April 22 is Earth Day and organizations and groups around the world are advocating for the need for people to take necessary steps to help the environment.

When it comes to African Americans and Earth Day, mainstream media doesn’t give the best representation of diversity in environmentalism. However, groups, including the National Black Environmental Justice Network, serve as strong advocates about the need to include Blacks in the conversation.

A University of Michigan study found that African Americans are more likely than white Americans to make lifestyle choices that help protect the environment. Areas where Blacks favored the most were consuming less meat and driving less.

However, the study found that Black Americans were less likely to recycle than whites.

While activists and environmentalists are calling for major government agencies and companies to do more to make things better, there are small things the average person can do. Some things might seem like common sense, however, it never hurts to get a refresher. Here are 10 things you can start doing this Earth Day:

1.) Change your lights

If you haven’t caught on to the compact florescent light craze now would be a good time. Studies suggest that if every American household replaced one regular light bulb with a florescent bulb, pollution would be reduced to the equivalent to taking one million cars off the road. Florescent bulbs use less electricity that could make that ConEd bill a little lower.

2.) Recycle unwanted wire hangers

We all have them in our homes in the closet, a bin or drawer somewhere. While they are made of steel and are not accepted by recycling centers, many dry cleaners accept them or you can give them away when donating clothes.

3.) Fly with an e-ticket

As the summer vacation season gears up, millions of Americans will be flying off to their destinations to paradise or to see family and friends. Instead of carrying papers with your flight information to the airport, many airlines offer e-tickets with apps on smartphones. Experts say that in years to come paper tickets will no longer be an option saving airlines $3 billion a year and cutting down on the price of traveling.

4.) Recycle your old phones

While it seems cell phone makers come out with new models every month, old phones we have pile up in our junk drawers. The average cell phone last 18 months leading to them ending up in landfills along with the toxic substances they contain. Many non-profit organizations and electronic stores take used cell phones and recycle them properly.

5.) Use your own coffee cup

When on our way to work everyday, it’s routine to go to the corner bodega and grab that cup of joe. With that coffee comes a disposable cup and sometimes a zarf (the holder around the cup) which leads to waste that can pile up. Instead, ask the store clerk if you can use your own reusable cup.

6.) Turn off the water while brushing your teeth

You remember being told this as a kid and it still applies. When cleaning that perfect smile, you can save five gallons of water a day if you turn off the faucet. Studies say that if everyone did it in the US, we could save 1.5 billion gallons of water.

7.) Go vegetarian once a week

Did you know it takes 2,500 gallons of water to make one pound of ground beef? Aside from the health benefits of being a vegetarian, it can also help the environment.

8.) Take shorter showers

Spending a little less time in the shower can save millions of gallons of water per year. Studies suggest that every two minutes you save in the shower can conserve 10 gallons of water. Here’s a tip: turn on your favorite song before going in the shower and stay in for the duration of the tune.

9.) Shop at thrift stores, garage sales, second-hand stores, etc…

Don’t let the stigma about buying used items get the best of you. Shopping at the thrift store, a garage sale or even Craigslist for the item you want won’t only ease your wallet but you’ll be helping the environment too. You might even find some treasure on your next buy.

10.) Wash with cold or warm water

When you’re doing laundry you could help save 100,000 barrels of oil a day washing your clothes in cold or warm water. And yes, your clothes will be just a clean. Many washing machines and laundry detergents are formulated to be effective using cold water.

The post Earth Day: 10 things you can do now to help the planet appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.

* This article was originally published here

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday preserved women’s access to a drug used in the most common method of abortion, rejecting lower-court restrictions while a lawsuit continues.

The justices granted emergency requests from the Biden administration and New York-based Danco Laboratories, maker of the drug mifepristone. They are appealing a lower court ruling that would roll back Food and Drug Administration approval of mifepristone.

The drug has been approved for use in the U.S. since 2000 and more than 5 million people have used it. Mifepristone is used in combination with a second drug, misoprostol, in more than half of all abortions in the U.S.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is facing a self-imposed Friday night deadline to decide whether women’s access to a widely used abortion pill will stay unchanged or be restricted while a legal challenge to its Food and Drug Administration approval goes on.

The justices are weighing arguments that allowing restrictions contained in lower-court rulings to take effect would severely disrupt the availability of the drug, mifepristone, which is used in the most common abortion method in the United States.

It has repeatedly been found to be safe and effective, and has been used by more than 5 million women in the U.S. since the FDA approved it in 2000.

The Supreme Court had initially said it would decide by Wednesday whether the restrictions could take effect while the case continues. A one-sentence order signed by Justice Samuel Alito on Wednesday gave the justices two additional days, without explanation.

The justices are scheduled to meet for a private conference Friday, where they could talk about the issue. The additional time could be part of an effort to craft an order that has broad support among the justices. Or one or more justices might be writing a separate opinion, and asked for a couple of extra days.

The challenge to mifepristone, brought by abortion foes, is the first abortion controversy to reach the nation’s highest court since its conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade 10 months ago and allowed more than a dozen states to effectively ban abortion outright.

In his majority opinion, Alito said one reason for overturning Roe was to remove federal courts from the abortion fight. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives,” he wrote.

But even with their court victory, abortion opponents returned to federal court with a new target: medication abortions, which make up more than half of all abortions in the United States.

Women seeking to end their pregnancies in the first 10 weeks without more invasive surgical abortion can take mifepristone, along with misoprostol. The FDA has eased the terms of mifepristone’s use over the years, including allowing it to be sent through the mail in states that allow access.

The abortion opponents filed suit in Texas in November, asserting that FDA’s original approval of mifepristone 23 years ago and subsequent changes were flawed.

They won a ruling on April 7 by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, revoking FDA approval of mifepristone. The judge gave the Biden administration and New York-based Danco Laboratories, mifepristone’s maker, a week to appeal and seek to keep his ruling on hold.

Responding to a quick appeal, two more Trump appointees on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the FDA’s original approval would stand for now. But Judges Andrew Oldham and Kurt Englehardt said most of the rest of Kacsmaryk’s ruling could take effect while the case winds through federal courts.

Their ruling would effectively nullify changes made by the FDA starting in 2016, including extending from seven to 10 weeks of pregnancy when mifepristone can be safely used. The court also said that the drug can’t be mailed or dispensed as a generic and that patients who seek it need to make three in-person visits with a doctor. Women also might be required to take a higher dosage of the drug than the FDA says is necessary.

The administration and Danco have said that chaos will result if those restrictions take effect while the case proceeds. Potentially adding to the confusion, a federal judge in Washington has ordered the FDA to preserve access to mifepristone under the current rules in 17 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia that filed a separate lawsuit.

The Biden administration has said the rulings conflict and create an untenable situation for the FDA.

And a new legal wrinkle threatens even more complications. GenBioPro, which makes the generic version of mifepristone, filed a lawsuit Wednesday to preemptively block the FDA from removing its drug from the market, in the event that the Supreme Court doesn’t intervene.

For now, the Supreme Court is only being asked to block the lower-court rulings through the end of the legal case. But the administration and Danco have a fallback argument if the court doesn’t agree. They are asking the court to take up the challenge to mifepristone, hear arguments and decide the case by early summer.

The court only rarely takes such a step before at least one appeals court has thoroughly examined the legal issues involved.

The New Orleans-based 5th circuit already has ordered an accelerated schedule for hearing the case, with arguments set for May 17.

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* This article was originally published here