Wood pellet plant expansion targets N.C. environmental justice community

Wood pellet giant Enviva wants to expand production at its plant in poor, rural, majority-Black Hertford County, North Carolina. It's facing a fight from a coalition of local residents and Southern forest advocates, who worry about the environmental health and climate impacts. (9/30/2022)

Read More >

VOICES: Ben Chavis on the environmental justice movement's past and future

The famed civil rights leader who coined the phrase "environmental racism" in a North Carolina jail recently delivered the Robert R. Wilson Distinguished Lecture at Duke University Chapel in Durham. Titled "Environmental Justice: Past, Present, and Future" and shared here, his talk commemorated the 40th anniversary of protests over toxic waste dumping in a rural Black community that sparked the environmental justice movement. (9/28/2022)

Read More >

The Epoch Times' disinformation lands unbidden in voters' mailboxes

As election season gets underway, voters in communities across the South are finding in their mail unsolicited print copies of The Epoch Times, a pro-Trump news outlet that traffics in conspiracy theories and other disinformation. We look at who's behind the publication and what they're trying to accomplish. (9/29/2022)

Read More >

From the Archives: Dumping on Warren County

To mark the 40th anniversary of the groundbreaking protests against North Carolina's plans to dump toxic waste in a rural Black community, we reprint from the 1988 Southern Exposure book titled "Environmental Politics" an essay and photos about the struggle by Jenny Labalme, who reported on it as an undergraduate at Duke University. Her photos of the nonviolent protests have become some of their most enduring images.

Institute seeking Finance and Administration Manager

The Institute for Southern Studies, an award-winning nonprofit research and media center based in Durham, North Carolina and publisher of Facing South, is seeking a full-time Finance and Administration Manager.

This position is an exciting opportunity for a mid-level professional to take leadership and build skills on a range of financial, administrative, human resources, and operational functions for a small Southern social justice organization with deep roots and a powerful reach across the South.

The position is full time (40 hours per week) and will be based at the Institute’s office located in Durham, North Carolina. Annual starting salary is $75,000 and includes medical, dental, and vision insurance with 100% employee premium coverage, three weeks of paid personal leave plus additional leave accrued over first two years of employment, nine paid holidays annually, and a $1,500 annual professional development budget.

For more information or to apply, please visit here. The deadline for applications is November 18, 2022 at 5 p.m. Questions? Email us at [email protected]. No phone calls, please.

Starbucks workers organize the South against great odds

Workers at dozens of Starbucks locations in Southern states have unionized despite the region's harsh anti-union laws and the coffee chain's intimidating tactics, which have included terminations, surveillance, and mandatory anti-union meetings. This week the company announced it would begin bargaining with Starbucks Workers United in October.