Recent Stories
A Better Discussion Guide: Finding Common Ground Around the Holiday Dinner Table
The holidays are a time for coming together. We should not just be coming together physically to drive us further apart mentally, emotionally, and spiritually by reinforcing our differences.
There is No Moral Case for Fossil Fuels. The Bible Even Tells Us the Opposite.
Reflections on God are common right now. We are about to enter a new year. Many of us are getting ready to celebrate Christmas or Hanukah. With 2024 “virtually certain” to be the hottest year on record, some may look at the symptoms of the climate crisis – the extreme heat, the fires and floods, the climate-charged cyclones – as signs of God’s wrath.
Among the Powerful Voices We Lost in 2024, Louis Gossett, Jr.’s Echoes Loudly
It was my last year as national president of the NAACP, at the end of 2013 Image Awards. I was with my dear friend Louis Gossett, Jr., the actor and activist who won an Oscar for his role in the film “An Officer and a Gentleman.” Lou said to me, “You know, Ben, I’ve been in this racial justice movement my whole life, but you know, sometimes, brother, I feel like we’re fighting over who’s in first class. What we should be doing is looking out the window, because the plane has fallen like 20,000 feet in the last two minutes.”
Bipartisanship Cannot Be a Dirty Word
What is one thing – just one – you can agree on with someone on the opposite side of the political divide? The late General Colin Powell once told me, “Figure that out and you can get a lot done. And as you win one victory together, you might just discover along the way that there’s something else you agree on.”
America’s Healing Can Start with Family Around the Holidays
With the holiday season approaching, it seems that our country could not be more divided. That division has been perhaps the main overarching topic of our national conversation in recent years. And it has taken root within many of our own families.
Why We Cannot and Will Not Go Backwards on Clean Energy
More jobs. Better jobs. Lower energy prices. Cleaner water. Cleaner air. Fewer asthma attacks. Fewer heart attacks.
Why We Cannot and Will Not Go Backwards on Clean Energy
More jobs. Better jobs. Lower energy prices. Cleaner water. Cleaner air. Fewer asthma attacks. Fewer heart attacks.
Three Areas Where Biden Must Now Act to Cement His Legacy On the Environment
Now in its final months, the Biden-Harris administration has a chance to cement its powerful legacy on the environment. Congress returns for its so-called lame-duck session on November 12. The administration should pull out all the stops to work with Congress and use the powers of the presidency to get some more big things done.
The Clock is Ticking for the Government to Do What is Right for this Flooded Historic Black Community
Ever since 2018, when the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) expanded a highway running through the town, stormwater runoff floods the homes in this community whenever it rains. It is an ongoing crisis.
Indigenous Communities Continue to Lead in Some of Our Most Crucial Environmental Fights
Contamination from lead, arsenic, and the other toxins in Tar Creek in northeastern Oklahoma stole the potential of many children of the Quapaw Nation. As a parent, I can only imagine the anguish and the anger. As a lifelong activist for civil and human rights and the environment, I deeply admire the resilience of the Quapaw and the many Indigenous communities with similar stories.
