Jeff Biggers

Jeff Biggers

Jeff Biggers is the author of numerous books, including his latest: "Resistance: Reclaiming an American Tradition?" His previous works include: "State Out of the Union: Arizona and the Final Showdown Over the American Dream;" "The United States of Appalachia;" and "Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland." Follow him on twitter: @JeffRBiggers

Articles by this author

Dr. Rodolfo "Rudy" Acuña is the founding chair of the Chicana/o Studies department at then San Fernando Valley State (California State University at Northridge) — the largest Chicana/o Studies Department in the United States. (Photo: via RudyAcuna.net) Views
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Ethnic Studies Redux: Professor Rudy Acuña Still Has Work to Do
The pandemic is not an excuse for mediocrity," declared Dr. Rodolfo "Rudy" Acuña, as he worked on another commentary in a rigorous writing schedule that would defy any Covid blues. As the debate over Ethnic Studies brews in California and the Biden administration transitions into power, the 88-year...
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" We need a new climate narrative that sets out a road map for a renaissance of thinking and action, not a new series of dystopian chronicles that paints our climate emergency as a roadside attraction," writes Biggers. (Photo: Rainforest Action Network/flickr/cc) Views
Thursday, September 17, 2020
We Need a New Climate Narrative: Not a Dystopian Movie, but a Vision of Hope, Change and Empowerment
As deadly wildfires raze millions of acres across the Western states, issuing a canopy of noxious smoke and eerie colors in coastal cities, and Hurricane Sally continues a historic pounding along the Gulf Coast , we have been overwhelmed by scenes of a climate emergency that the media is now...
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Despite the fact that two centuries of coal mining had left our region in ruin, with entrenched poverty, toxic discharges of slurry and the region's lowest health indicators, it remained the dominant way of business and politics. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images) Views
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
An Earth Day After Coal: Amid All the Bad News, A Major Turning Point
This year's Earth Day will mark the first time in history that renewable energy production of electricity has outpaced coal-fired generation. According to an analysis by the independent research Rhodium Group, coal-fired generation of electricity could even fall below a mind-boggling 15 percent of...
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School children march down Queen Street during a climate change protest on May 24, 2019 in Auckland, New Zealand. Thousands of students across New Zealand are demonstrating in the streets again to fight for climate change action. (Photo: Hannah Peters/Getty Images) Views
Wednesday, April 01, 2020
'How Are We Supposed to Protect Our Lungs?': Climate Strikers Blast EPA Suspension of Pollution Laws
As our nation passed the grim benchmark last Thursday with the world's most confirmed cases of COVID-19, the Environmental Protection Agency quietly announced its new policy to relax oversight for water or air violations at power plants and other industrial operations. Global climate strikers, led...
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Officials from the 68th caucus precinct overlook the results of the first referendum count during a caucus event on February 3, 2020 at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. (Photo: Tom Brenner/Getty Images) Views
Wednesday, February 05, 2020
It's the Turnout, Stupid: The Real Story of Iowa Caucus
We arrived at 6:25 p.m. on Monday night at our caucus location in Iowa City, assuming there would be an overflow crowd. Sure, there was a line, and the crowd was packed. But within 20 minutes, I was sitting snugly in my seat in the high school auditorium. Despite the pre-caucus hype of record...
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Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg attends a session at the Congres center during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, on January 21, 2020. Views
Saturday, January 25, 2020
Greta Thunberg Needs No Defense: Why We Must Keep Climate Striking
While President Trump dismissed Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and scientists as "perennial prophets of doom " at the World World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, climate strikers in drought-stricken southeast Australia were posting photos on Twitter of Biblical rounds of dust and...
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Isn't time for parents and adults to "misbehave," walk out of our offices and join our kids in the streets for the crisis of our times? (Photo: Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images) Views
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Parents, Time to Misbehave and Climate Strike With Your Kids
The recent announcement by the New York Public Schools to excuse all students taking part in the Global Climate Strike on Friday, September 20th is an admirable and welcome step by educators to address the climate crisis. Student climate strikers, however, are not clamoring for parental and...
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Climate change activists take part in the international Strike for Climate protest in Los Angeles on May 24, 2019. (Photo: Getty/Frederic J. Brown) Views
Thursday, July 04, 2019
Climate Strike: Youth Activism Is Giving Their Parents' Generation a Second Chance
For 11 weeks this spring, my 14-year-old kid refused to go to school on Fridays, setting up a climate strike picket line in front of his school district building or the city hall in Iowa City, Iowa, where we live. A handful of other students joined him, including his older brother, as did a cadre...
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gary, indiana Views
Saturday, December 08, 2018
Climate Storytellers Inspire Roadmap to Action
Earlier this year, taking a front row seat at a church in Gary, Indiana, I watched as a young rapper, local food leader, and an arts educator beguiled a standing-room-only audience with a theatrical envisioning of their city in the year 2030.
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Debris from homes destroyed by Hurricane Michael litters the ground on October 11, 2018, in Mexico Beach, Florida. The hurricane hit the panhandle area with category 4 winds causing major damage. Views
Friday, October 12, 2018
We Need Cities of Resistance: Climate Adaptation Is No Longer an Option
IOWA CITY—The arrival of Hurricane Michael on the heels of the landmark IPCC climate report is a reminder that climate "adaptation" is no longer a viable option. Adapting to a failed system in an age of climate change, as the devastation from Hurricane Michael attests, is failure, not adaptation...
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