A few weeks ago, heavy rains came down quickly in Atlanta, turning the city’s Downtown Connector into a lake during rush-hour traffic. As the rain fell, some drivers were seen sitting on the hood of their vehicles as their cars became submerged, while others waded through waist-high water and abandoned their cars. On May 20, […]
Environmental Justice
Posted inClimate Change, Criminal Justice, Economic Development, Environmental Justice, Policing, Politics & Policy
Atlanta’s ‘Cop City’ Makes a Black Neighborhood a Testing Lab for AI Policing
This story was published in partnership with Counterstream Media for The AI issue of Peace & Riot. ATLANTA — When he drives through his neighborhood now, Brian Page passes rows of police cars and AI‑powered cameras that track nearly every movement. For most of his life, Page, who goes by “Scapegoat Jones,” felt safest in […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Health, Politics & Policy
SW Atlanta Residents Block Alcohol Sales at Controversial Gas Station
When Faye Floyd opened her email just hours before a key zoning meeting for her southwest Atlanta community, she wasn’t expecting the message that followed. The developer behind a controversial gas station planned for 3397 Greenbriar Parkway SW had withdrawn an application for an alcohol license — a move Floyd and other southwest Atlanta residents […]
Posted inClimate Change, Economic Development, Environmental Justice, Housing, Politics & Policy
The Black Mecca’s Climate Plan Is Costing Black Atlanta Residents Their Homes
This is the first story in a series on “climate gentrification” in Black neighborhoods. Support for this series was provided by The Neal Peirce Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting journalism on ways to make cities and their larger regions work better for all people. ATLANTA — By the time Atlanta hosts a World Cup […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Health
Toxic Air From Sterilizer Plant Sparked Cancer Fears. Now Black Families Are Fighting Back.
Iffat Walker didn’t realize how close a facility that had been emitting a toxic chemical shown to cause lymphoma and breast cancer was to her family until she pulled up a map. Her mother’s home in Covington, where Walker spends time regularly, sits roughly 10 miles from a sterilizer plant that uses ethylene oxide, a […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
15,000 Gallons of Jet Fuel Spill Into Atlanta River, Raising Drinking Water Concerns
After Lynesia Denson heard on the news that thousands of gallons of jet fuel spilled into the Flint River, a body of water that flows through her community and at times provides some of their drinking water, she said she wasn’t shocked. “It’s really disappointing, but not surprising, that industry at the headwaters continues to […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Politics & Policy
The Data Center Atlanta Thought Was Dead Is Back on the Table
A data center proposal that was previously shot down has resurfaced in southwest Atlanta along with the debate over land use, equity, and who benefits from development in historically disinvested communities. The project, planned for a site near the West End MARTA station and bordering communities like Adair Park, Pittsburgh, and Mechanicsville, has been hotly […]
Posted inCity Politics, Environmental Justice, Politics & Policy
Atlanta Residents Push Back on ‘Poop Park’ Sewage Plan in Their Neighborhood
This story was produced in partnership with Canopy Atlanta. Columbus Ward, a longtime resident of Peoplestown, has watched storms sweep through his neighborhood for decades, carrying sewage and stormwater into streets and homes. He said he remembers when Atlanta rerouted major sewer lines ahead of the 1996 Olympics due to the construction of the Centennial […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Politics & Policy
Georgia Power Expansion for Data Centers Greenlit, Sparking Outrage
State regulators gave Georgia Power permission on Friday to massively expand its power plant facilities across the state. The decision came despite vocal opposition from environmental justice groups, who argue the project — aimed at ensuring future data center owners have the energy they need to operate — could cause people’s energy bills to rise […]
Posted inEconomic Development, Environmental Justice, Gentrification, Politics & Policy
How 20 Years of the Atlanta Beltline Made the City Cleaner and Greener
In the new series From Harm to Healing, Capital B is putting a spotlight on how pollution and environmental dangers are threatening Black communities, and the people who are working to fight back against these threats to health. For longtime resident Tristain O’Donnell, who has lived in the southwest Atlanta neighborhoods of Capitol View and […]
