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Purépecha community members are on the frontlines of the Salton Sea environmental and health justice crisis — one of California's worst — but they're frequently unable to participate in policy discussions regarding lithium extraction, water quality, air pollution and more.
Many view the Salton Sea as an ecological disaster, or a wasteland. This public perception, which is bound up in environmental racism, continues to undermine conservation efforts.
Legislation that would have streamlined the closure of the Aliso Canyon, the underground gas storage facility responsible for the biggest gas leak in U.S. history, was gutted by the California Senate last Thursday.
From California’s citrus heyday in the 1800s to Cold War military expansion, the Inland Empire has been a center of shipping and distribution. Today’s warehouses boom, linked to ongoing environmental degradation and job insecurity, has its roots in the science of war and in long histories of land and labor exploitation.
Photographer Noé Montes was commissioned by the California Air Resources Board to travel through the Inland Empire and document the impacts of air pollution. In this personal photo essay, he shows how the goods movement industry is changing the landscape and affecting residents' quality of life.
In Bloomington, a controversial warehouse proposal seeks to rezone residential land for industrial use. While residents fight to protect their neighborhood, a recent legal settlement in Fontana allows a warehouse to go up right next door to a school.
When it comes to taking action on climate change, perception matters. We often see the problem is large and insurmountable, but the field of climate action can be as small as our own bodies. And small steps, coming from a place of joy, can be more powerful than we think.
The American Lung Association (ALA) just released its annual State of the Air Report and San Bernardino and Riverside counties ranked first and second for the worst ozone pollution in the country. Despite challenges, a "glimmer of hope" remains for some residents.
On Wednesday, the Santa Ana City Council approved a General Plan Update that addresses lead contamination and other land use issues that disproportionately affect marginalized communities. A law called SB1000 has been key in helping community advocates lobby city officials to incorporate environmental justice into land use planning in order to reduce health risks.
Companies progress towards commercial lithium drilling at the Salton Sea, while teams of researchers explore questions about effective extraction methods and environmental impacts.
Warehouse moratoriums have come up for vote at numerous city council meetings across the Inland Empire, the region with the worst air pollution in the country. Advocates argue for temporary pauses in development to analyze health impacts of facilities and implement regulations.
California’s environmental justice law is supposed to clean the air for 15 hot spot communities, home to almost 4 million people. But after more than four years and one billion dollars, it’s still impossible to say whether it’s worked.