People of color are on the front lines of the climate crisis, and are leading the call for equitable protection and meaningful action. Green American published its issue, Climate Justice for All, as part of our mission to amplify the voices of those on the front lines of the climate crisis, working to protect the most vulnerable areas around the…
Bernard Yu, Green America’s content strategist and information architect, has experience facilitating dialogue among participants from different backgrounds. Bernard offers this advice to groups working on climate justice who would like to become more diverse and inclusive.
The modern environmental movement‚ which has done much good‚ was started…
The tragedy happening in Flint, MI, right now (see People of Color Are on the Front Lines of the Climate Crisis) may have finally shone a light on environmental injustice in a way that hasn’t happened in the past. But it’s important to understand that environmental racism, including the climate racism we’ve discussed in this issue, does not…
For the past several years, scientists had established the threshold of danger as two degrees Celcius, or about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. World temperatures could rise 2℃ above pre-industrial levels, they said, and after that point, coastal flooding, extreme weather patterns, widespread droughts and heat waves, and other climate-crisis impacts…
If you've read our spring 2016 Green American issue "Climate Justice for All," it might have brought up a number of questions and ideas. In the issue, we included this list of questions intended for community or reading groups who’d like to use the climate-justice articles in this issue as the basis for a discussion. Green America invites you…
The Muslim world, representing one-fifth of the world’s population, is also among the hardest hit by the impacts of climate change. A March 2016 NASA study, for example, found that a drought hitting the eastern Mediterranean countries of Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Turkey since 1998 was likely the worst to hit the region…
Marie Angel Hoole moved to California happily in 2015. Her fiancée was about to start school in Los Angeles. Hoole had a bachelor’s degree and years of experience in the restaurant business, from service to management, and good references. She felt confident she would find a job and the couple’s new life in California would be better than it was…
A burst of over 1,000 hate crimes and incidents have occurred since Election Day, and the President’s words and actions are only making perpetrators bolder. With White supremacists in the cabinet and anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric coming out of the White House, we need green, people-centered solutions that bring people together—and don’t…
In November 2017, Pramila Jayapal won her Congressional election bid and became the first Indian-American woman in the House of Representatives.
Jayapal (D-WA) is also an immigrant: Her parents sent her from her home in India to the US to attend college when she was 16 years old. She stayed, got an MBA from Northwestern University, and launched a…
During the presidential primaries, Matthew Bucher didn’t like what some candidates were saying about immigrants, refugees, and people of color. It frustrated him that people might take divisive language to heart. So he took his frustration and turned it into action.
Bucher is the pastor at Immanuel Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, VA, a small…
Since early January, a wave of anonymous bomb threats against Jewish community centers, day schools, synagogues, and other Jewish-affiliated buildings has swept across the country, from Albuquerque to Chicago to Birmingham. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reports that more than half of all US states and one Canadian province have experienced…
On January 28th, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance declared a one-hour strike: From six to seven p.m., they would not pick up or drop off passengers at JFK Airport, to protest a Trump executive order banning refugees, as well as travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries, from entering the US.
“We stand in solidarity with all of our…
Ninety-four percent of Americans say they recycle in some manner, according to a 2014 Harris Survey. That can only be a good thing, right? For most people, yes. But for some, the impacts of recycling aren’t always all positive. In fact, they can be devastating.
“For those who make environmental and industrial decisions, communities of color—…
The Road to Recycling Contamination
Single-stream recycling, the simple act of dumping all of your recyclables into one bin, has become one of the most common recycling methods in the US. Public participation has increased due to the ease of single-stream bins, but the chances for contamination have skyrocketed. Reducing contamination is…
Kamikatsu, Japan, a small mountain town of 1,700 on southern Japan’s Shikoku island, is going zero waste by 2020.
So are a lot of communities in the US. But when local political leaders make this pledge, they sometimes state their city will send “zero waste to landfill” — a phrase meaning that in addition to recycling and perhaps composting trash…
In an effort to boost recycling participation, cities and towns across the country have introduced single-stream recycling, where people simply dump all of their recyclables into one bin, and the waste management company collects and sorts them, sending them off to other facilities for recycling.
Public participation has increased due to the ease…
For most people, recycling is a good thing. But for some, the impacts of recycling aren’t all positive. In fact, those 94 percent of Americans who recycle have devastating impacts on people of color.
“For those who make environmental and industrial decisions, communities of color — regardless of their class status — have been considered to be…
1. Reduce and Reuse
The less you throw away, the better off the planet will be.
2. Don’t “Wish-cycle”
Get a list of the items your local recycler accepts and put only those into your recycling bins.
3. Use recycling best practices
Fend off recycling contamination with our tips to Rescue Your Recycling.
4. Don’t landfill your food…
Single-stream recycling—or allowing households to dump all types of recyclables into one blue or green bin—has increased US recycling rates by 30 percent. It has also caused recycling contamination to skyrocket. Putting the wrong items or dirty items into your bin can ruin entire batches of recyclables, meaning they’ll all end up landfilled…
Dr. Vandana Shiva is a physicist, world-renowned environmental thinker and activist, and a tireless crusader for economic, food, and gender justice. She earned a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Western Ontario, Canada, then shifted to inter-disciplinary research in science, technology, and environmental policy. In 1991, she founded…
95% of our food is grown in soil. But one-third of the world’s soils have become degraded—turning them from living soil to degraded dirt.
Find out more with our infographic.
Click here to open a larger version.
Winter 2015.
Can organic farming feed the world and curb the climate crisis? The nonprofit Rodale Institute (m) , located in Kutztown, PA, has one of the longest-running field trials showing that it can.
The Institute was founded in 1947 by J.I. Rodale, one of the first people to embrace the idea of a return to organic farming—he’s widely credited with…
An investigation by China Labor Watch found that toy factory workers are often exposed to sweatshop abuses and toxic chemicals without adequate protection.
Toy companies like Hasbro and Disney that do business in China are hiding a dark secret—millions of workers toil in the Chinese factories in their supply chains under cruel, backbreaking…
Photo by Tupungato / Shutterstock
A February report found that the majority of the 164 products researchers tested from Family Dollar, Dollar General, the Dollar Tree, and 99 Cents Only contained at least one hazardous chemical linked to serious health impacts.
Love bargains? You’re right to think twice about seeking deals at your local…
Photo from Alex Eaves
Conant Metal & Light CEO Ste ven Conant, featured in the documentar y film Reuse!, shows off some of the light fixtur es, wall decor, and whimsical items offered in his store, which transforms used lighting and furniture into creative new items.
Stay Vocal(m) founder and CEO Alex Eaves has been a fan of reuse since he…
Creating clothes from field to factory can result in a whole lot of toxins being unleashed on workers, on the planet, and even on you and your family. Here’s how you can avoid fashion disasters.
Certified members of Green America’s Green Business Network® use eco-friendly fabrics and low-impact dyes and finishes. Pictured left to right: Models…
It isn't just pesticides on textile crops that makes clothes toxic. They're often coated with a whole host of chemicals. Here are 11 of the worst, named by Greenpeace.
To open as a PDF, click here.
Published in the Green American magazine issue Fall 2015.
Even though most toxins used in clothing manufacture will affect workers far more than wearers, it’s still a good idea to be cautious and avoid exposure to toxic clothing as much as possible. These seven tips can help you stay safe at home.
1. Buy less toxic clothing.
The more new conventional clothing you have hanging in your closet, the…
Performance fabrics that offer anti-bacterial and anti-odor qualities, as well as sun protection, may contain nanoparticles that are largely untested for human health effects.
If you’ve been shopping for workout clothes lately, you may have seen labels making some extraordinary claims—namely, that you can work up a sweat and your clothes…
Underwear is just one of those things we wear without too much thought beyond how it feels when we put it on. Does it cover everything that it needs to cover? Does it fit properly and not rub or chafe? If the underwear fulfills those requirements, wearers are typically satisfied. However, we don't think much about where our underwear came from or…
image: Imperial War Museum
During WWII, the British Ministry of Information released a pamphlet titled “Make Do and Mend.” It provided tips on how to be both frugal and stylish in times of harsh rationing. Readers were advised to create pretty “decorative patches” to cover holes in warn garments, unpick old sweaters to reknit into new styles,…
Money alone can’t secure your future and protect you against crises. That also requires investing in your community, your skill sets, your friendships, and the environment.
Financial advisor Michael Kramer, director of social research at Natural Investments, LLC and co-author of The Resilient Investor. photo: Natural Investments, LLC
What if…
If you want to make a corporation sit up and take notice, hit it where it hurts—in its profits.
Think about it: At the root of many corporate ills is a desire to maximize profits and shareholder returns. Abusive sweatshops? Created to squeeze every last dime out of the workforce. Environmental harm? Inflicted by companies that cut corners on…
Being a socially responsible investor starts with being informed about your finances. Check out your financial wellness with these calculators.
CNN Money’s Financial Health Calculator
Have a bit of time on your hands? It can’t be better spent than checking your financial wellness with CNN Money’s financial health calculator. Enter your…
Part of making a difference with your money is ensuring that you save enough to put it into the saving and investing vehicles that can do the most good. By making a “shift to thrift,” you’ll spend less and save more, avoiding extra debt and shoring up your retirement accounts to secure your golden years. You’ll be buying less and wasting…
Does money have to be “at the root of all evil,” as the old saying goes? It can be. It buys resource-intensive “stuff” that damages the Earth and runs up debt. It gets deposited in mega-banks that take advantage of Main Street to pad the coffers of greedy, predatory Wall Street businesses. It’s the driving force behind industries like the fossil…
When I called up Native American activist Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne & Hodulgee Muscogee) for our article, “The Shame of Stereotypes as Team Mascots,” I had no idea I was in for one of the most moving interviews I’ve ever conducted. I was quite familiar with her work on getting the Washington NFL football team to move away from…
When we talk about herbs, it’s often in the context of tea or food. But the ways that herbs can support the body aren’t limited to what they do inside. The same plant chemicals that boost health after they’ve been ingested will also support the body from the outside.
Using herbs topically is easy and effective, and even safer than consuming them…
The Problem with Seafood from Thailand
Thailand is the world’s third-largest seafood exporter, behind only China and Norway. Every year, the Thai fishing fleet finds itself short by about 60,000 crew members, so human traffickers help boat captains fill that gap by kidnapping men from Thailand or luring men from Myanmar (formerly Burma) and…
Trade is essential for any economy—or community—to thrive, but not all trade is equal. Our globalized economy makes it easy for companies to use the cheapest labor they can find anywhere in the world, even through means of exploitation, while also making it harder for people to know anything about the conditions under which their goods were made…
The Green America victories that made up our best year yet
Green America campaigns help tip corporations and industries toward green practices by applying pressure from: 1 individual members, 2 green businesses, 3 shareholders, 4 allied organizations, and 5 the media.
As Jeremy Rifkin notes, the economy is rapidly moving toward what he calls…
Choose green holiday gifts for the kids in your life.
Celebrating greener holidays can mean reducing the number of gifts you give, choosing intentionally to focus on relationships, human connection, and the spiritual meanings attached to the season. Still, many find great joy in sharing gifts with the children in their lives.…
Just in time for the holidays, New York’s famed Candle Cafe has released a vegan cookbook featuring recipes to help you celebrate every major holiday. Vegan Holiday Cooking from Candle Cafe is not only beautiful to look at on a coffee table, but the dishes are delicious! And for the omnivores out there, John Ivanko and Lisa Kivirist, owners of Inn…
With the New Year in sight, many of us start looking ahead to 2015, setting our priorities, goals, and intentions. But maybe this year, instead of making some of the same old promises to yourself (this writer confesses to ritually vowing to be more organized with paperwork, bills, and properly archiving the hundreds of pages of kid artwork that…
Whether you're lactose-intolerant, working to reduce your carbon footprint, or a complete cheese addict, there are many reasons why people want to try or commit to a dairy-free diet and lifestyle. But change can always be a challenge. So here are five tips to keep in mind in the dairy aisle when you want to go dairy-free.
1. Eat less cheese.…
Dahkota Franklin Kicking Bear Brown is a 15-year-old Miwok student who was named a 2013 Champion for Change by the Center for Native American Youth. In 2012, he founded the nonprofit NERDS (Native Education Raising Dedicated Students) to provide peer-to-peer tutoring and mentoring to Native students. His speech for the Center for American…
The “Anything Vegan” nutritionist chefs
Jasmine Simon and Marji Simon Meinefeld
show us how, simply and joyfully.
Photo from Anything Vegan
Sisters Jasmine Simon and Marjorie “Marji” Simon Meinefeld are both committed vegans, and they’ve dedicated their careers to spreading the word of the many benefits of a vegan diet and that it isn’t…
Shareholder activists usually play the long game, filing shareholder resolutions with companies, requesting dialogues with corporate managers, and issuing investor statements calling for industry-wide action. These efforts add up, over time, to spur social and environmental changes at corporations. But last December, an investor coalition led by…
Chemical-laden conventional sunscreens can include toxic ingredients that can be absorbed through the skin. Sunscreens from green companies are free from the most potent toxins, avoid problematic nanoparticles, and can still protect you from the sun.
The summer months are upon us, and for many people, that means more time outside in the sun. It…
Li Qiang, founder and executive director of New York-based China Labor Watch, often sends undercover investigators to work in electronics supplier factories in China. They report back on the labor conditions they experienced, which CLW uses as ammunition to advocate—on the ground in China and with US corporations that use the factories—for better…
