On this week’s Sustainability Now!, your host, Justin Mog, grabs his gavel for a conversation about Earthjustice, with Sharmeen Morrison, a Senior Associate Attorney with Earthjustice’s Biodiversity Defense Program, and Thomas Cmar, a senior attorney for Earthjustice’s Clean Energy Program. Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit public interest environmental law organization. They wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people’s health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change. Learn more at https://earthjustice.org The Biodiversity Defense Program engages in national litigation to confront the major drivers of biodiversity loss, including habitat destruction and over-exploitation of wildlife. Sharmeen Morrison has worked on matters to protect Florida manatees, Mexican gray wolves, and golden-cheeked warblers of Texas Hill Country, among other species. Prior to joining Biodiversity Defense, she was a member of Earthjustice’s Northeast Regional Office, where she worked to protect public health from toxic chemicals in consumer products and contaminants in drinking water and participated in regional advocacy to promote a shift from fossil fuels to clean energy sources. Sharmeen received her J.D. from NYU School of Law, where she was a Root-Tilden-Kern public-interest scholar and served as Diversity and Membership Editor on the NYU Law Review. She received her B.A. in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. Thomas Cmar is a senior attorney for the Clean Energy Program, and is based in Cincinnati. Thomas first joined Earthjustice in 2012 after working for six years as an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, where he specialized in energy and water issues. Thomas was deputy managing attorney of the Earthjustice Coal Program from 2018 to 2021. In 2021, Thomas moved back home to Ohio and spent a year working in private practice before rejoining Earthjustice in 2022. Thomas has also worked as an adjunct lecturer in the Environmental Policy & Culture Program at Northwestern Univ., as an attorney with the International Labor Rights Fund in D.C., and as a law clerk for U.S. Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He is a 2004 graduate of Harvard Law School and has a B.A. in Politics & Philosophy from the Univ. of Pittsburgh. Learn more: - Earthjustice's work at the PSC and on LG&E’s proposals: https://www.lpm.org/news/2023-08-31/fossil-fuels-failed-kentucky-utility-customers-during-winter-blackouts - Learn more about subsidies to cryptocurrency mining operations: https://earthjustice.org/feature/cryptocurrency-mining-kentucky - In August, the Commission rejected a proposed contract for a massive new facility in eastern KY: https://earthjustice.org/press/2023/kentucky-rejects-controversial-subsidies-for-cryptomining-company - But then, in Sept., this happened: https://earthjustice.org/press/2023/kentucky-utility-regulators-move-to-protect-kentucky-power-customers-from-footing-the-bill-for-a-cryptomining-company - How the biodiversity crisis impacts all of us: https://earthjustice.org/experts/timothy-preso/how-the-biodiversity-crisis-impacts-all-of-us - Great Salt Lake case: https://earthjustice.org/press/2023/lawsuit-targets-state-of-utah-for-failing-to-protect-the-great-salt-lake - Golden-cheeked warbler fight: https://earthjustice.org/article/meet-the-texas-bird-that-is-a-bulwark-for-biodiversity As always, our feature is followed by your community action calendar for the week, so get your calendars out and get ready to take action for sustainability NOW! Sustainability Now! is hosted by Dr. Justin Mog and airs on Forward Radio, 106.5fm, WFMP-LP Louisville, every Monday at 6pm and Tuesdays at 12am and 10am. http://forwardradio.org The music in this podcast is courtesy of Appalatin and is used by permission. http://appalatin.com