Michelle R. Matisons

Michelle Renée Matisons, Ph.D. holds a Women's Studies doctorate and is a Research Associate with the Los Alamos Study Group in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her work can be found at https://michellereneematisons.wordpress.com/ and you can reach her at michrenee@gmail.com.

Articles by Michelle R. Matisons

• Manufacturing immiseration in the economy of essentials

  Tuesday, April 14, 2020

  The Trump administration reluctantly employed the Defense Production Act (DPA), but it is now operative in an economic crisis routinely compared with the 2008 Great Recession and the Great Depression before it. What happens in the manufacturing sector is critical, as it faces a triple threat: climate change uncertainties; COVID-19 supply and demand chain disruptions; and routine overproduction and outsourcing. One analysis gaining traction is that advanced industrial economies, largely dependent on fossil fuel extraction, are downsizing and simplifying anyway.

• Reform paves path for emergency mass prisoner release

  Wednesday, April 08, 2020

  Because of U.S. prison conditions before the pandemic, federal, state and county prison and jail facilities were considering or enacting various early and mass release, or facility shutdown, plans. These pre-pandemic release plans are the very COVID-19 infection and death mitigation plans required now, but not enough officials are enacting emergency protocols to release inmates from this contagion danger. A recent article in The Intercept describes Rikers Island's jail infection rate as eight times higher than New York City's rate per 1,000 people.

• ‘Corona change’ is an economic force with environmental consequences

  Wednesday, April 01, 2020

  Climate change issues are intimately tied to the coronavirus pandemic, but how? The recent announcement that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has suspended regulations requires reflection on the pandemic’s climate change politics. There are countless speculations as to the virus’ origins, and all are anthropogenic. This means human practices disrupt ecological balance, resulting in huge social impacts, like pandemics. Plain and simple, right?

• Surviving coronavirus: Bravery, health, and strength

  Wednesday, March 25, 2020

  Be Brave. Good Health. Stay Strong. These three (albeit optimistic) convictions grace childlike artwork pinned to an overturned wooden cable spool in an Albuquerque neighborhood near the University of New Mexico. As coronavirus spreads, a yard full of art reminds us to keep our convictions.

• Pandemic omni-crisis shows off the hypocrisy of ‘emergency aid’

  Thursday, March 19, 2020

  Real and imagined variations of scarcity, which are constantly lived as reality by working-class and under/unemployed people, panics Wall Street and boardrooms — closing down classrooms, offices, ticket counters, and assembly lines. Layoffs, free time from work, remote work from home, self-quarantining, sheltering in place, and lockdown status are all realities now, and a battle for grocery and drug store goods ensues, while movie theatres, sports arenas, churches, and restaurants are closed and even the presidential election is an uncertainty.

• Coronavirus social distancing clashes with confinement conditions

  Tuesday, March 17, 2020

  While free people rush about getting errands done, like procuring increasingly rare toilet paper rolls and hand sanitizer, confined people are physically separated from the rest of society by design, placing them in an extremely vulnerable position as the coronavirus pandemic’s scope widens. Some U.S. corrections facilities have responded by instituting mass lockdowns, like large-scale quarantines, while others are letting people out early — especially nonviolent offenders.

• Boeing freezes hiring as stocks plunge

  Thursday, March 12, 2020

  Boeing stocks have reportedly dropped to a 46-year low, as airline travel restrictions and new reports of company malfeasance further limit buyer confidence and challenge the company’s ability to withstand vulnerable market forces. Boeing shares dropped 18% on March 11 — the largest single-day percentage drop in decades. Canceled orders are much to blame here, as the company reported February’s overall net order number was down 28 planes.

• Opportunity zone developments spread despite being under investigation

  Friday, March 06, 2020

  Opportunity zones provide tax breaks for real estate developers who invest in low-income communities. Yet, numerous examples of opportunity zone (OZ) investments ignore the supposed original spirit supporting low-income, affordable housing. Democrats and Republicans in both the House and Senate criticize existing code, but disagree whether or not this is another ruling class machination to increase wealth. Some kind of opportunity zone reform seems inevitable in coming months as the Treasury Department’s inspector general investigates the program.

• New Jersey community defends local school against Rutgers hospital plans

  Monday, March 02, 2020

  While public education battles continue, there are case studies that are emblematic of community contradictions. Higher education, even publicly funded institutions, can exist in a world apart from the K-12 system. The recent conflict between Rutgers University, which is attempting to take over New Brunswick’s Lincoln Annex School, located in a predominantly Latino community, is an example of ongoing education battles that involve different arenas, testing academia’s pro-public education rhetoric.

• Interior Department’s proposed rule modernization values oil and gas industry over polar bears

  Monday, February 24, 2020

  The highly politicized release of recent polar bear studies reveal at least part of Ursus maritimus' survival depends on Trump-era Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) rule modernization, which now considers "economic impacts" while denying climate change impacts. A seismic study of potential drilling land in Area 1002 was called off last winter because the required Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was deemed incomplete. Less than one year later, the Bureau of Land Management has released a more thorough, pro-drilling EIS.

• Public health cuts undermine US pandemic preparedness

  Wednesday, February 19, 2020

  As China's coronavirus (COVID-19) spreads, the federal government in the U.S. has a limited health preparedness infrastructure in the event of a stateside pandemic viral outbreak. Instead, public health precautions taken by communities and hospitals must shape a proactive response to a global threat still in its nascent stages. The hollow husk left by recent public health budget cuts leave military command structures as the only coordinated "safety net" in a U.S. pandemic event.

• Amazon’s all-conquering education, labor visions come under fire

  Thursday, February 13, 2020

  Big Tech, including Amazon, has been asked to release acquisitions from the past decade. There's increasing pressure on the Seattle-based company, as it contests losing a Pentagon cloud contract to Microsoft while continuing its ubiquitous global reach. Amazon is also known for warehouse safety violations. Fifteen senators, including presidential contenders Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, have asked the company to publish serious worker injuries. Given the company's labor reputation, how qualified is Amazon to have a strong presence in U.S. classrooms?

• Proposed federal budget boosts nuclear production, ignores social costs

  Monday, February 10, 2020

  The proposed Fiscal Year 2021 federal nuclear defense budget, unveiled on Feb. 10, includes new weapons manufacturing. This anticipates more growth while plans still ignore total costs, a concern for those immediately impacted in nuclear weapons laboratory towns like Los Alamos, New Mexico. The Trump administration’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) budget is $19.8 billion: a 20% increase from last year. But higher numbers than those should be expected as total operational, capital, and social costs loom outside current projected expenditures.

• Why California needs a public utility option — but not prisoner futility

  Wednesday, February 05, 2020

  When universal values of dignified workplaces cautiously attending to dwindling resources are contemplated in the U.S., minds often wander to the Golden State. But not so fast. Northern California's International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) 1245 union opposes new legislation, Senate Bill 917, to turn bankrupt PG&E into a public utility — harkening back to yesteryear’s spotted owl vs. logger debates regarding old growth forests. The term "labor power" takes on new meaning to survive these divisive times; labor clashes with the environment again.

• Policing comes to a crossroads with facial recognition, reforms

  Friday, January 31, 2020

  You may have seen "Minority Report," the 2002 film based on the Philip K. Dick novel, which anticipates governmental use of technology to prevent murder before it happens. Today, this is known as pre-crime, and it didn't take all the way until 2054 — as the Dick novel suggests — for contemporary technology to grow embedded in unconstitutional policing activities as facial recognition (FR) technology. Now, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and 40 supporting organizations have called for swift action banning FR before it becomes a banal aspect of our daily lives.

• Are hypersonic missiles a breakthrough in weapons technology?

  Monday, January 27, 2020

  What does weapons modernization look like these days? Ask Russia and China. Yes, as banal as it may seem, the arms race has entered overdrive with newly hyped hypersonic technology. Far from peaceful disarmament, hypersonic missiles arrive to up the tactical ante — or at least the debate on standard and boutique weapons technologies. Hypersonic missiles travel at five times the speed of sound and are capable of reaching the U.S. from China within minutes. These fast and sophisticated missiles have regalvanized the Cold War mentality. But are they a real threat?

• In defense of tree planting and other feedback loop interventions for the environment

  Wednesday, January 22, 2020

  Statistics from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, affiliated with Columbia University, make speculation about rising global temperatures quite real. The past five years are the hottest on instrumental record, compared all the way back with the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But there’s a push-and-pull dynamic as a 1.2 degrees Celsius temperature rise can fall as water cools from melting ice. The climate science community can scarcely afford optimism's luxuries, but sometimes it shines through anyway. New research that links melting ice to human actions from 1955 to 2005 is supposedly not all bad news.

• ‘Opportunity zone’ tax breaks shown as duplicitous development schemes across the country

  Friday, January 17, 2020

  Opportunity zones are a new real estate tax scheme that government officials, city planners, and investment firms are using to convert low-income real estate or already developed areas into large tax break incentives. When Amazon announced plans to move to Long Island City, the controversial opportunity zone tax break, created from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, was cited as a possible incentive for that location. This caused a flurry of controversy, and Amazon gave up the idea, which includes paying zero taxes on gains from assets held for a decade, because it’s bad public relations.

• Boeing, transportation sector face dangerous manufacturing ‘double burden’

  Monday, January 13, 2020

  The verdict is in on dismissed Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg's culpability in the mishandling that led to deadly 737 Max jet crashes in October 2018 and March 2019. Recently released emails combine with Muilenburg's departure to keep Boeing in the headlines. Muilenburg testified before Congress last October, and his departure sees him walking away with anywhere between $62 million and $80 million in compensation. This is controversial, considering Boeing crash victims are, by comparison, receiving a meager $50 million from the company.

• During bushfire crisis, Australia’s koala ‘beds are burning’ down

  Wednesday, January 08, 2020

  As the world watches Australia burn, recall the indignant 1987 song "Beds are Burning" by Sydney band Midnight Oil. The lyrics prove prescient: "Four wheels scare the cockatoos/From Kintore, east to Yuendemu/The Western Desert lives and breathes/In forty-five degrees." The country's devastating wildfires make four scary wheels the least of the cockatoos' problems, and recent numbers indicate Australia's planetarily unique biodiversity and surrounding interdependent human communities are changed forever.

• Select sanctuary counties in Colorado refuse ‘red flag’ gun law

  Monday, January 06, 2020

  As we ring in the new decade, new state laws ring in as well. Colorado offers a case study, with a "red flag" law that was contested and upheld in the state Supreme Court. Not everyone was happy about the court’s decision, and a largely right-wing phenomenon with potential nonpartisan appeal — gun sanctuary counties — was the result. Leave it to Colorado to be immersed in controversial gun reform legislation.

• As 2020 begins, news from the Arctic offers scant environmental hope

  Wednesday, January 01, 2020

  The late 2019 Madrid U.N. Climate Summit didn’t offer much in the way of good news regarding international consensus on climate goals. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has also produced its annual report on the Arctic that does not bode well for the future, as a major climate date, the year 2020, is now here. There's perhaps no better litmus test for climate health than Arctic ice, which is melting at a pace that concerns more than just scientists and climate change activists.

• New trade era will require pro-labor policies, green manufacturing

  Tuesday, December 17, 2019

  For those scratching their heads over the fate of U.S. manufacturing, recent global economic developments don't halt the confusion, but do offer guidelines for any Green New Deal-type initiatives in the works. The Dec. 12 U.K. general election confirmed pro-Brexit Boris Johnson as Prime Minister just as the U.S. finalized talks with China in a deal to be signed at a later date. Key provisions in the U.S.-China agreement cover strengthened intellectual property protection, currency manipulation avoidance, and financial service access. Additionally, the U.S. will export $200 billion in energy and agricultural and manufactured products while lifting tariffs on Chinese goods.

• USMCA covers international labor rights, leaves out climate change

  Thursday, December 12, 2019

  After a recent deal between the White House and Democrats in the House of Representatives, an updated version of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) — the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) — will likely be approved by Congress, albeit not imminently. How are trade relations and prevailing concerns for labor, the environment, and human rights addressed in the USMCA?

• Does Facebook’s anti-censorship policy ignore violence?

  Wednesday, December 11, 2019

  Facebook's political ad policy has been recently clarified. It retains an anti-censorship position in relationship to political ads while claiming to ban hate speech, but this remains an unclear distinction with many loopholes. CEO Mark Zuckerberg presents his ad policy as securing free expression and allowing users to make decisions. This denies Facebook’s centrality as a U.S. and global news source. It also ignores how remote communications technologies uniquely foment hatred and need to be approached with that awareness.

• Houston ISD schools face state takeover, growth in charters

  Thursday, December 05, 2019

  As the national wave of education labor successes, which include a rejection of charter school expansion and school budget freezes, continue, the state of Texas has decided to take over the Houston Independent School District in an effort to improve student performance. The takeover tactic has an infamous history in U.S. education circles, requiring serious educator efforts to mitigate the worst effects of this awkward — even hostile — move.

• Historic inmate commutation in Oklahoma calls for new approach after release

  Monday, December 02, 2019

  Early November saw conservative Oklahoma release 462 people serving sentences for non-violent and drug offenses in the largest commutation in U.S. history. This is a case study, if you will. These former inmates are now working residents, sharing demands with people in the working class: fair wages; the right to unionize; affordable housing/healthcare/child care; quality public education/scholarships; and continuity of safety-net services, among others. There are competing visions of prison reform that render post-release obstacles part of a fledgling "release/rehabilitation state-industrial complex" of sorts.

• Will climate relief meet prison closures in California’s budget?

  Tuesday, November 26, 2019

  As the upcoming holiday season promises a new year and new budget proposals, Northern California’s PG&E remains in limbo, with wildfire victims remaining largely uncompensated. The saga involves mismanagement distributing an essential commodity, power, to 16 million people. As climate disasters mount, the world's fifth-largest economy may adopt a publicly owned utility. PG&E remains court-ordered to pay past wildfire victims — customers and insurance companies — back, but company and state officials share the view that customers should pay for (at least some) future damages.

• California rewards climate-friendly automakers amid NHTSA lawsuit

  Tuesday, November 19, 2019

  Ford and General Motors (GM) workers have new UAW labor contracts with some reported positive takeaways. But they part ways on a lawsuit contesting national emissions enforcement authority. For decades, California has enjoyed a Clean Air Act waiver to set its own standards. Suffering under pollution from transportation, industry, and wildfires, California is seeking to reduce pollution to 66 million metric tons per year by 2030. The state has joined 23 others as lawsuit plaintiffs against the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

• EPA changes impede environmental justice research

  Friday, November 15, 2019

  Environmental justice emphasizes the impacts of environmental deterioration on social groups and the communities on the front lines of climate change. As the concept mainstreams, it clashes with a possible new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) policy that undermines public health links to industrial pollutants, adverse weather events like hurricanes and wildfires, and other climate change factors. Meanwhile, the U.S. has begun official proceedings to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, and a new medical report warns of sustained public health problems due to increased temperatures and other climate-related challenges.

• Palantir, BP develop concerning ‘data-drilling’ techniques

  Tuesday, November 12, 2019

  One of the most recent developments in Big Tech involves news of "data drilling," as evidenced by a contract between CIA-adjacent data-mining company Palantir Technologies and BP (formerly British Petroleum). The wedding of an older industry like oil with data technology is big news for many trying to keep abreast of the climate effects of the international extraction economy as they relate to elections, foreign policy, and intelligence communities; operations. And, vice versa: data mining is moving into unchartered waters here, and more environmental accountability for the uber-wealthy tech sector is a pressing issue.

• Proposed Chicago teachers’ contract could break new ground in education labor negotiations

  Friday, November 08, 2019

  U.S. labor has been at forefront of the news recently, as the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), along with the allied nonteaching staff from SEIU Local 73, will soon look to ratify a new contract with Chicago Public Schools (CPS). This follows the contract ratification between UAW and GM and a tentative Ford contract. This holiday season could offer a pay increase, workload reduction, and a social justice cornucopia for CTU teachers.

• Is there a public utility option for California’s PG&E?

  Monday, November 04, 2019

  Damage from 13 different wildfires has affected California during the past week. Sonoma County’s Kincade fire grew to 77,000 acres, ravaging large land swaths, whole neighborhoods, and grape-ripening vineyards. At 80% contained, it is nowhere near the size of 2017’s Thomas fire, which caused $2.2 billion in damages and heated debate about fire prevention. But all the fires combined will yield more damages incurred for the already embattled energy industry in the state. Poor air quality is now commonplace in the health-focused state, and this issue alone may press more people to consider radical solutions.

• The blame game surrounding Boeing’s 737 Max debacle

  Wednesday, October 30, 2019

  ​Oct. 29 marked one year since the Lion Air crash of a Boeing 737 Max 8 that killed 189 people in Indonesia. We can directly blame a company’s financial priorities, company employees who decided to leave information out of training manuals, an agency that watched its inspection autonomy wither over decades, or investors pressuring Boeing to compete with France’s Airbus. Or, we can blame all of the above. The international public and crash victims’ families have initiated investigations, released a report, and are pursuing legal action. But will safety concerns trickle down to real-world changes?

• UAW strike ends with ratified agreement, but 3 GM plants close

  Tuesday, October 29, 2019

  On Oct. 25, the United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) achieved a new, four-year contract with General Motors (GM) in a vote of 57% to 43%. During this time, UAW also ratified an Aramark janitorial contract at five GM Ohio and Michigan locations. This latest strike produced mixed results that were highly dependent on workers’ locations. While outsourcing and plant downsizing keep manufacturing jobs below optimal national levels, GM workers will largely enjoy improvements in labor conditions.

• Dominant Facebook supports net neutrality, political ads

  Tuesday, October 22, 2019

  Imagine the kind of hegemonic influence Facebook founder and multibillionaire Mark Zuckerberg has, what with his company supporting 1.5 billion daily active users. That massive data stream is a constant, along with the controversies swirling around Zuckerberg’s indirect and direct political influence. By virtue of the platform’s popularity, Facebook’s ability to shape public consciousness and debate produces a vicious cycle whereby people debate the legality of Facebook’s utter social media dominance on Facebook.

• California’s PG&E risks outages amidst bankruptcy

  Monday, October 14, 2019

  Recently, the legally embattled Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) agreed to pay billions to compensate for faulty equipment-induced wildfire damages throughout the state of California. Last week, the company instituted power outages as a proactive way to prevent wildfires. Conveniently, any front-end money saved in the outages can go towards back-end damage expenses, which keep accruing as the company collaborates with meteorologists and the National Weather Service to suspend services in the name of wildfire prevention.

• What does GM owe workers?

  Tuesday, October 08, 2019

  General Motors (GM) workers began a historic strike three weeks ago. The labor action has already cost the U.S.’ largest automaker $1 billion. This lost money — including "idle trucks and packed warehouses" for numerous related businesses — continues, threatening broad economic instability. The UAW presented GM with a proposal package on Oct. 5 that outlined a minimum of 35 hourly proposals and three salaried proposals. On Oct. 6, GM rejected the package, according to the UAW website, and the union has called for a detailed response from GM, which it has not yet received.

• Federal court ruling could produce fresh air in more ways than one

  Friday, October 04, 2019

  From fossil fuel extraction to wilderness and pollution protections, legal environmental battles continue to be a most memorable Trump-era hallmark. While it’s a mixed bag of tricks overall, a recent federal ruling upholding EPA standards provides a breath of fresh air in ongoing environmental struggles that require staying power in the epic battle against climate catastrophe. Recently, pollution reduction requirements for states producing smog that "travels" across state lines were upheld among a three-judge panel in a federal appeals court.

• California’s recent prison reforms require housing solutions

  Tuesday, September 24, 2019

  Criminalization of homeless and undocumented populations in California is integral to the state’s mass incarceration policies, which produced privatization as an initial solution to overcrowding. The state has been attempting its own carceral cleanup, as the Legislature recently passed AB 32, which bans new and renewed private correctional and detention facilities contracts by 2020 and seeks zero inmate presence in private facilities by 2028. A uniquely Californian hand-wringing reluctance accompanies prison privatization efforts.

• GM strike begins in 9 states

  Tuesday, September 17, 2019

  As U.S. auto manufacturers outsource jobs to Mexico and China, wages and benefits are stagnating and plant closures reflect globalization’s effects stateside. Beginning Sept. 16, almost 50,000 active members of the UAW formed picket lines in nine states against General Motors. This is the first GM strike in 12 years. Workers have been without a collective bargaining agreement since 2015, even after GM declared bankruptcy in 2009 with a $50 billion government bailout saving the company. GM recovered, and now workers, who stood by the company through hard times, want compensation.

• Federal emergency management: All in the name of security?

  Wednesday, September 11, 2019

  Regarding recent controversies concerning Hurricane Dorian, National Weather Service (NWS) leader Neil Jacobs stated: "What did I learn over the last week? From now on, the National Weather Service should be at the table with emergency managers and FEMA, at all briefings." But this proposed coordination is complicated by obscured budgets in a vast, bureaucratic web. While the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is tasked with tracking weather changes, FEMA is tasked with providing resources for hurricane-threatened and impacted areas, among other things.

• Exploring the future reality of immersive technologies

  Monday, September 09, 2019

  Science fiction is awash in speculative depictions of technologies in entertainment venues, film studios, science labs and anywhere computers exist. The 1995 film “Strange Days” depicts a decaying police state using underground virtual reality technology. This technology passes hands as small discs containing a plethora of real human experiences — including murder. Later, the popular “Matrix” series moved the VR screen to "reality" itself. While depictions of VR may vary, one thing is clear. VR is becoming more mainstream.

• Bail reform efforts face resistance

  Wednesday, September 04, 2019

  The U.S. bail bonds industry is presented as a public safety measure and billed as a supportive aid for incarcerated individuals. While there’s a concerted effort to reform the bail system, industry losses undermine the reformer spirit by maintaining the status quo in other ways. Can jails operate without bail? Some say yes, while others say no. Tasked with reducing prison populations, which boomed under mass incarceration policies, criminal justice reformers have targeted the bail bonds industry with mixed results. Some states have achieved a level of bail reform, placing the bonds industry in a defensive posture.

• Exploring common — and uncommon — aspects of the gun control debate

  Thursday, August 22, 2019

  The Parkland, Florida, school shooting in early 2018 incident politicized gun control in a new way, and recently, mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, kick-started the conversation yet again. Many people talk about their desire for stronger gun regulations, especially after mass shootings, but there is little to show from these discussions. Rumors are circulating that a gun control proposal will be available from the White House next month. Reform activists aren't waiting. But this is not such an easy issue, either.

• New interpretation of public charge rule poses health threat to immigrant groups

  Wednesday, August 21, 2019

  Recent immigrant mass detentions and deportations, including the practice of family separation and detention of children, have been controversial enough. Now, a new interpretation of the public charge rule, based on a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, will enact changes that some states claim target poor immigrants of color. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that: "The rule will likely increase confusion and fear broadly across immigrant families about using public programs for themselves and their children, regardless of whether they are directly affected by the changes."

• Economics key in new Endangered Species Act rules

  Tuesday, August 13, 2019

  In the grand scheme of federal vs. state-level environmental battles, we have nearly seen it all lately. With the Department of Interior steering the helm of the most controversial environmental issues of the day, we witness a shifty and complex federal culture when it comes to environmental rules. It’s on-again and off-again, with federal departments mainly deregulating and the federal judiciary emerging with some surprising decisions. The Trump administration appears to want to lift any restriction blocking land development; some federal judges have protected precarious rules or have challenged executive actions.

• How technology manufacturing fuels the US-China trade war

  Wednesday, August 07, 2019

  It’s official: the trade war with China is heating up. On Aug. 5, after President Trump announced increased tariffs on Chinese imports, China devalued the yuan. The New York Times said it was the "worst day of the year" for Wall Street, with the S&P 500 closing down nearly 3%. There’s no consensus on what's happening here. China’s plan to move from cheap to high-value tech goods manufacturing plays a major role in President Trump’s tariff increase on Chinese imports and the no-deal climate between the countries.

• Native Alaskan tribe’s lawsuit fights ANWR drilling

  Tuesday, August 06, 2019

  July 31 was a fateful day in the climate change struggle. Just as the Gwich’in tribe of Alaska and Canada launched an important anti-drilling lawsuit, Greenland’s ice sheet lost 12.5 billion tons of ice in one day. Although an offshore drilling ban was recently upheld by Alaska federal court for some Arctic areas, the Trump administration seems set on drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's (ANWR) 1002 Area, with speculated returns of up to 9 billion gallons of oil. The Gwich’in tribe, along with the Wilderness Society, Alaska Wilderness League, and Defenders of Wildlife, want to keep the oil in the ground.

• After months of controversy and consequences, Boeing may end 737 Max production

  Wednesday, July 31, 2019

  When news of the Boeing 737 Max crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia spread, repercussions were immense. So far, Boeing reports an $8 billion loss. After the second crash, the company rolled production back from 52 to 42 planes per month. Recently, Boeing suggested it may even end 737 Max production, which could cause "the financial equivalent of a prolonged government shutdown or a significant natural disaster." Already, Southwest Airlines has cancelled Newark service because it cannot fly the 737 Max, for example.

• Are manufacturing wages stagnating?

  Wednesday, July 24, 2019

  While some argue that a $15 per hour minimum wage still does not provide a living wage, it’s an improvement for all workers regardless of pay disparities among various sectors. At first glance, manufacturing would be one sector least affected by a minimum wage hike. But let's compare recent increases in manufacturing wages. In July 2018, the average manufacturing wage was $21.43. One year later, in June 2019, average wages topped off at $22.03, slightly down from May’s $22.04. This suggests incremental wage growth has now halted: is there wage stagnation in the manufacturing sector?

• Financial transparency becomes an obstacle for private prison reform

  Monday, July 22, 2019

  The private prison industry is motivated by supposed relative efficiency largely due to facilities operating without as much public oversight as their government-owned counterparts. When the prison population swelled to over 2 million under drug prohibition policies that persist today, overcrowded facilities received negative press for violating international human rights standards. A new report from The Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) verifies that while private prison facilities contain a range of violations, these institutions are significantly hindered by recent banking divestments to the tune of almost $1.93 billion.

• Workers put spotlight on Amazon’s less-than-‘Prime’ labor practices

  Wednesday, July 17, 2019

  Amidst the hustle and bustle of Amazon Prime Day, which began July 15 and ran through the following day, laborers' voices are also being heard. This is because the world's largest and wealthiest online retailer continues to report massive earnings that do not trickle down to all workers. That has led many to organize at Amazon Fulfillment Centers globally. While Amazon's full-time wage increases place it on par with other, more solid $15 per hour wage positions, employees are reeling from what’s called the "rate." This is the expected working pace of a job, and Amazon offers a uniquely high-tech way to tell workers they are falling behind: a machine that surveils and warns them.

• Response to Boeing Max 8 groundings includes new aviation leadership

  Friday, July 12, 2019

  The Boeing 737 Max 8 airplane model was the most common plane flying the friendly skies — until recently. After several high-profile crashes killing hundreds of people, this model has been withdrawn from use so it can undergo an upgrade with new safety features for its alert system, which is rumored to have contributed to the crashes. Costing American Airlines $185 million in the second quarter, this aviation development has sent more than ripples through financial markets and manufacturing hubs.

• Facebook’s cryptocurrency plans unfurl to controversy

  Tuesday, July 09, 2019

  Facebook has been steadily colonizing more and more of our lives. Now, the company has paved a direct road to the currency sector, as it recently announced plans to partner with a company called Libra to allow users all the conveniences of modern financial technology. After Facebook announced its cryptocurrency plans, Congress stepped in to request new rules. Why? Because Facebook's reach and influence are so widespread that cryptocurrency plans could upend and radically restructure financial markets.

• Student debt remains a political hot potato

  Monday, July 01, 2019

  Student debt is a complex problem, to be sure. There have been many debt relief proposals in recent years, and now the issue is playing out on the presidential campaign trail. The biggest issues here are deciding how much to pay off, finding debt relief funding mechanisms, and implementing an existing federal relief rule. Free or reduced college and the opportunity to have faulty debt expunged are no small potatoes. These reforms would radically alter U.S. education culture and open opportunities up at a time when they are closing for many.

• Manufacturing slowdown sparks new political strategies

  Tuesday, June 25, 2019

  The White House's official optimistic manufacturing narrative has been seriously disjointed from real-world production and employment issues in the very important and inherently political manufacturing sector. President Trump hung his hat on increased manufacturing jobs to get elected, but a persistent trade deficit haunts his administration — increasing by $100 billion under his watch. Now that this harsh reality can’t be ignored, we see some politicians initiating new strategies to address the slowdown.

• As Arctic permafrost deteriorates, EPA elects to lift coal emission rules

  Thursday, June 20, 2019

  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is lifting coal emissions limits in the U.S.' latest environmental deregulation move. This comes at a time when scientists from northerly latitudes have released sensitive data regarding the planet's warming. You've heard the word "permafrost" but aren't sure why it’s important, right? Arctic permafrost is the frozen layer beneath the ground surface that remains frozen for two years or longer. Described as "the glue that holds the northern landscape together," scientists and climate change activists have been sounding the alarm. The glue is disappearing before our eyes: some even suggest up to 70 years earlier than expected.

• Labor, environment shape USMCA debate

  Thursday, June 13, 2019

  U.S.-Mexico relations currently revolve around two distinct discourses. One discourse emphasizes separation and punishment, as President Trump seeks support for his border wall while Mexico strengthens border control. The other discourse emphasizes economic cooperation and trade relations, which we witness as tariff threats fade and renewed talk of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) passing in Congress heats up.

• Youth climate change lawsuit controversy continues

  Monday, June 10, 2019

  Seven-generation sustainability is the idea that we should only impact the earth in a manner that can sustain itself seven generations into the future. We may be far from that sensibility today, and time is running out, but young people are making a notable contribution to nothing short of planetary survival. From jobs to health to education, many issues connect to the planet’s future, and the young will bear the greatest brunt of any negative ecological developments.

• FAA confirms more Boeing 737 Max problems

  Tuesday, June 04, 2019

  It has been almost three months since a Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed in Ethiopia in March. Subsequent months have produced an especially tense safety review process since the 737 Max 8 plane model is the most common in the world. After three high-profile incidents within the past nine months, Boeing is in the midst of a greater discussion on airline regulations and safety standards. Now, it looks like the 737 Max will be grounded until at least August. What went wrong?

• Climate science’s growing bipartisan appeal

  Friday, May 31, 2019

  Florida became embroiled in an interesting controversy a few years back. It was widely reported that then-Gov. Rick Scott placed a cabinetwide moratorium on using climate change terminology. Now, in an informative about-face, the Sunshine State’s current governor, Ron DeSantis, has instituted a new climate science position held by Florida Chief Science Officer Dr. Tom Frazer. This position is just one example of the growing appeal of climate science across party lines.

• Ford adds to auto layoffs, manufacturing turmoil

  Thursday, May 23, 2019

  Auto manufacturing layoffs are not a new development. The last round of General Motors layoffs, announced in November, triggered a domino effect of panic and speculation that continues amidst Brexit negotiations, Green New Deal debates, and ongoing presidential campaigning. As American as apple pie, the auto manufacturing sector is a good litmus test for what ails the U.S. economy. By this logic, as goes Detroit so goes the nation. One problem is that no one can decide if we must throw the baby of cleaner energy out with the bathwater of old manufacturing chains.

• New York-area pipeline halted, Keystone XL persists

  Monday, May 20, 2019

  Pipelines have become one of the biggest issues in U.S. environmental politics since the 2016 Standing Rock protests against Energy Transfer's Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The main issues opponents raise are groundwater contamination and spills. These concerns can be found across the country, as pipeline opponents in the Northeast recently defeated a 37-mile, $1 billion natural gas project, the Williams Companies’ proposed Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) Pipeline. Intended to connect natural gas fields from Pennsylvania through New Jersey to New York, the pipeline application has been rejected on a technicality, citing potential copper and mercury contamination in water.

• How will US manufacturing be affected by the trade war with China?

  Wednesday, May 15, 2019

  The U.S. trade war with China has heated up, and now there is much speculation about daily life for American manufacturers and their employees. The logic is that higher tariffs on Chinese goods will increase trading with non-tariffed countries, and even better is Trump’s "best idea" of higher tariffs resulting in a logical move to buy American. We are quickly reminded that it’s not so simple to do that. Why not? For one, it’s difficult to find products made with solely U.S. parts.

• Voting rights for formerly jailed felons in Florida limited by new restitution law

  Friday, May 10, 2019

  Voting rights activism is a great idea in principle for those seeking to call attention to the extra-punitive measures that haunt formerly incarcerated people. In practice, allowing new voters to register can tilt the national political scene and threaten the balance of partisan power in stronghold states. Such is the case in Florida. Last November, Florida passed Amendment 4, which reinstates voting rights to 1.4 million residents. Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong.

• Boeing confirms alert system malfunction in 737 Max 8

  Tuesday, May 07, 2019

  In the grand scheme of deadly airline problems, Boeing’s latest crash debacles rate high on the list. Whenever an airplane crash occurs, there’s wild speculation concerning who and what to blame, and such is the case in the instances of downed Boeing 737 Max 8s. The company has now come forward admitting to a safety feature malfunction that could have caused the high-profile, high-fatality crashes. 737 Max 8 software includes an alert system that informs pilots about problems and malfunctions in-flight. The problem is that an important alert light feature was sold to Boeing customers as "optional."

• Climate change creates clashes in courts, streets

  Friday, May 03, 2019

  There are many ways people are remonstrating against climate change currently — from packing the streets to bringing action forward in less-populated courts. While putting on festive clothing and donning your favorite environmental slogan with large numbers of people is surely the more exciting option, key elements of the climate battle persist in the more understated world of the U.S. court system as well. More and more, the courts have become a refuge for frustrated organizations and individuals who want companies held accountable, and the legal strategy has been somewhat effective in educating the public about relations between different branches of government.

• As citizenship question reaches high court, a look at how census data is used

  Monday, April 29, 2019

  You may have heard about the Supreme Court’s census case, expected to be ruled on this summer. The case has broad-reaching implications. Additionally, census forms are scheduled to be printed in June, so it’s best for the court to make a hasty decision on the matter. United States Department of Commerce v. New York, No. 18-966, is focused on whether it’s constitutional to ask about a respondent’s U.S. citizenship status when collecting other data. On that note, how is census data actually used?

• March numbers signal manufacturing slump

  Tuesday, April 23, 2019

  Ever since President Donald Trump made an increase in manufacturing jobs one of his key campaign promises, many Americans waited to see if this promise would come to fruition or if it was just another empty political slogan to be dusted off and then returned to the post-industrial, outsourced, and downsized U.S. production heap. New numbers from February and March 2019 report manufacturing declines, reflecting the first quarterly drop in production since 2016. A quarterly drop is no small potatoes, and hard manufacturing data continues to challenge rhetoric from the White House and Capitol Hill about a robust manufacturing economy.

• Congress considers net neutrality, digital divide laws

  Wednesday, April 17, 2019

  Your first time logging on to the internet may have been decades ago, but battles over its regulations rage on as the U.S. House just passed a huge hurdle by embracing net neutrality. The Senate is now considering the Save the Internet Act, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has declared it "dead on arrival," signaling that the battle for net neutrality is ongoing. In 2017, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) repealed net neutrality rules established by the Open Internet Order of 2015. The main issue here is equal treatment for all internet data.

• National bail reform includes controversial measures of judicial discretion

  Friday, April 12, 2019

  In late December, President Trump signed the First Step Act, which reforms aspects of the federal prison system and U.S. corrections culture. The legislation came after a prisoner’s strike earlier in 2018 urgently echoed ongoing reform efforts, including felony voting and measures to prevent harmful overcrowding. One way to avoid overcrowded facilities is cash bail reform. New York City and other large and racially diverse urban centers, like Houston, Atlanta, and Chicago, are involved in experimental bail reform efforts that ameliorate some of the worst aspects of the system, while retaining powerful, and potentially subjective, judicial influence.

• What’s next for plane manufacturing after Boeing 737 Max 8 fallout?

  Tuesday, April 09, 2019

  On March 10, a Boeing 737 Max 8 plane crashed in Ethiopia, killing 157 people. This happened only months after the same type of plane went down in Indonesia, killing 189 people. This leaves much cause for discussion regarding Boeing and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) complicity in the accidents. Was the 737 Max 8 rushed to market, resulting in hundreds of deaths? Crash victims’ families are filing lawsuits while the Justice Department probes the 737’s FAA certification, given the model’s deadly faults.

• Green-collar jobs in the spotlight

  Friday, April 05, 2019

  When referring to occupations, the word "collar" usually refers to class/income or gender designations. "White collar" is used for professional jobs, "blue collar" for manual labor/working-class jobs, and the phrase "pink collar" is used for fields predominantly occupied by women, such as teaching and nursing. But there’s a new collar color on the horizon that cuts across these class and gender distinctions. "Green collar" jobs include any occupation related to environmental issues: the category encompasses lower-wage solar panel installation positions all the way up to high-paying research and executive positions.

• Tax credits, jobs slashed as GM adds new electric SUV plant

  Monday, April 01, 2019

  Auto giant General Motors has announced it will begin manufacturing a new electric vehicle (EV), with the news coming shortly after ​previously reported plant closures took effect. Meanwhile, the IRS has confirmed that an electric car subsidy is now being phased out. Layoffs from the plant closures have been a thorn in the side of the Trump administration's spotlight on Rust Belt manufacturing jobs. Despite monthly reports, the U.S. manufacturing sector faces attrition that can't be obscured by political machinations, and the GM controversy proves this.

• Supreme Court rules on controversial Alaska waters case

  Thursday, March 28, 2019

  After 12 years of legal battling, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled in a controversial Alaska public lands case. Sturgeon v. Frost is resolved for now, but this does not mean that the issues of federal vs. state regulations concerning Alaska's public lands, including navigable waterways, are settled. In 2007, the National Park Service confronted moose hunter John Sturgeon for hover-crafting on Alaska’s Nation River. This activity is not allowed by the NPS because of its impact on waterways, and Sturgeon reacted that he had the right to hovercraft there since the waterway is regulated by the state, not the NPS.

• Top US manufacturing cities in surprising locales but still vulnerable

  Thursday, March 21, 2019

  What do Wichita, Kansas; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Battle Creek, Michigan; Toledo, Ohio; and even Portland, Oregon, all have in common? A new report on U.S. manufacturing jobs by Chicago's Digital Third Coast can answer that. They are all part of a manufacturing shift towards smaller U.S. cities. The report, culled from Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau, analyzes 236 cities in four general categories: total manufacturing jobs per 100,000 people; year-over-year growth; median income for the manufacturing industry; and median housing cost. Wichita, Kansas, tops this list.

• Most school safety solutions, including arming teachers, remain highly controversial

  Monday, March 18, 2019

  Everyone seems to have a solution for safer public schools, but whose vision will guide the sweeping changes required for real school security? The National Rifle Association (NRA) or the National Education Association (NEA)? Last fall, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who also chairs the Federal Commission on School Safety, claimed she does not automatically favor federally mandated teacher weapons training. Instead, she describes the arming of classroom teachers as a "personal choice" for individual schools districts. Let's be clear here: armed teachers are not exactly new. But the national climate requires more school districts to tackle the issue of safety head-on.

• Largest US bank divests from private prisons

  Monday, March 11, 2019

  JPMorgan Chase, the U.S.' largest bank with assets close to $3 trillion and a 2018 income of $41 billion, is no longer funding private prison companies. Last week, the financial heavyweight announced it will stop bankrolling GEO Group and CoreCivic, the largest builders of private prisons. This is a direct result of an activist campaign involving a coalition of organizations, all opposing immigrant detention in private facilities. It is estimated that up to 70 percent of all immigrant detention facilities are private. These facilities have long been criticized for being largely unregulated — unlike state-run facilities.

• Diminishing Arctic ice opens trade routes, commercial possibilities

  Thursday, March 07, 2019

  When it comes to predicting the Arctic’s future, we are all "skating on thin ice." Recent data taken from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's annual Arctic Report Card shows that, by 2018, the Arctic Ocean lost 95 percent of its "oldest ice." This melting produces warmer temperatures because thick ice coverage keeps ocean water from absorbing the sun’s heat. While ice melts, dollar (and ruble) signs accrue, and new ice-free navigable waters open up trade routes, extend commercial fishing possibilities, and make global energy markets more competitive — to the dismay of clean energy advocates everywhere.

• Brexit’s unclear impact on US manufacturing

  Monday, March 04, 2019

  As politicians fight over how and when the U.K. will leave the EU, Brexit's impact is felt around the world. A no-deal Brexit, which has the U.K. exiting the EU on March 29 without a clear trade agreement, is said to have potentially catastrophic consequences for U.K. manufacturing. How does all this impact U.S. manufacturing? First, we need to understand Brexit's impact on U.K. manufacturing — especially automobiles. The automobile sector provides an excellent example of increased challenges under the prospects of a new U.K. economy free of EU guidelines and infrastructure.

• Oakland, California, teachers’ strike helps define new era for education justice

  Monday, February 25, 2019

  2018 was a year of unprecedented labor actions that rocked the education world. Now, one year after the West Virginia teachers' strike, we see Oakland, California’s teachers’ union, the Oakland Education Association (OEA), on the picket line with very serious and locale-specific demands. Bay Area housing costs are too high to retain quality educators in local public schools.

• Amazon scraps plans for HQ2 in New York City

  Wednesday, February 20, 2019

  Amazon, which reported $11.2 billion in profits last year while paying no federal taxes, pretty much does what it wants, doesn't it? Well, not quite. In November, when the company announced its expansion plans, known as HQ2, to include Long Island City in Queens, residents, community activists, and those taking on Amazon immediately mobilized opposition. In the end, local character and vehement opposition to corporate welfare won. Amazon announced last week that it was no longer considering New York City as the location for its grand headquarters expansion.

• U.S. Senate passes sweeping public lands act

  Friday, February 15, 2019

  Despite the historic levels of partisanship we've seen out of Washington, D.C., recently, there's been some surprising bipartisan activity in the Senate regarding public lands expansion: the National Resources Management Act (NRMA). Now the Act heads to the House, which is expected to pass it next month with an endorsement from a supportive President Trump to codify it into law. Like anything optimistically sold as a bipartisan green initiative, this package (NRMA) is a mixed bag of tricks to be sure. But that gives us something to work with, right? For starters, nothing short of 1 million acres of newly protected land in the West is included in the package.

• Controversial seismic survey in Alaska’s ANWR halted

  Tuesday, February 12, 2019

  1002 Area, located in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), is 1.5 million acres of land rumored to contain anywhere between 4 and 11 billion barrels of oil. In 2017, the Trump administration opened the area up to oil and gas exploration when it passed a tax bill requiring the federal government to hold at least two oil and gas lease sales in the next decade. This move caused quite a controversy, and now it appears SAExploration, Kaktovit Inupiat Corp., and Arctic Slope Regional Corp. will not be moving forward on their planned ANWR seismic survey this winter. Cancellation of the seismic project bodes well for drilling opponents, but this is a battle far from over.

• Deforestation in Brazil comes with health consequences

  Friday, February 08, 2019

  Since the election of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro last October, much has been made about the globally relevant deforestation of the Amazon. Newly initiated climate change students are likely to be introduced to the Amazon rainforest because it sequesters carbon dioxide, produces oxygen, and is home to some of the richest biodiversity in the world. For many environmentalists following the catastrophic effects of global deforestation, battles over Amazonian land-use have never been more prominent. You can also add a public health crisis to the list of problems caused by Brazil’s environmental deregulation.

• US additive manufacturing reaches a slowdown era

  Wednesday, January 30, 2019

  For those utopians starry-eyed about emerging 3-D printing/additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, former President Barack Obama’s enthusiasm was rather encouraging. As a new era has dawned in the White House, what is helping and hindering the growth of 3-D printing today? President Trump’s official position on AM is erratic. One minute he excitedly relates its capabilities for U.S. military might, and the next minute he says it aids illegal gun manufacturing. The White House released an updated Strategy for American Leadership in Advanced Manufacturing report in October 2018. This report does not indicate that there’s any official policy change on additive manufacturing. But this is not the same as funding.

• Backlash begins after union victories for teachers

  Tuesday, January 29, 2019

  Recently, Los Angeles teachers went on strike for smaller class sizes, higher salaries, and more nurses, librarians, counselors, and community schools. And guess what? It worked. For now. On Jan. 22, the six-day strike that closed schools for 34,000 Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) students ended. This was a victory for the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), which ratified the new contract with 81 percent of the vote. But after a solid year of effective actions by teachers' unions across the country, a backlash is brewing.

• World Economic Forum recognizes green manufacturing solutions

  Thursday, January 24, 2019

  This week, President Trump boasted that 2018’s 284,000 new manufacturing jobs indicate he has a "magic wand" for job growth. This number, which reflects the greatest annual manufacturing growth since 1997, sounds good. But are they sustainable jobs in line with global emissions reduction goals? Not necessarily. When GM announced plant closure plans, it stated that it is preparing to manufacture greener electric vehicles, pitting jobs against the environment. But, according to many attending this week’s World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, jobs and the environment do not have to be at odds. Or do they?

• Government shutdown could exacerbate a dangerous winter for those in need

  Tuesday, January 22, 2019

  ​The need to remain warm in winter is so patently obvious that we almost forget about it as we put on extra layers, go outside early to prepare the car, and center plans around the warmest times of day. Survival for many in winter is already hampered by freezing temperatures, snow, and ice. A number of additional obstacles, ranging from homelessness, poverty, and the government shutdown, undermine people’s basic efforts to stay warm and alive in a season not even halfway over yet.

• New spotlight cast on Florida’s felon voting rights amendment

  Thursday, January 17, 2019

  In last year's elections, the Florida GOP's choice for governor, Ron DeSantis, narrowly defeated Democratic contender Andrew Gillum, disappointing those seeking widespread progressive change in a state with notorious effects from climate change, police brutality, and election fraud politics. Despite the triumph in the governor’s race for conservatives, Amendment 4, a felon voting rights law, was passed by two-thirds of voters. Its passage means over 1.4 million people can now register to vote in a move that substantially delinks citizenship from criminal records. This is part of the larger national prison reform effort to correct mass incarceration’s multigenerational damages.

• Manufacturing growth slows to end 2018. What’s next?

  Friday, January 11, 2019

  While President Trump and others extol manufacturing sector growth, the year ended with the standard manufacturing production number dropping from 59.3 percent in November to 54.1 percent in December. Some say the decline is caused by the ongoing trade war with China, and others suggest that the new NAFTA — the United States-Canada-Mexico Agreement (USMCA) — is challenging private-sector organizations. So is Brexit. But policy developments that challenge traditional manufacturing culture are not enough to explain this rapid month-to-month change.

• Different visions dominate school safety debate

  Wednesday, January 09, 2019

  The school safety debate picked up steam almost one year ago on Valentine’s Day 2018. That day, a former student walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, school and fired on students and staff, killing 17 and injuring 17 more. This debate is ongoing and presents many possible solutions from diverse sectors. A recently released 400-page report details that many factors blended together to result in such a tragic outcome. Controversially, this report recommends that teachers and staff use Florida’s Guardian Program, allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons to protect students in the event of a mass shooting or similar threat.

• Labor unions ring in new year with lawsuits, strikes, and more

  Monday, January 07, 2019

  It’s 2019 and the year is so new that everyone wonders what it has in store. One thing is for certain. U.S. labor unions are starting off the new year swinging. Whether they are opposing GM plant closures, contesting the no pay provision of the current government shutdown, or planning a large urban teachers strike, 2019 has already started off as a year filled with strong labor voices amidst record-setting partisan rancor.

• Seasonal traditions maintained in disaster-affected communities

  Thursday, December 20, 2018

  This past year we have witnessed many U.S. communities get turned upside down, even destroyed, by significant weather events. We have also witnessed significant developments on the climate change front, as the Paris Agreement lives on despite the deregulation of U.S. environmental protections that is underway, including clean water protections.

• How is the ‘new NAFTA’ different?

  Monday, December 17, 2018

  The idea of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was very controversial when first proposed during the Clinton administration and signed in 1994. It was the first North American trilateral trade bloc representing Mexico, Canada and the United States. NAFTA’s successor, called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), was signed by all three participating countries’ leaders at the G20 Summit on Nov. 30. The legislatures of all three countries must ratify the agreement before it goes into effect. We know USMCA is intended to make up for NAFTA’s shortcomings. But will it?

• UN climate talks polarized by protest, coal politics

  Wednesday, December 12, 2018

  Another round of climate talks have begun in Katowice, Poland, at an event known as COP24. Thus far, the event has featured heated clashes with police and heated debates about the Paris Agreement, both regarding a heating planet Earth. There have been serious protests against dirty energy while more protests and behind-the-scenes controversies are brewing. Let’s begin with the protests, and then consider what’s happening behind the scenes at this historic gathering of world leaders, industry spokespeople, nonprofits, nongovernmental organizations, citizen activist groups, and direct action insurrectionaries.

• Is last month’s manufacturing job increase a trend or a blip?

  Monday, December 10, 2018

  While the glory days of manufacturing jobs are gone, and globalization has fundamentally shifted the production terrain abroad, November’s job numbers show U.S. manufacturing jobs are on the rise. Is this a trend? Since November 2016, manufacturing jobs have increased by 189,000. Generally, 228,000 new jobs appeared in November 2018, with 27,000 in manufacturing. These productive statistics conflict with the tone set two weeks ago when 14,700 GM employees heard they might be relocated or laid off from GM facilities in the U.S. and Canada.

• In a US first, Chicago charter school workers strike

  Wednesday, December 05, 2018

  Public education reform in the past few decades has included a massive shift of funding and resources toward the charter school model. This model allows publicly funded schools to be managed by nonprofits or for-profit companies. Charter schools do not have to honor employee collective bargaining rights, making it difficult to organize charter teachers’ unions. However, Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), merged with the city’s charter educators’ union, United Educators for Justice (UEJ), is conducting the first U.S. charter teachers’ strike against the Acero charter network, which began Dec. 4.

• Federal fracking push has state, local resistance

  Monday, December 03, 2018

  The controversial oil and gas extraction method known as hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," was once regulated under an Obama-era rule addressing chemical disclosure when fracking public land. Since then, this rule has been overturned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), as the federal government opens the field of oil and gas extraction to much opposition. Given the Trump administration’s anti-regulatory zeal, what is the current status of fracking in the U.S.?

• GM announces plant closures, Trump threatens to cancel subsidies

  Wednesday, November 28, 2018

  If we need any more proof of the disparities between campaign promises and economic realities, consider that automotive giant General Motors has announced a restructuring that includes laying off 15 percent of its salaried employees and 25 percent of its executive employees. That’s 14,700 more North American workers without jobs by 2019. GM plans to "focus on electric and self-driving vehicles and prepares for a downturn in the auto market or a weakening on the U.S. economy." The company’s new motto? "Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions, Zero Congestion." But, for some, Zero Jobs is all they see.

• New science, government studies highlight climate change’s urgency

  Tuesday, November 27, 2018

  For over a year, we have witnessed one weather disaster after another besiege the United States mainland and beyond. This hurricane season, we saw Florence and Michael take Southern states hostage with a fury of wind and floodwaters, only to be paralleled with more California fires. "What next?" we ask. According to two new science and government studies, we can look forward to more compounded ecological catastrophes producing dramatic social changes.

• Federal prison reform bill endorsed by President Trump

  Tuesday, November 20, 2018

  Inside and outside criminal justice circles it’s understood that the U.S. prison system, including state-run, private, and immigration detention facilities, needs restructuring. The overcrowding of jail and prison facilities alone has led to massive health problems and social conflicts, which can lead to increased inmate deaths. In its effort to exploit fears of crime, the prison boom cast a net too wide and caught too many people in it. Now we are seeing the reaction, as the bipartisan First Step Act was passed by the House, recently publicly endorsed by President Trump, and is now in the Senate.

• Amazon announces controversial HQ2 locations

  Wednesday, November 14, 2018

  When Amazon announced that it was searching for a new second headquarters location, speculation began to swirl as hundreds of cities competed. Finally, on Nov. 13, the company announced it will be splitting HQ2 between two locations: Arlington, Virginia; and Long Island City in Queens, New York. It will also build an "Operations Center of Excellence" in Nashville that will provide 5,000 jobs. Immediately after the announcement, debates kicked into motion about the tax breaks given to Amazon and how HQ2 will affect the communities chosen.

• Environmental issues heat up as court ruling halts Keystone XL pipeline

  Tuesday, November 13, 2018

  Evidence of environmental devastation looms in many places. However, one development that recently went the other direction regards the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. This 1,200-mile pipeline was slated to bring oil from Alberta to the Gulf Coast by TransCanada Corp. The latest development saw U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris of Montana rule against the pipeline, claiming that a full environmental impact review was not completed for the project, and that the issue of climate change was not fully considered.

• Wildfires in Northern and Southern California claim 31 lives so far

  Monday, November 12, 2018

  Paradise, California, north of Sacramento, is a town of 27,000 people that has been all but wiped out as both Northern and Southern California burn up in another round of deadly fires. So far, 29 lives have been lost in the northern part of the state, where the Camp fire has burned up 6,700 structures. In Southern California, the Woolsley and Hill fires have caused a mass evacuation of 250,000 people, leaving two dead and more missing. When residents fled their homes, they encountered serious problems as clogged roads made evacuation difficult.

• Florida restores voting rights to 1.5 million with successful ballot initiative

  Wednesday, November 07, 2018

  Over the past two decades, the phrase "prison industrial complex" has moved from an academic concept to one more likely to be heard around the kitchen table, as many criminal justice reform measures have bipartisan support. Many agree that society must act to improve prison conditions and treatment of formerly incarcerated individuals as they struggle to find work and housing in states that continue to punish them long after they’ve served their time. Perhaps most symbolic in the effort to end overly punitive corrections culture is the restoration of voting rights.

• Utah public employees cross Mexican border for cheaper drugs

  Friday, November 02, 2018

  Two decades ago, Sen. Bernie Sanders crossed the Mexican border to call attention to the plight of American citizens who cannot afford expensive, potentially lifesaving drugs. Since that time, we have seen some progress on the issue — including recent federal Medicare drug legislation and new state laws as well. It’s not unusual to hear about someone having to cross the Canadian or Mexican border to purchase cheaper pharmaceutical drugs. After all, the average prescription drug for a chronic condition costs $13,000 a year, and since 2009, Medicare drug spending has grown by roughly 9.5 percent yearly.

• Hurricanes Michael, Florence leave serious recovery challenges

  Monday, October 29, 2018

  In the weeks since Hurricanes Florence and Michael swept through the Florida Panhandle, Georgia, the Carolinas, and elsewhere, communities have started to assess damages and plan large-scale recovery efforts. This is difficult since both hurricanes have caused record levels of damage. The most recent Hurricane Michael death toll is at 45 people, while Florence caused 53 deaths. Overall damage reports are now available. Hurricane Michael caused $158 million in damaged crops, and the timber industry has endured $1.3 billion in damages.

• Thousands of nonviolent California inmates face earlier release

  Thursday, October 25, 2018

  ​In 1993, 12-year-old Polly Klaas was kidnapped from a Petaluma, California, slumber party and murdered by a man who had a criminal record; he eventually received a death sentence for the crime in 1996 and is still alive on death row. This case coincided with the crime and punishment fervor of the 1990s, and Klaas’ death was used as ideological backing for the controversial three strikes law passed in 1994. California’s three strikes law became the harshest of its kind in the U.S. The state included many nonviolent crimes in its application, and these convictions are now the subject of immense debate and revision.

• US Supreme Court will hear important public land regulation case in November

  Tuesday, October 23, 2018

  In a case that has been going strong for 11 years, on Nov. 5, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear another round in an important case about state vs. federal land regulations: Sturgeon v. Frost. This case has particular significance for Alaska Native subsistence fishing, which is one reason many Alaskan Natives opposed Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the high court. This is not the first time the Court has heard this case. It dates back to 2007, when non-Native Alaskan John Sturgeon, got into an entanglement with the National Parks Service when he was hunting moose using a hovercraft on Nations River in the Yukon-Charley National Preserve.

• Can controversial coal be shipped from old military bases?

  Thursday, October 18, 2018

  ​It’s no secret that the current presidential administration favors dirtier forms of energy, like coal production. About one year ago, at the U.N. Global Climate Summit in Bonn, Germany, many countries expressed a commitment to end coal-generated carbon emissions by 2030. This did not include the U.S., whose top leaders remain committed to the coal industry. Now, President Trump has announced a new plan to use decommissioned U.S. military facilities for controversial coal shipments. Is this even possible?

• Trump to visit Hurricane Michael’s war zone aftermath

  Monday, October 15, 2018

  Last Wednesday is a day that will be marked in history books. Like Hurricanes Katrina, Harvey, Maria and Florence before it, another historic social and environmental disaster is upon us: Hurricane Michael. It’s the largest U.S. hurricane since 1969, touching down on the Florida panhandle and the southeastern U.S. on Oct. 10. Florida’s panhandle, including Mexico Beach and Panama City, was hit so hard by Hurricane Michael’s almost category 5 winds, with storm surges reaching 14 feet, that the media routinely compares the region to a “war zone.”

• UN climate report warns of catastrophe by 2040

  Wednesday, October 10, 2018

  As climate change goes, we have heard it all. Tales of rapidly melting sea ice form the backdrop of a world spinning out of control towards more catastrophes: water and food shortages, massive wildfires, flooding, and skyrocketing temperatures. All of this will affect poor and frontline communities more, of course. The plot of a new science fiction film? No. Just the latest from the freshly convened U.N. Intergovernment Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) last week in Incheon, South Korea.

• After Vegas shooting anniversary, we are closer to a federal bump stock ban

  Monday, October 08, 2018

  Just over one year ago on Oct. 1, 2017, people watched in horror as a Las Vegas gunman open fire on a large crowd gathered for a country music concert. This incident is now known as the United States' deadliest mass shooting committed by an individual. Of course, it didn’t take long for gun control reformers to seize on the moment and call for stricter gun safety laws, such as stronger background checks. Another agenda item is the banning of firearms enhancements, like bump stocks. The Vegas shooter used 12 bump stocks to enhance his weapons, and the devices are now under greater public scrutiny.

• As Amazon raises minimum wage, not everything is good news for its workers

  Thursday, October 04, 2018

  As more pressure mounts to raise the federal minimum wage to a $15 living wage, Amazon announced on Oct. 2 that its lowest paid workers will make $15 per hour. However, Amazon’s much-scrutinized workplace practices leave people scratching their heads about its influence and long-term goals. On one hand, the embrace of the Fight for $15 goal is lauded. But the company remains embroiled in controversies like high-pressure work cultures for its white-collar employees and surveillance-style tracking of its warehouse workers.

• Justice Department sues California over brand-new net neutrality law

  Wednesday, October 03, 2018

  "Net neutrality" is more than just a catchy phrase referencing internet accessibility; it is the principle of equal treatment of all internet data. As it stands now, companies can favor certain data, content, and websites over others, which is a violation of First Amendment free speech protections, according to net neutrality advocates. In order to avoid these data and content manipulations, states have passed laws, as California did Sept. 30. The California law, which would go into effect Jan. 1, 2019, is one of the strictest in the country. This is why it didn’t take long for the federal government to announce a lawsuit against the Golden State.

• Violent crime down in US amidst criminal justice budget debates

  Friday, September 28, 2018

  The official U.S. crime rates released annually by the FBI are highly politicized numbers that various stakeholders cite for many reasons. According to Ames Grawert, senior counsel at the Brennan Center, the newly reported 2017 statistics lead to a conclusion that, "Concerns about a widespread crime wave appear overblown." The 1990s involved a notable violent crime wave that reinforced the Clinton-era drug war and mass incarceration policies. Today’s decline in violent and property crimes clash with the Trump administration’s criminal justice goals, which are mirroring the mass incarceration fervor of the ‘90s.

• Carolinas’ historic flooding from Florence makes strong case for alternative energy

  Wednesday, September 26, 2018

  Less than two weeks ago, Hurricane Florence came ashore, impacting the Carolinas and Virginia. Just when you thought the rain had ceased, the region is expecting more. This amount of rainfall is historic, coming in second among storms, with 17.5 inches of rainfall compared to Hurricane Harvey’s 25.6 inches in a 14,000-square-mile area. That’s 8 trillion gallons of rain for the Carolinas — with more on the way. Georgetown, South Carolina, for example, has been evacuated as the area is expected to flood due to multiple rivers converging.

• HIV/AIDS program cuts to pay for immigrant child detentions

  Monday, September 24, 2018

  Amidst the news about the controversial practice of locking up immigrant children whose parents are not U.S. citizens is the looming question of who will pay for these detentions. Corrections facilities already face overcrowding and harsh conditions, and now we are seeing how the Trump administration plans to pay for all this: shifting funds from programs essential to some Americans’ lives, including HIV/AIDS programs. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) provides myriad social service programs and also pays for the more than 13,000 children held in U.S. immigration detention facilities.

• McDonald’s workers strike against sexual harassment in several major cities

  Thursday, September 20, 2018

  A lot has changed in labor organizing as the Fight for $15 campaign, which seeks to raise the minimum wage, and the #MeToo movement addressing workplace sexual harassment recently merged to target workplace sexual harassment against McDonald’s workers. On Sept. 19, McDonald’s workers in 10 cities — including Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Miami, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Orlando, Durham, and Kansas City — hit the streets demanding better sexual harassment training programs, a better employee complaint process, and a sexual harassment complaint committee.

• Florence lands in Carolinas, killing 23 people

  Monday, September 17, 2018

  Hurricane Florence, which has since been downgraded to a tropical depression, landed in the Carolinas over the weekend, delivering predicted damage. So far, the storm has killed 23 people as North and South Carolina brace for more rain in the coming days. There are close to a half-million people without power as of the morning of Sept. 17. Rain is still falling across the two states, and flooding is so severe that towns, like Wilmington, are cut off, requiring emergency services to airlift food and water into the city.

• Dutch nonprofit installs potential solution to Great Pacific Garbage Patch

  Friday, September 14, 2018

  ​Are you growing tired from all the debates going on about increased air pollution due to relaxed environmental regulations? If so, you can always turn your attention to ocean pollution for a change of pace. One notorious accumulation of floating trash can be found in the Pacific Ocean; The Great Pacific Patch is twice the size of the entire state of Texas, and it remains a great concern for many searching for solutions to the ocean plastics problem. Plenty of people have proposed solutions, and now a Dutch nonprofit has stepped forward to offer the most comprehensive cleanup yet.

• Department of Education considers armed teachers, Title IX reforms

  Thursday, September 13, 2018

  Schools are back in session, and we all know what this means. Time to sharpen those pencils, set that alarm clock, and pack your bulletproof backpack up with everything you’ll need, right? Wait! Did you say bulletproof backpack? Earlier this year, after the tragic Parkland, Florida, mass shooting, there was widespread debate immediately on the almost desperate school security situation. Schools perform under mounting pressure to both protect students and staff while also building learning climates that are not ruled by fear. This is not an easy task.

• California signs new clean energy law while fires still burn

  Tuesday, September 11, 2018

  Autumn weather has arrived in many places, bringing with it all of the usual changes, but you may not know this from the ongoing wildfire saga that continues summer burning conditions into fall. All eyes are now on the Delta fire, which started burning on Sept. 5. The fire exploded onto Interstate 5, a major highway that runs from Canada to Mexico, causing the interstate’s closure over the weekend. As of the afternoon of Sept. 10, that highway has been reopened. Cal Fire reports already spending $432 million through August, leaving only $11 million in the current budget. Legislators have been asked to approve an additional $234 million for ongoing expenses.

• Puerto Rico’s rising Hurricane Maria death toll a political matter

  Wednesday, September 05, 2018

  Why do death tolls matter? Puerto Rico’s experience after Hurricane Maria reveals that deaths are deeply political — and financial. Just as we approach the one-year anniversary of Maria hitting the island, officials added 2,911 names to the list of the dead — from 64 to 2,975. What changed? More growing public frustration on an island already vulnerable to exploitation from its arguably antiquated status as a U.S. colony.

• The environmental rule changes that will impact us the most

  Tuesday, September 04, 2018

  Even the most diligent climate change policy trackers are having a hard time keeping abreast of recent changes at the federal level. Apparently, the replacement of Scott Pruitt with former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not yielded new results when it comes to the big environmental picture. So far, 46 environmental rules have been overturned by the Trump administration, with another 30 proposed rollbacks waiting in the wings. The EPA itself is responsible for one-third of these changes.

• California fires still burning, new report anticipates more

  Tuesday, August 28, 2018

  ​As California fires still burn, the state has released its fourth Climate Change Assessment, a report that surveys the scientific data and governmental action on climate change preparedness. While today’s environmental news sounds terrible, there’s more to come. By the end of the century, we will witness a 77 percent increase in volume of burning acres. These are just wildfire predictions. There are also anticipated problems with drought, beach erosion, and rising ocean levels to contend with — according to the report.

• North American prisoner strike begins in 17 states and Canada

  Friday, August 24, 2018

  Regardless of where you stand on mass incarceration, the number of Americans locked up — 2.3 million — is large enough that divergent forces are paying attention as a National Prisoner Strike, which began Aug. 21 and will end Sept. 9, unfolds. Why now? Some inmates would answer, "Because it’s August." The phrase "Black August" may not have been included in your high school history course, but anyone following U.S. prison reform has heard of it, and more specifically of a man named George Jackson.

• Court rules against EPA’s stalling of new chemical safety regulations

  Wednesday, August 22, 2018

  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has received a lot of negative coverage lately due to the antics of the agency’s former head, Scott Pruitt, and the EPA’s historic role in reversing decades of environmental regulations, such as car emissions standards and the Endangered Species Act. While it’s not the most ecologically enlightened time period, there’s good news out there for people who fight for cleaner environmental standards. For example, last week the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the EPA’s efforts to block implementation of new chemical plant safety rules by 20 months.

• Nebraska conducts first execution in the US to use fentanyl

  Tuesday, August 21, 2018

  The death penalty is a very divisive political issue. Recently, even Pope Francis condemned the practice as "inadmissable." Acquiring the drugs used for lethal injection is a huge problem, and some suggest this is leading to some very problematic developments — like the use of the popular opioid fentanyl in executions. Nebraska recently used fentanyl to execute Carey Dean Moore. This is the first time ever in the U.S. that fentanyl has been used in an inmate’s execution, and the move has caused much controversy.

• Dying man awarded $289 million as Monsanto faces more lawsuits

  Friday, August 17, 2018

  Over the years, more and more people have come to know the name "Monsanto" as synonymous with new industrial agriculture and genetically modified food. As a company, it is responsible for many products perceived as dangerous, including Roundup, the notorious weedkiller. Lawsuits have always grown around Monsanto like untreated weeds, but the courtroom tide is turning in favor of the public. Recently, a 46-year-old California school pest control manager with non-Hodgkin lymphoma won a $289 million settlement against the company.

• Puerto Rico’s recovery faces ongoing privatization challenges

  Wednesday, August 15, 2018

  On July 9, Puerto Rican officials submitted a 411-page draft recovery plan to the U.S. Congress that outlines Gov. Ricardo Rosselló’s vision for the island’s future as it acknowledges that the death toll from Hurricane Maria may be much larger than originally admitted. This plan states that prior to September’s storm, the island already struggled "with an economic crisis spanning more than a decade." That crisis led a federal oversight board to take over Puerto Rico’s finances in 2016.

• 3-D-printed gun controversy continues

  Tuesday, August 14, 2018

  3-D printing is an advanced technology that uses machines, sometimes desktop-sized, to make objects from computer-aided design (CAD) files. Simple as that. What’s not so simple is that the machines can be used to make almost anything. As more people have access to the hardware to make things, 3-D printing technology has been embraced as a transformative technology in manufacturing. But with that access comes accountability.

• ANWR drilling threatens Porcupine caribou — and vice-versa?

  Thursday, August 09, 2018

  If you follow the U.S. debate about oil drilling, then you have no doubt heard of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). This is because it is probably some of the most hotly contested oil-rich land in the United States, and it now looks as if oil development is inevitable there after a decades-long battle over the Refuge’s oil reserves. Unless the fate of the beloved Porcupine caribou halts the oil development.

• Historic California wildfires ignite blame game

  Wednesday, August 08, 2018

  You already know there are some serious wildfires burning in California and the west. So what’s new? What’s new is that the Mendocino Complex fire is now the largest in California history. This fire is so large that one astronaut on the International Space Station — 250 miles above Earth — tweeted a photo of the infernos as seen from space. The really bad news is that fires are expected to burn the rest of August as high temperatures further fan the flames.

• Suicide rates increase with climate change-related heat

  Friday, August 03, 2018

  We all complain when it gets too hot, whether it means running extra air conditioning, working outdoors during peak sun, or only having indoor fans for cooling off. Now, a new study links climate change’s impact on temperatures to suicide rates. It appears that something much more significant than discomfort is associated with soaring heat. To summarize, "authors predict that approximately 14,000 people in the U.S. — and as many as 26,000 — could die by suicide by the year 2050 if global temperatures continue rising, even after controlling for every other major variable that could affect suicide rates."

• Adidas joins recycled plastics trend

  Tuesday, July 31, 2018

  While initiatives to eliminate single-use plastics are helpful, it will make a bigger impact if more companies begin replacing them with recycled versions. When larger companies step up to the plastic ban plate, it sends a clear message that the issue is important and more sustainable business practices are possible. Take the case of Adidas, the world’s second largest sportswear company. Currently, 50 percent of all Adidas products are made from plastic. But that’s about to change. By 2024, Adidas plans to only use recycled plastic in its products. By 2019, Adidas clothing lines will feature 41 percent recycled polyester.

• Endangered Species Act faces energy-friendly rollbacks

  Wednesday, July 25, 2018

  The late 1960s and ‘70s were times of immense change in the U.S. The catalyst was the Vietnam War draft that caused the young people of that generation to question everything about the American lifestyle. This included attention to the large-scale destruction of the natural world, which launched the modern environmental movement. The first Earth Day was in 1970, and three years later, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was born. Today, the ESA faces dramatic changes under the Trump administration, leaving animal and plant lovers everywhere concerned for our collective future.

• Western wildfires spread apace with drought, rising temperatures

  Tuesday, July 10, 2018

  The recent combination of heat, wind and low humidity has cultivated an intense, fire-prone climate in Colorado and California. From the Wyoming border to southern Colorado, there are dozens of active wildfires burning. However, the weather in Colorado lately has allowed for more success in containment efforts, meanwhile, California’s current heatwave makes it very difficult for firefighting conditions. Napa and Yolo counties are fighting the County Fire that has now grown to the size of Atlanta, and is only 48 percent contained.

• California judge rules in oil companies’ favor in climate change decision

  Thursday, July 05, 2018

  Recently, a California District Court judge threw out a lawsuit introduced by San Francisco and Oakland against the five largest oil companies: Exxon, BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell. This case was closely watched by local governments that struggle to pay for necessary infrastructure changes. For those who strategized that the judicial branch may be a successful ally in the fight against climate change, this recent ruling comes as a demoralizing blow.

• State, city efforts address US exit from Paris climate agreement

  Tuesday, June 12, 2018

  When President Trump announced the U.S.' exit from the 2015 Paris climate agreement on June 1, 2017, committed state governments, cities, businesses and organizations initiated or continued carbon-reducing projects. As it turns out, positive demand for alternative energy sources competes with federal inactivity and economic growth demands that still use readily available and traditional energy. What will steer the path of climate change initiatives in the years to come? That has yet to be decided.

• California’s new home construction law embraces solar power

  Tuesday, May 22, 2018

  The year 2020 marks a sunny turn for solar enthusiasts in California. That is the year that solar panels are required for all newly constructed single-family homes and small multifamily apartment-style buildings of three stories or less. When the California Energy Commission recently voted unanimously to make solar panels mandatory for these construction projects, the room was packed to capacity. But there was little debate that this is a good idea.

• Are the new ideas to stop climate change crazy or potential panaceas?

  Wednesday, May 09, 2018

  What do reflective sand, water pumps, tiny flying robots and space umbrellas all have in common? They are all projects intended to stop climate change and the disastrous melting of Arctic ice. Now that climate change is more widely accepted, we have just as many solutions as we do concerned people. After all, the idea that the Arctic Ocean may be ice-free by 2030 is overwhelming, unimaginable and devastating to many people. But is there one magic bullet that can make all this warming disappear?

• Can lawsuits spur climate change action?

  Wednesday, April 25, 2018

  Whether or not you believe humans are responsible for climate change, we are all inundated with information about climate change and what we can do to fight back. Recycling, driving less, buying green, opposing pipelines, stopping fracking and supporting alternative energy are all examples of common climate-conscious actions.

• New study reveals Android apps violate children’s privacy

  Wednesday, April 18, 2018

  ​If you are a parent or teacher who spends time with children, you are aware that device use and screen time are issues. Any number of problems are linked to screen time, including eye problems, bad posture, carpal tunnel syndrome, social disconnection, depression and insomnia.

• New eviction database highlights affordable housing challenges

  Monday, April 16, 2018

  Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes housing as necessary to establish "an adequate standard of living." Since the tech bubble burst in 2000, housing prices in the U.S. have been anything but adequate. Renters began experiencing eviction, homelessness and chronic underemployment in a tough economy, and the problem hit homeowners when the housing market officially crashed to start the Great Recession.

• Environmental fallout from 2017 hurricanes still ongoing

  Wednesday, April 11, 2018

  ​Among much disagreement about almost everything, there is one thing everyone is likely to agree on: it has been a challenging seven months. Complex geopolitical developments and ongoing social issues, like mass shootings and gun control, remain difficult to ignore as we go about our daily lives.

• Who’s lined up to build Trump’s Mexico wall?

  Tuesday, April 10, 2018

  A move like this comes on the heels of deeply partisan activity surrounding the Wall. It was originally Trump's idea to have Mexico fund the Wall, to no avail. Congress only approved $1.6 billion for the project, when Trump wanted $25 billion. Democrats wanted to exchange amnesty for 1.8 million DACA-eligible immigrants in exchange for Wall funding, but Trump rejected this offer.

• Law enforcement supports variety of gun control reform efforts

  Thursday, February 22, 2018

  In response to the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, President Donald Trump has announced his support for a series of gun control efforts, including a ban on bump stocks, raising the legal age of owning a gun to 21 and an expanded background check system. This announcement accompanies calls by the law enforcement community to reduce gun violence, and there are many ideas on the table as we move forward.

• New school security measures include bulletproof backpacks

  Wednesday, February 21, 2018

  In the wake of the Valentine's Day massacre that killed 17 students and staff at Parkland, Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, some say the public is growing numb to school shootings. But some parents are taking bold steps to ensure the safety of their children, including the purchase of bulletproof backpacks.

• States introducing legislation to import Canadian drugs

  Monday, February 19, 2018

  The rising cost of prescription drugs is not a new story. But as continuing efforts to lower prices have had little effect, states are starting to take matters into their own hands.

• Grief counseling plays major role in school shooting recoveries

  Thursday, February 15, 2018

  On Feb. 14, a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, murdered at least 17 people allegedly using an AR-15 assault weapon. He was also armed with smoke grenades and countless magazines.

• Will cryptocurrency help or hurt Puerto Rico’s rebuilding efforts?

  Thursday, February 08, 2018

  Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum have been all over the news lately, as they have generated lots of new wealth for investors. Now, a group of innovators has descended upon Puerto Rico in the hopes this tax-free haven will be the perfect home for their activities.

• Minneapolis’ Super Bowl LII stadium sports innovative sustainable design

  Thursday, February 01, 2018

  Whether you are a football fan or not, you probably know that Super Bowl LII is scheduled to happen Feb. 4 at the new U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots. Beyond excitement for the game itself, there's a lot of buzz about the stadium itself, which can seat up to 70,000 fans.

• New York City leads global fossil fuel divestment campaign

  Thursday, January 25, 2018

  NASA recently reported that 2017 was the second-hottest year on record. Climate scientists did not expect this since El Niño was not a factor in 2017, as it was in the two record-setting previous years.

• Mudslides devastate Montecito, California

  Monday, January 15, 2018

  ​After a deluge of rain was forecasted following containment of the Thomas Fire — the largest fire in California history — the prediction of mudslides was a bit much for Santa Barbara County residents. Now, the affluent town of Montecito, population 10,000, has reported 20 dead, with the death count expected to rise as recovery workers wade slowly and cautiously through new mud terrain.

• New York City ends misdemeanor bail, signaling reform trend

  Friday, January 12, 2018

  ​As jail populations suffer severe overcrowding, more cities and states are pursuing bail reform measures to address harmful jail conditions. Always a policy trendsetter, New York City has launched a notable large-scale bail reform initiative in the context of other statewide criminal justice challenges.

• Should Apple do more to limit children’s screen time?

  Friday, January 12, 2018

  Eye problems, bad posture, carpal tunnel syndrome, social disconnection, depression, insomnia. All of these are symptoms of excessive screen time, and Apple has recently responded to a request by shareholders for the company to address youth screen time issues.

• Vaccine limits, medical supply shortages complicate an early flu season

  Thursday, January 11, 2018

  ​The flu season is here again, in case you have not heard. This year there are special concerns related to the voraciousness of this particular strain, the limits of the available flu vaccine and a medical supplies shortage caused by Hurricane Maria's shutdown of Puerto Rico's power grid.

• Mudslides, flash flooding pose new threats in California

  Monday, January 08, 2018

  As 2018 kicked off with most of the East Coast enveloped in freezing cold temperatures, news about the West Coast's fires provides some reprieve as Southern California's Thomas Fire is contained.

• Defiant winds threaten to spread California wildfire

  Friday, December 15, 2017

  It has been another challenging week in Southern California, as several fires are now contained. However, the historic Thomas Fire, is still burning. Now considered the fourth-largest in California's history, it is already responsible for the destruction of 250,000 acres, 972 structures and two lives.

• New app collects spare change toward bail

  Wednesday, December 13, 2017

  The U.S. prison industry currently holds 2.2 million people behind bars. Of that number, an estimated 700,000 people sit in jails awaiting trials. They are locked up because they are unable to post bail.

• Los Angeles inferno wraps up 2017’s year of disasters

  Thursday, December 07, 2017

  There's no rest for the weary, is there? 2017 has been a year of natural disasters related to climate change. We ended hurricane season barely intact, as Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico are recovering from a string of now-notorious hurricanes. Then, we had the northern California wine country fires in a year when California has witnessed 1 million acres burn — the most in any one year, ever.

• Time’s Person of the Year reflects new norms in business culture

  Thursday, December 07, 2017

  ​After the dust settles, the financial damages accrued by brand names and individual reputations will be incalculable in the new high-stakes sexual harassment and assault allegations arena. To illustrate how seriously people are taking allegations, Time Magazine has named "The Silence Breakers" as its Person of the Year for 2017.

• Good and bad news for Houston’s post‑Harvey rebuilding efforts

  Monday, December 04, 2017

  ​Recovery efforts are still underway after the devastating hurricanes and wildfires in late summer and early fall. For all of the rebuilding efforts in California, Florida, Louisiana, Puerto Rico and Texas, the phrase "one step forward, two steps backward" is rather fitting.

• New global alliance targets coal production

  Thursday, November 30, 2017

  Prior to global awareness of coal mining's role in climate change, experts projected that coal would be responsible for one-third of the world’s energy supplies by 2050. Now that climate change is a common household phrase, more and more governments, companies and citizens' groups are calling for renewable energy sources to replace coal.

• Big Tobacco releases court-ordered ads

  Tuesday, November 28, 2017

  It is difficult to separate Thanksgiving Day from the beginning of the Christmas season, and many of us don't have a problem with that. From Black Friday specials to the Macy's Christmas-themed Thanksgiving parade to the countless number of holiday-focused commercials, Thanksgiving operates as the first day of Christmas for the majority of advertisers and consumers.

• California to test firefighters’ toxic exposure

  Thursday, November 16, 2017

  Now that the ash is settling after the California wildfires that engulfed more than 8,000 homes, buildings and businesses — including many in wine country — we turn to the important issue of recovery and rebuilding. Amid the loss of human life, $3 billion in property damage and the rampant dismantlement of neighborhood infrastructures, there is another looming issue: civilian and first responder public health.

• How will Puerto Rico fix its energy grid?

  Tuesday, November 14, 2017

  Puerto Rico's death toll from Hurricane Maria remains hotly contested. The official government number stands at 55, but officials acknowledged that 472 more people died in September 2017 than the previous year.

• Florida debating generator requirements for nursing homes

  Thursday, November 09, 2017

  We have heard quite a bit about the demand for generators since recent hurricanes had a devastating impact on Texas, Puerto Rico and Florida. Many people may not realize that the average cost of a generator is a deterrent, which is why they are not common household or workplace items. However, the times are changing as people begin to realize how significant of a role generators play in saving lives.

• Burned California neighborhoods consider production-scale home rebuilding

  Tuesday, November 07, 2017

  As people begin to recover from entire neighborhoods destroyed by recent California wildfires — approximately 14,700 homes — innovative home-rebuilding approaches may aid Sonoma County.

• Hospitals managing post-Maria medical products shortage

  Monday, October 30, 2017

  Before Hurricane Maria hit, many people did not know Puerto Rico housed 89 facilities that manufacture pharmaceutical drugs and medical devices. The island's $60 billion infrastructure is now severely compromised, as we begin to learn more about the damage done.

• Tesla testing its solar capabilities in Puerto Rico rebuild

  Thursday, October 26, 2017

  ​Amid reports coming out of Puerto Rico's devastation, there is news of an effort to bring solar power to the island for short-term relief. Around 75 percent of the island still lacks power after Hurricane Maria. In the longer term, solar power is also being considered as a way to build a new energy grid featuring a strong renewable energy element.

• California wildfires are a public health risk

  Tuesday, October 17, 2017

  Beijing, China, is the greatest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, exacerbated by its growing power and steel industries. The resulting air pollution is so intense that it is routine for residents to check the air quality index when they awake in the morning, and plan whether they will don masks that day.

• California wildfires threaten wine and tourism industry

  Thursday, October 12, 2017

  Earthquakes, hurricanes, fires — what's next? As we have all been witnessing, recent extreme weather events have had devastating impacts on North America. These conditions are further accompanied by harsh economic burdens.

• Skilled labor shortage impacting rebuilding efforts

  Friday, October 06, 2017

  In the last two months, we've witnessed historic Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria severely damage Texas, Louisiana, Florida and Puerto Rico. There are many statistics that have emerged from these disastrous events, and one of the most chilling is the number of homes damaged or destroyed. Tens of thousands of homes were flooded, while other homes were permanently damaged beyond repair.

• Puerto Rico’s pharmaceutical industry faces post-Maria uphill battle

  Monday, October 02, 2017

  Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lily, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novartis. These are just a few of the 89 approved pharmaceutical companies using Puerto Rico as a manufacturing hub.

• Save the pets: How did animals fare in Harvey, Irma?

  Friday, September 29, 2017

  ​We all love our pets, but sometimes amid the evacuation panic caused by hurricanes, pet safety takes a back seat to other preparations. No doubt, Hurricane Katrina taught us much about how to prepare for disasters. You may not know this, but Katrina's aftermath prompted a large federal study that targeted 17 specific lessons learned. This includes animal care.

• Florida nursing home deaths shine spotlight on private care industry

  Tuesday, September 26, 2017

  ​Many headline-worthy stories emerged in the days after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma touched land. One that stands out is news of 11 Hollywood Hills residents dying amid South Florida's evacuation chaos. Fingers are pointing in all directions as the residents were all under the watchful eye of The Rehabilitation Center, a privately-owned nursing home in Hollywood Hills, Florida.