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California’s Ebony Alert System, a version of the Amber Alert specifically designed to highlight missing youths and women of color, recently marked one year in use. In that time, over two dozen people have been recovered through the use of Ebony Alerts. Advocates for the system and critics of the way it currently operates say this number could have been higher with more knowledge and willingness on the part of authorities.

New York State Police detail incident Chianti Means, 33, and her children, 9-year-old Roman Rossman and 5-months-old Mecca Means, crossed the safety guard rail and fell to their deaths at Niagara Falls State Park, the New York State Park Police […]

When Europe mandated electronics companies to support USB-C chargers entirely by 2026, many rejoiced for convenience’s sake. Understandably, one kind of charger across brands and products is much easier than keeping track of variations. However, the frequent change in technology, leaving millions of products and wires obsolete, becomes additions to the mountainous e-waste accrual. 

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), e-waste is one of the fastest-growing streams of waste production in the world. As of 2022, less than a quarter of the 62 million tonnes of e-waste around the world were recorded as properly recycled and discarded. When e-waste, composed primarily of computers and household appliances, is disposed of improperly, neurotoxicants like lead can be released into the environment.

Much of the world’s e-waste arrives in countries with less disposal regulation — pregnant women and children are especially susceptible to potential chemical exposure. Many of the products disposed of incorrectly still contain valuable resources and informal waste picking/scavenging networks often employ children. The ILO estimates more than 16 million children work in the industrial and waste processing sector while the number of child laborers in the informal industry is unknown. 

Pregnant women working in e-waste processing are at risk of lead and mercury exposure, significantly increasing the potential for neonatal and neurodevelopmental complications. Some of the largest e-waste sites are in countries like Ghana, Nigeria, China, Kenya, and the Philippines. 

While the influx of old Apple chargers is unlikely to make a dent in the massive amounts of other waste, reducing e-waste production at any level is a necessary step to diminish landfills and protect populations around the world. A United States Geology survey found that recycling one million laptops saves the energy equivalent used by 3,500 homes.  Here are a few best practices to ensure e-waste is recycled and disposed of properly.

Recycling batteries

E-waste and battery disposal regulations depend on the locality around the country (visit Call2Recycle.org for state-specific steps). The Environmental Protection Agency advises against throwing away lithium-ion batteries along with household garbage and discarded at household waste collection sites. 

Recycling products

When it comes to larger electronic products, there are a number of ways to extend the lifespan of technology before moving toward disposal or recycling. Repairing and reselling are the first recommended steps to preserve the longevity of devices before they need to be processed through e-waste facilities. 

Once these devices have reached the end of their usage, there are a number of steps consumers should take to recycle products properly.

Wiping personal information, separating batteries from devices, and sealing any broken parts in a separate bag are necessary first steps for recycling electronic devices. Companies like Apple and Samsung have return programs for recyclable products while suppliers like Best Buy and Goodwill accept e-waste recycling as well. Organizations like e-stewards are committed to high standards for e-waste handling. 

Municipalities and states have provided various programs for technology recycling around the country. As electronics are constantly evolving, consumers can ensure changing devices and products don’t go to waste and stay out of landfills.

For everything from batteries for electric cars to circuit board connectors in smartphones, mined materials keep life as we know it, or anticipate it to be, going. Gold, tungsten, lithium, cobalt — various precious materials deep in the Earth’s crust are extracted to power some of the most innovative products of the century. 

Often, these advancements are an attempt to change the trajectory of historically unstainable and polluting forms of production. So as the demand for energy efficiency increases, so does the demand for the materials used to power them. However, both the methods to source these materials and the impact extraction has on local communities raise more flags for concern. For the future of energy efficiency, here’s what you need to know about conflicts surrounding mineral mining. 

What are conflict minerals?

Like “blood diamonds,” conflict minerals are materials that are extracted in areas of political instability or armed conflict and are often traded illegally to fund weapons. 

Recently, places like the Democratic Republic of Congo have received especially attention on social media as news of major conflict and labor violations are behind the materials needed for technology popular in the West. More than two-thirds of the world’s tantalum, a mineral necessary for electrical storage capacitors, is sourced from Eastern DRC and neighboring Rwanda.  Political instability since the early 2000s brought about the proliferation of armed militia groups, who often overtake extraction mines themselves and use profit to fund arms and artillery.

In 2024, the US Department of State issued a statement of concern in Eastern DRC, claiming the corrupted supply chains “involved a wide range of human rights and labor rights abuses, such as forced labor, the worst forms of child labor, violations of the DRC’s minimum age for employment, and sexual and gender-based violence.” 

Other sections of the world, rich in natural resources, are also impacted by major mining. Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile meet at what many call the “Lithium Triangle,” a region of the Andes mountain range under salt flats that yields hundreds of thousands of tons of lithium per year. 

The demand for lithium, a necessary mineral for renewable power plants and electric car batteries, is expected to boom as the world moves away from fossil fuels. Extracting lithium in South America is especially water-intensive — lithium brine from the salt flats is pumped into large ponds and the lithium is naturally separated from the water through slow evaporation over a number of years. Not only does this amount of water exacerbate the often drought-stricken area, but these communities have little say or benefit from the profits of lithium mining. 

As of 2023, electric vehicle company Tesla worked to shift lithium sourcing for Tesla EV batteries to Chile. While the Chilean government was in direct talks with Tesla executives, some indigenous representatives voiced major opposition to the business’ welcome, while others were looking to share earnings from Tesla’s extraction as shared partners. 

According to the European Commission, some of the most prominent conflict minerals are tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold (also known as 3TG). 

How are conflict minerals being regulated?

Around the world, regulations are put into place to trace mineral supply chain conflict and promote equity in the mineral sourcing. Over 500 companies signed onto the Responsible Minerals Initiative, an umbrella organization that provides companies with audited and vetted refineries for ethical mineral sourcing. 

The Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 “requires companies trading on U.S. securities exchanges to determine through supply-chain due diligence whether or not their products contain conflict minerals from DRC or neighboring countries, and report their findings annually to the SEC.”

How can mineral mining be bad for the environment?

Even when mining is driven by an effort to be more energy efficient, mineral mining is not exempt from pollution and ecological damage.

Mining itself is a water-intensive process — used for dust mitigation, separation process, and dam production for waste management. Sourcing deep into the ground can potentially impact underground water sources, contaminating water supply for often drought-stricken communities. Along the supply chain, greenhouse gases are produced from excavation to transportation to manufacturing as much of the energy to support the chain is from fossil fuels. 

Mineral mining is at the core of innovative energy strategies around the world. However, ongoing conflict, corruption and ecological damages of the industry threaten the future of energy efficiency.

According to The Charlotte Observer, a press release stated that the victim’s mother Sallamondra Robinson’s attorney, Sue-Ann Robinson (they share no relation), initiated legal action against her daughter’s friends now known as “The Cabo Six” on Oct. 28. The case against […]

Chris Brown is facing accusations from a woman who says the singer raped and drugged her on Diddy’s yacht in 2020. The allegations were revealed on the new Investigation Discovery documentary, Chris Brown: A History of Violence, which premiered on Sunday on the True Crime Network. The woman, who is identified as Jane Doe in the doc, said Brown assaulted her at Combs’ yacht party on Star Island in Miami.

A new lawsuit against Diddy alleges that the hip-hop mogul assaulted a 10-year-old boy in 2005. Attorney Tony Buzbee, who said earlier this month that Combs will face 120 new lawsuits in the coming weeks, filed the latest complaint in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Variety reported. The lawsuit, which was one of two complaints filed against Combs on Monday, states that the 10-year-old was interested in following Combs’ footsteps in the entertainment industry.

Authorities in Canada have identified Gursimran Kaur, the 19-year-old immigrant from India who was found dead in an oven at Walmart’s bakery department on Oct. 19.

According to People, officials said Kaur worked at the Walmart on Mumford Road in the Canadian city of Halifax. Balbir Singh, a secretary with the Maritime Sikh Society, told People that the community has launched a GoFundMe page for Kaur’s family.

“We are a Sikh Gurdwara, the biggest in Atlantic provinces in Canada,” Singh said. “This fundraising started with permission from the immediate family, and all the proceedings will go to [Gursimran’s] mother.”

Racial inequality in housing, a major reason for the growing wealth gap between white people and Black people has deep roots in the United States. Through discriminatory federal, state, and local policies entrenched for over a century, Black people have systematically been denied equal access to homeownership or high-quality rental housing, both private and government-subsidized. Tragically, this pattern of racial exclusion and segregation in housing—as well as in lending and real estate—continues to the present day despite the passage of equal housing laws such as the federal Fair Housing Act. 

The current lack of affordable housing in the U.S. is just the latest manifestation of this ongoing crisis, and it bites across all low to medium socioeconomic levels. Especially hard hit are the 10.8 million extremely low-income families lacking 7 million affordable homes in all states and major cities. The majority of these families are Black with 70% of them paying 50% or more of their income on rent. Today in America there is no place where a full-time worker earning minimum wage can afford a modest two-bedroom apartment.

As a partial response to remedy these racial injustices in housing, President Biden signed Executive Order 14008 in 2021 that established the creation of the Justice40 Initiative which mandates that 40% of the “overall benefits” of “certain federal investments…flow to disadvantaged communities.” The seven designated areas of J40 are:

Climate change

Clean energy and energy efficiency

Clean transit

Affordable and sustainable housing

Training and workforce development

Remediation and reduction of legacy pollution

Development of critical clean water infrastructure 

In this article, we focus on the Justice40 Initiative and affordable housing. 

What is the Justice40 Initiative?

The Justice40 Initiative (J40) proposed by the Biden Administration is intended as the underlying framework of the federal government offering a lens by which all policy and funds must address the climate crisis. J40 is meant to institutionalize justice in American society by ensuring that 40% of certain federal funds benefit disadvantaged communities. 

At the heart of J40 is environmental justice. As Vice President Kamala Harris said in 2021 while announcing the formation of the White House Environmental Justice Council which works to advise on J40 Initiatives: “The President and I are committed to addressing environmental justice and environmental injustice in everything we do. Because we know we cannot achieve health justice, economic justice, racial justice or educational justice without environmental justice.”

Currently, over 500 new and existing federal programs administered by 16 federal agencies fall under J40. Most will use funds from the $891 billion Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) or the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, formally called the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).

What are “disadvantaged communities” in the Justice40 Initiative?

In the Justice40 Initiative (J40), disadvantaged communities are those that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution while underinvested in housing, transportation, water and wastewater

infrastructure, and health care. A community qualifies as “disadvantaged” if the census tract is above the threshold for one or more environmental or climate indicators and the tract is above the threshold for the socioeconomic indicators.

To identify these communities, experts developed the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST). The tool takes into account the following factors:

Low income, high and/or persistent poverty

High unemployment and underemployment

Racial and ethnic residential segregation, particularly where the segregation stems from discrimination by government entities

Linguistic isolation

High housing cost burden and substandard housing

Distressed neighborhoods

High transportation cost burden and/or low transportation access

Disproportionate environmental stressor burden and high cumulative impacts

Limited water and sanitation access and affordability

Disproportionate impacts from climate change

High energy cost burden and low energy access

Jobs lost through the energy transition

Access to healthcare

Critics have pointed out that the Biden Administration did not directly include race as a criterion for guiding J40 funding decisions.

HUD grants and loans for Section 8 housing

The Green and Resilient Retrofit Program, a Justice40 Initiative, has awarded almost $1 billion to upgrade buildings for energy efficiency and renovate for climate resilience. The improvements will lower home energy costs as well for disadvantaged families. So far, this program has installed home insulation, energy-efficient windows, electric heat pumps, and, in some cases, rooftop solar in roughly 2,000 multifamily, Section 8 homes occupied by low-income Americans in 39 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.  

HHS Federal Real Property Assistance Program

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced 13 of its programs for inclusion in the Justice40 Initiative (J40) in June 2022. One of them is the Federal Real Property Assistance Program. Under this program, certain federal surplus real property may be transferred to eligible organizations for homeless assistance purposes only at a discount or for free. Approved uses include homeless shelters, transitional housing, and permanent housing with and without supportive services. Interested parties must apply for this program.

Republican response to the Justice40 Initiative 

The future of the remaining Justice40 funds depends on the results of the 2024 presidential election. Donald Trump has vowed to eliminate all or most of the remaining funds of the IRA climate law calling it a “waste” of money. At the same time, many House Republicans want to retain certain IRA-related tax credits that benefit their states’ economies. 

Sixteen Republican governors, although they would like to be recipients of federal funds for infrastructure improvements in their states as secured by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), requested in a 2022 letter that the Biden Administration eliminate Justice40 benchmarks. They wrote: “Excessive consideration of equity, union memberships, or climate as lenses to view suitable projects would be counterproductive. Your administration should not attempt to push a social agenda…”

The current state of the Justice40 Initiative

The nonprofit Resources for the Future has assembled the most comprehensive report on the implementation of the Justice40 Initiative (J40) to date. However, it does not include a balance sheet of the total amount of federal funding allocated or approved to date for J40 probably because that information is not yet readily available.

They state in their Report: “Although we obtained FY2023 budget numbers for many programs on the covered programs list, obtaining that information for all programs was beyond our scope. Therefore, although it would be useful to view the status of Justice40 spending in addition to the number of programs, that analysis is left to future research.” 

The future of the Justice40 Initiative

As indicated above, the Justice40 Initiative is destined to end in a second Trump Administration.

Vice President Kamala Harris, on the other hand, will likely retain the J40 Initiative. As a district attorney in California, Harris launched one of the country’s first environmental justice units, stating “crimes against the environment are crimes against communities, people who are often poor and disenfranchised.”

As a U.S. senator, Harris, along with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, introduced the Climate Equity Act of 2020 aimed at low-income communities burdened by pollution and climate change disasters. Later as vice president, she worked to include $15 billion in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for lead pipe replacement in marginalized communities.