Residents of Cook County and advocates of free speech everywhere won a big victory in Georgia. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) will begin holding public comment periods on “synthetic minor” air pollution permits. This is the first time that EPD will hold comment periods for these permits in more than 20 years.
The Georgia public finally has a chance to comment on proposed permits. Public comments can make the permitting process more fair and democratic. Individual comments can inform agency policy choices. This may help them change course before it’s too late.
Dogwood Alliance joins our partners in Georgia to celebrate this important announcement. Dogwood Alliance, Environmental Integrity Project,Concerned Citizens of Cook County, Georgia Interfaith Power and Light, and several other close allies have been pushing the Environmental Protection Division. Since 2020, we’ve been demanding that GA EPD include comment periods for synthetic minor air pollution permits.
The wood pellet biomass industry often needs these synthetic minor air pollution permits. In a cluster, so-called minor sources can have a large impact on air quality. In the Southeastern United States, industrial facilities set up shop in marginalized communities of color. Now communities will be able to give their own views. This brings more voices to the decision-making table. GA EPD’s response will finally take into account the public view on these types of permits.
This victory is because of the tireless work of advocates. This decision brings us closer to a vision of environmental justice.
Spectrum Energy hopes to build a 1.32 million ton production facility in Adel, Georgia. This facility will be a disaster for forests. If built, it will be the largest wood pellet manufacturing facility ever in Georgia. It will lead to clearcutting 31,680 acres of Georgia forests per year. This clearcutting will be in a region where industrial logging is already bombarding forests.
This facility will also be a disaster for our climate. Wood pellets this facility produces will be burned in Europe for energy. That burning will add thousands of tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, equal to 472,683 cars on the road.
Residents in Cook County will face air pollution like particulates, carbon monoxide, nitrogen, and hazardous air pollutants. This sort of air pollution causes many health harms, from asthma attacks to cancer to heart attacks, resulting in emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and premature deaths. Furthermore, wood pellet producers like Spectrum Energy promise jobs and prosperity to local communities, but these promises have never panned out. Poverty rates in many areas where there are wood pellet facilities are stagnant or have even increased since these facilities came to town.
It’s time to take advantage of this new opportunity to raise our voices!
Do you want to take the first step and get more involved in conservation but you’re not sure where or how to start? People tend to believe that conservation only involves marine biology or studies about endangered amphibians. However, conservation also involves politics, law enforcement, education, social justice, and many other areas of society. So take a deep breath, evaluate your skills, and use them to help the conservation effort. Maybe you’re good at writing, photography. or public speaking. Conservation is for everyone. We’ve put together a list of some ways you can start getting involved in conservation.
Advisory boards are groups of experts that provide advice and recommendations to government decision makers. This is volunteer work, and examples include the Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee or the NOAA Science Advisory Board. Here you can find a comprehensive list. Find a board that interests you and follow their application process.
Similar to government boards, county or city commissions also offer advice to government officials regarding their communities. You can join one by applying to one. If you don’t get a position, you can still attend the commission meetings. As community members we can attend and listen to their meetings and even provide public comment or criticism.
Public meetings are a way to share information about proposals or issues that can have an impact on a community. They’re a great opportunity to voice your opinions and concerns. Keep an eye on what public hearings would be held in your community. A good way to do it is by subscribing to the mailing lists of local organizations or NGOs. Sometimes your local government may announce their meetings on social media, in the newspaper, or through an email list.
If there’s a local conservation issue on the table, don’t hesitate to write or call your local representatives to express your opinions or worries. Engage more with politics; go out and vote and encourage your community to also vote. Local politicians may only hear from a few constituents, which means that your opinion can have a large influence on them if it’s well researched.
Research what local organizations have volunteer positions open or find out when the positions will be open. Much of this information can be found on their web pages or you can even try to contact them and ask. With COVID and remote work, many organizations are even offering remote positions!
Do you want to start getting more involved with conservation, but you’re struggling to find some free time? We get it. You can find a nonprofit organization that aligns with your interests and values. Then start donating to them, no matter how small the contribution is. With that money you can help them to continue with their mission. If you don’t have the means to donate money, you can always donate your time by participating in campaigns or events. Here are some organizations you can check: Dogwood Alliance, North Carolina Conservation Network, Carolina Wetlands Association, North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, Naturaland Trust, Friends of Coastal South Carolina, Georgia ForestWatch, Georgia Interfaith Power and Light.
Rails-to-trails are multipurpose public trails that run on former railroad corridors or sometimes parallel to active rails. Some trails are managed by nonprofit organizations like Friends of the Trail. These organizations take charge of building and maintaining these efforts. You can search your nearest rail-to-trail initiative and start getting involved. If you’re in North Carolina, look for Mountain True or for Friends of the Ecusta Trail. In Georgia look for The Newton Trails initiative or in South Carolina for the Palmetto Conservation.
Regardless of your career, you can use your skills to contribute to conservation around your community. Some local organizations may need some extra help, so if you’re good with photography, marketing, graphic design, or social media management (among many other possible talents), you can offer your help by contacting them and letting them know your skills and your availability.
If you own large areas of land or have the means to buy land, consider land preservation. Land conservation provides economic benefits to local communities in the form of natural goods and services. It can increase opportunities for both tourism and outdoor recreation.
Talk about conservation with your family, friends, and neighbors. Try to engage them in the cause. Spend outside time with your family and teach them about conservation.
If you want to take the next step, you can take a Master Naturalist class. This class will train you to be an environment caretaker and how to teach those skills to others. Almost every state offers the program, sometimes in conjunction with universities. If you’re in North Carolina you can find one at the North Carolina Arboretum. In South Carolina, Clemson University offers one, and in Georgia, you can find one at the University of Georgia.
This is a great way to get more involved in conservation or to pursue a job in the conservation field. The Student Conservation Association is a program that connects students with several government agencies to work on conservation-related projects during the summer or even long term.
Your school may also provide internship programs or funding for you to spend your summers working with nonprofits. If not, many nonprofits have programs. You can also check out Americorps.
Look around campus for research projects. Choose the ones that attract you the most and fill out an application! You can also join some long term research projects like the Kalahari Meerkat Project, the Striped Mouse Project, or the Mpala Research Center. These projects will let you volunteer in exchange for covering your own minimal travel costs.
Do you have a brilliant idea rolling around in your head but you’re not sure how to get the funding to develop it? You can see if any of your local nonprofits might be interested in taking the project on. If not, there are programs and organizations that can fund your project ideas. You can find some funding options at the National Science Foundation. The Fulbright program also offers support for travel to carry out conservation projects.
Entonces, ¿quieres dar el primer paso y comenzar a involucrarte más en la conservación, pero no estás seguro de dónde o cómo comenzar? La gente tiende a creer que involucrarse en conservación sólo involucra biología marina o estudios sobre anfibios en peligro de extinción. Sin embargo, la conservación también involucra a la política, agentes judiciales, la educación, la justicia social y muchas otras facetas de la sociedad. Así que respira hondo, evalúa tus habilidades y usalas para ayudar en la conservación. Quizás seas bueno escribiendo, con la fotografía o hablando en público. La conservación es para todos. Hemos elaborado una lista de algunas formas en las que puedes comenzar a involucrarte en la conservación. Sigue leyendo.
Un gabinete de asesores es básicamente un grupo de expertos que brindan consejos y recomendaciones a los encargados gubernamentales. Este es un trabajo voluntario, algunos ejemplos incluyen el Consejo de Comercio de Tecnologías Ambientales o la Junta Asesora Científica de la NOAA. Aquí puedes encontrar una lista completa. Encuentra una junta que te interese y sigue su proceso de solicitud.
Al igual que en los gabinetes gubernamentales, las comisiones del condado o del municipio también ofrecen asesoramiento a los funcionarios gubernamentales con respecto a sus comunidades. Puedes unirte a uno enviando una solicitud. Si no obtienes un puesto, aún puedes asistir a las reuniones de la comisión . Como miembros de la comunidad, podemos asistir y escuchar sus reuniones, e incluso ofrecer comentarios o críticas públicas.
Las reuniones públicas son una forma de informar y compartir información sobre propuestas o problemas que pueden afectar a una comunidad. Son una gran oportunidad para expresar tus opiniones e inquietudes Mantente alerta a las audiencias públicas que se llevarán a cabo en tu comunidad. Una buena forma de hacerlo es suscribiéndote a la lista de contactos de organizaciones locales u ONGs. A veces, tu gobierno local puede anunciar sus reuniones en las redes sociales, en el periódico o mediante una lista de contactos.
Si hay un problema de conservación local sobre la mesa, no dudes en escribir o llamar a tus representantes locales para expresar tus opiniones o preocupaciones. Comprométete más con la política; sal a votar y anima a tu comunidad a que también vote. Es posible que los políticos locales solo escuchen a unos pocos electores, lo que significa que tu opinión puede tener una gran influencia sobre ellos si está bien sustentada.
Investiga qué organizaciones locales están solicitando voluntarios o averigua cuándo estarán abiertas las vacantes. Gran parte de esta información se puede encontrar en sus páginas web o incluso puedes intentar contactarlos y preguntar. ¡Por el COVID y el trabajo remoto, muchas organizaciones incluso ofrecen posiciones remotas!
¿Quieres empezar a involucrarte más en la conservación, pero estás luchando por encontrar algo de tiempo libre? Lo entendemos. Puedes encontrar una organización sin fines de lucro que se alinee con tus intereses y valores y comenzar a donar, sin importar cuán pequeña sea tu contribución. Con ese dinero puedes ayudarlos a continuar con su labor. Si no tienes los medios para donar dinero, siempre puedes donar tu tiempo participando en campañas o eventos. Aquí hay algunas organizaciones que puedes chequear: Dogwood Alliance, North Carolina Conservation Network, Carolina Wetlands Association, North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, Naturaland Trust, Friends of Coastal South Carolina, Georgia ForestWatch, Georgia Interfaith Power and Light.
Es posible que hayas oído hablar de esta iniciativa antes, o tal vez no. Los rails-to-trails son senderos públicos de usos múltiples que corren en antiguos corredores ferroviarios o, a veces, paralelos a rieles activos. Algunos senderos son administrados por organizaciones sin fines de lucro como Friends of the Trail. Estas organizaciones se encargan de construir y mantener estos senderos. Puedes buscar la iniciativa rails-to-trails más cercana y comenzar a involucrarte. Si te encuentras en Carolina del Norte, busca Mountain True o Friends of the Ecusta Trail, en Georgia busca la iniciativa The Newton Trails, o si estas en Carolina del Sur busca Palmetto Conservation.
Independientemente de tu carrera, puedes usar tus habilidades para contribuir a la conservación en tu comunidad. Algunas organizaciones locales pueden necesitar ayuda adicional, por lo que si eres bueno con la fotografía, el marketing, el diseño gráfico o la gestión de redes sociales, entre muchos otros talentos, puedes pedir y ofrecer tu ayuda contactándolos y haciéndoles saber sobre tus habilidades y tu disponibilidad.
Si posees grandes áreas de tierra o tienes los medios para comprar tierras, considera la preservación de tierras. La conservación de la tierra proporciona beneficios económicos a las comunidades locales en forma de bienes naturales y servicios. Puede aumentar las oportunidades tanto para el turismo como para la recreación al aire libre.
Habla sobre la conservación con tu familia, amigos y vecinos. Trata de hacerlos participar en la causa. Pasa tiempo al aire libre con tu familia y enséñales sobre conservación.
Si deseas dar el siguiente paso, puedes tomar una clase de Master Naturalist. Esta clase te capacitará para ser un cuidador del medio ambiente y podrás enseñar esas habilidades a otros. Casi todos los estados ofrecen el programa, a veces en conjunto con universidades. Si estás en Carolina del Norte puedes encontrar uno en el Arboreto de Carolina del Norte, en Carolina del Sur, la Universidad de Clemson ofrece uno y en Georgia, puedes encontrar uno en la Universidad de Georgia.
Esta es una excelente manera de comenzar a involucrarte más en la conservación o si deseas buscar un trabajo en el campo de la conservación. La Student Conservation Association es un programa que conecta a estudiantes con diferentes agencias gubernamentales para trabajar en proyectos relacionados con la conservación durante el verano o incluso a largo plazo.
Tu escuela también puede proporcionar programas de pasantías o fondos para que pases los veranos trabajando con organizaciones sin fines de lucro. Si no es así, muchas organizaciones sin fines de lucro también tienen programas. También puedes consultar en Americorps.
Busca en el campus proyectos de investigación. ¡Elige los que más te atraigan y completa una solicitud! También puedes unirte a algunos proyectos de investigación a largo plazo como el Kalahari Meerkat Project, el Striped Mouse Project o el Mpala Research Center. Estos proyectos te permitirán ser voluntario a cambio de cubrir tus costos mínimos de viaje.
¿Has tenido una idea brillante que ha estado dando vueltas en tu cabeza últimamente, pero no estás seguro de cómo conseguir los fondos para desarrollarla? Puedes consultar si alguna de tus organizaciones sin fines de lucro locales podrían estar interesadas en tomar el proyecto. De lo contrario, existen programas y organizaciones que pueden financiar las ideas de tu proyecto. Puedes encontrar algunas opciones de financiación en la National Science Foundation. El programa Fulbright también ofrece apoyo para viajes para realizar proyectos de conservación.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Tuesday, April 5, 2022 Media contact: Carina Daniels, [email protected], 510-847-1617
Washington, DC – A coalition of scientists, faith and environmental justice leaders, and forest defenders has released The Nature Conspiracy, a tell-all exposé calling out The Nature Conservancy (TNC) for falsely promoting wood production and logging as climate solutions. The coalition decided to produce the exposé after The Nature Conservancy repeatedly dismissed concerns about the destruction it’s helping to cause.
“The Nature Conservancy – the biggest, richest, and most influential environmental organization in the country – has been working with the logging and wood products industries and lobbying governments at all levels to increase logging and expand markets for wood products, often calling these efforts ‘natural climate solutions,'” said the Reverend Leo Woodberry, executive director of the New Alpha Community Development Corporation and prominent leader in the environmental justice movement.
Woodberry said,
“When my colleagues and I presented The Nature Conservancy with evidence that wood production and industrial logging is destroying our forests, making climate change worse, and making rural communities – particularly communities of color – more susceptible to flooding, wildfires, water contamination, and pollution, they weren’t interested in talking about how we can work together to fix this. As the climate crisis worsens, we need The Nature Conservancy to stop promoting false solutions.”
The letter calls on TNC to stop promoting wood products and logging, to help catalyze a bold effort to protect forests and support environmental justice communities. The letter states: “TNC programs are promoting false climate solutions that center the financial interests of large lumber, pulp/paper, biomass/wood-pellet, and other corporations that perpetuate carbon emissions, biodiversity loss, pollution and environmental injustice.”
In a series of articles, The Nature Conspiracy exposé refers to scientific evidence, public statements, and expert interviews to document:
“We cannot sit back and remain silent while TNC enables an industry that is doing so much damage to climate, biodiversity, and environmental justice communities,” said Danna Smith, executive director of Dogwood Alliance. “We need swift and courageous action to protect forests and our most vulnerable communities if we are going to meet the grave crises we are facing at this moment.”
When trees are logged, most of the carbon they store is released.
Logging slashes forests’ ability to absorb and accumulate massive amounts of carbon from the atmosphere. It also destroys habitats for plants and animals, including endangered species. It damages services local communities depend on, including natural flood control and water purification.
“The latest IPCC report findings confirmed the growing body of scientific evidence that it is essential to maintain the ecological integrity of our forests and all natural systems to protect and restore biodiversity and avoid the worst consequences of climate change,” said William Moomaw, PhD, emeritus professor of international environmental policy at Tufts University, and a lead author of five IPCC reports.
“As a scientist, I call on The Nature Conservancy to stop undermining these climate and biodiversity goals.”
These plants, which tend to be built near low income communities of color, turn trees into tiny pellets – a form of biomass – that are shipped to Europe and Asia and burned to generate electricity. The exposé also documents how TNC has aligned with two of the biggest players in the wood pellet market – Enviva and Drax – in a collaborative that seeks to influence government policy.
“While The Nature Conservancy is helping drive federal subsidies to expand wood markets, companies like Enviva and Drax are ramping up wood pellet production and environmental justice communities across the South are paying the price with their health,” said Kathy Egland, founder of Mississippi’s Education, Economics, Environmental, Climate, and Health Organization. She chairs the Environmental and Climate Justice Committee of NAACP, which recently passed a resolution opposing the biomass and wood pellet industry’s expansion across the South.
In the West, The Nature Conservancy promotes logging as a way to reduce wildfire risk to communities, despite the fact that the largest study comparing fire in protected forests to fire where logging is permitted found that “forests with the highest levels of protection from logging tend to burn least severely.”
“All logging companies have to do is say the magic words ‘fuel reduction’ and they can cut down the most fire-resistant large, old trees; they can clearcut mature forests; or they can call it ‘commercial thinning’ and kill 80% of the trees in a forest,” said Chad Hanson, PhD, of the John Muir Project. “It’s commercial logging for profit, just with a different label,” he said.
TNC’s fingerprints are all over the enormous 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which calls for logging an additional 30 million acres of national forests and other public lands owned by the American people, $400 million in support for expanding wood markets (such as biomass), and nearly $2 billion for wildland fire reduction and restoration work.
The magazine’s Calendar of Controversy shows that this isn’t the first time The Nature Conservancy has been confronted by top scientists, environmental groups, and others. For example, in 2020, Bloomberg Green reported that The Nature Conservancy sold carbon offsets that didn’t really offset any carbon, accepting money from corporations to protect forest land that had already been protected.
The coalition hopes that its open letter and The Nature Conspiracy exposé can catalyze funders, policymakers, and the public to recognize the problems of industrial logging and prioritize protecting forests. They hope public pressure encourages The Nature Conservancy to change its ways and use its abundant resources and influence to protect our forests, our communities, and our planet.
Facing immense community opposition and legal troubles, Active Energy Renewable Power (AERP) will not be moving forward with plans to operate a black wood pellet production facility in Robeson County, North Carolina.
AERP announced plans to sell the site of the proposed production facility, effectively ending its plans to build the controversial wood pellet facility.
Jefferson Curie speaking at a press conference in Raleigh calling for Governor Cooper reject AERP facility.
This facility would have been a disaster for forests. The facility’s demand would have led to clearcutting of 9,600 acres of NC forests per year in a region where hardwood and wetland forests are already under siege from Enviva wood pellet production plants and other industrial logging.
North Carolina is the largest exporter of wood pellets in the nation. Eastern NC continues to be heavily logged from the four existing Enviva wood pellet facilities. Even without the additional impact of the AERP facility, Robeson County faces intensive logging from Enviva and other industrial logging operations.
In Robeson County, residents do not have to live with the additional particulates, carbon monoxide, nitrogen, and hazardous air pollutants that this plant would have created. This facility never should have been permitted in the first place.
Wood pellet production facilities are given permits and hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer subsidies, but permitting and commerce agencies provide no oversight. If local residents hadn’t been vigilant in monitoring the pollution and questionable history of this facility, AERP would be advancing operations and creating significant air and water pollution.
The organizations on the ground in Robeson County have been instrumental in monitoring every aspect of this dirty proposal and communicating their opposition to local elected officials. These groups include: The Robeson County Coalition for Clean and Green Industry, the Robeson County NAACP, The RedTailed Hawk Collective, The Robeson County Cooperative for Sustainable Development, Friends of the Earth, and Winyah Rivers. The Southern Environmental Law Center has vigilantly monitored this facility, forcing state permitting agencies to address violations.
The fight in Robeson County was bolstered by the Impacted Communities Against Wood Pellets Coalition, a coalition of Dogwood Alliance and representatives from counties with wood pellet facilities.
We’re excited to introduce you to our North Carolina team of organizers! Organizers Debra David, Dr. Ruby Bell, and Pastor Richie Harding all live in NC communities that the wood pellet industry most directly harms. In their respective communities, they’re educating their neighbors on the damaging impacts of the wood pellet biomass industry, and encouraging their communities to get involved in advocating for forest protection and environmental justice.
Local organizing is a critical component of our work for forest protection. For too long, lax policies and regulations have enabled a system of forest destruction that concentrates harm in lower-income communities of color. An organized and educated movement is the first step in advancing policies that don’t allow for the rampant logging and pollution.
I am a 46 year veteran in the field of education. From teaching to administration, I have experience at the PreK-12, Community College, and the four-year College/University levels. I’ve worked with children, parents, and the community for quite some time. I subscribe to the motto “every child, every chance, every day” as my focus to help children be successful. I now apply it to my community endeavors to give every person in every community every chance, every day to have a viable, healthy community.
Serving as Tri-Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Special Interest Group for the North Carolina Association for College and Teacher Educators opened my eyes and heart to the needs of the underserved communities of color. Dr. Iris P. Frye said, “Where we live, learn, work, and play affects our health, and over time, the conditions we experience lead to varying levels of health risks.” Therefore I believe we must have broad conversations, discussions, and advocate to assist the communities in addressing the needs and removing any barriers to health. Keeping the community knowledgeable through education is extremely important. I love this Margaret Mead quote:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Debra David
Hi my name is Debra David. I am a resident of Richmond County. I am the organizer for Concerned Citizens of Richmond County. I live just down the road from an Enviva wood pellet plant, and I support my community in organizing around wood pellet issues. In 2019, our local group was successful in getting a huge win when our work forced Enviva to reduce pollution at their Richmond County plant by 95%. I love what I do, especially with environmental issues. I love working along with Dogwood Alliance.
Richie Harding is a Pastor and husband/family man from Gaston, North Carolina. This former veteran and IT specialist spends most days working with the kids as the executive director of Gaston Youth and protecting the environment through Northampton First. Richie’s community is home to many lifelong residents but has seen the appearance of a wood pellet facility and two CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation). “Of course we work to protect our children and environment ensuring growth for the future, but our people are suffering now. We need answers. We need help. We need change now.”
The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report has a glimmer of hope among the bleak warnings. The report calls for a huge shift that focuses efforts on the maintenance and growth of natural systems. Natural systems like forests. To avoid the worst, the report urges us to conserve half of the Earth’s lands. The report also underscores the need to deviate from “maladaptive solutions”, or well-intentioned solutions gone wrong. To preserve the livability of our planet, we must change course and stop large scale biomass immediately.
Biomass is an ambiguous term that is also called bioenergy, wood pellets, woody biomass, and more. No matter the name, it means burning trees in power stations for electricity.
For over a decade, the biomass industry has operated on a foundation of faulty logic. They claim it’s a renewable and carbon neutral form of energy. But biomass releases climate warming carbon into the atmosphere every step of the way. The industry cuts down forests of the Southeastern US and converts them to pellets. They ship our forests overseas. Then they burn our forests in foreign power stations as an alternative to coal.
This industry couldn’t survive without taxpayer dollars. Governments throw money at biomass companies because they think biomass can help their countries reach renewable energy goals. All the while biomass is pushing those countries and the rest of the world further away from a clean energy future.
The biomass industry destroys rich, biodiverse forests and replaces them with single species plantations. Quickly converting carbon sinks into carbon emitters. These plantations can take decades to store the same amount of carbon as mature forests. Decades we don’t have.
Our planet desperately needs viable renewable energy now so that we can move away from fossil fuels.
It increases carbon emissions, forest destruction, and harms us all by increasing pollution and weakening climate resiliency.
Unfortunately, the demand for biomass is rapidly growing. What was meant to be a transitional energy source has unleashed a Pandora’s box of climate catastrophe. Large scale forest destruction in the Southern US hurts climate resiliency worldwide. Losing a forest may be a local issue, but burning a forest is a global one. To help you understand how we got here, we created this list of Biomass Baddies propelling the rise of this polluting, propped-up industry.
A bad policy led to biomass becoming classified as a “renewable energy”. In 2009, the European Commission created The EU’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED). The RED uses bad logic: If you cut down a tree, burn it, and then plant another one, it’s carbon neutral. We have plenty of scientific evidence that burning biomass for energy emits 30-50% more carbon than burning coal.
After the 2015 Paris agreement, the RED decided Europe’s path to reach their goals of reducing carbon emissions. Because of false carbon accounting, bioenergy is now ⅔ of the energy the EU classifies as renewable. When RED II passed in 2018, it doubled down on bioenergy as a so-called renewable energy solution for at least another decade.
We shouldn’t define biomass as renewable energy, and the EU should not subsidize it. Industrial bioenergy is not “renewable” and adds emissions to the atmosphere when we need to be reducing them. The EU must change course before the rest of the world follows their horrible lead.
Once the EU gave the green light, the UK jumped at the opportunity to greenwash burning wood for electricity. The UK is the largest importer of wood pellets in the world. They source destroyed forests from the Southern US, Canada, Estonia, and Brazil. Even after Brexit, the UK continues to subsidize biomass at astonishing levels. In 2019 alone, the UK imported 8.5 million tons of biomass. They also granted subsidies of almost £3 million a day to large biomass-burning power plants in the UK.
Massive amounts of public resources are going towards an energy source that hurts forests and biodiversity, increases carbon emissions, and places communities at risk. One in every five pounds the UK spends on renewable subsidies goes to bioenergy. Not to wind, solar, or other truly clean energy sources. This is shocking. Wind and solar power guarantee real emissions reductions, are readily available, and come at a fraction of the cost. Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he wants to lead the world in tackling the climate crisis and protecting nature. Yet, his government has invested billions in subsidies for dirty biomass electricity.
Drax has been identified as the UK’s biggest source of CO2 emissions. The UK may be the largest importer of wood pellets in the world, but Drax is the biggest burner of our forests. Drax claims its biomass is “sourced from sustainably managed working forests which grow back and stay as forests.” That’s simply not true. Reports show their sourcing has come from natural hardwood forests in the Southern US. In some cases, they’ve sourced wood from ancient forests in Belarus and Russia. All this burning of biomass is awful for the climate. Drax is one of Europe’s top five emitters of dangerous particulate emissions. They’re on the list with some of the continent’s worst coal power plants.
Drax is also the world’s second largest wood pellet producer. They operate facilities in Louisiana (Morehouse, La Salle) and Mississippi (Amite). Drax recently bought Pinnacle Renewable Energy (PRE), a Canadian wood pellet manufacturer. PRE has sourced wood from forests that provide a home for the Southern mountain caribou, an animal threatened by habitat loss.
This facility is in the backyard of the Blackmon Hole community who has not received one cent to improve their health. The community was shocked to learn that the $2.5 million dollar fine was less than the subsidies that Drax receives from the UK government in a single day.
Drax’s strong relationship with the UK government is beginning to fail. One of the government’s ministers said “there are real problems” with burning wood for electricity. Let the entire house of cards come crashing down. That’s better than the UK digging in deeper with biomass or carbon capture storage (BECCS). Let’s take those taxpayer subsidies from Drax and give them to truly clean energy projects.
Maryland-based Enviva is the world’s largest manufacturer of wood pellets. They turn mostly whole trees into pellets that are then shipped overseas and burned in power stations. Europe and the UK’s policies have caused Enviva to rapidly grow. Enviva claims that its product is fighting climate change. Yet, in North Carolina alone, Enviva has logged 300,000 acres of forests in just eight years. This forest destruction released 28 million tons of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) during harvest, transport, production, and combustion. That’s the same as burning 14 million tons of coal or 6.5 coal plants operating for a full year.
Enviva currently operates nine wood pellet facilities, has three more in various parts of development, and is considering five more. In January of 2022, they announced plans to double their production.
Their plants run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Nearby residents never get a break from the incessant noise, dust, volatile airborne compounds, and pollution. All this amounts to increased rates of cancer, asthma, and tree loss. Tree loss increases air temperature, which can lead to even more health risks. Enviva’s entire operation negatively impacts community health and climate resiliency.
Enviva also promises good, high-paying jobs when they come to town. Check out their Indeed employee reviews to see how they really treat their workers. Former employees complain about dangerous working conditions, lack of job security, and bad management practices. Enviva talks a good game, but in reality they crush their people like they destroy our forests and climate. Reality doesn’t match their boasts about the great jobs they bring to rural communities.
If you look at any paper product, you might find a symbol. Many of these products will have a SFI or FSC symbol. These symbols are certifying that they’ve manufactured the product to a certain standard. Certifications are businesses, and they operate by charging licensing fees. Manufacturers then use certification schemes to sell their products for a premium.
Certification schemes are never as rigorous as they should be. In some cases, they’re outright greenwashing. This is true of one certification in particular: the Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP). Biomass companies created the SBP standard themselves. Then they turn around and use it to certify that their products were sustainable and legally sourced.
To quote our partners NRDC on the matter,
The SBP standard is a perfect example of greenwashing and self-regulation gone wrong.
We’ve been asking North Carolina’s Governor Roy Cooper to break up with the biomass industry for years. Despite calling himself a climate leader, under his leadership NC became the largest exporter of wood pellets in the nation. The biomass industry cuts 60,000 acres of the state’s forests every year to feed demand.
North Carolina has given away $10 million in our tax dollars to subsidize the biomass industry. That money could be invested in wind, solar, or other forms of truly renewable energy. The state could also use those resources to invest in pollution controls for communities living with dirty biomass.
Governor Cooper hasn’t stopped the permitting of facilities in communities already suffering from the cumulative impacts of many pollution sources. His latest executive order does promise to address this concern in the future, but we must ensure he delivers on this promise.
While politicians like Governor Cooper have done little to stop the growth of the biomass industry, there are a few actively promoting its expansion. Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR) worked as a forester before his election to the House. His interests are the logging industry’s interests. In 2021, he introduced the Trillion Trees Act. While a trillion trees sounds lovely at face value, it’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The bill requires an annual increase in logging levels and that all activities in the bill spur timber markets. That’s why environmentalists have called it the Trillion Stumps Initiative. The bill also tries to declare biomass as carbon neutral.
Rep. Westerman isn’t the only politician trying to replicate the EU’s terrible policy. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) has also introduced legislation to declare biomass as a carbon neutral renewable energy source. This would be a US version of the Renewable Energy Directive I & II. If the US follows the EU down this path, it will be disastrous for forests, climate, and environmental justice.
The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to protect human health and the environment. Congress writes environmental laws and the EPA implements them through regulations and enforcement. State level agencies are usually the last line of defense when it comes to protecting public health, maintaining air and water quality, and ensuring public input. Unfortunately, state agencies in the South are failing us when it comes to the biomass industry.
Time and again state agencies are rubber stamping permits for biomass facilities. In some cases, they don’t even allow for a public comment period. The residents of Adel, GA are still waiting for the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA EPD) to give them their chance to speak against a proposed biomass plant in their backyard.
In cases where people showed up to protest, like in Greenwood, SC or when hundreds of people have spoken out in opposition, like in North Carolina, it doesn’t change the outcome. Georgia’s EPD, South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control (SC DHEC), and North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality (NC DEQ) granted permits for new or expanding biomass facilities. This was despite fierce opposition from the Black and Indigenous people that will be living with dirty air as a result. They’ve done so without any consideration for those already burdened with existing pollution sources.
In Gloster, MS, Mississippi’s Department of Environmental Quality (MS DEQ) fined the Drax Amite plant $2.5 million dollars for exceeding air pollution limits for over three years. This fine amounts to a slap on the wrist and is around the amount of money Drax receives daily in subsidies. MS DEQ is yet to notify local residents the pollution occurred, and they haven’t invested a dime in repairing the community’s health.
How are these agencies protecting human health and the environment when they allow our people to be poisoned and our forests to be destroyed?
Japan is now the world’s fastest growing market for wood pellets. Japan’s Prime Minister Suga committed the country to carbon neutrality by 2050. Large energy manufacturers have had to follow suit. For coal burners, like Sumitomo, we’ve seen a massive shift from burning coal to burning forests. As a result, Japan has dramatically increased imports of wood pellets from forests.
By 2025, Enviva expects to produce 7.1 million tons of wood pellets (compared to 3.6 million tons in 2019) to meet Japanese demand. This is a staggering increase in production. More and more the future of our forests and climate is tied to Japan’s biomass industry. Companies like Sumitomo and the Japanese government should avoid biomass if they don’t want the negative impacts on forests and high greenhouse gas emissions.
The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) mission is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. That’s why it’s mind-boggling that they falsely promote wood production and logging as a solution to the climate crisis. They’ve used their power and influence to shape forest policy that benefits the forest industry, not climate justice.
In fact, they supported over $1.5 billion in subsidies for the forest industry as part of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. They have also promoted forest carbon markets. This allowed fossil fuel polluters to “offset their emissions” with sham forest conservation efforts for TNC’s financial gain. TNC has also refused to recognize the impacts of wood products and logging on climate, biodiversity, and environmental justice communities.
The coalition produced the exposé after years of failed attempts to open a dialog with TNC only to have their concerns repeatedly dismissed. The exposé was released alongside an open letter to TNC’s CEO, Jennifer Morris, that more than 150 organizations signed.
Why is the world’s largest conservation organization using their massive resources and influence to promote forest destruction? As recently as 2021, they allowed a major investor and board member of Enviva to sit on their Advisory Board for the NatureVest program. They’re also a member of the Forest Climate Working Group along with both Enviva and Drax. This group promotes investments in wood markets as a “natural climate solution.”
TNC is the wealthiest, most powerful environmental organization in the world. The coalition hopes that public awareness will prompt funders and policymakers to demand accountability for the problems of industrial logging. In addition, they hope public pressure motivates TNC to shift their focus to protecting forests and communities instead of enabling polluting industries like biomass.
Whether it’s sunken cost fallacy or malice, it’s a mistake to classify biomass as carbon neutral. Governments and corporations have wasted more than a decade pursuing a maladaptive climate solution.
It’s possible that none of these baddies set out to intentionally harm our forests, climate, or people. But instead of focusing on the intent of biomass, we should be focusing on its impact.
The impact is more climate-warming carbon in the atmosphere. The impact is weaker resiliency against rising waters and temperatures. The impact is Black and Indigenous communities living with greater air pollution and susceptibility to disease. It’s losing forests and biodiversity at a massive scale, especially in the US South. It’s wasting billions of dollars in subsidies that could be invested in truly renewable clean energy alternatives. The impact is we’ve lost valuable time propping up an industry that isn’t economically or environmentally sustainable.
Many of the same scientists that have warned us on climate are now warning us against biomass. We should listen to them. Forests are a natural system that removes and stores carbon. They’re key to our survival and climate adaptability. Forests are our best climate defense. Protecting forests protects our future on this planet.
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This post was co-authored with Rita Frost.
Is biomass bad for the environment? Using either wood (bioenergy or biomass) or fossil fuels for energy creates greenhouse gas emissions that worsen climate change. The global energy trade is large, and many countries import fossil fuels or biomass to produce energy.
Biomass imports have proven extremely harmful to climate change mitigation efforts. As the world changes its relationship with fossil fuels, we can’t rely on dirty fuels like biomass energy to make up the difference.
The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently released a new report on climate change and fossil fuels. Their report tells us,
“The scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human well-being and the health of the planet. Any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a liveable [sic] future.”
Is biomass harmful to the environment? The IPCC is clearly warning the world about energy sources. As the world tries to move towards a clean energy future, we have to be smart about it. The world can’t continue using fossil fuels for energy. We do need to power the world. But the more that we can rely on a green and clean energy source, the better. We need to get off of fossil fuels, but burning biomass to generate electricity is not the answer. Though renewable, biomass energy produces more greenhouse gases than coal when it is burned.
Here are just a few reasons that the world should think twice before using wood pellets and other biomass as fuel sources to replace fossil fuels.
The IPCC does not give a green light to burning biomass as an energy source. No matter what producers like Enviva or Drax will tell you, it’s a bad fuel choice. Burning biomass produces more carbon dioxide than fossil fuels. Even though biomass is sometimes considered one of several renewable energy sources used to generate electricity, its carbon dioxide emissions are very large.
The IPCC says in its latest AR6 report,
“Large scale deployment of bioenergy, including Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) … can damage ecosystems directly or through increasing competition for land.”
In other words, this renewable energy can damage ecosystems in two ways. First, logging for biomass energy can harm ecosystems in direct, measurable ways. Secondly, it can influence how expensive land is or what it’s used for.
The world keeps track of carbon dioxide through carbon accounting systems. Unfortunately, here’s a big loophole in global climate policy. It classifies burning woody biomass as a “carbon neutral” energy source. As a result, the UN and many countries think that biomass energy is acceptable. But scientists have proven that burning biomass is worse than burning coal for energy production. And ultimately, it just leads to more carbon dioxide emissions, and more global warming.
Declaring biomass wrongfully “carbon neutral” has created cascading economic effects. The forestry industry, especially in the US, gets massive subsidies to produce millions of tons of wood pellets annually. The carbon dioxide emissions from burning biomass are essentially “free” – even if they contribute to global warming. Plus, more bioenergy means less room for food crops – and we need food crops to eat!
Subsidies are fueling rapid growth of the biomass industry. The US, Canada, Eastern Europe, Russia, Vietnam, and Malaysia are all cutting forests down for energy. The EU and UK are the largest biomass energy market, but the market continues to grow. There’s rapid expansion of biomass power plants now occurring in Japan and South Korea.
Unfortunately for the climate, the biomass boom is only beginning. To avoid disastrous global warming impacts, subsidies for biomass must end. Without government subsidies, power plants can’t afford to buy biomass feedstock. Without subsidies made up of taxpayer dollars, the biomass industry can’t turn a profit.
More than a decade of research has shown that wood pellets often cause more carbon pollution than coal. Last February, more than 500 scientists signed a letter sent to President Joe Biden and other world leaders. It urged them not to substitute burning trees for fossil fuels as a climate solution. They wrote,
“The burning of wood will increase warming for decades to centuries.”
Here in the US Southeast, we’re no stranger to the threat of biomass production. We’re the world’s largest wood-producing region where logging rates are among the highest on Earth. Industrial logging is the largest cause of carbon emissions from US forests. As a result, natural forests in our region are declining in both acreage and health.
Many species rely on natural forests for habitat. From mixed pine forests to bottomland hardwoods, forests and wildlife are all harmed when logging occurs. Logging is a cause for many local and global extinctions, even here in the US.
Enviva, the world’s largest wood pellet manufacturer plans to double production over the next 5 years. This would mean they’re also doubling their carbon emissions. It’ll come as no surprise if they try to gobble up an opportunity in the market should countries stop buying Russian created-biomass.
While an end of consumption of Russian-based biomass is necessary, it must not end there. It’s time to close the biomass carbon accounting loophole and end the burning of forests for electricity.
Producing biomass creates a lot of air pollution that can impact human health. None of the compounds created by wood pellet production should be inhaled. Biomass is one of the dirtiest energy sources out there.
People living near biomass production facilities complain about dust and noise. Some have resorted to rinsing off their cars many times a month because of dust accumulation. If you can see it, you’re definitely breathing it.
It’s no wonder that the so-called “making alternative energy sources” seems to take place overwhelmingly in poor communities of color. Many rural communities have less voice in how their communities deal with renewable energy production.
This “renewable energy source” is responsible for releasing the following chemicals during operations – all of which can impact human health:
Billions of dollars in the form of subsidies go to biomass burners every year. The United Kingdom, Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Japan, and South Korea are some of the top burners. If leaders in those countries are committed to tackling climate and nature, they must do more.
They must realize that biomass wood harvest drives both the climate and biodiversity crisis. Instead of billions more in dirty biomass subsidies, governments must focus on renewables like solar and wind. Solar and wind guarantee real emissions cuts at a fraction of the cost of burning wood for electricity
The walls built up around biomass, have started to come down. The facts about biomass as a false renewable energy source are increasingly recognized. For instance, two major financial institutions have downrated Drax. They believe that Drax has an unsustainable business model.
From Citi Group on December 2, 2021,
“While sentiment could continue to support what’s perceived as a green growth stock…we do not fundamentally see biomass as a sustainable source of energy…”
Drax is in court for health hazards from fugitive dust in the UK. It was also fined the largest amount ever for biomass producers in the US over a clean air violation. Drax’s billion pound subsidies will expire in 2027.
Subsidies that go towards biomass are being wasted. Instead, we must invest subsidies elsewhere. Let’s tackle the climate crisis and help protect biodiversity by investing in communities near forests.
In the US South, industrial logging disproportionately harms low income communities of color. If this was truly a way to advance economies, the South would be one of the wealthiest areas of the world.
Instead, it’s become a sacrifice zone for the forestry industry, which is now parading as a clean energy industry in the form of biomass. Forest solutions should work for communities, not just landowners and corporate executives.
The latest report from the IPCC hit our inboxes this week and it’s mostly all doom and gloom. What did you expect, sunshine and unicorns?
Now I said mostly, meaning that there were rays of sunshine. I’ll get to those in a second. First the necessary background and required dark and depressing bits.
This week’s report is part 2 of a 4 part series. Part 1 released in October and focused on the data, which was dire indeed. This installment focuses on the impacts of a climate breakdown. It identifies vulnerable places and how we can adapt and protect against some of those impacts.
The UN Secretary General literally called this report “an atlas of human suffering.” We’re facing more droughts, floods, and heatwaves globally. Our coastal and island communities are even more threatened. All in all, things aren’t looking great.
The report calls for expanded protection for forests and land.
“… maintaining the resilience of biodiversity and ecosystem services at a global scale depends on effective and equitable conservation of approximately 30% to 50% of Earth’s land…”
This is the clarion call we need to protect and restore our forests, wetlands, and mangroves across the Southern US and around the world.
Data highlights why protecting forests from industrial logging in the South should be a top climate priority:
Let’s give nature a break and let forests recover so they can do what they do best – harbor life and provide us shelter from the storm.
And one last note to the IPCC scientists currently working on part 3 of the report due in April:You warn about the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions. Burning trees for energy and investing billions in carbon capture and storage technology are not the answer. You made that error over a decade ago, and our forests and communities have suffered because of it. There’s ample scientific evidence that industrial logging is as big of a climate problem as outright forest loss. You need to name it.
First, close the biomass carbon accounting loophole. Next, end the burning of forests for electricity and stop the expansion of wood markets as any kind of solution to climate change.
We must invest in community-led solutions. Embrace the need for bold action that protects 50% of the world’s forests from industrialization. And remember that local communities are far better at protecting forests than corporations. If we do, we can protect forests at the scale necessary to avoid even more damage.
Salamanders may look like lizards, but these curious creatures aren’t reptiles. In fact, salamanders are part of the amphibian family. Yes, they’re more related to frogs, but they’re not as vocal. Lizards have dry skin, while salamanders on the other hand have wet and moist skin. Sometimes a salamander will even use their skin to breathe!
Salamanders play an important ecological role in natural communities. They eat various insects that are considered pests like slugs, mosquitoes, and flies. They’re also a food source for a wide range of other animals. The United States has the highest diversity of salamanders in the world, specifically in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. We prepared a list of some salamanders you can encounter in the US South along with their identifying characteristics.
This is probably the most iconic salamander species. They’re the third largest species of salamanders in the world and the largest one in the United States. Contrary to popular belief, they’re not poisonous, but their teeth are sharp enough to break human skin. So beware!
Eastern hellbender salamander
These salamanders love to be under the rocks. In fact, they’re loyal to their rocks and stay under the same one year after year. You can spot a hellbender from Southern New York to Northern Georgia, and even in some parts of Oklahoma, Ohio, Illinois, and Kansas, too.
This type of salamander can be difficult to spot because of their lifestyles. They like to spend most of their time inside the water. Even when the water dries out, they burrow in the mud to avoid drying out.
Siren salamander
They can be found exclusively in aquatic environments in the Southern and Eastern United States, along the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains. They can live as far north as Eastern Virginia and South through the tip of Florida, and as far west as Southwestern Alabama.
This salamander is the second most widely distributed species in the United States. They’re aquatic and terrestrial, in case they need to move from one pond to another. When on land they become slightly toxic, so watch out!
Eastern newt
You can spot these salamanders throughout the Eastern United States. From Canada to South Florida. In fact, newt salamanders can be found in every county in North Carolina.
These salamanders can be difficult to spot since they spend most of their lives under objects or underground. They make their homes in swamps and wetlands. Your chances of spotting them may increase during breeding season. Be careful if you see one because they have poison glands in their tails, so don’t touch them.
Marbled salamander
They can be found at wetlands or damp woodlands all over the Eastern United States, from Southern New England to Northern Florida, and west to Illinois and Texas. Fun fact: the marbled salamander is the state salamander of North Carolina.
This salamander can also be hard to find. They spend most of their time under rocks or in the burrows of other forest animals. They have glands on their backs and tails that release sticky toxic liquids. So be very careful!
You can find these salamanders in the Eastern United States, throughout the Southeastern states, with the exception of Florida. They’re common in the Piedmont and Mountain regions of South Carolina and Georgia.
This is a very rare and distinct type of salamander. They can only be found in one part of the world and they spend their whole lives in the water. Because of this, little is known about this unique species. Consider yourself lucky if you are able to spot one.
These types of salamander can only be found in the state of Alabama, specifically, in the Black Warrior River basin.
It’s very unfortunate that so many species are threatened by population declines that may lead to extinction. The biggest threat is the loss of their natural habitats. It’s crucial to preserve areas of natural forests and wetlands to sustain populations of different species of salamanders. Currently, the US Fish and Wildlife Service listed 11 different salamanders as endangered species. If you want to preserve these animals, start taking some of the following actions:
We hope that this article has helped you learn to identify salamanders! Let us know in the comments or on social media about all of the cool critters you’ve found.
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Las salamandras pueden parecer lagartos, pero estas curiosas criaturas no son reptiles. De hecho, las salamandras son parte de la familia de los anfibios (sí, son más parientes de las ranas, pero no son tan vocales como ellas). Los lagartos tienen la piel seca, mientras que las salamandras tienen la piel húmeda y mojada. ¡Muchas salamandras incluso usan su piel para respirar!
Las salamandras juegan un papel ecológico importante en las comunidades naturales. Se alimentan de varios insectos que se consideran plagas como babosas, mosquitos y moscas. También son una fuente de alimento para una amplia gama de otros animales. Estados Unidos tiene la mayor diversidad de salamandras del mundo, específicamente en el sur de los montes Apalaches. Preparamos una lista de algunas salamandras que puedes encontrar en el sur de los Estados Unidos junto con algunas de sus características identificativas.
Esta es probablemente la especie de salamandra más emblemática. Son la tercera especie más grande de salamandras en el mundo y la más grande en los Estados Unidos. Contrariamente a la creencia popular, no son venenosas, pero sus dientes son lo suficientemente afilados como para romper la piel humana. ¡Así que ten cuidado!
A estas salamandras les encanta estar bajo las rocas. De hecho, son leales a sus rocas ya que permanecen debajo de las mismas año tras año. Puedes ver a una salamandra gigante desde el sur de Nueva York hasta el norte de Georgia, e incluso en algunas partes de Oklahoma, Ohio, Illinois y Kansas.
Este tipo de salamandra puede ser difícil de divisar debido a su estilo de vida. Les gusta pasar la mayor parte del tiempo dentro del agua. Incluso cuando el agua se seca, se entierran en el barro para evitar secarse.
Se pueden encontrar exclusivamente en ambientes acuáticos en el sureste de los Estados Unidos, a lo largo de las llanuras costeras del Atlántico y el Golfo. Pueden vivir tan al norte como el este de Virginia y al sur a través del extremo sur de Florida, y tan al oeste como el suroeste de Alabama.
Esta salamandra es la segunda especie más distribuida en los Estados Unidos. Son acuáticos y terrestres, en caso necesiten trasladarse de un estanque a otro. Cuando están en tierra se vuelven ligeramente tóxicos, ¡así que ten cuidado!
Puedes ver estas salamandras en todo el este de los Estados Unidos. Desde Canadá hasta el sur de Florida. De hecho, las salamandras tritón se pueden encontrar en todos los condados de Carolina del Norte.
Estas salamandras pueden ser difíciles de detectar ya que pasan la mayor parte de su vida debajo de objetos o bajo tierra. Hacen sus hogares en pantanos y humedales. Las posibilidades de detectarlas pueden aumentar durante la temporada de reproducción. Ten cuidado si ves una porque tiene glándulas venenosas en la cola, así que no las toques.
Se pueden encontrar en humedales o bosques húmedos en todo el este de los Estados Unidos, desde el sur de Nueva Inglaterra hasta el norte de Florida, y en el oeste hasta Illinois y Texas. Dato curioso: la salamandra jaspeada es la salamandra estatal de Carolina del Norte.
Esta salamandra también puede ser escurridiza y difícil de encontrar. Pasan la mayor parte del tiempo bajo las rocas o en las madrigueras de otros animales del bosque. Tienen glándulas en la espalda y la cola que liberan líquidos tóxicos pegajosos. ¡Así que ten mucho cuidado!
Puedes encontrar estas salamandras en el este de los Estados Unidos, en todos los estados del sureste, con la excepción de Florida. Son comunes en las regiones del Piedmont y las regiones montañosas de Carolina del Sur y Georgia.
Este es un tipo de salamandra muy rara y distinta. Solo se pueden encontrar en una parte del mundo y pasan toda su vida en el agua. Debido a esto, se sabe muy poco sobre esta especie única. Considérate afortunado si puedes divisar una.
Este tipo de salamandras solo se pueden encontrar en el estado de Alabama, específicamente, en la cuenca del río Black Warrior.
Es muy lamentable que muchas especies estén amenazadas por la disminución de su población, tanto que puede conducir a la extinción. La mayor amenaza es la pérdida de sus hábitats naturales. Es fundamental preservar áreas de bosques naturales y humedales para poder sustentar poblaciones de diferentes especies de salamandras. Actualmente, el Servicio de Pesca y Vida Silvestre de Estados Unidos declaró 11 especies de salamandras en peligro de extinción. Si queremos preservar estos animales puedes empezar a realizar algunas de las siguientes acciones:
Guest post by Zeeshan Khan
Looking at environmental justice, we must first address racial injustice. Historically African Americans have suffered disproportionate impacts from pollution, climate change, and lack of access to green space. Let’s look at Black luminaries in the environmental movement who have created space and opportunities for the next generation of young Black leaders fighting for environmental justice.
Colonel Charles Young was an army officer, teacher, and soldier. Young was born in Mayslick, Kentucky on March 12, 1864. He was the first Black military attaché, the first Black colonel, and the highest-ranked Black man in the US military during his time. In 1903, Young would become the first African American national park Superintendent.
Young experienced continuing inequality while becoming a leading figure after the Civil War. He’s remembered for his work ethic, academic leadership, and devotion to duty. This all helped him reach his achievements in the face of racism and oppression.
Buffalo Soldiers were African American men who served on the Western frontier. Indigenous Americans gave the nickname “Buffalo Soldiers” to the all-Black Cavalry Regiments. The Buffalo Soldiers were most known for their involvement in the Indian Wars. While also participating in over 177 other conflicts, Buffalo Soldiers contained wildfires, poachers, and supported infrastructure within National Parks. Young and his Buffalo Soldiers’ work laid the groundwork for park management today.
Hattie Carthan started something new in her Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY in 1964. She began spreading trees seeds all around her community. Hattie formed an environmental activism project focusing on trees and a community garden. They have now planted over 1,500 trees along barren city sidewalks. Carthan was one of the first Black organizers to regreen a neighborhood. She created a legacy that is still alive today within Brooklyn.
Hattie Carthan Garden Youth Corps creates food justice within low income communities through community sharing of skills in gardening, seasonal nutrition, food education, and livestock. This gives youth a strong foundation in agricultural skills and how local food production affects local communities. It also provides youth hands-on experience in owning and operating a community venture.
Hattie Carthan Community Farmer’s Market is an agricultural project in central Brooklyn. This project has a vision to cultivate a healthy, holistic, and self-sufficient community systems. These markets give opportunities to rural and minority farmers to distribute what they’ve grown. These markets also benefit community members who struggle to find fresh food.
Savi Horne has a law degree and is on the board of the National Family Farm Coalition. She is the current Executive Director of NC Association of Black Lawyers, Land Loss Prevention Project. The LLPP provides legal expertise and community education. They also provide advocacy skills to farmers facing legal and environmental challenges.
The NC Association of Black Lawyers founded the Land Loss Prevention Project in 1982. The organization seeks to prevent losses of Black-owned farmland in North Carolina. Land Loss Prevention Project’s provides advocacy for farmers in distress and/or with limited resources. LLPP also takes on litigation, public policy, and promoting sustainable agriculture.
LLPP keeps land in Black communities by connecting farmers with the right resources. Their most known accomplishment is the 1999 USDA class-action discrimination case Pigford v. Glickman. The case acknowledges Black farmers were denied loans and services.
Dr. Robert Bullard is considered the father of environmental justice. A former Dean of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School,, Bullard holds a PHD and is an award-winning author of 18 books. He has written on sustainable development, environmental racism, and climate justice. Bullard is an educator who teaches his students the truth about environmental racism and justice. Bullard has said:
Well, environmental justice embraces the principle that all people in communities are entitled to equal protection of our environmental laws; housing, transportation, energy, food, and water security and health laws. Environmental justice is nothing more than this whole principle: people have the right to a clean, healthy, sustainable environment without regard to race, color, national origin. It’s just that simple.
Robert Bullard has warned that “racism” is not so easily defined and that it can be seen in our environment. Bullard’s wife, attorney Linda McKeever Bullard, brought a lawsuit against a Waste Management company in 1979. This company planned to put a landfill in a predominantly Black (82%) neighborhood. This became the first litigation in US history dealing with environmental racism. This case led to the study “Solid Waste Sites and the Black Houston Community”, which galvanized Bullard to a lifelong quest for environmental justice.
Wangari Maathai is the founder of the Green Belt Movement. Wangari Maathai was born in rural Nyeri, Kenya in 1940. Maathai is known for her work in democracy, human rights, and environmental conservation. She has addressed the UN on several occasions. She has spoken on behalf of women at the General Assembly during the five-year review of the Earth Summit. She has also served on the Commission for Global Governance and the Commission on the Future.
The Green Belt Movement has planted and re-planted over 51 million trees. This collective operates from the grassroots all the way to the international level. GBM promotes environmental conservation, building climate resilience, and empowering communities. It fosters democratic space and sustainable livelihoods, and the collective takes a special interest in lifting up women and girls.
Maathai’s passion was teaching women how to grow seedlings, plant, and sell them. She also helped develop environmental classes that taught forestry techniques. Graduates of the classes then become tree nursery managers, Green Belt promoters, and rangers.
In 1971, John Francis witnessed firsthand the great oil spill of the San Francisco Bay. It deeply affected him. He joined volunteers who cleaned up beaches and helped birds and sea creatures who the spill poisoned. Francis still felt a very real personal sense of responsibility, so he committed to stop driving and only walk. As part of his commitment, he also took a vow of silence that lasted 17 years. To raise environmental awareness, Francis walked all across the US and sailed all around South America and the Caribbean.
This was the largest oil spill the Bay Area had ever experienced. It threatened sensitive natural habitats within all surrounding ecosystems. The spill galvanized activism against pollution. In one of the largest volunteer turnouts in San Francisco history, thousands of residents showed up to clean up beaches and rescue oil-soaked animals.
Francis founded Planetwalk, a nonprofit environmental awareness organization that has a network across the globe. Planetwalk sponsors walks that foster “environmental education and responsibility and a vision of world peace and cooperation”. Through Planetwalk, Francis creates a curriculum for K-12 students on environmental literacy. Planetwalk believes behavior to one another can be a mechanism for how we treat the Earth.
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist, policy expert, and writer from Brooklyn, NY. She is the co-founder of The All We Can Save Project and the nonprofit Urban Ocean Lab. She is also the co-creator of the podcast How to Save a Planet.
Urban Ocean Lab recognizes the importance of our coastal cities and the urgent danger they face from climate change. The organization develops and implements science-based, practical climate solutions for the problems these coastal cities face. The All We Can Save Project nurtures climate leaders and strives to create a connected climate community. The organization’s model is rooted in the work and wisdom of women, especially Black women.
Johnson’s How to Save a Planet podcast asks the big questions about climate change. What do we need to do to solve the climate crisis? How do we get the work done?
Dr. Wright is an environmental justice scholar, advocate, and civic leader. Wright’s career has addressed environmental harm and health inequities. Dr. Wright has done significant research in environmental justice. She developed an environmental justice curriculum for the New Orleans Public Schools system.
Wright was the founder and Executive Director of Deep South Center for Environmental Justice. DSCEJ investigates the impacts of environmental inequality in the Lower Mississippi River Industrial Center. This area is so polluted that it’s now known as Cancer Alley. Wright’s research looks at population and demographic data within Toxics Release Inventory reports. Her research shows the direct connection between race and pollution. In fact, Wright has proven that nearly 80% of African Americans live in polluted neighborhoods.
The DSCEJ provides opportunities for communities, scientific researchers, and decision-makers to collaborate together. It promotes the rights of all people to be free from environmental harm and have a better quality of life. The Center develops leaders within BIPOC communities along the Mississippi River and Gulf Coast. These areas and BIPOC communities disproportionately suffer from pollution pollution and the effects of climate change.
In 1987, Lisa P. Jackson first started working at the EPA. In 2006 Jackson was appointed the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. During her time at the EPA, Jackson focused on climate change, community wellbeing, water and air quality, climate justice, strong tribal partnerships, and so much more.
President Obama appointed Jackson the EPA Administrator in 2009. Jackson was the first Black person to serve as the EPA Administrator. While in the EPA, she protected those most vulnerable to climate change.
Angelou Ezeilo is an author, lawyer, social entrepreneur, and environmental activist. She first practiced law as a Legal Specialist for the New Jersey State Agriculture. This sparked her journey to embark upon a career as an environmentalist. Ezeilo also worked with the Trust for Public Land in New Jersey and Georgia.
Ezeilo founded Greening Youth Foundation (GYF) in 2007. Its mission is to engage underrepresented youth and to support them getting to enjoy the outdoors and in finding conservation jobs. GYF’s takes a cultural-based environmental education perspective. It engages children from local communities and exposes them to healthy lifestyle choices.
Ezeilo is addressing the disconnect between BIPOC and the environment. She looks at cities like Atlanta, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, and Black youth in these areas face higher unemployment rates than the national average. Ezeilo is: “cultivating a generation of youth of color to be stewards of our land and natural resources and ultimately shift the demographics of the environmental conservation movement.”
We hope this list helps you get familiar with some men and women who have served the Black community. They all have contributed to breaking barriers and creating policy changes to end systemic racial oppression and create a healthier environment. These leaders have made sure that Black voices are represented in the fight for racial and environmental justice.
Zeeshan Khan
A mountain climbing enthusiast, Zee is a Communication Studies Senior at Appalachian State University and Dogwood’s newest intern. He is passionate about creating understanding and awareness about climate justice. On his weekends, he enjoys trail running, cooking, and caring for his fifteen house plants.
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April 5, 2026