To lead the world in environmental justice, we must start at home.
And two years in, we’re making real progress on the most ambitious environmental justice agenda in history.
With today's Executive Order, we’ll go even further. pic.twitter.com/ICFWmIqrNv
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 22, 2023
Today, @POTUS signed an Executive Order making environmental justice the responsibility of every single federal executive agency.
This means every federal agency must take into account disproportionate environmental and health impacts on communities – and work to prevent them. pic.twitter.com/ukvEsecFfK
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 22, 2023
Per the Associated Press:
… “Environmental justice will be the mission of the entire government woven directly into how we work with state, local, tribal and territorial governments,” Biden said in remarks at the White House.
The order tells executive branch agencies to use data and scientific research to understand how pollution hurts people’s health, so that work can be done to limit any damage. Under the order, executive agencies would be required to inform nearby communities if toxic substances were released from a federal facility.
As part of the announcement, Vice President Kamala Harris is separately traveling to Miami, Florida, to announce $562 million to help protect communities against the impacts of climate change.
The EPA last year formed its own Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, merging three existing EPA programs to oversee a portion of Democrats’ $60 billion investment in environmental justice initiatives created by last year’s Inflation Reduction Act.
The order puts more pressure on federal agencies — and the White House itself — to deliver on promises the Biden administration has made to clean up the environment in communities of color and poor communities and prepare them for the effects of climate change….
This is quite literally one of the biggest pro-environment moves ever made in the Federal Government.
We're getting a White House Office of Environmental Justice.
Absolutely incredible. https://t.co/tP8o703JHt
— Michael Paulauski (@mike10010100) April 21, 2023
I would've named it the White House Office (for) Keeping Environmental Safety. For the acronym, of course. https://t.co/XtVvly2iVc
— Ragnarok Lobster (@eclecticbrotha) April 21, 2023
Baud
🌎
Baud
WHOKES?
kalakal
@Baud: They’ve got an agenda
Geo Wilcox
Happy Earth Day! We’re going to be outside planning the veggie garden today. I think we will limit it to tomatoes and peppers. I dehydrate any extra and we still have a full gallon bag of tomatoes from last year’s garden. Putting up a new mailbox too, the county snow removal guy took it out in December and it is held up by busted cinder blocks, very rural back county type of thing. It will be nice to have a pretty mailbox again.
eclare
I love it. But not as much as Joe loves those Aviators.
OzarkHillbilly
AAAAUUUUHHHHGGGG! Too WOKE!!!!
NotMax
Granny whammy.
Baud
@NotMax:
Russia is the GOP’s idea mill.
OzarkHillbilly
@Geo Wilcox: When my neighbor’s got taken out by a plow, I put the new post in a 5 gallon bucket filled with concrete and then half buried it. This way, when it inevitably gets taken out again, all we’ll have to do is stand it up again. Maybe replace the box if it’s too damaged.
delphinium
@NotMax:
Granny’s not wrong, he is one handsome dude.
Cheryl from Maryland
Happy Earth Day! After two years, my dream of setting up a Little Free Library in my HOA will happen today! In fact, we will have two — one for children’s books and one for adults. The semi-Magat in the neighborhood said he would be in charge of what books are appropriate — I replied to him that he shouldn’t keep all of the porn for himself. I especially ordered “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and two children’s books on Leonardo da Vinci (imprisoned for a time in Florence for soliciting young men) and Marie Curie (Science!) for him. We’ll see what he does.
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
Lost track of how many replacement mailboxes have needed to install since the county put a school bus stop less than 20 feet away from mine.
Grrr.
Van Buren
Anybody have experience with Hairy Bittercress? I had never even heard of it, but discovered a patch in my backyard Thursday evening. Was able to ID it online by its ability to explode seeds everywhere at a slight touch. I see lots of advice that manual removal is impossible, one must use herbicides. That’s not going to happen, so I foresee a new chore in my garden for a very long time.
eclare
@Cheryl from Maryland: Yay! Happy news!
OzarkHillbilly
@Van Buren: I have it. I ignore it. It does it’s thing and I do mine, which is mow the weeds. I do have a few patches of grass. They don’t bother me either.
NotMax
@Van Buren
Dunno if it fits within your parameters but had 100% luck eradicating patches of poison ivy by pouring very hot water with lye (Drano) mixed in on them.
Wear protective gloves whenever dealing with lye. Rainfall will eventually dilute it enough for more amenable vegetation to take hold.
raven
Earth Day!! I found two pitties playing the street and managed to get them in my yard. I took them to the vet and not only was the male not fixed but they had no tags and were not chipped. I took them to the animal shelter and the were CLOSED because of fucking Earth Day! Our vet was really great and put them in his pen and will get them to the shelter today.
eclare
@raven: Oh no! That’s a lot for a Saturday morning. Where are the pitties now?
ETA looks like you updated your comment.
Van Buren
@OzarkHillbilly: I suppose that is the best approach, but Ms. Van Buren will not abide weeds in her flower garden. I suspect it got here via some milkweed we bought last summer from an organic gardening group.
E.
This is welcome and overdue by decades but hardly one of the “biggest pro-environment moves ever made in the Federal Government.” (Besides which this is a pro-justice move not a pro environment move.)
delphinium
@Cheryl from Maryland: Nice!
Baud
@E.:
Twitter loves hyperbole. It’s least it’s positive hyperbole as opposed to the usual.
OzarkHillbilly
To me weeds are just wildflowers. Maybe if you tell her that, she’ll go along with it. s//
raven
@eclare: I found them yesterday and the vet said he’d call Animal Control today. They are open until noon so it should be ok. I put them on the neighborhood FB page and didn’t hear anything until someone posted in the middle of the night that they “knew who they were”. I was a bit reluctant to send them to the shelter but the vet said they’d fix them, chip them and tag them before they give them back to whoever claims them. They had really nice collars so I’m holding out hope that it’s just some moron who doesn’t know how to take care of dogs but I also worry that they came from the many “unhoused” people who live nearby.
eclare
@raven: That they have really nice collars is disturbing. Sounds like you did the right thing.
Kay
@Van Buren:
Like Not Max I use hot water for weeds but I don;t use lye and the water has to be boiling. Boil it in a teapot and pour it on the weeds. Two applications, couple of days apart. I hope you dont have a big yard.
Baud
@raven:
Seems odd for unhoused people to have nice collars to put on their dogs.
Anywho, good on you.
eclare
@Kay: My mom also used boiling water.
Baud
@eclare:
That makes much more sense than boiling oil.
Kay
@eclare:
I’m not an “organic” gardener in the strictest sense of the term but I don’t use herbicides or pesticides. I also have a really narrow bladed spade I use for popping out weeds without bending over – that and the boiling water is all I use.
oldgold
I wish in celebration of Earth Day President Biden had announced he was restoring the Rose Garden.
RandomMonster
@Van Buren: Tempted to make Hairy Bittercress my next nym.
eversor
@NotMax:
About three years ago the SO was soaking some stainless steel forks in draino, cause reasons. Removed them to let it take effect. Than at about 2 am got up drunk and promptly tried to drink said Draino. This did not end well.
I didn’t get it down, thus I am alive but I burned the crap out of me and ended up hurling it all over the place.
I don’t keep it about anymore. Sure the look on my face was one for the ages as holy crap that sucked.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@raven: I was hoping someone saw your neighborhood FB post and claimed them. Hope someone calls the shelter looking for them
OzarkHillbilly
@eversor: Holy fuck…
kalakal
@eversor: wow, glad you didn’t swallow. That’s scary as all hell
RandomMonster
I always thought that would be great symbolism.
kalakal
@NotMax: I managed a first world problem the other week. The swimming pool was getting a bit green so I was adding a few gallons of liquid chlorine. Out of nowhere sudden gust of wind. I now have a pair of interestingly mismatched trainers and a pair of jeans with one trendy white blotched leg and one boring blue one. Good thing I wasn’t in my usual shorts and flip flops
OzarkHillbilly
A bit of fun from the Onion: Quiz: Could You Pass The SpaceX Aptitude Test?.
NotMax
@eversor
Shades of Bond girl Angela Scoular. Or the devastatingly gorgeous Jeanette Loff.
NotMax
@kalakal
On the plus side, now can show up as Harvey Dent next Halloween.
:)
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: Jeebus, there are far less painful ways to die.
Steeplejack
@raven:
Good work! (Fucking animal dumpers.)
MomSense
@Cheryl from Maryland:
I welcome you to the battle of the HOA little free library! Don’t be surprised if after a while you find yourself wearing night gear and making middle of the night inventory adjustments.
/subversive ninja little free librarian
MomSense
@Van Buren:
Try vinegar?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Cheryl from Maryland: HOAs are the devil
MomSense
If you haven’t watched season 3 of Star Trek Picard, I highly recommend it. The first two seasons were terribly disappointing but this season has been amazing.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
MomSense
@rikyrah:
Good morning
OzarkHillbilly
@MomSense: It will get cancelled at the end of this season.
prostratedragon
@MomSense: Hmmm … a Tampopo-style comedy?
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
I know. I’m just glad they got it right.
MomSense
@prostratedragon:
That is a great idea!
OzarkHillbilly
@MomSense: Sealing it’s doom.
rikyrah
@Cheryl from Maryland:
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
You sound like Worf 😉
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
OzarkHillbilly
@MomSense: Worf?? A character in the series? (I haven’t watched it, we don’t have TV)
gwangung
@OzarkHillbilly: Worf and his arc was one of the few bright spots in Picard third season. The rest was fan service to the moons of Jupiter, covering up inept plotting.
Miss Bianca
Woke up to SNOW! on Earth Day.
Which wouldn’t be so bad, as we’ve had precious little of it this year in my section of the Mountain West, unlike literally every other area of the MW this year. Just wishing I had chopped more wood yesterday, when we actually had a bit of respite from the screaming winds that knock the wood over on the chopping rock before I’ve had a chance to sink the maul into it…oh bother…
oatler
Barry Humphries RIP. I remember his Envy part in Bedazzled.
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
He’s from Next Gen and returns for Picard.
NotMax
@oatler
Dame Edna Everage was a brilliant creation.
(Now illegal in Tennessee.)
Miss Bianca
@MomSense: Don’t forget Deep Space Nine! I think Worf really came into his own as a character on DS9.
kalakal
@oatler: Aw Rats. Now Oz needs a new Cultural Attache
MomSense
@Miss Bianca:
OOh definitely. He’s one of my favorite characters. Have you watched Picard? I really hated seasons 1 and 2 but this final season was outstanding. I’m now hoping for a Jack Crusher spinoff.
Cheryl from Maryland
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Hey, I’m the chair of the Architecture Control Committee and the go to person when someone decides not to pay dues for five years because of “reasons” and has holes the size of tennis balls in their siding. I am not the Devil.
Miss Bianca
@MomSense: Sadly, no – there are so many Star Trek spin-off series now I can’t keep track of them all, plus no streaming. I’m thinking of doubling back to Voyager and then figuring out where to go from there.