Congressional inability to devise a health care plan for the US is not the only impediment to good health care. Contaminated water pipes and old bridges are also roadblocks.
According to a new UN report, more than two billion people around the world do not have access to clean, safe water in their homes. Most of the work of getting water falls to women and girls.
How could green groups attract more diverse volunteers? Maybe they could put more time and energy into outreach toward the people most affected by environmental injustices.
The Flint water crisis was one of the few cases of environment-related social injustices that reached national attention in recent years.
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Addressing social and health inequalities from pollution is no longer a priority at the EPA. What did the Office of Environmental Justice do and what will happen if it’s shut down?
When scientists stand up, do they lose standing?
Liz Lemon
In the wake of the Flint water crisis and with a new notably anti-science president, U.S. scientists are reevaluating how to navigate the tension between speaking out and a fear of losing research funding.
Donald Trump meets with professors and students at the Cleveland Arts and Social Sciences Academy in Cleveland, Ohio.
Mike Segar/Reuters
Scientists must bear some responsibility for the post-truth era and the current crisis in democracy.
The incoming EPA will likely lean toward less oversight over state public health programs – and lax enforcement is one of the causes behind the Flint water crisis.
Rebecca Cook/Reuters
The hostility of Scott Pruitt, Trump’s nominee to head the EPA, toward climate change rules is well-known. But his anti-regulatory stance could easily set back years of work on environmental justice.
Water tower in Flint, Michigan.
REUTERS/Rebecca Cook
High blood lead levels in children in Flint, Michigan were obscured in part because of an outdated method of studying public health – the ZIP code. Here’s why we need to make use of a better way.
A big data analysis indicates the focus on service line replacement may only go so far at fixing Flint’s water issues.
George Thomas/flickr
By tapping into diverse data sources in Flint, researchers can predict vulnerable homes and even have found that home water service lines may not be the biggest contributor to lead poisoning.
Sampling is a powerful scientific tool - when it’s used honestly.
Shutterstock
Some water researchers are ignoring the evidence offered by sampling if it doesn’t fit their preconceived notions. But science should always be honest and open.
Imam Syed Shafeeq Rahman of the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce speaks with the media following a prayer for victims of the Orlando shooting.
Joe Skipper/Reuters
Because Muslim Americans are an extreme ‘outgroup,’ they’re all the more vulnerable to discrimination, especially in the wake of negative media coverage.
Residents of Flint, Michigan wait at a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C. on the water crisis.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Hillary Clinton has elevated environmental justice to a high level as a presidential nominee, but as the Flint water crisis demonstrates, the deeper problem lies in ineffective government agencies.
Is the water crisis in Flint, Michigan evidence that governments need a new way to make decisions?
REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Unlike the U.S., some European countries have stopped using chlorine to disinfect drinking water to avoid changing the taste and potential health problems. Which approach is better?
Michigan National Guard members distribute water to a line of residents in their cars in Flint, Michigan.
Rebecca Cook/Reuters
The Flint water crisis has left people across the country wondering if lead poisoning is a problem in their community. But it’s very hard to find out how widespread this problem is.
Virginia Tech students process water samples from homes in Flint.
Flint Water Study/Facebook
Virginia Tech University engineering students blew the whistle on Flint, Michigan’s toxic drinking water. Hailed as heroes, they’ve also learned that it isn’t easy to do science for the public good.
Justice scale and flag.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office/Wikimedia
Many observers have called for criminal prosecutions in Flint, Michigan’s water crisis. A law professor with experience in federal and state government reviews the laws that may have been broken.
Lead can linger in bones.
X-ray via www.shutterstock.com.
Lead might not be in paint or gasoline anymore, but since it doesn’t break down in the home or the environment it remains a problem throughout the U.S.
Dana and David Dornsife Professor of Psychology and Director of the Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Professor of History and Director of the Center for the Study of Inequalities, Social Justice, and Policy, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York)