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The Latest by Raviya Ismail

Press Secretary

Raviya was a press secretary at Earthjustice in the Washington, D.C. office from 2008 to 2014, working on issues including federal rulemakings, energy efficiency laws and coal ash pollution.

Mario Vargas, a farmworker organizer from Ohio, his daughter Myra Vargas (middle), and Alexis Guild of Farmworker Justice walk past the U.S. Capitol in July of 2013, as they head to a meeting in the Hart Senate Office Building.
February 20, 2014

Farmworker Advocates Seek Stronger Pesticides Safeguard

By Raviya Ismail  /  Washington, D.C. Office

When Mario Vargas showed up at the Washington, D.C., offices of representatives from his home state of Ohio in July of 2013, he shared stories from farmworkers who are getting sick from pesticides. Joined by his family and other farmworkers, he spoke about how it feels to inhale pesticides while pregnant, how farmworkers don’t know what their basic rights are, and how many workers are afraid to tell the truth about what is really going on in the fields.

Selena and her father Miguel at the Rayburn House Building in 2013, after meeting with their representative's office.
January 6, 2014

Teen Lobbies for Farmworker Protections

By Raviya Ismail  /  Policy and Legislation Team

18-year-old Selena Zelaya of Mount Dora, FL, was one of about a dozen farmworker advocates who traveled to D.C. to lobby for farmworker protections against harmful pesticides. Selena’s mother and father are farmworkers and from a young age she began advocating on behalf of them and others. Selena shares why she is so committed to the fight for farmworker protections.

December 9, 2013

Supreme Court Reviews Air Rule that Would Prevent Thousands of Deaths Each Year

By Raviya Ismail  /  Washington, D.C. Office

The highest court of the land will hear argument in a case that is important to anyone with lungs. A vital air safeguard, the 2011 rule would require power plants in more than two dozen states to clean up nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide pollution that drifts across state borders and contributes to harmful soot (particles) and smog (ozone) pollution in downwind states.

December 6, 2013

Why Honeybees Matter

By Raviya Ismail  /  California Office

Collapsed colonies spell disaster for our food system, and toxic pesticide is to blame

November 25, 2013

Thanksgiving: A Time to Consider Our Food Harvesters

By Raviya Ismail  /  Washington, D.C. Office

Farmworkers are continually exposed to dangerous pesticides

November 18, 2013

Kaua'i Council Defies Industry, Passes Pesticide Law

By Raviya Ismail  /  Mid-Pacific Office

Regulation law helps to protect Kaua’i citizens’ health and environment

November 1, 2013

Kauaʻi Mayor Ignores Constituents, Vetoes Ordinance

By Raviya Ismail  /  Washington, D.C. Office

Ordinance would provide safeguards against pesticide exposure

October 21, 2013

Earthjustice Will Defend Kaua’i Pesticides Ordinance

By Raviya Ismail  /  Mid-Pacific Office

Joins in encouraging mayor to allow ordinance to become law

October 10, 2013

EPA Sued Over Outdoor Heaters Spewing Soot

By Raviya Ismail  /  Washington, D.C. Office

Many Americans are looking to escape high heating bills and have found what seems to be the perfect solution: outdoor wood boilers. But they aren’t as innocuous as they may look.

September 18, 2013

House Leaders Attack Administration's Climate Plan

By Raviya Ismail  /  Policy and Legislation Team & Washington, D.C. Office

They say denial is not just a river in Egypt. Such is true for many House leaders at a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee today on the Obama administration’s climate change agenda. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and DOE Secretary Ernest Moniz had to endure the political grandstanding of the House’s climate deniers, most of whom …