“Toxic garbage water has no place in Lake Memphremagog or any of Vermont’s waters,” said CLF attorney Peter Blair. “Landfill leachate contains a toxic soup of chemicals, including PFAS, which cause serious health issues in humans and animals. Waste companies need to take responsibility for the damage they’re causing to our waters, and this new permit is a huge step towards making that happen in Vermont.”
As we continue to reckon with systemic racism in the United States, we must root out the quiet and insidious ways governments and decision-makers sustain racist policies.
Wrestling humanity away from single-use plastics will not be easy. But we can start by reducing our reliance on single-use plastic beverage containers.
Residents tell us of a stark contrast between lower-income neighborhoods and those of their wealthier neighbors: Trees. WIthout greenery, heat absorption by concrete is abundant.
Located in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts, Uvida Shop is the city’s first-ever Zero Waste store – a retail destination that sells products with no single-use plastic packaging. Owner and CEO Maria began this venture while studying environmental science and sustainability at UMass Boston.
Plastic is everywhere – even in the places you’d least expect, like chewing gum, tea bags, wet wipes, receipts, and microwaveable popcorn bags. Yet, manufacturers continue to make more and more plastic each year – even though how plastic is made fuels a toxic cycle of production, consumption, and disposal.
Climate impacts are here now, yet the very companies most responsible for our changing climate are doing little to prepare their coastal facilities for its impact. Big Oil operates large oil and gas storage terminals across New England. Perched on the edges of rivers, bays, and sounds, so tankers have easy access, these facilities often… Continue reading Calling Big Oil to Account
Henri must be a wake-up call for our community and for companies like Shell. We must confront the impacts of the climate crisis. Flooding and sea level rise are only going to get worse. Now is the time to prepare for these impacts and mitigate the potential damage, not after a neighborhood and iconic waterway are inundated with toxic chemicals.
Our region has seen hurricanes and tropical storms before, but, as we’ve just witnessed, it doesn’t have to be a storm of that magnitude to do significant damage. This year’s wet summer has shown that severe storms are becoming more common and intense, and they will only grow more frequent as the climate crisis deepens.
“The language of the proposed ballot question is ambiguous and will very likely confuse and mislead voters,” said Staci Rubin, Vice President, Environmental Justice, CLF. “This effort comes at exactly the wrong time. With the impacts of the climate crisis becoming clearer by the day, options should be on the table to reduce transportation fossil fuel use and prepare our communities for what’s to come.”
