Latest Articles
Climate Resilience and the Failure of the Healthcare Market
There has been growing attention on the failure of key markets to keep pace with climate change, including the housing, insurance, and utilities markets, and the dire consequences for communities across the country. The healthcare market, however, has received less attention. While significant progress has been made over the past two decades in expanding healthcare…
Introducing: Climate Comms Power
It’s one thing to spread awareness about climate change impacts, provide the facts, and share opinions on solutions. What’s even more critical, however, is that our messaging is powerful enough to connect with audiences in a way that inspires movement-wide action. Like any other campaign aiming to generate change, being strategic and intentional with the…
The Housing and Climate Equity Series Presents: At the Crossroads of Climate and Housing Justice: Field Scan and Needs Assessment
By Miriam Zuk, Ph.D.*, Idalmis Vaquero**, Zully Juarez, MURP.**, and Lin Chin* *Ground Works Consulting | **Just Solutions Ensuring the well-being of people, their homes, and the environment is increasingly important in the context of the climate crisis. The connections between housing and climate justice are vast, and in these critical times, the climate and…
What Can We Learn from Social Policy to Advance Climate Justice?
Increasing the capacity of frontline communities to meet the current and future challenges brought about by climate change will require a significant future expansion of assistance programs and resources. There are decades worth of lessons to be learned from the design and implementation of past laws and policies that are intended to improve the lives…
Language Justice in Climate Disasters: State Models Addressing Title VI Gaps
In the face of climate-related disasters, effective communication around evacuation orders and recovery resources can mean the difference between life and death. Unfortunately, individuals with Limited English Proficiency (LEP), who are at the front lines of climate change and climate-related disasters, are often excluded from these lifesaving communications— further compounding their vulnerability to climate change.…
How a public option for basic financial transactions supports household climate resilience
Climate justice is inextricably linked with economic justice, and individual and household economic precarity is increasingly important in the context of the climate crisis. As in so many other aspects of climate change, the household finances of low-income and communities of color are already experiencing impacts “first and worst.” Last fall, the U.S. Department of…
Introducing the “Michigan Solutions for All” Campaign
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) represent significant federal investments in climate and infrastructure. To ensure these benefits reach the communities that need them most, targeted efforts are essential. Just Solutions is proud to partner with the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition (MEJC) to co-lead the “Michigan Solutions for…
Just Essays: Reflections on the atomic destruction of Hiroshima and the present nuclear resurgence
Author: Arjun Makhijani, PhD, Senior Fellow, Just Solutions. President Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. Hiroshima was obliterated on August 6, 1945 razed to the ground by just one bomb from a single plane. That day, Mitsuno Ochi had been waiting to withdraw money from a bank; she was instantly evaporated into a mere shadow…
State and Federal Whole Home Repair Programs: Can They Solve the Weatherization Assistance Program Deferrals Problem?
Investment in weatherization is sound public policy. Weatherization checks all the boxes of improving energy efficiency among low-income households, easing the strain on household budgets, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Residents experience improved health and well-being as a result of a more comfortable living environment, with benefits for mental and physical health. Residents also enjoy…
BRIEF: Housing & Climate Equity – An analysis of climate and housing policies that benefit environmental justice communities and low-income tenants
Just Solutions’ latest brief analyzes two Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) programs that provide targeted investments in housing, the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRP) and Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). This brief also examines four innovative model policies from California, New York, Oregon, and Pennsylvania that are filling the…
