Weekly Mulch: Throwing the Environment Away

Throwaway products create a multitude of problems, including maxed-out landfills, air pollution and depletion of limited resources. Instead of hunting for new places to stash our trash, we should focus on consuming less altogether. But in the midst of an economic crisis, can we transition to a sustainable economy?

Find out more in this week’s Mulch…

Weekly Immigration Wire: Kennedy Was Friend to Immigrants

Sen. Ted Kennedy’s death yesterday was a blow to the immigrant community. For over 40 years, Kennedy was a tireless fighter for immigrant rights and is remembered for many valuable accomplishments, not the least in making possible the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which did away with the national-origin quotas that had been in effect in the US since 1924.

Read more about Ted Kennedy’s immigration work in this week’s Immigration Wire

Weekly Pulse: Healthcare Reform Without Kennedy

Healthcare reform lost one of its greatest champions last night with the passing of Sen. Edward Kennedy. Kennedy famously called healthcare reform “the cause of my life.” The senator’s death is a major blow to the reform effort.

Read more about this tragic loss in this week’s Pulse…

Weekly Audit: EFCA, Tax Cheats and Racial Inequality

This week’s Audit looks at the status of household finances, the racial wealth gap and the intense hostility displayed by U.S. employers toward labor unions.

Read more…

Weekly Immigration Wire: Silence Strengthens Opposition

“President Obama is citing the Healthcare debate as a reason for postponing immigration reform until 2010. But in the interim, the White House is laying the groundwork for an enforcement agenda by expanding programs such as 287(g), Secure Communities and e-Verify, amidst a growing matrix of detention centers. Anti-immigration factions are taking advantage of the lull in legislative action to push their own agenda”.

Read more in this week’s Immigration Wire…

Weekly Pulse: Public Option on Life Support

The prospects for a public option are looking bleak because conservative Democrats in the Senate have the president over a barrel. First, the Senate bill will be written by the conservative, insurance-friendly Senate Finance Committee. Second, any reform bill will need 60 Senate votes to defeat a Republican filibuster–so the Blue Dogs can kill reform if they don’t get their way. So the White House is managing expectations by insisting that a public option is nice, but not necessary.

Read more of this week’s Pulse from The Media Consortium’s Lindsay Beyerstein…

Weekly Audit: Depression-Era Inequality

This week’s Audit from Zach Carter at The Media Consortium, examines new data indicating that income inequality is more severe than in the roaring 20s or the Great Depression, and look at the wide gap between what the recession has meant for the lives of ordinary workers and financial executives.

Weekly Mulch: Why’s Your Carbon Footprint So Big?

Find out the carbon impact children, meat consumption, and more are having in this week’s Mulch by Raquel Brown.

Check Out The Latest Immigration Wire

Healthcare before immigration?

Find out more in this week’s Immigration Wire by Nezua…

Climate Change Heroes And Villains

James Boyce wrote an entry in the Huffington Post on the current Heroes and Villains campaign for NRDC. Read about it here.