in the state of new york, environmental organizations are fighting for access to clean water and clean air for their communities despite obstacles created by the pandemic. food & water watch, a national nonprofit founded in 2005, works on a variety of environmental issues including industrial pollution, the spread of diseases by factory farms and the privatization of water.

“we work very closely with some wonderful groups in buffalo that were contending with, you might say, an epidemic of water shutoffs that became particularly acute with the pandemic because of the absolute imperative for people to be able to wash their hands,” said new york senior organizer eric weltman. 

as millions of people all over the country lost their jobs during the pandemic, many were unable to pay rent or their utility bills, resulting in widespread water shutoffs. in june, new york gov. andrew cuomo signed a bill banning utility shutoffs until march 31, 2021, at the latest. this landmark piece of legislation is one of many that food & water watch has lobbied elected officials to pass. 

another of the organization’s major goals was realized in 2014 when cuomo banned fracking in new york state. however, this has not prevented the construction of other fossil fuel projects including pipelines and fracking power plants, which food & water watch has fought against in order to protect communities from exposure to harmful pollution. weltman says that the pandemic has not slowed down the progress on this campaign or any of the other work that his organization continues to do. 

“we have a range of tools at our disposal to interact with people. and let’s be clear, i mean, we love to see people,” weltman said. “we miss seeing a lot of our favorite activists and allies face to face but….we’ve got twitter, we’ve got facebook, we’ve got email, we’ve got texting, we’ve got zoom, we’ve got instagram — even old-fashioned telephones.”

weltman continued to list all of the ways food & water watch has adapted to the pandemic including calling elected officials, hosting webinars, and sending out petitions. in the past, the nonprofit rented buses to transport people from new york city to albany to lobby in the state’s capital. now, inspired by the marches for black lives matter, weltman and his colleagues have held outdoor rallies where people are required to socially distance and wear masks. 

despite not being able to meet with fellow activists or speak with elected officials in person, weltman has found the silver lining to an online approach. 

“you’re able to invite more people to attend and are able to invite more guest speakers. if you want to hold a zoom meeting and have a guest speaker from, you know, los angeles or honolulu or wherever, you just do it,” he said. “people are still craving connection and we’re providing it.”

just a little more than 60 miles north of new york city on the hudson river, one of the organizations that food & water watch works with faces its own battle with access to clean water. in the historical district of newburgh, generations of people have been plagued by a variety of illnesses including cancer and compromised immune systems. the newburgh clean water project (ncwp) believes the source of this hardship is the long-term contamination of their community’s water sources. 

“so we’re fighting lead in our water pipes and in our paint,” said tamsin hollo, one of ncwp’s steering committee members. “we’re fighting the pfas. we’re fighting pcbs in the hudson river. we’re fighting generations of manufacturing pollution. and most recently, we’re fighting this massive fracked gas power plant expansion just three miles from the center of newburgh.”

according to the environmental protection agency (epa), pfas is an umbrella term for man-made chemicals that do not break down easily over time and have been shown to result in a number of health issues including low birth weight for infants, compromised immune systems, thyroid problems and cancer. pcbs are organic chemicals used in industrial and commercial processes that can result in cancer, neurological issues and many other health problems. 

deborah brown, also a member of the steering committee and one of the people who founded ncwp in 2017, said that continuous industrialization has created a cycle of pollution, beginning with the construction of the stewart air national guard base in 1934. 

“the (new york state) department of health dropped our watershed from its maps very conveniently to allow the (new york state) department of transportation and the new york new jersey port authority to build a highway right on our watersheds,” brown said. “there are storm drains so if there was some kind of accident, if there was some kind of spill of chemicals or anything, it goes right into our reservoir.”

according to the u.s. census bureau, newburgh’s population is mostly latino and african american. the epa has recognized that environmental issues disproportionately impact communities of color and that these communities do not receive the same protections that predominantly white areas do. on top of this, the centers for disease control and prevention (cdc) found that communities of color have been at a higher risk from covid-19 due to “long-standing systemic health and social inequities.” 

“there definitely is a trend. i think just the term ‘environmental justice community’ was coined because of the relationship between poverty, race, and contamination,” brown said. “when you go around the country, where does the coal ash go? where do all the really toxic end products of the american lifestyle go? they tend to go to the places where poor people live and where people are the least listened to.” 

to combat these issues, ncwp successfully advocated to expand blood testing for harmful chemicals by the new york state department of health and demanded that the information also be provided in spanish. before the pandemic, ncwp held in-person events where people would break bread and share information to be prepared when different government agencies like the department of defense held community meetings about pollution coming from the air base. ncwp also held watershed tours where people could go see how the streams running near big box stores like kohl’s and home depot carried trash into various water sources. 

now during the pandemic, the grassroots organization continues to work with colleagues like food & water watch to campaign against a number of issues such as preventing a power plant in newburgh that operates only a few days each year from becoming a fracked gas plant that would operate year-round. throughout new york, 150 elected officials, including members of the state senate and state assembly, signed a letter urging cuomo to stop the upgrade of danskammer generating station and prevent newburgh residents from being exposed to “the brunt of air pollution.” 

“right here, right now, this community cannot survive yet another source of pollution,” hollo said.

in addition to partnering with other organizations, ncwp also relies on social media and webinars to get the word out on the dangers of contaminated water and fossil fuel emissions. according to hollo, who runs ncwp’s social media accounts, there are pros and cons to strictly virtual advocacy. 

“not having that face to face interaction, not having something on paper, i think, has not been the best way to reach out to our communities of color,” she said. 

hollo went on to explain that many people in her community only speak spanish or french creole but because ncwp is a small volunteer-based grassroots organization with limited funding, they can’t afford instant translation for webinars and other online events.  

“i guess i’ll just say it’s a double-edged sword,” she said. “you may think you’re reaching, you know, hundreds of thousands of people and you are, but are you reaching all the people for whom this is the most important issue and for whom this is really a life threatening issue?”

despite these limitations, both brown and hollo have been astonished with how effectively social media has mobilized young people. 

“young people have created a different way of voicing their concerns and certainly the latinx community has definitely come out strong in newburgh against danskammer (power plant),” hollo said. 

she also noted that many of the older members of the community were concerned about their vulnerability to covid-19 and were unable to protest in person, creating a unique call to action. 

“(young people) had to carry the torch and they did it beautifully,” hollo said. 

one organization has used social media as not only a tool for change but as a way to create a network of young climate advocates. new york youth climate leaders (ny2cl) is a coalition of 70 individual groups across new york state, founded in november 2019. the leaders of the organization are either in their late teens or completing their first semester of college, while members across the state range from middle schoolers to college undergraduates. the coalition focuses on policy surrounding fossil fuels, renewable energy, health care, and the green new deal. 

according to social media director sophie campbell, ny2cl has taken advantage of the digital space by organizing virtual strikes, creating a social media campaign to support the new york fossil fuel divestment act, pushing petitions on multiple platforms, and encouraging people to call elected officials such as cuomo and new york state senate majority leader andrea stewart-cousins. the organization also created a podcast and hosts informational webinars with guest speakers and panels. 

“i think the biggest thing was figuring out how to do our events and actions virtually,” campbell said. “social media has really been the key to activism and just keeping the climate movement alive during the pandemic.” 

even though ny2cl has fully embraced online tools for activism, campbell recognizes the limitations of not being able to conduct business as usual in person. 

“climate anxiety is very real, especially in youth organizers, and taking away that socialization aspect makes it very difficult to keep going and keep fighting all the time,” she said. “but i think that, you know, we’re getting through it. and we’re finding ways to have more fun, engaging in activities, not just activism, because i think that with everyone doing school virtually, and being on zoom all day every day, people are less excited to get on the call for climate organizing.” 

to prevent members from feeling isolated or disengaged, campbell has incorporated more art and activities into her social media strategy. 

during earth week, ny2cl held a climate art challenge where people could post individual creations inspired by the environment. the organization also hosted a virtual open mic via instagram, launched the #hugsomethinggreen challenge and drew slogans with chalk about divesting from fossil fuels in front of stewart-cousins’ office.

“we’re working on a lot more kinds of artistic, creative projects for our social media, for our website, for engagement, because i think that art and activism is incredibly important to the climate movement, both for engagement and (because) it’s just such a good way to spread awareness.” 

despite the variety of strategies and individual obstacles, all three organizations agreed on the importance of continuing their work during the pandemic. 

“climate change is the greatest threat that humanity faces because now, more than ever, we need access to safe (and) clean food, air, and water,” said food & water watch’s eric weltman.

born and raised in tampa bay, florida, fears attended a segregated school until sixth grade and studied art at st. petersburg college. he fell in love with journalism once he joined the school’s newspaper but found that there weren’t many opportunities for a young african american man to become a reporter in florida. in 1981, fears began studying at howard university where he majored in journalism and minored in both english and history.  

fears has covered wildlife, climate change, natural disasters, environmental racism, and so much more. he also has written about race, immigration, and the criminal justice system for the washington post, bringing extensive experience from his work at the los angeles times, the detroit free press and as the city hall bureau chief for the atlanta-journal constitution. recently, he and the team of climate journalists at the washington post won the 2020 pulitzer prize for explanatory reporting for the “2°c: beyond the limit” series, which breaks down how quickly the planet is warming and the resulting consequences. fears’ story focuses specifically on australia and how rising temperatures are threatening not only essential natural resources but an entire culture struggling to survive after centuries of persecution. 

in a conversation in late july, fears walked me through his experiences covering the environment and his pulitzer prize-winning work. he also gave insight on the decadeslong issue of excluding people of color in both the conservation movement and in newsrooms.  

this interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

q: when did you decide to pursue environmental journalism? 

a: i came to the post from the l.a. times and came in as a general assignment reporter. and a year after that, i started writing about race and ethnicity and that evolved into a number of things from criminal justice to immigration…a colleague of mine, david fahrenthold, who was covering the environment, decided that he wanted to cover congress and david left a void on the desk. 

i had expressed interest — just really sort of a passing interest — in covering the environment and an editor of mine remembered it and he thought i would be a good fit. i didn’t know at the time that i would be. and so i would say the long answer to your question is…i was assigned a position that i had a passing interest in. and i’ve been doing it now for 10 years because it has become one of the loves of my life.

q: was there a vocabulary or learning curve that you had to navigate when turning toward environmental journalism?

a: yes. scientists speak in an entirely different language from the rest of us. that was a huge learning curve to sort of understand how these research papers work, and what they were meant to say, and how they can inform journalism — and then how you had to sort of figure them (out), to read them, so that the average reader could understand that stuff. because you look at the papers we write about and you look at the stories and it couldn’t be more different. the other challenge was getting some scientists to speak in plain language about what they were saying, because scientists speak to other scientists. they don’t necessarily speak to you and me.

q: how did you overcome the challenge of taking scientific language and making it something absorbable for your audience?

a: lots of time. so, it would take me a long time to read these studies. i would spend lunch hours and time after work understanding not just the summary and the conclusions of the studies, but also the guts of them, the explanations for the types of lab work and models they use to make their case. and all of that reading sort of went into forming questions. when i approached the scientists — this is the thing — that i would find the authors, of course, and not just one author, but two authors and i would talk to at least two authors for each study and then talk to a scientist who wasn’t involved in the study to sort of inform me about what actually the study is trying to say. 

some scientists are patient, some aren’t, but … you have to be willing to look really stupid to them because these are very smart people. but you’re trying to answer (the) questions you have. i really didn’t care that some scientists might think that i wasn’t a scientist or i wasn’t up to speed  with certain things. i needed them to break down their information as much as they possibly could. sometimes, the scientists were surprised at their answers and were surprised at how they were explaining the science. they began to see that there was another way that they could explain what they were trying to say. so, it was a bit of give and take. it was sort of symbiotic. i would say that (it) took at least six years before i was truly comfortable with reading studies. i think i’m much better at it now. 

q: how would you describe your own experiences as a journalist of color covering this particular beat?

a: when i started on the beat, obviously, i went to numerous engagements hosted by conservation groups and i was astonished to find that the sector, this field of conservation, was even whiter than my own industry, journalism, which is pretty white itself. but conservation was really white and i found that intriguing. and i think that two or three years in, i was like, i just can’t believe that. i can’t believe that african americans and latinos and asian americans aren’t interested in the environment. 

so what’s happening here? and that led to my first story about diversity within green groups. and through writing that story, i learned a lot more about the environmental justice movement and how people in that movement had seen long before, that these groups weren’t just white, but they were racist. and they were sucking up (funding), and the foundations that basically gave them their marching orders and funded them also sort of left these groups without funds. 

when i went to the society of environmental journalists … you could almost count the number of black environmental reporters on your hand — on one hand, not both. and, that is itself frustrating because white journalists just weren’t writing about these communities, and although there’s an explosion of interest in environmental journalism because of the environmental justice issues now — because of this racial reckoning we’re in — those stories are few and far between. i don’t recall any. i couldn’t find any story when i wrote about diversity in these green groups. 

i couldn’t find that any white journalists had even thought to write that story. and that sort of tells you right there that they’re not engaged in these issues. they’re engaged in the way that these groups are engaged. it’s like, you know, we care more about the buffalo than about some area in some black community or latino community in los angeles that’s a heat zone, or that doesn’t have any green space, a park where children can play. so, those types of things, i think that that’s why black journalists or black environmental journalists are important because we see those things right away — those things that aren’t apparent to white journalists. 

i don’t want to disparage all white environmentalists or conservationists or white journalists. it’s just, they have serious blind spots and they don’t see everything and they don’t write with urgency about some of the things that people of color care about. … environmental justice is about to get some serious coverage. and i’m glad that i’m going to be a part of that.

q: can white journalists be effective storytellers now that this trend has been increasingly discussed and covered?

a: yeah, i think that they can be. i think that white journalists are fully capable of telling the story once they are engaged. and i think that they are capable of empathy and understanding, and i think that they can write good stories when they ask the right questions and follow the right signs. so, i think that nowadays, that is possible. so if we’re talking about right now, i believe that they can, but they have to first be engaged. they have to first care. and i think that they are coming around to that, but slowly.

q: you had mentioned the article you wrote in 2013 about the lack of diversity in the conservation movement. you recently wrote a story about the terrible history of the sierra club and many other organizations. how do you feel in this moment the conversation has progressed?

a: bob bullard said it best: it’s like baby steps. i think that the conversation right now around those stories that i wrote — the conversation around the story i wrote in 2013 is no different now than it was then. so these groups said that they would do more outreach and environmental justice work in 2013. the problem is they didn’t know how. they didn’t even know how to treat the employees. they hired black employees to come in and do the work. and so i think that they need to look at that. 

i think that the sierra club is drawing a straight line from its lack of diversity to its origins in white supremacy. and so, if that’s not enough to get you going, then nothing can. so, this is just a start. i know i’ve spoken to people who have no confidence that the sierra club will change. and the only way the sierra club can give them confidence is to change — a dramatic change. as michael brune, the executive director, said, “transformational change,” and that’s not just the sierra club. it’s the national wildlife federation, it’s the nature conservancy. it’s all these gigantic groups that get billions of dollars a year to do work that they do and cut black and brown people out of that. and so they have to learn that, one, their workforce needs to reflect the country, and two, that they have to learn how to do the work and give these people space to do the work. if they can’t, then they need to give the money to the groups that can.

q: in 2016 you wrote a piece called “racism twists and distorts everything.” i just want to read you a quick quote from that story, and pose the same question for you, now that we’re in 2020. you wrote, “black lives matter was trying to force a difficult conversation that many americans refused to have: how does racism drive inequality and fear, and how can we overcome that problem?”

a: racism creates the other and, let’s face it, it was created by white people long ago in order to sort of collectivize people who weren’t white and make them inferior and make white people superior. and when you’re operating with that belief, and then the stereotypes that come with that belief — that these people are more prone to crime, and these people are more prone to things that are anti-society — you create fear.

environmental racism is just under the entire umbrella of racism and you can go back to the way environmental racism essentially started with redlining — how white planners and the federal government, the federal housing administration and the public works administration, basically created black communities and basically also created white communities and made one group a pariah and the other group safe. when you’re making one group, the white group, safe, you sort of set aside the other group — largely black groups — for the most dangerous things. and so these black communities were redlined around the worst areas of cities and suburbs — areas where there were power plants and waste facilities, incinerators and refineries.

when city planners planned or zoned areas, they zoned them in and around black communities, or when they zoned housing areas for racial minorities, they zoned them in the worst places. and that’s how environmental racism came to be. how do you solve that problem? you recognize what happened, you recognize the zoning issues around this, and you have to tear it down. and i think that’s what environmental justice activists are doing.

q: you had mentioned how it’s so important to have climate journalists of color as part of the solution. why do you think environmental journalism is a beat that is predominantly covered by white journalists?

a: um, every beat is predominantly covered by white journalists. so i think, once again, when you talk about a lack of diversity in the field of conservation, there is a parallel lack of diversity within media, and that’s all forms of media — that’s television, magazines, and newspapers. and often, when african americans and asian americans are hired into these organizations, they’re siloed into particular beats and they’re not expected to cover certain things. and so, environmental science and environmentalism is just among those things.

covering this issue…it’s not something that i would have seen for myself. and i think that years ago, a lot of african american journalists would not have seen this for themselves, but the editor who thought that i would do a good job at this because i’m really able to translate difficult information and make it readable for a lot of people, was a black man. i don’t think that a white editor would have looked at me and said, ‘hey, darryl, you go handle that.’ it just doesn’t happen. so, just diversity in an editing position led to diversity in coverage of environmental issues at the washington post. 

q: i do want to talk about your story as part of the “2°c: beyond the limit” series. i was wondering if you could walk me through how you went about writing it.

a: the story in australia came about because australia happened to have a hotspot in it for 2°c…which is the so-called tipping point that the ipcc (intergovernmental panel on climate change) said is irreversible climate change. and so that area in australia was the tasman sea. i was looking at the assignment and i was like, interesting, interesting, interesting…then i tied the (dying) seaweed to an environmental justice issue to involve the first peoples of australia, which are so-called aboriginal people of australia — a white name provided to these people because white people thought that they were abnormal. 

i began telling their story about how they were tied to the sea and their origin story about being in australia (for) so long — 40,000 years — that they were able to walk to what is now an island. and also the story of their persecution. i used that as a narrative to drive the overall story — these people who were disenfranchised, who were trying to sort of reconnect to their culture and show australia that they have a unique place in australia’s culture, are losing their connection to the sea, which is their only way to demonstrate that they are a special people.

to me, that was just compelling. i just wasn’t prepared to discover all the horrible things that happened to the first people of australia, the palawa, as i later learned, and how they were wiped out essentially, by war and by persecution and basically bounties on their heads and (from) disease. and then the few that survived, the few that made it…white people began to lighten their skin color and take away their language and culture and were basically farmed out to white families as an attempt to breed the black out of them so that they can be white, like other australians. so i was like, ‘oh man, what a story here!’ and i think that story, because of the way i told it, because i’m a black journalist interested in the black diaspora, and how aboriginals fit into that and how they fit into australia’s history…it became one of the most important stories of the series.

q: what advice would you give to people, during an unstable job market to say the least, who want to get into journalism and environmental journalism?

a: first of all, you need to be grounded in journalism. you first need to be a good researcher, a good reporter, and a good writer. you also have to be bold. you have to rely on your perspective and your point of view and sort of claim stories and make them different and tell a bigger story. and you have to be really, truly passionate about the environmental issues that are out there. i was fortunate enough to have this passion for it. the environment is the most important thing on the planet going right now. what’s happening with the environment will determine whether we survive as a species, as human beings. have a passion for the work and be bold and represent. 

like the pandemic, climate change can feel like a massive, impossible problem that we as individuals have no control over. fortunately, just like how people all over the world choose to wear a mask and socially distance from others every day, you have the ability to make an impact on the environment from the safety of your home. 

1. whip out your green thumb 

as covid-19 has held the world hostage for the past few months, not only has people’s physical health suffered but so has their mental health. according to a recent poll conducted by the kaiser family foundation, 45% of american adults say that stress associated with worrying about the virus has had a negative impact on their mental health. another survey conducted in early april by researchers at yale university and george mason university shows that about 66% of americans “feel a personal sense of responsibility to help reduce global warming” even during the pandemic.

how can people address their stress about the state of the environment, while also managing their anxiety about exposure to covid-19? gardening might help. 

an article published by the national institutes of health (nih) in 2018 explores the idea of green care, defined as therapy by exposure to plants and gardening. the article cites a japanese study that found just looking at plants reduced stress and fear. physically, patients experienced a decrease in blood pressure, pulse rate, and muscle tension. in terms of the current pandemic, gyms across america remain closed, in addition to a number of parks and beaches, depending on individual state restrictions. this has made staying active each day substantially more difficult. gardening can be a way to get out of the house, get fresh air, and make an impact on the environment. 

on a larger scale, gardening reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and increases oxygen. according to the national wildlife federation, trees can absorb up to one ton of carbon dioxide pollution from the atmosphere. so if every american planted one tree, millions of tons of carbon dioxide could be absorbed each year. essentially, this would reduce global warming and improve air quality, which is particularly important during a pandemic that can affect the respiratory system. gardens also attract pollinators, including insects and birds, which are “vital to the production of healthy crops” and essential for maintaining ecosystems, according to the united states department of agriculture. 

if you’re someone who lives in a city or doesn’t have access to your own outdoor space, you can keep plants inside your home. the nih article mentions that indoor gardening has been used to treat mental health issues, not just for an at-home change in scenery but because plants can remove toxins and dust from the air with their leaves. if you don’t have the greenest thumb or feel stressed about keeping something alive, there are several types of low maintenance plants that thrive indoors. 

2. take something off your carbon plate

during the pandemic, going to the supermarket has become a stressful experience as shoppers do their best to socially distance while searching the aisles for what their family needs. many people have opted for delivery services such as instacart but still face the issue of an increase in food prices. according to the u.s. bureau of labor statistics, the price of meat, eggs, and poultry jumped 4.3% from march to april, the biggest monthly increase in 50 years.

is it possible to spend less time in the grocery store, save money, and eat more sustainably? the answer is yes, and it starts with purchasing less meat. 

methane is a greenhouse gas 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, which means it traps heat more efficiently in the atmosphere, according to the environmental protection agency (epa). the epa also states that livestock, especially cattle, produce methane when they digest their food, specifically by belching. the storage of livestock manure also produces methane, making agriculture the largest source of methane in the united states. 

in addition to contributing a lot of methane, beef production takes up a significant amount of natural resources. according to the world resources institute (wri), one-quarter of the planet (excluding antarctica) is used for cows to graze on. this pastureland is often the result of substantial deforestation. according to the yale school of forestry and environmental studies, cattle ranching is responsible for 80% of deforestation of the amazon. the wri also states that beef production uses between two to four times the amount of freshwater as other livestock does and 7.5 times more freshwater than plant-based food. 

if consumers were to swap beef for pork, poultry, or plant-based protein, the wri predicts global greenhouse gas emissions would drop by 15%. making that simple choice next time you’re in the supermarket allows you to make a positive impact. plus, you can save room in your freezer. 

3. do a little digging before you click ‘buy’ 

as weeks have turned into months, people have been scrambling to find ways to kill time while maintaining social distancing. besides relying on streaming services, there has been an increase in online shopping. according to the u.s. department of commerce, americans spent $146.47 billion online with u.s. retailers in the first quarter of 2020, increasing 14.5% from the same time last year. 

major retailers specifically saw a jump in numbers. target experienced a 141% increase in digital sales in the first quarter of 2020 and sales fulfilled by the delivery service, shipt, went up by 300%. amazon also had a successful first quarter, making $75.5 billion in net sales, an increase of 26% from the same time last year. 

with great power comes great responsibility — and a lot of packages. you have to wonder what the total amount of cardboard and plastic pollution will be when we look back on these few months of the pandemic. there are some numbers we do currently have. according to national geographic, 8 million tons of plastic wind up in the ocean each year. we also know that companies like amazon have struggled to make environmentally conscious choices in the past. last year, the washington post reported that amazon’s newly introduced lightweight plastic mailers created to reduce the use of cardboard boxes weren’t easily recyclable and clogged up machinery in recycling systems. 

on the other hand, amazon has launched a few initiatives to become more sustainable, including a guide on how to recycle different types of packaging. if you’re still worried about contributing to potential packaging pollution, you can buy products from companies that have consistently prioritized sustainability. 

according to the united nations economic commission for europe, the fashion industry emits about 10% of global carbon emissions and produces almost 20% of global waste water. however, companies like toms, patagonia, and thredup — the largest online thrift store — lead by example. there also are several organizations dedicated to educating people about conscious consumerism including remake and good on you. these resources provide a roadmap to sustainable online shopping so you can keep your life and closet guilt-free.