Global News & Policy – Ecosystemic Magazine

“Drill, baby, drill”: The Republican Party’s Love Affair with Big Oil

24Mar

By Kai SchropferNo Comments

“Drill, baby, drill”: The Republican Party’s Love Affair with Big Oil

Illustration / Courtney Jones; Alex Brandon and Carlos Osorio, Associated Press; and Adobe Stock “Drill, baby, drill” was the tagline phrase that defined Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, promising to cut inflation and reduce America's dependence on Middle Eastern oil by increasing oil drilling and production. Although the phrase rose to fame during the fall of 2024, chanted by Trump at numerous rallies and other political events, the term was actually coined by Republican Michael Steele, a vocal critic of Trump-era policies. Steele used the term to rally Americans through the 2008 Economic Crisis and high Middle Eastern oil prices, with the goal of separating the American economy from conflict in and with the Middle East. In its beginnings, “drill, baby, drill” was motivat...

Mission 300 Aims to Provide Clean Electricity to 300 Million in Central Africa

24Mar

By Stella StoneNo Comments

Activism & Social Change, Eco-STEM, Global News & Policy

Mission 300 Aims to Provide Clean Electricity to 300 Million in Central Africa

Mission 300, a UN-sanctioned bilateral initiative, will expand electricity access to more than 300 million African citizens over the next six years. This plan will combat rising electricity concerns on the continent. In late January, 30 African heads of state gathered in the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam, to allocate $50 billion from the World Bank and African Development Bank to develop and implement renewable electricity. According to the World Bank, while this is only half of the continent's unelectrified population, it would bring power to five million people monthly. Husk Power Systems, an American company producing solar mini-grids, was unwilling to sell its electricity at the government's desired price and, therefore, pulled out of Tanzania recently after establishing ...

Trump Appoints Fmr. Rep. Lee Zeldin (NY-01) to Lead Environmental Protection Agency

24Mar

By Daniel PihoNo Comments

Global News & Policy

Trump Appoints Fmr. Rep. Lee Zeldin (NY-01) to Lead Environmental Protection Agency

Elizabeth Frantz | Credit: REUTERS The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) mission is to ensure that all Americans have access to a safe and healthy environment—based on the best available science—and to enforce federal laws designed to protect public health. The head of the EPA, just like other cabinet members, is appointed by the President and then confirmed by the Senate. Trump’s pick for the administrator of the EPA is Lee Zeldin, a former Congressman from New York State. Zeldin’s background is rooted in military service followed by a steady climb through New York politics. He served in the military from 2003 to 2007 before being elected to the New York State Senate in 2011, where he served until 2014. He then represented New York’s first district in the U.S. House of Representa...

24Mar

By Lindsay NealNo Comments

Global News & Policy

Trump Rehires Neil Jacobs to Lead NOAA

On February 3, President Donald Trump nominated atmospheric scientist Neil Jacobs as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) administrator. However, this nomination is highly controversial due to Jacobs’ involvement in the infamous “Sharpie Gate” incident during Trump’s first term. In 2019, President Trump falsely claimed that Hurricane Dorian would impact Alabama. When the National Weather Service’s Alabama office corrected the misinformation on social media, the Trump administration pressured NOAA officials to contradict their meteorologists of face termination publicly. As acting head of NOAA then, Dr. Jacobs issued a statement criticizing the Alabama weather office, claiming that the post was “inconsistent with probabilities from the best forecast products availa...

Financial Sector Braces for Climate Future

24Mar

By Sophie PittNo Comments

Global News & Policy

Financial Sector Braces for Climate Future

As the environment becomes an increasingly relevant factor to our global future, with issues that range from climate change to resource depletion, the finance world is recalibrating its strategies to accommodate these emerging risks. Investments are evolving to incorporate environmental factors, not just as ethical considerations, but as integral drivers of financial performance. One of the most significant changes within the financial sector is the widespread adoption of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria. ESG investing evaluates companies based on how they manage their impact on the environment, their relationship with society, and how they are governed. Environmental factors are central to ESG, including, but not limited to, how companies address climate change, res...

24Mar

By Estelle JoubertNo Comments

Global News & Policy

Project 2025 and its Climate Objectives

"Indeed, ‘one set of eyes reading these passages will be those of the 47th President of the United States’ (Project 2025, 2022). Project 2025 is a policy agenda published by The Heritage Foundation, an ultraconservative policy research institute led by Paul Dans, a former Trump administration official, in 2022. This agenda is a far-right wishlist of proposals that its authors encourage Trump to implement in his current second term. These policies focus on an overhaul of the federal government, which would detrimentally affect agencies responsible for protecting the environment. According to a CNN article published on January 31, 2025, President Donald Trump stated he had not read Project 2025; however, more than two thirds of his early executive orders align with its proposals. Additionall...

National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution: EPA’s Objective C

26Aug

By Esme HyattNo Comments

Global News & Policy

National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution: EPA’s Objective C

Image by Warren Hansen Written by Esme Hyatt EPA released the draft “National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution” Focusing on Objective C of the plan, which has to do specifically with preventing trash from entering waterways The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently posted the Draft National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution. This report was derived from the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act passed in 2020. Title 3 of the act requires the EPA to create a plan to reduce consumer plastic released into the ocean. Additionally, the plan has been released to the states and the public for comment. (Toto, 2023) There are three objectives to the report. According to the EPA, Objective A addresses reducing pollution during plastic production, Objective B focuses on improving po...

26Aug

By Amelia PNo Comments

Global News & Policy

A New Solution to End Pollution

Image by Anupa Uthsara Written by Amelia Petty At UC San Diego, researchers have developed a new type of plastic material that can biodegrade in a natural ocean environment. This material, called polyurethane foam, could potentially replace petroleum-based plastics that end up in our oceans and pollute the water for centuries. The popular commercial plastic used today does not break down naturally for hundreds of years, leaking toxins into the water, as well as breaking off into microplastics which are dangerous to ocean life, and eventually humans. While this groundbreaking invention gives an optimistic view on the future of ocean pollution, its commercial use across the world is still a long way off. What makes this polyurethane foam so innovative is its ability to break dow...

How Can Cities Plan for Severe Environmental Disasters and Implement Sustainable Solutions?

28Jan

By Gracie DNo Comments

Global News & Policy

How Can Cities Plan for Severe Environmental Disasters and Implement Sustainable Solutions?

By Gracie Dogramaci Kristy Drutman, a Jewish and Filipino environmentalist, uses social media platforms to educate and inspire the public about specific current environmental issues. She describes various ways of highlighting the issues specific communities face, including research initiatives, partnerships with an organization, or a campaign with a nonprofit (Drutman 2023, pg. 1). Drutman says her work is mainly through experimentation when it comes to displaying content on social media discussing an issue (Drutman, 2023). Artwork by Rosie Schrag There are a multitude of sustainable solutions for environmental disasters. Therefore, Drutman is always thinking about how to create more awareness around those who are generating current solutions, as opposed to people “reinventing th...

Rural Communities are Vulnerable and Need Our Attention

28Jan

By May ChanNo Comments

Community News & Policy, Global News & Policy

Rural Communities are Vulnerable and Need Our Attention

By May Chan Inhabitants of rural areas might love their large stretches of field and woodland, or the ability to recognize every face at the local post office, but the small size of their community and relative isolation can work against them when a storm hits, floodwaters rise, or a fire blazes. In our interview with Kristy Drutman, she discussed the problem of plastic pollution in rural areas and the links between incarceration and natural catastrophes. Her interest in this subject demonstrated how vulnerable rural areas are to both natural and man-made calamities. Due to a number of variables, such as inadequate access to emergency infrastructure, geographic isolation, and financial instability, rural areas are frequently more vulnerable. To begin, rural areas have medical infrast...