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Category Archives: Environmental Law

US DOT – PROTECT Discretionary Grant Program Award Recipients

PROTECT Discretionary Grant Program Fact Sheet –  “The vision of the PROTECT Discretionary Grant Program is to fund projects that address the climate crisis by improving the resilience of the surface transportation system, including highways, public transportation, ports, and intercity passenger rail. Projects selected under this program should be grounded in the best available scientific… Continue Reading

BirdCast

USFWS Pacific “About 90-140 million birds are predicted to migrate across the U.S. each night this weekend! Lights at night can be very disorienting to birds during their long spring migration. To help prevent deadly bird collisions, turn off or dim unnecessary lights! Graphic: BirdCast The Pacific Region for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service… Continue Reading

80 Percent of Global CO2 Emissions Come From Just 57 Companies

Smithsonian Magazine: “A new analysis released last week by the international non-profit InfluenceMap reveals an overwhelmingly unequal share of fossil fuel pollution worldwide. From 2016 to 2022, 80 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions were produced by just 57 companies. Shared in the think tank’s Carbon Majors Database, which is authored by some of the… Continue Reading

Mapping America’s access to nature, neighborhood by neighborhood

Washington Post – “A city is a science experiment. What happens when we separate human beings from the environment in which they evolved? Can people be healthy without nature? The results have been bleak. Countless studies have shown that people who spend less time in nature die younger and suffer higher rates of mental and… Continue Reading

What you need to know about the plastic crisis

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC): “Global annual production of plastic has increased exponentially over the past 65 years, growing from 2 million metric tons in 1950 to 460 million metric tons in 2019. Much of this plastic quickly becomes waste, and plastic waste is found everywhere, including the farthest reaches of the Arctic, the deep seabed, and even… Continue Reading

Japan Gives Washington 250 Cherry Trees as Replacements

The New York Times [unpaywalled]:  “Japan is giving the United States 250 cherry trees to replace more than 100 that will be torn up during construction around the Tidal Basin in Washington, the Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, said on Wednesday. The gift honors the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence,… Continue Reading

Virtual Reality and the ‘Virtual Wall’

EFF: “When EFF set out to map surveillance technology along the U.S.-Mexico border, we weren’t exactly sure how to do it. We started with public records—procurement documents, environmental assessments, and the like—which allowed us to find the GPS coordinates of scores of towers. During a series of in-person trips, we were able to find even… Continue Reading

We were very wrong about birds

PopSci – A sticky piece of DNA is rewriting the story of avian evolution–and shaking up the family tree: “An enormous asteroid crashed into the Earth about 65 million years ago. While terrestrial dinosaurs like the famed Tyrannosaurus rex were wiped out, many avian animals really began to flourish. Considering that there are more than… Continue Reading

2024 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week Resource Guide

“The 2024 theme asks all of us—friends, family members, neighbors, colleagues, community leaders, victim service providers, criminal justice practitioners, and health professionals—how we can help crime victims. Are you prepared if someone confides in you about a victimization? Is your organization victim-centered and trauma-informed? Are you familiar with the services available in your community? The… Continue Reading