Click here for Inner City Press' weekday news reports, from the United Nations and elsewhere. Click here to Search This Site
ICP has published a (double) book about
a variety of inner city-relevant topics, including racism,
environmental and otherwise - click here for
sample chapters, here for
an interactive map,
here
for fast ordering
and
delivery, and here for
other ordering
information. CBS
MarketWatch of April 23, 2004, says the
the novel has "some very funny moments," and that the
non-fiction mixes "global statistics and first-person
accounts." The Washington
Post
of March 15, 2004, calls Predatory Bender: America in
the Aughts "the first novel about predatory lending;" the
London
Times of April 15, 2004, "A Novel Approach," said it "has
a cast of colorful characters." See
also, "City
Lit: Roman a Klepto [Review of ‘Predatory Bender’]," by
Matt Pacenza, City Limits, Sept.-Oct. 2004. The Pittsburgh
City Paper says the 100-page afterword makes the
"indispensable point that predatory lending is now being
aggressively exported to the rest of the globe," and opines that
that the "novel Predatory Bender: A Story of Subprime
Finance may, in fact, be the first great American lending
malfeasance novel" including "low-level loan sharks,
class-action lawyers, corporate bigwigs, hired muscle, corrupt
politicians, Iraq War veterans, Wall Street analysts, reporters
and one watchdog with a Web site." And environmental
justice too! Click here
for that
review; for or with more information, contact us.
September
25, 2023
Oil Exec from UAE Running COP28 Draws Bots on X Like Wider UN of Guterres Censors
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
UN GATE, Sept
22 – The UN's upcoming climate change
conference has as its president the head of
the United Arab Emirates' oil company, ADNOC.
Inner
City Press noted this typical UN hypocrisy on
X (formerly Twitter) on September 20 while
reporting from an event across the street from
the UN it is banned from even entering.
The
response was indicative of today's UN
system. Robot-like response, from
ostensibly unconnected accounts, came in
reply.
Inner City
Press had written: "Scam COP28 prez Sultan Al
Jaber is at the same time the head of ADNOC,
the UAE's oil company. But the UAE throws
money around in the UN so who cares,
right?."
An account
named @afnan_elfakhory replied,
"The claim that the head of the UAE oil
company is serving as president of the COP28
conference does not correctly reflect reality.
The UAE is working hard to achieve global
climate goals and promote sustainability. It
is necessary to appreciate the efforts made by
the UAE."
But Sultan Al
Jaber *is* the head of the UAE oil company.
Two similarly robotic responses came from
accounts named @asma__daroza and
@gana_elsaieg.
It's
not just the UAE, or COP28 - UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres' head of "global
communications" Melissa Fleming has bragged
about using the UN's name (and public money)
to combat and eliminate messages they don't
agree with from the Internet.
Fleming and Guterres have banned Inner City
Press, ignoring its June 19, 2023 application to
enter and cover UNGA 2023 and then ignoring a
letter from the pro bono law firm of Duane
Morris, drunk with their own
impunity. Watch this site.
More on
Substack here
Your support
means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and
grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon
page. Click
here to become a patron.
September
18, 2023
Citigroup has been rightly targeted with on the environment for years (see for example Predatory Bender) - but last week the ongoing lending protests turned physical, and a Citigroup staffer showed the bank's attitude, pushing and yelling and it seems splashing coffee, video here. More next week, after UNGA...
September
11, 2023
Amid
all the fine
talk at the
G20, this:
"MCD deploys
water
sprinklers to
control
pollution
during G20
Summit The MCD
said that 15
anti-smog guns
have also been
deployed at
high-rise
buildings,
Civil Lines,
Green Park
zonal building
and Tilak
Nagar Colony
hospital."
September
4, 2023
Health benefits that have resulted from reductions in fine particulate air pollution aren’t distributed equally among populations in the U.S., a new Yale-led study finds. Racial and ethnic minorities — and Black people in particular — still experience disproportionately high rates of cardiovascular disease-related deaths caused by exposure to fine particulate matter, according to the research.
The findings were published Aug.
31 in Nature Human Behavior.
August
28, 2023
Jakarta
may be the
most polluted
city in the
world, but
Indonesia is
only the 26th
most polluted
country. The
most polluted?
Chad...
August
21, 2023
Once
a thriving and
pristine
freshwater
expanse, Lake
Maracaibo in
Venezuela now
stands as a
haunting
testament to
the
devastating
consequences
of unchecked
pollution and
decades of
environmental
neglect
August
14, 2023
The
Indonesian
capital of
Jakarta was
ranked the
most polluted
city in the
world on
Wednesday.
Swiss air
quality
technology
company IQAir
has
consistently
ranked it
among the top
10 polluted
cities around
the globe
August
7, 2023
France
canceled a
training
session
Thursday for
an open water
swimming event
in the Seine
River due to
pollution
caused by
heavy
rains.
“Following
recent heavy
rainfall in
Paris, the
water quality
in the Seine
has currently
fallen below
acceptable
standards for
safeguarding
swimmers’
health.
Consequently,
the decision
has been taken
in
consultation
with public
health and
event delivery
partners to
cancel the
training
session due to
take place at
07:30
(0530GMT) on 4
August, ahead
of the Open
Water Swimming
World Cup
planned for
this weekend,”
the French
Swimming
Federation
said in a
communique.
July
31, 2023
From
the EU: Who
hasn’t enjoyed
a bit of fresh
air in their
car by turning
on the air
conditioning
while
stationary?
The practice
is
commonplace,
and
particularly
welcome at a
time when an
intense
heatwave is
hitting
southern
Europe and
Italy in
particular,
with
temperatures
frequently
hovering
around 40°C.
Unfortunately,
the practice
has been
banned by
Italian law
since 2007 as
part of the
fight against
pollution, and
offenders face
heavy fines
ranging from a
minimum of
€223 to a
maximum of
€444. In
protest, some
motorists have
approached the
Minister for
Infrastructure
and Transport,
none other
than the
former
Interior
Minister and
President of
Lega, Matteo
Salvini, to
ask him to
arbitrate. The
minister’s
response was
swift:
sensitive to
the complaints
of users, he
pleaded for
moderation in
the
application of
this law,
which was
recently
updated and
reinforced
under his
ministry. The
fight against
pollution is a
laudable
objective, but
it must not be
achieved at
the expense of
other equally
important
realities. Can
we reasonably
ask a motorist
stopped in a
car with young
children or
elderly
people, for
example, to
turn off the
air
conditioning?
Matteo Salvini
appealed to
police
officers’
“common sense”
and
“discernment”—virtues
that
unfortunately
seem to be
disappearing
when it comes
to
environmental
considerations.
July
24, 2023
Sadiq
Khan in U-turn
on ‘eco’
wood-burners
amid pollution
fears
Campaigners’
pressure sees
London mayor
withdraw
approval for
stoves billed
as better for
the
environment
Jon
Ungoed-Thomas
and Skyler
King Sat 22
Jul 2023 09.03
EDT The mayor
of London,
Sadiq Khan,
has withdrawn
his
endorsement of
wood-burning
stoves
promoted as
“environmentally
friendly”
after a surge
in sales of
the
appliances,
which
contribute to
harmful air
pollution.
In 2018, Khan
endorsed the
Ecodesign
stoves,
July
17, 2023
EJ
in Iraq:
Pollution in
Iraq's River
Tigris
threatens
people's
health and
safety.
Chemicals and
waste
materials from
various
government
institutions
and power
plants are
polluting the
River Tigris,
causing skin
diseases and
colon
cancer.
Sewage waters
are also
poured into
the River
Tigris, which
passes through
the capital,
Baghdad, which
has a
population of
approximately
9 million.
July
10, 2023
Thick
clouds of
toxic foam
covered parts
of a river in
southeast
Brazil,
scattering
downward and
worrying
residents on
Friday (July
7). Drone
images showed
clouds of foam
floating on
the Tiete
River in the
town of Salto,
the largest
river in Sao
Paulo with
more than a
thousand
kilometers and
crossing the
state from
east to
west.
The stinky
foamy layer
comes from
detergent
wastes and
chemical
residues
dumped into
the river
without
treatment
July
3, 2023
Dateline
London: Just
Stop Oil
protesters
disrupted
London’s Pride
march in
protest over
the event
accepting
sponsorship
money from
“high-polluting
industries”. A
number of
protesters
were arrested
after blocking
the road in
front of a
Coca-Cola
truck.
June
26, 2023
London's
The city's
Ultra Low
Emission Zone,
which imposes
a daily charge
on the
most-polluting
vehicles, is
expanding
despite some
resistance...
June
19, 2023
Air
pollution in
Minnesota's
Twin Cities
likely hit an
all-time high
this week,
according to
preliminary
observations
from the
Minnesota
Pollution
Control
Agency.
The agency
reported a
24-hour air
quality index
value of 175
on Wednesday,
indicating a
level of
airborne
particle
exposure
equivalent to
smoking four
cigarettes. A
typical AQI
value for the
Twin Cities in
June is around
33, according
to data from
the
Environmental
Protection
Agency.
June
12, 2023
Amid Environmental Claims by Administration Bank Regulators Ignore Pollution on Mergers
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
FEDERAL COURT,
June 4 – The Biden Administration has ordered
all "federal agencies to consider and report
on measures to ameliorate and prevent
disproportionate negative environmental and
health impacts on historically marginalized
communities."
But
what does it mean, for the bank regulators?
Take for
example the Federal Reserve Board, which has
routinely ignored, and official stated it can
and will ignore, environmental justice, and
even despite its claims, climate
change. For example in approving
BMO Harris' application to acquire Bank of the
West - protested by Fair Finance Watch and
Inner City Press - ruled that
"Some
commenters expressed concerns regarding the
amount of funding that BNP Paribas and Bank of
Montreal have provided to fossil-fuel
companies, while one commenter requested that
the combined organization publish annual
disclosures related to environmental issues.
In addition, one commenter expressed concern
that BOTW had not disclosed information
regarding the diversity of its employees.
These comments concern matters that are
outside the scope of the limited statutory
factors that the Board is authorized to
consider when reviewing an application under
the BHC Act. See Western Bancshares, Inc. v.
Board of Governors, 480 F.2d 749 (10th Cir.
1973)."
Inner City
Press wrote, The Fed sure loves that 1973
case. It's time to amend the BHC Act and CRA
to provide a private right of action and of
judicial review.
But what
about the Biden Administration's Executive
Order? It doesn't only apply to the FDIC and
OCC - it references independent regulatory
agencies. Watch this site.
***
June
5, 2023
Ten
most Ten most
polluted
countries
Nepal: 99.73
μg
Niger: 94.05
μg
Qatar: 91.19
μg
India: 90.87
μg Saudi
Arabia: 87.95
μg
Egypt: 87
μg
Cameroon:
75.01 μg
Nigeria: 71.80
μg
Bahrain: 70.82
μg
May
29, 2023
So
under the
Biden
Administration's
Environmental
Justice EO
every agency
is supposed to
consider EJ -
and the bank
regulators?
We'll have
more on this.
May
22, 2023
US
Sen. Bill
Cassidy is
convinced he
has the policy
that can
challenge
China’s
geopolitical
and military
might, put a
dent in its
bountiful
greenhouse gas
emissions,
strengthen the
U.S. economy,
and, perhaps
most
importantly,
get to 60
votes.
Cassidy said
he’s floating
a proposal
around to his
colleagues,
which he hopes
to introduce
later this
year, to
impose a
“foreign
pollution fee”
on various
product
imports from
fuel, to
chemicals,
cement,
aluminum,
steel, and
plastics to
deal with
these various
China-related
political,
environmental,
and national
security
interests at
once
May
15, 2023
Scientists
have found
“alarmingly
high”
concentrations
of potentially
toxic
particles in
the air in New
York City
subway
stations.
New York
University
researchers
surveyed 271
platforms in
December 2021
and found
levels of
airborne iron
particles were
a staggering
126 times more
than the
outdoor
average,
according to a
paper
published last
month in the
International
Atmospheric
Pollution
Research
journal.
May
8, 2023
Ohio
will have
until the end
of June to
finish a plan
to aimed at
combating
toxic algae
blooms that
have
flourished in
Lake Erie
since the late
1990s. The
deadline is
part of
settlement
agreement
approved by a
federal judge
May
1, 2023
Maine
regulators
issued a
pollution law
violation
notice to
Canadian
Pacific Kansas
City (CPKC),
the rail
company whose
six train cars
derailed in
Somerset
County two
weeks ago
April
24, 2023
The
signingof the
EJ EO was good
- but to
position it
only in terms
of climate
change, and
not also toxic
pollution, is
a mistake.
April
17, 2023