As climate change impacts become more visible and the urgency for climate action continues, it is important to remember that we need to address emissions from all sectors, not just from fossil fuels. In this episode, we dig into the policies, legal reforms, and actions the United States should undertake to make the agricultural industry carbon neutral. 

Interest and urgency in advancing environmental justice (EJ) has gained new momentum. As such, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to proactively address EJ issues. How might companies’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitments strengthen and work in tandem with EJ initiatives?  In this episode, Stacey Sublett Halliday and Julius Redd of Beveridge & Diamond recap recent EJ policy developments and then talk with Matthew Tejada, Director of EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice, and Samantha Phillips Beers, Director of the EPA Region III Office of Communities, Tribes, and Environmental Assessment, about the intersection of EJ and ESG. The episode is part of the Groundtruth series created in partnership with Beveridge & Diamond, one of the nation’s leading environmental law firms.

This past spring, the Environmental Law Institute released A Toolkit for Incorporating Food Waste in Municipal Climate Action Plans, which provides municipalities and stakeholders with model provisions that will make it easier to incorporate food waste measures into municipal climate action plans. In this episode, ELI’s Linda Breggin and Akielly Hu speak to contributors to the report, Kendra Abkowitz, Chief Sustainability and Resilience Officer at Metro Nashville/Davidson County, and Darby Hoover, a Senior Resource Specialist at the NRDC. 

On February 14, ELI launched the Pro Bono Clearinghouse to ensure that communities with viable environmental legal matters get the representation they need, whether that be in a courtroom, in front of an agency, or in a more facilitative or consultative fashion. In this episode, Kristine Perry, a staff attorney at ELI, is joined by Scott Wilson Badenoch Jr., a Visiting Attorney at ELI, and Arielle King, ELI’s Environmental Justice Staff Attorney, to talk about ELI’s newest environmental justice initiative and how it works. 

Environmental Justice (EJ) has gained new momentum in recent years, amplified by a global focus on social justice, climate, and equity. Yet this new-found energy and focus on environmental is best understood through the lens of those who have been working toward EJ for decades. In this episode, John Cruden, a Principal at Beveridge & Diamond, talks to renowned EJ leader and advocate Benjamin F. Wilson. Ben, who recently retired after serving years as Chairman of Beveridge & Diamond, has deep experience with EJ representations and is a recognized leader on diversity, equity and inclusion issues in the legal profession.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment & Natural Resources Division (ENRD) is tasked with enforcing the United States’ civil and criminal environmental laws. In this episode, Nicole Noelliste, a managing associate in the environmental practice at Sidley Austin LLP, talks with John Cruden, former Assistant Attorney General of the ENRD (2015-2017), and David Buente, former Chief of the ENRD’s Environmental Enforcement Section (1985-1990). John and David share insights on the organizational development of the Environmental Crimes Section and Environmental Enforcement Section of ENRD and discuss key landmark cases such as Love Canal. The episode is part of The Enforcement Angle series, featuring conversations about state and federal enforcement of environmental laws and regulations with senior enforcement officials and thought leaders on environmental enforcement in the United States and globally.

Sharks play an essential role in the marine ecosystem. But many species of migratory sharks and rays have become endangered due to overfishing and excessive bycatch in industrial fisheries. And given their migratory nature, sharks and rays are “beyond the national jurisdiction” of any one nation and therefore difficult to protect and regulate. Greta Swanson, a Visiting Attorney at ELI, offers insight on key international agreements that regulate the conservation and management of migratory sharks and rays.

Environmental justice embraces the principle that all people deserve equal access to environmental protection and enforcement while acknowledging the fact that, both historically and still today, this fails to play out in reality. Recognizing that the legal system has contributed to an unequal distribution of environmental burdens and benefits, ELI is committed to providing research and educational tools to help alleviate the harm faced by environmental justice communities across the nation. In this episode, Arielle King, ELI’s Environmental Justice Staff Attorney, shares with listeners some of the tools ELI is developing to eliminate the harmful impacts of environmental injustice. 

Last November, as the world focused its attention on the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, high school students in Dane County, Wisconsin, co-sponsored and moderated a climate action conference of their own that connected COP26 to local climate initiatives and progress. Rebecca Kihslinger, a Senior Science and Policy Analyst at ELI, talks to four of the student organizers — Daphne Wu, Claire Neblett, Kirshna Elwell, and Felicia Zheng — to learn more. 

Interest and urgency in advancing environmental justice has gained new momentum. The Biden-Harris Administration has placed an unprecedented federal focus on environmental justice using a whole of government approach. Meanwhile, a growing list of states continue to develop, implement, and enforce EJ-focused legislation, accelerated by the intensity at the federal level. Will this momentum carry into the new year? In this episode, Stacey Halliday of Beveridge & Diamond talks to two EJ leaders at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Charles Lee, Senior Policy Advisor, and Matthew Tejada, the Director of the Office of Environmental Justice – to find out  what’s in store for 2022. This episode is part of the Groundtruth series created in partnership with Beveridge & Diamond, one of the nation’s leading environmental law firms.