Chemical Breakdown part 1 | Chemical Breakdown. Lifting the High Energy Burden in America’s Largest Cities: How Energy Efficiency Can Improve Low Income and Underserved Communities | ACEEE. In Detroit, Fighting Hopelessness With a Climate Plan. DETROIT, Mich. —As major cities across the globe begin to take a leading role in the world's response to climate change, one U.S. metropolis has a decidedly grassroots approach to preparing for a wetter, warmer world. In Detroit—a city that faces a myriad of pressing socioeconomic and environmental challenges—local residents are working on a plan to mitigate the long-term impacts of climate change. Unlike the climate action plans drafted by city governments in places like New York, Chicago and Boston, Detroit's green roadmap is spearheaded by the Detroit Climate Action Collaborative (DCAC), a non-profit coalition of residents, business leaders, institutions, and others, convened by the Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice .
"Even with [Detroit's] challenges we decided that we had no other choice but to move forward in developing a climate action plan," Kimberly Hill Knott, DCAC's project director, told InsideClimate News. The motivations are as economic as they are environmental. Report: Efficiency could provide big benefits to low-income renters | Midwest Energy News. Low-income households spend up to three times as much of their income on energy costs as higher-income households do, and would benefit significantly from efficiency upgrades, according to a new report. Since their total income is lower, it’s not surprising that such households would see a higher proportion of it spent on energy. But these households are often paying more than they should be for energy because they are more likely to live in inefficient buildings, often where they don’t have control over heating and cooling or the power to make efficiency upgrades.
On average, the report found, low-income households spend 7.2 percent of their income on energy while higher-income households spend only 2.3 percent. But the study found that increased efficiency measures could close this energy burden gap by about one-third. Researchers also found that minorities pay a larger portion of their income for energy. Energy and affordable housing Focus on large buildings. Summary Report. Today in Paris, United States delegates representing the NAACP, the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) and students from HBCUs held a demonstration at the high-profile climate talks. - Baltimore City Paper.
(Editor's Note: Fellow alt-weekly NUVO in Indianapolis has a correspondent at the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, and has agreed to let CP post her reports from the talks. Lauren Kastner is on the board of directors of Earth Charter Indiana in 2015 and is a national youth leader with the Sierra Student Coalition. Read her previous dispatches in the News Hole.) Yesterday in Paris, United States delegates representing the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) and students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) held a demonstration at the high-profile climate talks. The action built on the Black Lives Matter movement in the U.S. that has called for police reform in response to systemic police brutality against black people. In a press statement, Jacqui Patterson, director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program, drew the connection between climate change and race.
Civil rights investigation probes environmental justice in Illinois | Midwest Energy News. An aging coal plant north of Chicago was a hot topic at a hearing yesterday exploring whether ongoing industrial pollution in minority neighborhoods amounts to civil rights violations. Every year the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights chooses a topic to investigate for possible civil rights violations and for "statutory enforcement" -- whether the relevant agencies are enforcing the laws.
For 2016, the theme is environmental justice with a focus on coal ash and hydraulic fracturing. The chairman of the commission, Martin Castro, and the Illinois Advisory Committee to the federal commission convened in Chicago March 9 to hear testimony from community members, academics, industry representatives and government officials. The meeting was not widely publicized other than a notice in the Federal Register, and there appeared to be no community members in attendance other than those invited to present to the committee. Injustice in Waukegan? NRG was invited to the hearing but did not attend. Your Grandfather’s Coal Plant – The Clean Air Act’s Flawed Legacy. Tiny air pollutants are big, big killers. WASHINGTON, D.C. — Air pollution is now the world’s fourth leading cause of early death. It killed some 5.5 million people in 2013 alone. And those numbers are only likely to grow, reports an international team of researchers. They just shared the grim news, here, at a major science meeting.
Air pollution includes many substances that can cause illness and death. The new research focused on one type known as particulates. These include tiny particles of soot, dust and metals along with droplets of acids and other chemicals. “That air pollution is known to be a serious cause of a number of health effects,” says Michael Brauer. Particulates come in many sizes. Certain people will find it hard to breathe when levels are even this low.
Digging into the data Brauer was part of a team of researchers from 13 countries around the world, including the United States, China and India. Together, indoor and outdoor air pollution caused 5.5 million early deaths in 2013, the team concluded. Power Words. The Environmental Justice Movement. Environmental Issues > Environmental Justice Main Page > All Environmental Justice Documents By Renee Skelton and Vernice Miller Championed primarily by African-Americans, Latinos, Asians and Pacific Islanders and Native Americans, the environmental justice movement addresses a statistical fact: people who live, work and play in America's most polluted environments are commonly people of color and the poor. Environmental justice advocates have shown that this is no accident. Communities of color, which are often poor, are routinely targeted to host facilities that have negative environmental impacts -- say, a landfill, dirty industrial plant or truck depot.
The statistics provide clear evidence of what the movement rightly calls "environmental racism. " Communities of color have been battling this injustice for decades. The following pages sketch out a brief history of the environmental justice movement. A Movement Sparks Next Page >> [E] Cover Story -- Toxic Targets: Polluters That Dump on Communities of Color Are Finally Being Brought to Justice (July-August 1998) Toxic Targets Polluters That Dump on Communities of Color Are Finally Being Brought to Justice By Jim Motavalli On September 10, 1997, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Carol Browner issued a simple but unprecedented order: She disallowed the state of Louisiana's approval of an enormous polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant in Convent, a small, mostly African-American community already inundated with 10 other toxic waste producers.
This by-no-means fatal blow to the Japanese-owned Shintech plant (the state can simply amend the filings) was nonetheless a shot across the bows of the waste industry, which has never before suffered such a setback at the hands of the federal government. Still pending against the Shintech application is a legal complaint, filed by the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, charging that the state of Louisiana is in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits any agency receiving federal funds from practicing racial discrimination. A St. A Speech Given By Terri Swearingen. Speech by Terri Swearingen July 29, 1994 Second International Citizens Conference on Dioxin St.
Louis University, Missouri I am so excited to be here. This is like a family reunion. A lot of my friends have asked me how I'm doing and I've told them, I'm still alive much to the dismay of many government and Von Roll officials My name is Terri Swearingen. I am a registered nurse, but more importantly I am the mother of a twelve-year old daughter. For those unfamiliar with this case, WTI is located immediately on the bank of the Ohio River in a residential neighborhood. As a registered nurse, I initially became concerned when I learned of the proposal and heard that WTI was legally permitted to emit 4.7 tons of lead into the air every year.
The January 24, 1994 Washington Post printed a letter from EPA Administrator Carol Browner to Ann Landers. Both Bill Clinton and Al Gore have expressed concern over the WTI location. This isn't a tragedy in the making; the tragedy has already begun. The Biomimicry Institute – Inspiring Sustainable Innovation. Flint Isn’t the Only Place With Racism in the Water. Last month, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder (R) delivered his fifth State of the State address, a ceremonious speech that typically presents the governor’s legislative priorities and vision for the year ahead.
But instead of talking about pressing priorities—such as the need to reform the state’s public education system, improve its job market, or invest in its infrastructure—Governor Snyder was forced to apologize for his government’s failure to provide clean, safe water to the people of Flint, Michigan. The Flint water crisis began in April 2014 with an effort to cut the budget.
Government officials chose to switch water access from the clean Lake Huron to the more corrosive and polluted Flint River. As Curt Guyette, a journalist for the ACLU explained on TalkPoverty Radio, almost immediately residents began complaining of hair loss, rashes, and tap water that looked and tasted strange. The long history of environmental racism The road ahead for Flint is a very long one. Environmental Racism: When Where You Live Determines How Fast You Die. Two homes in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., Feb. 27, 2014 Spencer Platt/Getty Images Countless African-American neighborhoods are plagued by some of the worst ongoing environmental disasters that exist on the planet. There’s often a landfill, highway, airport or oil refinery next door. Nearby you can find contaminated bus depots, nasty subway stops, plus the lead in old houses, which can lead to neurological disorders and learning difficulties (pdf). Many of us are so accustomed to living in polluted, chronically disease-ridden neighborhoods that this environmental racism is virtually ignored in civil rights movements.
“Racism keeps lower- to middle-income people of color stuck in danger zones,” says Bullard. And where you live—down to your exact zip code—can determine how fast you get sick and how soon you die. And they’re enormous, making general ignorance of them frightening. Still, Ross admits, “We do have immediate concerns that seem more pressing right now. How the EPA Has Failed to Challenge Environmental Racism in Flint—and Beyond. Long before people in Flint, Michigan, had to worry about brownish, putrid-smelling, lead-laced water, they worried about poisoned air.
In 1992, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources approved a permit for a new power plant in a predominantly African-American neighborhood in Flint that was already home to a cement plant, an asphalt plant, and other hazardous facilities. The power station is fed with demolition wood, some of it covered in chemicals and lead-based paint, which can release toxic particles when it’s burned. Community members, including a Catholic priest named Phil Schmitter, complained to the Environmental Protection Agency, arguing that the state violated residents’ civil rights when they allowed yet another polluter to operate in the neighborhood. According to the complaint, the decision reflected a pattern in the state of siting toxic industrial facilities in communities of color. Dumping On the Rio Grande. According to the TNRCC, there are over 1200 warehouses in the Laredo area, many of which have been built near tributaries without protection for spills or other safeguards.
Last October, Laredo City officials discovered a "mountain of sludge, concrete, plastic bags, old tires, used sofas and empty industrial containers next to a channel running into the river. " (3) Included in the rubble were 75 empty containers of muriatic acid, a chemical used to clean air conditioners and toilets that can be harmful if inhaled. Toxic Fish in the Rio Grande In 1994, the Mexican and United States Governments completed the first phase of the Binational Study Regarding the Presence of Toxic Substances in the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo and Its Tributaries Along the Boundary Between the United States and Mexico. The EPA funded Phase two of the study was completed in 1997. An analysis by Dr. Dr. In response to whether the studies raise, "... any potential human health concerns? " Years Later - TNRCC Inaction Dr. Which U.S. States Have the Highest Cancer Rates? [Infographic] – Insight.
In a country as geographically vast as the United States, and with a large and mobile population, it’s not surprising that cancer rates vary by region, by state – and even by localities within states. Geographical differences exist in overall cancer rates and in specific types of cancer, according to a 2014 study published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For example, breast cancer incidence rates are highest in the Northeast, followed by the Midwest and the South.
But death rates from breast cancer are highest in the Midwest, followed by the South and the West. Lung cancer rates in men are highest in the South, followed by the Midwest and the Northeast. Across the 50 states, incidence rates vary between 380-510.7 new cancers per 100,000 population. Accounting for these differences is difficult because of the long list of variables that may play a role. Toxwrace87. Environmentalism’s Racist History.
Madison Grant (Yale College 1887, Columbia Law School) liked to be photographed with a fedora, or just his dauntingly long head, tilted about thirty degrees to the right. He belonged, like his political ally Teddy Roosevelt, to a Manhattan aristocracy defined by bloodline and money. But Grant, like many young men of his vintage, felt duty-bound to do more than enjoy his privilege. He made himself a credible wildlife zoologist, was instrumental in creating the Bronx Zoo, and founded the first organizations dedicated to preserving American bison and the California redwoods. Grant spent his career at the center of the same energetic conservationist circle as Roosevelt. This band of reformers did much to create the country’s national parks, forests, game refuges, and other public lands—the system of environmental stewardship and public access that has been called “America’s best idea.”
Grant has been pushed to the margins of environmentalism’s history, however. Anapra (Juarez): Iglesia Luterana San Lucas | Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care. Anapra is located on the extreme West side of Juarez; it is one of the poorest communities in the area, growing out of the city’s old garbage dump many years ago. Cardboard shacks and pallet houses are common forms of shelter for the people that live there, and many roads are unpaved and ridden with potholes. Despite great economic need however, there has been incredible dedication from the people of this community to serve the first of two YLM affiliated congregations there, Iglesia Luterana San Lucas (“St. Luke”). It is pastored by lay minister Javier Lozano. The campus consists of a spacious sanctuary, a multi-purpose room, a dormitory, and various other buildings that primarily serve as Sunday school classrooms but are also used for medical clinics.
Plans are in the works to dedicate one of the buildings to a daycare center, part of a citywide effort to create jobs in hopes of deterring people from involving themselves in the drug trade as a way of life. Lessons from Anapra | Columban Fathers. Building Without Borders: Sustainable Construction for the Global Village. Who's%20in%20Danger%20Report%20and%20Table%20FINAL.
Environmental justice. Broadcast Yourself. Robert Bullard - The Genesis of Environmental Justice. The Environmental Justice Movement. The perfect example of environmental racism. The perfect example of environmental racism. Making a cancer cluster disappear. The Water Next Time: Professor Who Helped Expose Crisis in Flint Says Public Science Is Broken. EJ State Guidance final V.2 Jan 13 20163. EJnet.org: Web Resources for Environmental Justice Activists. Environmental Justice / Environmental Racism. CALL TO ACTION: THE COP21 PARIS ACCORD FAILED HUMANITY | Grassroots Global Justice Alliance. Big Energy has tried to turn people of color against solar power since forever. Big Energy has tried to turn people of color against solar power since forever. Our Power Campaign » Resources. U professor nurtures neighborhood solar garden. Environmental racism persists, and the EPA is one reason why. Ann ny ac sc 2011. Local food, for real | a Grist special series. CleanPowerPlan_lowincome.docx.
How a poor Nigerian town got Shell to pay for major oil spills. How a poor Nigerian town got Shell to pay for major oil spills. Poisoned Places Map. Resources | Piper Fund. How Fossil Fuels Make Inequality Worse. Alcoa Worldwide Pollution: A Detailed History of Toxic Operations | Yadkin Riverkeeper. In smog battle, industry gets help from unlikely source: black business group.
U.S. fracking linked to higher hospitalization rates: researchers. A Google Earth, of Sorts, Tracks the Rise (and Fall) of Coal-Fired Power Plants : Institute for Energy Economics & Financial Analysis. List of the Harmed | Pennsylvania Alliance for Clean Water and Air. MADION | Signing a Lease. Natural gas quest: State files show 270 drilling accidents in past 30 years. New Studies Expose Public Health Risks From Fracking. Would You Rather Get Your Water From Your City Government—or From a Corporation? Would You Rather Get Your Water From Your City Government—or From a Corporation?