produces more greenhouse gasses than coal.
Read MoreThe 19th News Exclusive: The Fund for Frontline Power – a groundbreaking new model for climate philanthropy – announces its first $5 million in grants to 48 climate justice organizations across the country. Funding decisions are made by F4FP’s governing body, which is made up of grassroots climate justice leaders. The Solutions Project, the Climate Justice Alliance, and the People’s Climate Innovation Center co-created the fund to accelerate the “solidarity philanthropy” movement, where funders work in solidarity with grassroots leaders rather than making top-down decisions. The fund is supported by environmental foundations, big green groups, the sports industry, and the company Seventh Generation.
Read MoreFor the Chicago Ukraine (c Ukraine) cultural showcase, ShoCo Chicago member Oksana Ambroz-Trychta has re-released her beautiful, handcrafted collections of decorative pillows & dolls, & will donate all proceeds to Ukrainian shelters housing orphans & mothers in need.
Read MoreFunded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Berkeley Lab's IMPEL program helps building efficiency start-ups overcome the "commercialization valley of death." The program is the subject of an in-depth article by Commercial Property Executive, a leading publication for commercial real estate professionals.
Read MoreNoria Energy designed Aquasol – South America’s largest floating solar array, at Colombia’s Urrá dam – to show how hydropower and floating solar can work together to generate more energy, more reliably.
Read MoreIn June, Governor JB Pritzker (D-IL) signed Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias' first-in-the-nation bill to prevent libraries from banning, removing, or restricting access to books or other materials. We were honored to attend the bill signing and secure the Secretary’s interview with GMA3: What You Need to Know about this historic legislation. “The concept of banning books contradicts the very essence of what our country stands for,” said Secretary Giannoulias. “It also defies what education is all about: teaching our children to think for themselves. This landmark law is a triumph for our democracy, a win for First Amendment Rights, and a great victory for future generations.”
Read MoreDion’s Chicago Dream delivers weekly boxes of healthy fruits and vegetables to households in need. In his Chronicle of Philanthropy opinion piece, founder Dion Dawson calls on food charities to take a fresh approach to tackling food insecurity.
Read MoreFor Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Axios Generate shares this inspiring story about how Molokai residents are reclaiming their energy sovereignty by building a community-owned and -designed clean energy economy.
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A Good Morning America shoot, a White House invitation, and a cover shot of a truly dynamic duo are some of the extraordinary Earth Month events you can read about in our latest newsletter.
Read MoreIn Environment+Energy Leader, Reshma Singh, senior advisor at the Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office, explains the opportunities & challenges associated with making buildings the heart of climate action.
Reshma is also the director of Berkeley Lab’s IMPEL & Cradle to Commerce programs, two cutting-edge initiatives designed to accelerate the process of getting important clean technologies to market.
Read MoreWhen Rep. Donald McEachin (D-VA) passed away, the environmental justice movement lost a powerful champion in the House of Representatives. In Newsweek, renowned environmental justice leaders Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali of the National Wildlife Federation & the Rev. Leo Woodberry of Kingdom Living Temple urge Congress to build on Rep. McEachin’s legacy.
Read MoreDion Dawson is a Chicago native who experienced homelessness & food insecurity both as a child & as a military veteran. Now, he runs a nonprofit – called Dion’s Chicago Dream – that feeds over 600 Chicagoland families in need so they don’t have to go hungry like he did. Watch Dion’s moving story on the TODAY show.
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