Environmental justice

Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and Chair of The Elders, speaks to journalists at the COP27 UN Climate Summit, Nov. 12, 2022.

Ireland’s Mary Robinson says being an ‘Elder’ is about teaching the next generation, but also listening to them

Leaders

Mary Robinson was the first female President of Ireland, and has been chair of “The Elders,” a group founded by Nelson Mandela. She spoke with The World’s host Marco Werman about connecting with young activists on environmental justice.

The Shell Norco oil refinery along the Mississippi River in Norco, LA.

Hurricane Ida adds misery to ‘Cancer Alley’: Part II

Environment
Founder of RISE St. James and 2021 Goldman Environmental Prize winner Sharon Lavigne

Hurricane Ida adds misery to ‘Cancer Alley’: Part I

Environment
Woman in orange outfit walks in dry climate with girl in pink dress and boy in beige outfit

NATO agrees to study how climate change impacts global security threats

The Big Fix
An unidentified man walks along oil pipelines belonging to Agip Oil company in Obrikom, Nigeria, Monday, March 6, 2006. 

West African villagers take on an American oil giant in a new novel by Imbolo Mbue

Books
Enbridge Energy Line 3 protest

Native tribes in Minnesota pledge to continue fighting new Line 3 pipeline

Environment

Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline, which would carry tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada, to Wisconsin, if completed, is facing strong opposition from Native American tribes and environmental activists.

Four people walk with their belongings outside. A woman wears a blue scarf on her hair. A barefoot man carries a bag on his shoulder.

Climate and human security: Part I

Critical State, our weekly foreign policy newsletter, takes a deep dive into new research on how climate change endangers urban refugees in Chattogram, Bangladesh.

A person wearing a finger sack points at an "I Voted" sticker after casting ballot for the upcoming presidential election as early voting begins in Houston, Texas, Oct. 13, 2020. 

Environmental groups work to mobilize Black and Latinx voters

Surveys suggest Black and Latinx voters, along with younger voters, are more likely than white voters to view the environment and climate as their top concerns. The League of Conservation Voters and other environmental groups aim to help mobilize these voters this November.

gray and white smokestacks billow

Green groups grapple with a history of racism and exclusion

Conflict & Justice

The environmental movement in America has deep ties to the nation’s history of systemic racism and white supremacy. Now, as Americans confront racial injustice anew, powerful green groups like the Sierra Club are beginning to reckon with their own histories of hate and exclusion.

Four Black American women activists wearing yellow shirts and holding protest signs stand in a field near a fence.

From Louisiana to Taiwan, environmental activists stand up to a major plastics company

Conflict & Justice

Formosa Plastics, a Taiwanese plastics company, intends to build a complex in St. James Parish, Louisiana, a region already known as “Cancer Alley.” Environmental activist Anne Rolfes faces criminal charges for a protest action she took to call attention to the company’s history of harm.