Vox Populi

A curated webspace for Poetry, Politics, and Nature with over 20,000 daily subscribers and over 8,000 archived posts.

Molly Fisk: Early

Small towns at daybreak are so nostalgic:
the only thing missing’s a train whistle.
Good morning, America. Mercenaries
in Portland last night teargassed a wall
of mothers. How long will we remember?

April 14, 2025 · 17 Comments

Anita Hofschneider: Environmental Justice as Birthright

Indigenous youth are using litigation to force change in political and economic systems that have long resisted calls to climate action. On Aug. 8, 2023, 13-year-old Kaliko was getting ready for … Continue reading

September 10, 2024 · 9 Comments

Khadija Ahmed: The Movement to Ban Plastic Production

Frontline communities continue to pay for plastics—from production to pollution. Now advocates are trying to reach consensus on a global plastics treaty before it’s too late.

July 25, 2024 · 2 Comments

Derrick Z. Jackson: How Climate Change and ‘Heat Islands’ are Killing Black People

America’s history of redlining and other forms of housing discrimination means that climate change and the Black community are on a deadly collision course.

May 30, 2023 · 2 Comments

Derrick Z. Jackson: Why Does White East Palestine, Ohio Get Apologies, But None for Black Cancer Alley?

East Palestine, Ohio is getting endless apologies as Cancer Alley in Louisiana deals daily with a petrochemical wall of denial.

March 29, 2023 · Leave a comment

Daja E. Henry: Environmental Justice Activists in Memphis Are Finally Turning the Tide

Black women, particularly mothers, are leading efforts to treat people currently harmed by toxic neighborhoods and prevent future damage.

March 21, 2023 · 4 Comments

Derrick Z. Jackson: Ethylene Oxide Adds to Toxic Burden for Memphis Residents

Children are particularly sensitive to ethylene oxide exposure as it can damage their DNA.

March 6, 2023 · 2 Comments

Nick Engelfried: Climate activists across the Global South and North unite to stop the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline

As a movement born in Uganda and Tanzania arrives in the United States, activists are drawing strength from lessons of earlier pipeline battles.

July 6, 2022 · Leave a comment

Derrick Z. Jackson: Roe v. Wade Draft Bodes Ill for Air, Wetlands and EPA

If Alito’s draft remains the foundation of the court’s final ruling, then he is also likely prepared to let white-run industry off the hook for fouling the land, air, rivers, and lakes, poisoning communities, which today are disproportionately of color.

May 23, 2022 · 3 Comments

Joan E. Bauer: Arcosanti

A dusty paint cloth of rust and ochre,
the desert before us as we pass shark fins
of agave & prickly-ribbed saguaro.

October 3, 2020 · 2 Comments

George Monbiot: Capitalism is destroying the Earth. We need a new human right for future generations

The young people taking to the streets for the climate strike are right: their future is being stolen. The economy is an environmental pyramid scheme, dumping its liabilities on the young and the unborn. Its current growth depends on intergenerational theft.

March 18, 2019 · 3 Comments

Kenya Downs: The Koch Brothers Vs. God

The fossil fuel lobby preached its gospel in Virginia. Now, black churches are fighting back.  Rev. Paul Wilson fastens enough buttons on his jacket to stay warm on a chilly … Continue reading

March 27, 2018 · Leave a comment

Maya Lewis: Civil Rights Are Green

A Concise History of Environmental Racism and Justice in the US I never knew the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C to be anything other than disgusting. My family would joke … Continue reading

October 12, 2017 · Leave a comment

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