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Pödelwitz is an activist initiative  in the central german coal district, which is located in a village which was supposed to be evacuated for a planned expansion of a neighboring coal mine. After successfully resisting this expansion, the activists now promote social-ecological transformation in the village and the wider region. I will collaborate with them as part of my project in C-urge to study the role of justice in such transformations. Thereby we hope to arrive at an understanding of justice that is not opposed to urgent societal transformation in light of climate change, but a means of achieving this.

In New Orleans, African American communities were not only hit hard by Katrina's floods, but also by violent policing during the catastrophe and a disaster "recovery" effort that was fundamentally Anti-Black (closing of publich housing and the privatization of schools and health care). Recovery efforts were not organized along ideals of racial justice that would have addressed gaps in educational and health care resources. Instead, they were imagined along neoliberal principles that systematically excluded the city's Black population. I am interested in looking into how the Anti-Blackness of Katrina "recovery" set the stage for the virulent way COVID 19 is affecting New Orleans' African American communities.

In the US Virgin Islands, Hurricanes Maria and Irma decimated what were already decrepit public school and public health systems. Public schools and hospitals had not been property repaired and remained under-supported as of early March 2020. In places like the Island of St. Croix, residents reported the hospital having only one physicial on staff, and indicated fear of misdiagnosis and prolonged waiting times kept them from seeking health care there. The clientelle of the public health system is predominantly Afro and Hispanic Caribbean. Meanwhile, US "mainlanders" (who are predominantly white) are reported to seek their healthcare off island, something only those with ample financial resources can do. Infection rates and fatality rates for the USVI seem rather low from official reports, but it is important to find out if this is because testing itself is not readily avialable in the territory.

Media coverage from hard-hit cities suggests there is a disproportionate number of arrests and citations related to enforcement of social distancing among racial minorities.

Also, police response seems to have followed very different patterns in the case of "re-open" protests and anti-police brutality protests.

Newark is notably a more poor community then the rest of NJ. This alarming study comes to show that economic differences can affect the area you live. The problem is that these people probably didn't have enough money to settle anywhere else, and the prices of housing in the ironbound community must be cheaper then other places for the reasons cited, such as air pollution. The community is near the port and industrial area, so it's very hard to get away from the pollution. At least they are trying to keep an eye out for the problems of pollution, and with the help of the EPA, the ironbound community now monitors the air quality.

EPA is doing its best to try and minimize the extend of the air pollution in Newark. They are trying to make life better for the ironbound community, that deals with a big problem when it comes to air pollution, since its near the second biggest port in the country. They provide training for citizens so they can use the machines that look up how much pollution is in the air, annd with that information the population can do as they please. This program is not only for the ironbound community, it can be use troughout the country so the population can have control on the air pollution and do something about it if they want.