Putting Out the Planetary Fire

NY Renews held a virtual ‘Climate State of the State’ press conference on Monday, January 8 to discuss their climate justice priorities for 2024: the People's Climate Justice Budget and Climate Jobs and Justice Package. . In part two of our coverage, we hear from two youth climate activists from We Stay/Nos Quedamos from the South Bronx, Melanie Giller and John Sanchez, followed by some questi...

The major climate news in Governor Hochul's State of the State address this year was her support for most of the NY Heat Act, which is designed to get the state to stop promoting the expansion of fossil fuels like natural gas and to ensure that clean energy is affordable. Lisa Marshall of the Renewable Heat Now campaign and NYers for Clean Power discusses what still remains to be done. The coa...

Liz Moran of Earth Justice discusses Governor Hochul's proposed budget for environmental issues with Mark Dunlea of Hudson Mohawk Magazine. Keep topics include the NY Heat Act and funding for water infrastructure.

On Thursday, January 18, state lawmakers and advocates held a news conference calling for adoption of the state Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act. The bill will reduce plastic packaging by 50% over 12 years. In Part one of our coverage, we hear from Vanessa Fajans-Turner, Executive Director of Environmental Advocates NY, who served as the moderator. We then hear from the lead sp...

On Thursday, January 18, state lawmakers and advocates held a news conference calling for the adoption of the state Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act. The bill will reduce plastic packaging by 50% over 12 years to dramatically reduce waste, improve recyclability of packaging, and slash greenhouse gas emissions associated with plastic (which are currently on track to outpace the...

Climate justice advocates were stunned today to hear that the Hochul administration planned to take 10 years to achieve only a 50% reduction in fossil fuels at the State Plaza complex. State lawmakers, climate groups, and local residents have been asking Hochul to support pending legislation (A5633 / S2689) that would set a 3-year timeline to completely convert the State Capitol complex to 100% re...

Clean Water Advocates gathered at the Capitol on Tuesday January 29 to call for $600 million in state funding for clean water infrastructure after the Governor proposed cutting it in half to $250 million. We hear from a number of speakers: Adrianne Esposito of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, who moderated the event. Senator Pete Harckham, chair of the Senate Environmental Committee; Ass...

The state budget hearing on the Environment on Wednesday February 7 lasted to the midnight hour. Hudson Mohawk Magazine has compiled the testimony of a number of the state’s leading climate activists. While praising the Governor for including major parts of the NY Heat Act, there were calls for much faster action on climate as extreme weather continues to explode globally. Making Polluters Pay, co...

The state budget hearing on the Environment on Wednesday February 7 started at 9:30 AM and lasted to the midnight hour. Hudson Mohawk Magazine has compiled the testimony of a number of the state’s leading climate activists. While praising the Governor for including major parts of the NY Heat Act, there were calls for much faster action on climate as extreme weather continues to explode globally. M...

New York’s leading fossil fuel lobbyists are simultaneously lobbying on behalf of environmental groups, hospitals, universities, cultural institutions, and tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, according to a new report from F Minus and LittleSis. The report argues that such “double agent” lobbyists are part of a strategy by the fossil fuel industry to greenwash its image and dissuade...

On Valentine's Day, NYS Comptroller Tom DiNapoli announced that he largely decided against divesting from the billions of dollars the state's pension fund has in Exxon and other oil and gas companies. DiNapoli, contrary to the evidence, decided that most of the fossil fuel companies are committed to transitioning to a clean energy future. He defended his more than half a billion dollars in...

A newly formed Texan company is attempting to evade New York’s fracking ban with a scheme to drill thousands of wells, frack with carbon dioxide, and construct a dozen gas-burning power plants. The company, Southern Tier Solutions, wants to use carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels to extract even more fossil fuels. It’s a dangerous example of why carbon capture and sequestration – known as CCS...

A proposal from the federal Environmental Protection Agency would impose the strictest limits on lead in drinking water since federal standards were first set 30 years ago. It has a goal of replacing nine million lead pipes within the next 10 years. Rob Hayes of Environmental Advocates explains the proposal, including its impact on Troy and other local communities. With Mark Dunlea for Hudson Moha...

This is Hudson Mohawk Magazine's End of the Year Holiday Special, a Review of Climate in 2023 from segments we have broadcasted. For our climate special, we have parts of six segments from this year. After a summary of the state of the climate, Mark Dunlea and Sina Basila Hickey review the recent COP28 climate meeting. After Justin Wood of the NY Lawyers for the Public Interest discusses NY Re...

A review of the recently concluded COP 28 climate meeting. Climate activist Mark Dunlea reviews progress on issues such as climate funding to help developing countries cope with climate change. Fossil fuel companies emerged as the big winners, as they were able to weaken the call to phase out fossil fuels to one to transition away from them without firm goals. Meanwhile, the UN chief says the lack...

The COP28 climate summit will run from November 30 to December 9 in the United Arab Emirates. Key issues to be debated include whether to set a firm deadline to phase out the use of fossil fuels and how industrial polluting nations will provide climate financing to the Global South. David Schwartzman is professor emeritus at Howard University and a biogeochemist who is active with the Global Green...

PepsiCo., the global soft drink company, is being sued by the NYS Attorney General Tish James over the issue of single-use plastics pollution. The lawsuit alleges that the soft drinks giant “substantially causes public harm in Buffalo, has failed to warn consumers about the potential health and environmental risks of its single-use plastic packaging, and misleads consumers and the public about its...

NY Renews, a broad climate justice coalition, formally launched their Climate, Jobs, and Justice Package on Wednesday, November 15. Justin Wood of the NY Lawyers for the Public Interest discusses some of the key climate proposals and budget requests. With Mark Dunlea for Hudson Mohawk Magazine.

Beyond Plastics and IPEN (the International Pollutants Elimination Network) released “Chemical Recycling: A Dangerous Deception,” a critical examination of the technology’s long history of failure and the threats it poses to the environment, human health, and environmental justice. The report precedes the upcoming United Nations international plastics treaty talks, to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, fr...

The Community Gardens Protection Act, the Birds and Bees Protection Act, and the Class C-Streams Protection Act bring together a cross-cutting force of much-needed protections for pollinators, green spaces, and recreational waterways and streams. Ashley Ingram of Earthjustice discusses why it is important that Governor Hochul sign these three bills into law. With Mark Dunlea for Hudson Mohawk Maga...

The Compendium of Risks and Harms of Fracking and Associated Gas and Oil Infrastructure (the Compendium) was recently released, documenting continuing and increasing impacts on health and environment. The report shows fundamental problems with the entire life cycle of fracking and its infrastructure, which includes pipelines, LNG terminals, frack sand mining operations, and gas stoves inside homes...

Over 200 groups sent a letter urging Governor Hochul to include the Climate Change Superfund Act in her upcoming state Budget. The bill, which passed the Senate last session, would raise $3 billion annually from fees on Big Oil companies to pay for the damages caused by them emitting more than one billion tons of greenhouse gases in the state. At the state capitol in Albany, we hear from Pete Look...

One hundred twenty organizations statewide, including roughly 25 Albany groups and elected officials, wrote Governor Hochul today to urge her to include legislation in her upcoming state budget championed by the Sheridan Hollow Alliance for Renewable Energy (SHARE) to make the Capitol and other state buildings in downtown Albany run on renewable energy. The groups said this action would be consist...

Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha is a DSA-backed candidate recently elected to represent the 103rd Assembly District in the Dutchess-Ulster County area. In response to a proposed rate hike by the Central Hudson Utility, she is organizing a series of town hall meetings on energy democracy covering the broader topic of Energy Democracy and our statewide challenges with private utilities, energy affo...

Linda LeTendre of Saratoga was one of about 150 climate activists arrested Monday Sept. 18 for blocking the entrances to the Federal Reserve in NYC. Climate groups want the federal government and banks to stop investing in fossil fuels.