Activism Archives - Inside Climate News

At COP28, the United States Will Stress an End to Fossil Emissions, Not Fuels

By Marianne Lavelle — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 22:37:37 +0000

The Biden administration faces increasing international and domestic political pressure to endorse near-term cuts in coal, oil and natural gas.

By Marianne Lavelle

President Joe Biden will not attend the climate talks that commence this week in Dubai, but the conflict that has come to define his policy on the planetary crisis will be front and center.

A New Law Regulating the Cosmetics Industry Expands the FDA’s Power But Fails to Ban Toxic Chemicals in Beauty Products

By Victoria St. Martin — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 10:00:00 +0000

The Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act empowers the FDA to recall harmful cosmetics. Advocates want to know why manufacturers still don’t have to prove their products are safe before they’re sold to millions of consumers.

By Victoria St. Martin

Dereliction of Beauty: Second in a series on how lax regulation of beauty care products victimizes women of color.

Black Women Face Disproportionate Risks From Largely Unregulated Toxic Substances in Beauty and Personal Care Products

By Victoria St. Martin — Sun, 26 Nov 2023 10:00:00 +0000

The FDA has finally proposed a ban on formaldehyde in hair straighteners, and new regulations on the cosmetics industry take effect next month. But one activist called them “a floor, not a ceiling.”

By Victoria St. Martin

Dereliction of Beauty: First in a series on how lax regulation of beauty care products victimizes women of color.

Fulcrum Bioenergy, Aiming to Produce ‘Net-Zero’ Jet Fuel From Plastic Waste, Hits Heavy Turbulence

By James Bruggers — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 10:30:00 +0000

The California company has defaulted on $289 million in Nevada bonds and put $500 million in financing for a facility in Indiana on hold. Meanwhile, U.S. senators don’t want tax credits financing plastics-to-jet-fuel schemes.

By James Bruggers

Six Senate Democrats last month sent a letter to the head of the Internal Revenue Service urging the federal tax agency to prohibit companies that make fuels from plastics and other petroleum products from qualifying for federal tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act, President Biden’s landmark climate legislation.

Is China Emitting a Climate Super Pollutant in Violation of an International Environmental Agreement?

By Phil McKenna and Peter Aldhous — Sat, 18 Nov 2023 11:00:00 +0000

Concentrations of HFC-23, one of the world’s most potent greenhouse gases, remained elevated in East Asia after China, a known past polluter, agreed to curb emissions.

By Phil McKenna and Peter Aldhous

Preliminary atmospheric monitoring data from a remote South Korean island off China’s east coast shows elevated concentrations of hydrofluorocarbon-23 (HFC-23), a greenhouse gas 14,700 times more potent than carbon dioxide on a pound-for-pound basis, according to the World Meteorological Association.

Nearby Residents and Environmentalists Criticize New Dominion Natural Gas Power Plant As a ‘Slap In the Face’

By Jake Bolster — Sat, 18 Nov 2023 10:15:00 +0000

Virginia’s largest utility provider has faced a backlash from the state’s environmental community since it announced plans to build a new, large fossil fuel facility in Chesterfield.

By Jake Bolster

Over the course of three hours on Thursday evening, the beige-paneled walls of the SpringHill Suites Hotel in Chester, Virginia played host to a sometimes-contentious meeting between Dominion Energy, the state’s largest utility provider, and residents of the Chesterfield community, where Dominion has proposed to build a new natural gas power plant.

Texas Violated the Law with Lax Emissions Limits, Federal Court Rules

By Dylan Baddour — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 15:13:04 +0000

Judges overturned a state air pollution permit that was issued last year, arguing that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality illegally enabled Port Arthur LNG to avoid emissions control requirements.

By Dylan Baddour

A federal appeals court on Monday struck down a major air pollution permit issued by Texas’s environmental regulator, arguing that the state allowed improperly high emissions limits for Port Arthur LNG, a gas liquefaction and export terminal currently under construction on the Gulf Coast.

Corruption and Rights Abuses Are Flourishing in Lithium Mining Across Africa, a New Report Finds

By Katie Surma — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 10:00:00 +0000

The global clean energy transition could be a game changer for Africa, but exploitation of miners continues as many foreign mining companies ignore local opposition.

By Katie Surma

On a Sunday afternoon in March 2023, Darlington Vito was shot in the head outside an industrial lithium mine in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe.

Environmental Justice a Key Theme Throughout Biden’s National Climate Assessment

By Kristoffer Tigue, Georgina Gustin, Liza Gross, Victoria St. Martin — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 10:00:00 +0000

The report finds that societal factors, including historic racism, have shaped the climate reality for many communities of color. It also details the impacts of climate change on Indigenous people, public health and agriculture.

By Kristoffer Tigue, Georgina Gustin, Liza Gross, Victoria St. Martin

WASHINGTON—Whether it’s the likelihood of living in a flood zone, lacking access to parks or having fewer resources to recover from a destructive storm, the consequences of climate change are not experienced equally in the United States. That’s a key message from some of the nation’s leading climate scientists, public health experts and economists in a landmark federal report released Tuesday.

This Week in Nairobi, Nations Gather for a Third Round of Talks on an International Plastics Treaty, Focusing on Its Scope and Ambition

By James Bruggers — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Led by the EU, some nations are pushing for binding provisions to restrain and reduce the consumption and production of plastics. The U.S. has staked out a middle ground, calling for provisions to reduce plastic pollution while embracing industry’s call for advanced plastics recycling.

By James Bruggers

Delegates from more than 175 countries are gathered in Nairobi to advance a potential diplomatic solution to a global plastic pollution crisis amid a growing awareness of the effect of plastic on the environment and human health.