"Earth Day was born in 1970 during a moment of human solidarity in troubled times. Violent Vietnam war protests, burning Black communities and girdles and bras publicly trashed by feminists spoke of great social divides." "Fifty-six years after the first one rallied 20 million people across America, “we need to do things that make us feel more powerful.”"
"Jackie Chesnutt, who lives outside San Angelo, is tired of pollution from wells she says should have been plugged years ago. Experts say Texas rules allow companies to defer plugging wells for far too long."
"Florida’s fragile Everglades are not on track to meet a new water quality standard set to take effect next month, even after nearly 40 years of costly restoration work aimed at addressing pollution in the river of grass, according to a new report."
"Communities across the US are struggling to cope with impending federal requirements for eradicating two toxic PFAS chemicals from their drinking water systems, utility leaders said at a water policy conference this week."
"The U.S. government plans another oil and gas lease sale for Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — following two prior sales that saw no interest from major oil companies and amid ongoing litigation aimed at blocking drilling in a region seen as sacred by the indigenous Gwich’in."
"In a setback to the Trump administration’s extraordinary legal campaign against state climate action, a federal judge threw out the Justice Department’s lawsuit seeking to prevent the state of Hawaii from suing oil companies for damages."
"The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the oil and gas industry’s efforts to move a long-standing legal battle over Louisiana’s eroding coastline out of the Bayou State’s courts." "Industry lawyers convinced the justices to move lawsuits against oil companies from state to federal courts."
"In a quiet stretch of western Massachusetts stands a sycamore so old it was around when the Constitution was signed. It’s awe-inspiring, with branches bigger than the entire trunks of most trees. ... In the eastern United States, that rare sense of awe was once supplied in bulk by the American chestnut."
