By Reed Newcomb
Not all heroes wear capes (or in this case, robes), but Ruth Bader Ginsburg did. Ginsburg, also known by her initials RBG, served as a justice on the United States Supreme Court from 1993 until her death in 2020 at the age of 87 following a long battle with metastatic pancreatic ca ncer. Nominated by President Clinton, Ginsburg belonged to the liberal wing of the court and was the second woman to serve on the bench after Sandra Day O’Connor. “Our Na tion has lost a jurist of historic stature,” Chief Justice John Roberts sa id. “We a t the Su- preme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her — a tireless and resolute champion of justice.” Ginsburg served as a preem- inent advoca te for women’s rights, even prior to her 27 year tenure on the court. Before serving as a justice, Ginsburg personally argued six cases across the bench of an all-male court as lawyer and defender of the 14th Amendment. Her goal was to esta blish that the 14th gua ra nteed equal protection not only in cases of racial discrimina tion but also re- ga rding sex discrimina tion. One by one, Ginsburg won a nd esta blished precedents through each case, win- ning five of the six she presented to the court prior to her time on the bench. Her advocacy for women’s rights alongside her strong progres- sive voting record a nd tightly com- posed dissents aga inst a conserva- tive majority in recent yea rs ea rned her the title “Notorious R.B.G.” Coined by law student Shana Knizhnik, the title is a play on the na me of the Notorious B.I.G., a rapper a nd fellow Brooklyn na tive. A documenta ry film of Gins- burg’s life titled “RBG” released in 2018, which focused on these ea rly legal ba ttles tha t would eventually shape the future of women’s rights in the U.S. Ginburg’s death was met with concern that Republicans would exploit the narrow timing between her death and the upcoming presidential election in order to confirm a third justice during President Donald Trump’s first term. In her final days, Ginsburg reiterated that another judge not take her place until after the presidential election. “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed,” Ginsburg said. As de facto leader of the court’s liberal bloc, Ginsburg served as a strong voice against a 5-4 majority of Republican appointed justices. If Ginsburg were replaced by a conserva tive-lea ning justice, the court would face a 6-3 conserva tive majority on a n often ideologically pola rized bench. Such a majority would have a dra ma tic impact on social, environmental, a nd econom- ic policy for genera tions to come. During the last presidential election cycle in 2016, Kentucky Sena tor a nd Sena te Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to hold hea rings for former President Ba rack Oba ma’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Ga rla nd, follow- ing the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia. McConnell a t the time justi- fied his action by sta ting tha t Sca- lia’s spot should not be filled until a fter the election, effectively giving the people a say through their votes. However, McConnell has since backtracked on the precedent he set in 2016, now sta ting tha t he pla ns to move forwa rd with a vote for a new nominee put forwa rd by Trump. McConnell’s cha nge in sta nce has been met with hypocrisy, but he a rgues tha t since the Sena te a nd White House a re both con- trolled by the sa me pa rty in 2020, unlike 2016, the case is different. It should be noted that the House is currently controlled by the Demo- cra tic Pa rty, showcasing a n inter- nal division between the Congress cha mbers. Connecticut Sena tor Rich- a rd Blumenthal has called out McCo- nnell’s hypocrisy in recent Tweets, citing McConnell’s own words from 2016 as precedent for 2020. “As to the appointment of Ginsburg’s successor, I couldn’t improve on wha t McConnell sa id a fter Scalia’s dea th: The America n people must have a voice in the se- lection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president,” Blumenthal said. The Republica n-held Sena te holds a na rrow 53 sea t majority a nd needs a t least 51 votes in order to confirm a ny nominee appointed by Trump. However, several Republica n sena tors have echoed Blumenthal’s concerns, citing the close proximity to the election as reason to hold off on any nominee hea rings. To date, a t least four Republican Senators, including Maine’s Susa n Collins, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, and Iowa’s Chuck Grassley have stated that they would oppose a vote before the election, according to CNN. Assuming these four sena tors hold true to their promise, then a new Supreme Court nominee will not be hea rd before the Sena te until a fter the presidential election, as Ginsburg had requested in her final days. “This close to the election, there is no way that the United States Senate can or should act before the voters decide,” Blumen- thal said.
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By Cosette Patterson
Daybreak is my favorite time at a national park: people have not yet begun to emerge from their tents, shaking with cold and causing a clamor as they attempt to heat up some coffee with numb fingers and little firewood. Early morning is when the animals are either settling in from a rowdy night of scrap-scavenging or stretching their wings and gathering food for the day ahead. It’s a time when I can quietly reflect on how lucky I am to be immersed in one of the most breathtaking land- scapes in the world, hiking through such sublime natural spaces that not even the most talented artist could have captured their essence. Moments like these are those I look back on to remind myself of how lucky I am to say I visited these places, and how grateful I am that I can visit them easily and repeatedly. As a Colorado native, I live within driving distance of the many national parks scattered around the West. This summer, I took advantage of this and visited about 6 national parks. The classic road trip experience is something I think everyone should experience. Granted, it’s imperative to mentally prepare for a road trip – our plan was one of practicality: one person drove while the person riding shotgun, fresh from the nap that the third person is now enjoying, has to keep the driver company. And the fourth person does their own thing, but usually ends up reading aloud to quell the groans of boredom. Yet despite the ten hour days of driving on the interstate, sustaining ourselves on gas station popcorn and bending in awkward positions to ac- commodate a crowded car, I look back on these experiences with so much gratitude. There’s something beautiful about the simplicity of it all: the end- less corn fields passing outside like a vintage film reel, engulfing the farms and windmills dotting the rolling hills. I’d imagine a farmer calling his border collie in for dinner while watching the vermillion sun set above us, the same sun that we were driving toward. Every acre of farmland brought us closer to the national parks that I’d been hoping to visit since I was little. The first two on our list were Yellowstone and Grand Teton Nation- al Parks in Wyoming. Yellowstone is the largest, first, and arguably most famous national park – it was estab- lished in 1872, nearly sixty years before Grand Teton, which lies only thirty miles away. Our campground was in the latter (Gros Ventre campground – I highly recommend), shielded by enormous cottonwoods and facing the Teton range itself. I immediately fell in love with these two parks. Their dramatic setting of snow-capped mountains and spectacular range of landscapes: cerulean blue lakes, dry pines surrounding the martian-esque geysers, lush green hills so surreal they looked like paintings. The illusive gray wolf, a species native to North America and once abundant in Yellowstone, was hunted to extinction by the mid-1900s. As a keystone species and top predator, the gray wolf maintains balance in the ecosystem, and without them, Yellow- stone suffered. Efforts to bring back this balance led to their reintroduction in the 1990s, which was successful – now wolves roam freely around the park. Although wolves are now roaming freely around Yellowstone again, this doesn’t mean they are easy to spot, which was difficult to accept as I was eager to see one. We went so far as to drive into Lamar Canyon, about four hours from our campsite, where the wolves were originally released. Though the only wolves we saw were through either researchers’ telescopes or the coyote my family still contests was a wolf, we instead ran into some other unexpected megafauna: bears. It was when we were heading back from a hike that had led us into the presence of a very large moose, so we were not ex- pecting our luck to hold out. I still had my camera at the ready, sensing some- thing ahead. Finding others pulled over on the side of the road (code for, “there’s an animal here!”), we stopped just in time to see two baby brown bears play- ing in a patch of sunflowers. I snapped some photos and looked on breathless- ly as they carelessly clambered back into their dens. Those were two of the eleven brown bears I saw while in Yel- lowstone, unforgettable encounters I feel so fortunate to have witnessed. In June, our journey brought us to Olympic National Park, a sight I had only dreamed of visiting. I couldn’t believe that the pictures of dense rain- forests and misty coastlines that had hung up in my room as a kid were right in front of me. My friend, sister and I forgot to book a campground, which happened to be another stroke of luck because the only open site proved to be our favorite. Graves Creek camp- ground is located in the heart of the rainforest, surrounded by trees draped in lichen, ferns that look like they could have existed during the Mesozoic Era, and moss that lined the forest floor like a carpet, providing the perfect padding for a tent. Each day was spent in as- tonishment at the beauty of waterfalls cascading into glimmering natural pools, golden salmonberries and crim- son huckleberries, and giant maples adorned with thick layers of moss. Though we didn’t see any wildlife even close to the size of the bears – the most we saw were a blind vole who we guided across the road and a hoard of raccoons that crept around our campground at night, in search of s’mores crumbs – the scenery was enough to take our breath away. Within my own state, I was fortunate enough to see Mesa Verde in Southern Colorado. Known for the well-preserved Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings and petroglyphs, Mesa Verde is one of the most fascinating parks I visited. It is rich with archaeological evidence of ancient Native American cultures, including the pithouses built into the ground for better insulation, a sun temple used for celebrations and celestial observations, and nearly 600 dwellings wedged into depressions in the side of cliffs. I felt so outrageously lucky to view just a small piece of his- tory, to hike among the relics of a com- munity that had walked the same paths more than 800 years ago. With all the luck I considered myself having on these adventures, I think it’s incredibly important to reflect on gratitude and privilege. Not many people have the opportunity I did to visit national parks and see the mag- nificence of our world. Not only are na- tional parks located in areas far beyond the reach of urban communities, they are also expensive to enter: a day pass at Yellowstone is $35, and although it is used to fund the preservation of the park, it is still a hefty fee for many people. This year has also brought to light the systematic racism linked to national parks – in July, ABC News shared government data that found that our 419 national parks remain overwhelmingly, disproportionately white. In its most recent 10-year survey, the National Park Service found that 77 percent of visitors were white and just 23 percent were people of color. In 2018, only 6 percent of national park visitors identified as black. This not only ties back to transportation and cost of entrance, but also to the racist history underlying environmental spaces and organizations. For example, this summer, the Sierra Club spoke out about its predominantly white leaders and racist founder, John Muir. It has said that it is committed to diversifying the organization as well as joining the cause against racism, though holding these organizations accountable is cru- cial for avid environmentalists. Even outdoor activities – camping, hiking, climbing – are points of privilege, if not for their lack of representation then for the cost of equipment. It is deeply im- portant to remember this when trav- eling to a national park, a place where indigenous communities were forcibly uprooted by the federal government so that space could be made into national parks that preserve untouched, “pristine” wilderness. Although national parks are public land and accessible to anyone, they are also places where cruel treatment of many groups was an integral part of their establishment, and continues to occur, often unnoticed, today. National parks are the ultimate example of picturesque wilderness that many of us, myself included, see as inspiration and fuel for environmental advocacy and conservation efforts. However, the history of discrimination and current disparity in demographics linked to the parks are highly salient and necessary in the discussion of environmental justice and the fight for equality. Within the wonderful opportunity to visit a nation- al park is also the privilege to do so, and recognizing this was a crucial aspect of my experience and understanding of the parks that we hold so dearly. By Hannah Murphy
The past few months have left many heartbroken, angry, and con- fused in response to the blatant racism still prevalent across the country. The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless other Black Americans has sparked outrage and protests over police bru- tality. In addition to the programming created by our new Activism Commit- tee centered around environmental racism and racial justice as a whole, our team at the Environmental Eagle will use our platform to further explore specific issues related to environmen- tal racism and its intersectionality with the Black Lives Matter movement. Our hope is to create a space for safe conver- sation, education, and action centered around addressing racial inequality. Statistics show that racial and ethnic minority groups are dispro- portionately affected by the current COVID-19 pandemic. Simultaneously, in these past few months the world has also experienced the disastrous effects of climate change through events such as wildfires, hurricanes, and record breaking temperatures. It is again the minority communities that are expe- riencing the worst effects. In order to understand climate change, the serious implications of environmental racism must also be understood. The environmental justice movement originated during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s. People of color addressed the statistical fact that African-Americans, Lati- nos, Asians and Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans are more negatively impacted by the effects of pollution and other forms of environmental degradation than white communities. “Whether by conscious design or institutional neglect, communities of color in urban ghettos, in rural ‘poverty pockets,’ or on economically impoverished Native-American res- ervations face some of the worst envi- ronmental devastation in the nation,” Professor Robert Bullard, father of the environmental justice movement, writes. The environmental justice movement launched the term environ- mental racism. Environmental racism refers to the disproportionate manner in which minority groups are impact- ed by climate change and other envi- ronmental hazards in both practice and on a policy level. Environmental racism takes many different forms, but is perhaps most prevalent in the issues of exposure to air pollution and envi- ronmental disasters. Air pollution is a major climate and public health crisis. Air pollution is a mix of particles and gases that can reach toxic levels and is due to a com- bination of factors such as fuel com- bustion, heat and power generation, in- dustrial facilities, and municipal waste sites. According to estimates from the World Health Organization, 9 out of 10 people are breathing air with high levels of pollutants, and it has led to seven million premature deaths due to air pollution every year. Air pollution has the obvious environmental impact of high concentrations of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane being trapped in the ozone layer, causing a warming climate. Worldwide, people of color are more likely to be breathing polluted air, and the United States is no different. In the US, black people are exposed to 1.5 times more particulate matter than white people, according to the National Center for Environ- mental Assessment. The 2017 “Fumes Across the Fence-Line” study by the NAACP and Clean Air Task Force cites black people being exposed to 38 percent more polluted air than white people, and are 75 percent more likely to live in a fence-line community. A fence-line community is located directly next to a company or indus- trial facility, and as a result the com- munity is negatively impacted by its geographic location. It is no accident that communities of color are more exposed to air pollution. During the New Deal era, the Federal Housing Administration de- liberately segregated neighborhoods by blocking African Americans from purchasing mortgages in suburban neighborhoods and therefore pushing them into urban housing projects. This is referred to as redlining, in which the government intentionally forced communities of color into the less desirable geographic locations. “The segregation of our met- ropolitan areas today leads to [...] stag- nant inequality, because families are much less able to be upwardly mobile when they’re living in segregated neighborhoods where opportunity is absent,” Richard Rothstein, author of The Color of Law, writes. “If we want greater equality in this society, if we want a lowering of the hostil- ity between police and young Afri- can-American men, we need to take steps to desegregate.” It is these same neighbor-hoods of low opportunity where air pollution is the worst. The deliberate segregation by the US government also has a pro- found impact on the disproportionate way in which communities of color are more severely impacted by natural disasters. As the climate changes, an increase in wildfires, tropical storms, and other extreme weather events are becoming the new normal and it is communities of color who are suffer- ing the consequences of these events the most. One only has to look at the example of Hurricane Katrina. Hur- ricane Katrina devastated the black community of New Orleans, largely due to the fact that predominantly Black neighborhoods were concen- trated in the eastern low-lying region of the city, which saw the worst of the flooding after the flood-protection system failed. Other storms repeat similar trends of Black communities being the hardest hit due to location and a lack of infrastructure. Other storms also repeat the pattern of Black communities not getting enough gov- ernmental support in the aftermath of the storm. These are just a few of the examples of the multitude of ways in which the fight for environmental jus- tice and racial justice are connected. For far too long environmental ac- tivists have had a history of excluding voices of color from the movement, out of fear that racial justice concerns would detract from their environ- mental agenda. However, it is clear that to be for the environment is to be for racial justice and equality. By Carmen Hamm
Real Food BC, one of Boston College’s food justice and sustain- ability clubs, is learning how to adapt to a unique semester this fall in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Typically, Real Food hosts cooking classes, speaker series, and hosts homemade student dinners. This year, however, the club has needed to invent new ways to explore its three main focus areas of dining policy, composting, and gardening due to social distancing guidelines. Real Food shares a close part- nership with BC Dining, which has allowed for the organizations to collaborate on programming to help students who are looking for alternatives to the traditional dining hall. Both groups are promoting the community supported agriculture (CSA) program, as students are choosing to prepare food in their dorms now more than ever before. The CSA program allows students to invest in local farming and re- ceive fresh, seasonal produce in return. Students who do not want to commit to the farmshare can instead choose to attend the weekly farmer’s market outside of Corcoran Commons to purchase fresh produce with either their meal plan dollars or via regular payment options. Both groups are also hoping to host virtual cooking classes with recipes that incorpo- rate ingredients from the market. Real Food also sponsors a composting initiative, now in its second year, which allows students to close the food loop from the comfort of their own dorm. Partic- ipating rooms receive a Real Food sponsored kitchen bin to collect their food waste. Once full, students can empty their bin into one of three communal collection bins centrally located behind Rubenstein Hall, Stayer Hall, and the 2000 Reservoir Apartments. This year, 38 dorm rooms are participating, with 12 of those rooms being from the Sustainabil- ity Living & Learning Community located in 2K. Each participating room attended a virtual compost training session, learning about the benefits, do’s and don’ts, and logistics of composting. All collected compost is then outsourced to Save That Stuff, a recycling and waste services company located in Charlestown, MA. Additionally, Real Food is con- tinuing its organic garden, located across Beacon Street from McElroy. The group has already hosted two socially-distanced planting days where members planted a variety of fall vegetable staples, such as beets and carrots. Since the club cannot host large meal gatherings this semester, the garden harvest is open to all Real Food members for individual use. The newest initiative to look forward to from Real Food this year will be the development and launch of their new website. The site will not only display ongoing projects and ways that students can get involved, but will also serve as a source of cooking inspiration, food justice news, and local food events. by Anh Nguyen
When countries around the world implemented lockdown initiatives and pressed pause to non-essential businesses, keeping people in their homes, it seemed like the social impacts of COVID- 19 might be an environmental silver lining. With people off the streets, there has been a surge in reports emerging from across the globe of blue skies becoming visible. Air quality has seen drastic improvements all over the world, especially over quarantined regions, with levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and fine particulate matter significantly reduced since lockdowns began. But the same can’t be said about the world’s oceans. The pandemic has left an abundance of a new form of pollution in the ocean: coronavirus waste. An alarming number of discarded masks, gloves, hand sanitizer bottles, and other PPE waste are being found on sea- beds and washed up on beaches. “How would you like swimming with COVID-19 this summer?,” Laurent Lombard, a diver and founder of the nonprofit Opération Mer Propre (Operation Clean Sea), asked in a Facebook post. Lombard’s organization has found an concerning amount of coronavirus waste during their sea cleanup operations. Lombard warned on Facebook that “soon there may be more masks than jellyfish” in the Mediterranean sea. On the other side of the world, OceansAsia, a marine conservation organization, is also concerned about the growing number of masks being discovered during its plastic pollution research. Before the pandemic, some eight million tonnes of plastics entered the ocean every year, adding to the estimated 150 million tonnes already circulating in marine environments, according to the nonprofit Ocean Conservancy. The pandemic has triggered an estimated global use of 129 billion face masks and 65 billion gloves every month. One study estimates that if every person used a single-use face mask a day for a year, in the UK alone, it could create an additional 66,000 tonnes of contaminated waste and 57,000 tonnes of plastic packaging. While masks and gloves are much needed tools to fight against the virus, they also run the risk of being disposed of incorrectly, entering ocean waters and adding to the already immense and still ever-growing problem of ocean pollution. With this new environmental issue, it is important for us, as members of the global community, to be conscious of how we dispose of our masks and other coronavirus preventative tools to ensure the health and wellbeing of the environment and wildlife around us. By Alec Goos
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically uprooted the world in which we live, leaving the global community at a crossroads. When global lockdowns initially began this past March, carbon emissions across several countries were dramatically reduced, as everything and everyone paused for a brief moment in time. “Restricted human interac- tion with nature during this crisis time has appeared as a blessing for nature and environment,” Snehal Lokhandwala and Pratibha Gautam, researchers affiliated with the Shroff S. R. Rotary Institute of Chemical Technology in India, write. “After declaration of lockdown due to COVID-19, quality of air has started to improve and all other environmen- tal parameters such as water quality in rivers have started giving a positive sign towards restoring.” Similarly, stay-at-home orders have allowed white-collar workers to work remotely since March, reducing individual emission totals due to the lack of a daily commute. The pandemic has also severely reduced air travel, both for business and personal use, which has cut carbon emissions. “The Rhodium Group, an economic consulting firm, estimates transportation accounts for slightly more than half of the 20 percent drop in American carbon dioxide emissions recorded since the United States went into lockdown,” Benjamin Storrow and Maxine Joselow, reporters for Environment & Energy Publishing, said. Unfortunately, any environmental reliefs that a decrease in travel provides will likely be outweighed by the long-term economic implications of COVID-19. According to the PEW Re- search Center, the rise in unemploy- ment due to COVID-19 is “substan- tially greater” than that due to the Great Recession. With millions of Americans newly-unemployed, it is likely that the US, among other nations, will engage in drastic measures to restore its economy in order to avoid another recession, or depression.Regarding environmental de- regulation, there has been pushback from both Republicans and Democrats alike. However, both prior to and during the pandemic, the Trump Administration has continued to de- regulate key environmental protections. “President Trump signed an executive order that calls on agencies to waive required environmental reviews of infrastructure projects to be built during the pandemic-driv- en economic crisis,” The New York Times said. “At the same time, the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a new rule that changes the way the agency uses cost bene- fit analyses to enact Clean Air Act regulations, effectively limiting the strength of future air pollution con- trols.” Worse, government funding meant to support small businesses impacted by COVID-19 has favored oil and gas industries. For example, while the US Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has been relatively successful in helping to ease the bur- dens of many small businesses, there have been hiccups in its rollout. In an interview with Nation- al Geographic, Luka Ross, a senior policy analyst at the environmental group Friends of the Earth, said that the oil and gas industries are receiving billions in public funds via aggressive lobbying. The industries have sub- sequently seen tax changes, breaks on the royalties usually paid to drill or mine on public lands, and access to the Federal Reserve’s $600 billion Main Street Lending program. “There’s a serious risk that polluters could emerge from this crisis bolder and potentially more profitable than ever,” Ross said. By Reed Newcomb
Not all heroes wear capes (or in this case, robes), but Ruth Bader Ginsburg did. Ginsburg, also known by her initials RBG, served as a justice on the United States Supreme Court from 1993 until her death in 2020 at the age of 87 following a long battle with metastatic pancreatic cancer. Nominated by President Clinton, Ginsburg belonged to the liberal wing of the court and was the second woman to serve on the bench after Sandra Day O’Connor. “Our Na tion has lost a jurist of historic sta ture,” Chief Justice John Roberts sa id. “We a t the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her — a tireless and resolute champion of justice.” Ginsburg served as a preeminent advocate for women’s rights, even prior to her 27 year tenure on the court. Before serving as a justice, Ginsburg personally argued six cases across the bench of an all-male court as lawyer and defender of the 14th Amendment. Her goal was to establish that the 14th guaranteed equal protection not only in cases of racial discrimination but also regarding sex discrimination. One by one, Ginsburg won and established precedents through each case, winning five of the six she presented to the court prior to her time on the bench. Her advocacy for women’s rights alongside her strong progres- sive voting record a nd tightly com- posed dissents aga inst a conservative majority in recent yea rs ea rned her the title “Notorious R.B.G.” Coined by law student Shana Knizhnik, the title is a play on the na me of the Notorious B.I.G., a rapper a nd fellow Brooklyn native. A documenta ry film of Gins- burg’s life titled “RBG” released in 2018, which focused on these ea rly legal ba ttles tha t would eventually shape the future of women’s rights in the U.S. Ginburg’s death was met with concern tha t Republica ns would exploit the na rrow timing between her dea th a nd the upcom- ing presidential election in order to confirm a third justice during Pres- ident Donald Trump’s first term. In Courtesy of the US Supreme Court-ices. If Ginsburg were replaced by a conserva tive-lea ning justice, the court would face a 6-3 conserva tive majority on a n often ideologically pola rized bench. Such a majority would have a dra ma tic impact on social, environmental, and economic policy for generations to come. During the last presidential election cycle in 2016, Kentucky Sena tor a nd Sena te Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to hold hea rings for former President Ba rack Oba ma’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Ga rla nd, follow- ing the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia. McConnell a t the time justified his action by stating that Scalia’s spot should not be filled until after the election, effectively giving the people a say through their votes. However, McConnell has since backtracked on the precedent he set in 2016, now sta ting tha t he pla ns to move forwa rd with a vote for a new nominee put forward by Trump. McConnell’s change in stance has been met with hypocrisy, but he argues that since the Senate and White House a re both controlled by the same party in 2020, take her place until after the presi- dential election.final request that a nother judge not days, Ginsburg reitera ted “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed,” Ginsburg said. As de facto leader of the court’s liberal bloc, Ginsburg served as a strong voice against a 5-4 majority of Republican-appointed jus- 5 unlike 2016, the case is different. It should be noted that the House is currently controlled by the Demo- cra tic Pa rty, showcasing a n inter- nal division between the Congress cha mbers. Connecticut Sena tor Rich- a rd Blumenthal has called out McCo- nnell’s hypocrisy in recent Tweets, citing McConnell’s own words from 2016 as precedent for 2020. “As to the appointment of Ginsburg’s successor, I couldn’t improve on wha t McConnell sa id a fter Scalia’s dea th: The America n people must have a voice in the se- lection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vaca ncy should not be filled until we have a new president,” Blumenthal sa id. The Republican held Senate holds a narrow 53 sea t majority and needs at least 51 votes in order to confirm a ny nominee appointed by Trump. However, several Republican senators have echoed Blumenthal’s concerns, citing the close proximity to the election as reason to hold off on any nominee hea rings. To date, at least four Republican Senators, including Maine’s Susa n Collins, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, South Ca rolina’s Lindsey Graham, and Iowa’s Chuck Grassley have stated that they would oppose a vote before the election, according to CNN. Assuming these four sena tors hold true to their promise, then a new Supreme Court nominee will not be heard before the Senate until a fter the presidential election, as Ginsburg had requested in her final days. “This close to the election, there is no way that the United Sta tes Sena te ca n or should act before the voters decide,” Blumen- thal sa id. By Carli Brenner
Hey everyone! I’m Carli Brenner, MCAS ’21, and alongside Molly Funk, MCAS ’22, and Kayla Vidal, MCAS ’23, I’m excited to announce that we’ll be serving as co-chairs of EcoPledge’s new Activism Committee! In addition to EcoPledge’s Outreach, Event Planning, and Volunteer committees, Activism will serve as a committee focused on environmental justice and political conversation. Now more than ever before, our hope is that the Activism Committee can serve as a safe space for students to get involved and make a difference. Specifically, we hope to highlight instances of environmental racism and inequalities in our local Boston communities as well as our national and global communities, and in turn give students a chance to respond and enact tangible change. Though the coronavirus pandemic has caused us to reimagine our initial ambitions for the Activism Committee, we are eager to work with all of you, learn together, and enact real change. Together we will continue to grow and educate ourselves about our roles in the Black Lives Matter movement through several keynote speaker events and environmental racism educational events, such as environmental racism educational tours in Boston. And of course, we will follow the upcoming November presidential election, help voters get registered, and connect with our local representatives through online and phone events. In all, we hope to create a new space for safe conversation, education, and action centered around community-building and combating racial inequalities. As we continue to learn and grow, we hope you’ll join us and bring your unique perspectives and awesome ideas to the table! Peace & Trees, Carli, Molly, and Kayla By Alex Goos
Incumbent MA Senator Ed Markey’s primary win against challenger Joe Kennedy III was nothing short of historic. This will be the first time that a member of the Kennedy family will not hold congressional office since 1946, outside of the two years between Patrick Kennedy’s departure from office and Joe Kennedy’s election to the MA-04 seat. This election also marked the first time that a member of the Kennedy family has ever lost a state-wide election in MA. “Forging a coalition of younger and more liberal Democrats, the sort of voters who once formed the core of the Kennedy base, Mr. Markey was winning about 54 percent of the vote when Mr. Kennedy called him to concede,” New York Times writer Jonathan Martin said. Political consensus in many MA circles believed Kennedy would win in a landslide. However, the Kennedy campaign underestimated the power of young progressive voters in the state, many of whom rallied in support behind Markey for his role as co-author of the Green New Deal. The Green New Deal, co-authored by Markey and NY Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, was introduced in 2019 as a congressional resolution to serve as a grand plan to address both climate change and economic inequality. Leading up to the election youth-led progressive groups, such as the Sunrise Movement, feared that a Markey primary loss would set back progress on the Green New Deal and future progressive climate legislation. “Markey was the most prominent figure on the Green New Deal aside from A.O.C.,” said Varshini Prakash, the Sunrise Movement’s executive director to the New York Times. “If he goes down in a Democratic primary, immediately the story that gets spun out of that is, ʻThe Green New Deal is a losing political proposition.’” Although Markey has a solid record as a progressive legislator and is well-liked among his MA constituents, his campaign lacked political identity until this past election cycle. In order to hold his rank against Kennedy, his campaign recognized the need to take a stand. Thus Markey chose to embrace the role of progressive warrior, rallying behind the key issues for younger voters in MA, and the results prove that this strategy can be quite successful. “I just would urge other politicians to get on board, and take the same incredible adventure,” Markey said. “Take that trip that I just took.” As the progressive wing of the Democratic Party becomes larger and gains prominent voices such as those of AOC and Senator Bernie Sanders, other at-risk incumbents may want to use Markey’s campaign success as a model in order to save their own. Progressives, particularly young people, want bold and decisive action in regards to the climate crisis among other policy concerns. More moderate candidates, including Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, may find similar success in gaining young voters by highlighting these progressive concerns as a larger part of the campaign platforms. “The best thing that Joe Biden could do would be to speak in clear, exciting visionary terms about exactly what he plans to do to tackle the climate crisis, racial inequality and economic inequality,” Prakash said to the New York Times. By Cosette Patterson
California’s wildfire season is only halfway over and this year’s incidents have already broken an all-time record. As of September 7, the National Interagency Fire Center reported 22 large wildfires currently burning across the state. More than 2,178,015 acres have burned across CA this year, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). That’s equivalent to the Boston College main campus multiplied by more than 5,600. Although the fires began with a siege of lightning strikes across Northern California on August 17, more are igniting each day and have spread across the entire state, bringing CA’s fires into the hundreds since the multi-day lightning event. The most recent is the Bobcat Fire in Los Angeles County, which began on September 6. This marked the eighth fire to have begun in the first week of September. 7,563 wildfires in CA have been recorded in 2020, according to the Cal Fire website, though this number continues to increase every day. Eight people have died and 3,867 structures have been damaged or destroyed. As fires spread through the state, more people are finding themselves and their homes in the midst of the crisis. On the weekend of September 5, about 200 people camping in the Sierra National Forest were trapped while trying to flee the flames Saturday night and into Sunday morning. Although a rescue operation by military helicopters finally arrived after about 12 hours, many were forced to find refuge at a reservoir or attempt to drive out of the wall of fire and smoke, according to The New York Times. About 20 people were injured, with some in critical condition from serious burns. The firefighters themselves are risking both the imminent threat of burns as well as the spread of COVID-19. Many have been injured in their desperate attempts to constrain the fires. Another problem remains in the use of inmates who are able to serve as seasonal firefighters. Due to the pandemic, CA granted early release to thousands of prisoners to depopulate crowded facilities and reduce coronavirus cases. Because of this, less than half of CA’s inmate firefighting crews were active for duty this summer, according to an National Public Radio (NPR) article published in late July. Those that are still fighting the fires are not only facing exposure to the coronavirus, but also low pay: according to NPR, inmate firefighters earn between $2.90 and $5.12 per day, plus $1 per hour when assigned to active emergencies. Once released from custody, state law will not let these prisoners become regular, full-time municipal firefighters, despite CA’s shortage of these roles. Dario Gurrola, a seasonal firefighter, is suing the state to change this policy, according to his article in NPR published on August 27. Along with the devastation suffered by the CA population and infrastructure, the fires have also severely affected the state’s natural spaces. CA’s national parks, notably Sierra Nevada and Yosemite, are among the most vulnerable areas. The Creek Fire, beginning in Fresno County on September 4, has been moving northward toward Madera County and Yosemite. As of September 6, it has burned 78,790 acres and is at zero containment, according to Cal Fire. Surrounding the horrific, immediate impacts of the wildfires is the looming connection between the sheer magnitude of these incidents and the broader issue of climate change. Southern California alone has warmed by three degrees over the last century, according to a 2016 study by the EPA. The warming climate due to anthropogenic activities has contributed to more frequent and severe wildfires in the western U.S., as found in CA’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment Statewide Summary Report from 2018. CA is only one of the 13 states currently reporting large wildfires listed by the National Interagency Fire Center, totaling 76 large active fires and 2,295,211 acres burned. Montana has the second most with 11 fires, followed by Arizona with eight and Colorado, Oregon, and Idaho, which each have six. Increasing temperatures in CA have caused extreme and prolonged drought, making the landscape more susceptible to wildfires caused by lightning strikes. Climate change is also reducing the fraction of precipitation falling as snow and causing whatever is being stored to melt. Runoff from snowmelt contributes about 70 percent of total water supply in the Colorado River Basin, which supplies approximately 55 percent of Southern California’s water. The rapid growth of the state’s population and land use as well as the development outward into wild spaces is also contributing to a higher probability of wildfires. Climate change may mean that wildfires will occur at higher elevations, which has already been seen in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Findings from the report referenced above indicate that high emissions scenarios could mean a 77 percent increase in mean area burned by the end of the century, with extreme wildfires (burning over 25,000 acres) occurring 50 percent more frequently. Although predicting wildfires is complex and the science behind it is not certain, the effects of climate change are already evident in CA and wildfires are some of the most alarming. More real-time updates can be found on the California Wildfires Map provided by the Los Angeles Times. |
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