Environmental Justice

The environmental justice movement, championed by people of color, is aimed at ensuring that everyone has equal rights to environmental protections and benefits and equal opportunities to shape community policies. Those who experience America’s most polluted environments are most commonly people of color and people living in poverty.

Keeping Score: More Attacks on Trans Rights; Sexual Assault Should Disqualify Cabinet Nominees, Americans Say; Female Professors Win Lawsuit and Backpay for Pay Disparity

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week: The Supreme Court considers a ban on gender-affirming healthcare for trans teens; data shows crimes in public restrooms and changing rooms are extremely rare, and are not decreased by laws preventing trans people from using public bathrooms; analyzing Trump’s cabinet nominees; midwives say climate change is harming their communities; Nevada maintains a majority woman legislature; criminal justice reform for probation, parole and bail is critical; Arizona moves to end 15-week abortion ban; Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal have asked the Biden administration to limit the federal government from deploying troops domestically; and more.

Seven Young Activists Working at the Intersection of Environmental and Racial Justice

In this intense moment in the fight against racial injustice and the COVID-19 crisis, we can’t separate the fight for racial equity from the fight against climate change, and we must look at environmental justice as an anti-racist act. Leah Thomas, an intersectional environmental activist and eco-communicator, defines intersectional environmentalism as “an inclusive version of environmentalism that advocates for both the protection of people and the planet.” 

Find out more about Thomas and six other young activists whose work prioritizes an intersectional lens and links environmental and racial justice.

(This essay is part of a Women & Democracy multimedia package focused on Gen Z and student voters. The future envisioned by young leaders is bright—it’s built on reproductive rights, bodily autonomy, sustainability, freedom from violence and economic opportunity. Explore essays, a brand-new podcast, videos and more from some of your most loved [or soon to be!] influencers and writers, brought to you by Ms., DoSomething, the nonprofit that helps make volunteerism “cool,” and The Anthem Awards, the social impact arm of The Webbys.)

The Top Four Causes Igniting Young People

By rallying around causes that matter, young people are not only shaping their own futures but also redefining the landscape of civic engagement. 

(This essay is part of a Women & Democracy multimedia package focused on Gen Z and student voters. The future envisioned by young leaders is bright—it’s built on reproductive rights, bodily autonomy, sustainability, freedom from violence and economic opportunity. Explore essays, a brand-new podcast, videos and more from some of your most loved [or soon to be!] influencers and writers, brought to you by Ms., DoSomething, the nonprofit that helps make volunteerism “cool,” and The Anthem Awards, the social impact arm of The Webbys.)

The Road to My First Vote: Finding My Voice as a First-Generation Immigrant

I’m part of the 8 million youth who are now old enough to vote in 2024. It wasn’t until I noticed the inequities that existed around me that I realized the potential my voice could have on the ballot.

(This essay is part of a Women & Democracy multimedia package focused on Gen Z and student voters. The future envisioned by young leaders is bright—it’s built on reproductive rights, bodily autonomy, sustainability, freedom from violence and economic opportunity. Explore essays, a brand-new podcast, videos and more from some of your most loved [or soon to be!] influencers and writers, brought to you by Ms., DoSomething, the nonprofit that helps make volunteerism “cool,” and The Anthem Awards, the social impact arm of The Webbys.)

Keeping Score: Childcare Costs Top Pre-Pandemic Levels; Sharp Rise in Texas Maternal Mortality; Oct. 3 Marks Latina Equal Pay Day

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week: a Georgia judge strikes down the state’s six-week abortion ban; JD Vance and Tim Walz debate; childcare costs rise after pandemic-era grants expire; Senate Republicans again block IVF protections; school superintendants are overwhelmingly male; Kentucky governor bans conversion therapy; nonbinary adults face violence and discrimination at work; Aisha Nyandoro, founding CEO of Springboard to Opportunities, is on the TIME 100 Next list; University of Pennsylvania professor Dorothy Roberts (host of the Ms. podcast Torn Apart) has won a prestigious MacArthur Foundation “genius” award; and more.

The Paranoid and Unhinged Rhetoric of Project 2025

Project 2025 is a wishlist of rightwing policy goals for the next conservative president.

I took a dive into the Project 2025 cesspool and fished out some of the choicest morsels, which I’ve organized into several categories: rebuilding the patriarchal family; ending sex discrimination … against men; reproductive rights and wrongs; demonizing our enemies; oil and gas will save the country; and eliminating government as we know it. Enjoy!

Climate Regulation and Reparations Should Focus on Fair Conditions for Pregnant People and Children

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The climate crisis is already quietly killing millions. It, along with other ecological crises, is set to potentially kill a billion humans and countless nonhumans—those least responsible for causing it. But here is a truth you will rarely hear: The death count predictions are premised on the current reproductive rights models, the ones that caused the crisis to begin with.

The 22 Scariest Lines We Found in Project 2025’s 900-Page ‘Mandate for Leadership’

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Project 2025, the extremist blueprint for the next Republican president, maps out the permanent reversal of more than 50 years of gains for American women and LGBTQ+ people. The authors of Project 2025—80 percent of whom served in the first Trump administration—paint a picture of a nation where women are fundamentally second class citizens.

Project 2025 contains an 887-page policy agenda. We read the whole thing, so you don’t have to. Here are the most terrifying things we found. 

A Call to Protect Mexico’s Women Climate Leaders

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Exactly 12 years ago, Mexico enacted the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists law, a legislative promise to protect activists and reporters from violence and repression. Today, this promise remains unfulfilled.

Mexico remains one of the most dangerous places for human rights defenders, particularly for women climate leaders—who face targeted violence, threats, and attacks, with little to no effective protection from the state. Just last month, Mexico elected its first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, an environmental scientist who has led on climate change throughout her career. While this election may mark a shift towards better protection and support for women climate leaders, there is a tremendous amount of work to be done to protect them—not only for their sake but for the future of our planet.