Category Archives: Health

All, Education, Environment, Events, Health, Help, New solutions, Protection, Sustainable communities, Urban, Water

Sustainable & green training/events – March

1 Comment

Check back for updates.
Calendar treeNewark-Montclair Urban Teacher Residency – Apply through 3/15
The Newark-Montclair Urban Teacher Residency is an innovative Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program offered at Montclair State University in partnership with the Newark Public Schools. Participants will receive free tuition and a $26,000 stipend. A 3-year teaching commitment is required.

Residents enroll in full-time graduate coursework each semester (summer sessions included) and participate in summer internships with community based organizations in the city of Newark. Applications are currently being accepted for Secondary level (K-12) subject matter certification in mathematics or a field of science. Final Application Deadline extended till Friday, March 15, 2013.

More at http://greenwei.com/blog/free-tuition-stipend-for-msu-masters-urban-teacher-residency/

Is Our Water Safe To Drink?
Public Hearing in East Orange sponsored by Councilwoman Alicia Holman
Wednesday, March 6, 2013 6:30 – 8:30pm
CITY HALL, 44 CITY HALL PLAZA, E. ORANGE
https://www.facebook.com/events/557057327645425/

Newark Kids Count 2013 Forum
Wednesday, March 13, 2013 9:30am – 2:30pm
The Paul Robeson Campus Center
350 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Newark
https://www.facebook.com/events/386113894821185/#

Using an interactive format, we will explore issues that threaten Newark children and identify concrete next steps that we, as a community, can take. We will focus on two broad areas – child and maternal health and early literacy. Special guests include Newark’s Branch Brook Elementary Principal Joseph Cullen, whose students achieve well above city and state averages on reading tests. The event is free, but you must register to attend. A complimentary breakfast and lunch will be provided.

Register at http://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/8716/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=71612. For more information contact Reggie Dorsey at rdorsey@acnj.org

NJ Land Conservation Rally
One-day educational conference about preserving
New Jersey’s open space and farmland
Saturday, March 9, 2013 9am – 5pm
NJ Institute of Technology
Newark, New Jersey

Online registration will close at 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 5. Registration fee will remain at $80 per person for a full day of educational & inspiring workshops, breakfast, lunch and social reception. Register online today! Registration will also be accepted at the door.

If you live or work in Newark, Rally scholarships are available, thanks to Victoria Foundation. To become eligible: download, fill out and return registration form.

1st Annual Patricia Harris Parent Summit
Saturday, March 9, 2013 9am – 5pm
John F. Kennedy High School
Paterson NJ

Citywide Parent Summit to continue Pat’s legacy of effective parental involvement and engagement in school improvement.
https://www.facebook.com/events/481929115201697/

Kokokidz Latino Youth Peer Empowerment Group Meeting
Sunday, March 10, 2013 5-6:30pm
Villa de Colombia
12 Mercer Street
Hackensack, NJ
https://www.facebook.com/events/427537817332045/

Young Latinos support each other in the areas of career, education, applying for scholarships, civic engagement, sustainability practices and cultural preservation in their communities. Kokokidz meets once or twice a month in Hackensack or another North Jersey town. If you’re a Latino student junior high school through college age, Kokokidz will help you be more effective in your life and learn to make positive change happen in your school and community.

Contacts:
Ivan Wei 201-688-0036 @ivanwei
Luis Ariel Lopez Wei @lalwei

If you’re available as an adult mentor please contact our advisor Kimi Wei on Facebook or Twitter to discuss volunteer opportunities.

Community Service: We are looking at different types of community service opportunities. If you have a cause or event you’d like us to engage with please share details.

Kokokidz is currently helping with the movement to Close New Jersey schools on Martin Luther King Jr. Day https://www.facebook.com/pages/Close-NJ-Schools-on-MLK-Jr-Day/276810379041778

Climate Action Meeting at Cook College
Sunday, March 10 7pm
Cook Campus Center (Rutgers)
59 Biel Road, Room 202, A & B
New Brunswick, NJ

The meeting will begin with a video chat featuring Bill McKibben of 350.org, followed by a discussion of what actions to do next on the local, state and national levels. Come with ideas and bring friends. The momentum depends on each one of us to act now! For a short capsule of the February 17 Forward on Climate rally event go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=anXE46utpo8

Sponsored by Melanie McDermott, Initiative on Climate and Society, Rutgers University and Tina Weishaus, Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War

Abuse of public trust, All, Energy, Environment, Health, Justice, Protection

West VA gas explosion begs the question: are pipelines safe?

Leave a comment


Bloomberg reports that the fire that burned up a four lane interstate highway and melted houses near Sissonville, West Virginia yesterday on December 11, was caused by, “Natural gas escaping from a pipeline owned by NiSource Inc. (NI) … near the Lanham Compressor Station on the Columbia Gas Transmission system, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) north of Charleston.” The company owns and manages fracking operations in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

CBS News reports, “Flames shot some 100 feet in the air and hopped the main north-south arterial Interstate 77, as emergency responders scrambled to cap the ruptured gas line … and bring the blaze under control.” See reports and updates on WSAZ.

The Charleston Gazette offers insights into the questions about gas pipeline safety. Two obvious issues are lack of government oversight for certain types of pipes, and a decline in safety as pipes age, with one source reporting that over half of the pipes in the US are over 50 years old:

…many gaps remain in the oversight of the nearly 2.5 million miles of pipelines that crisscross the United States … concerns about pipeline safety have grown, amid a boom in natural gas drilling in several states and in the wake of a string of serious accidents … the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) warned that many so-called “gathering” pipelines, which transport gas to processing facilities, escape federal scrutiny altogether.

Questions about pipeline safety recently received national media scrutiny from the public interest journalism organization ProPublica, from The New York Times and from the Philadelphia Inquirer … GAO report … said the federal pipeline safety office does not regulate most gathering pipelines in the United States, based on their location in remote areas … “out of the more than 200,000 estimated miles of natural gas gathering pipelines, PHMSA regulates roughly 20,000 miles,” the GAO said. “Similarly, of the 30,000 to 40,000 estimated miles of hazardous liquid gathering pipelines, PHMSA regulates about 4,000 miles.”

Two big extraction initiatives currently being pushed by the US fuel industry are fracking, which removes natural gas trapped inside of shale rock formations using a cocktail of highly toxic liquid which becomes waste which is later injected into the ground and has contaminated water supplies and caused earthquakes in several communities; and the “Tar Sands”/XL Pipeline project which calls for extracting oil by burning arid land and selling the oil to foreign countries after piping it from Canada to California. Both call for piping explosive and environmentally threatening fuels across the country. Advocates for public health, community safety, and environment sustainability ask why the U.S. government does not require that clean energy sources take the place of these dangerous and dirty fuel operations that destroy land and health.

Emerging evidence links injection of fracking waste to a dramatic increase in earthquake frequency. A new U.S. Geological Survey reports that in the 10 year period between 2001-2011, 95 quakes occurred in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado although in the prior 36 year period only 3 quakes took place. The study cites increases in oil and gas industry activity and the Denver Post quotes Justin Rubenstein, co-author of the report:

“This is a societal risk you need to be considering … At the moment, we’re the only people who have done this work, and our evidence is pretty conclusive.

The Times-Call reports that at a Boulder County hearing on fracking, school children members of Earth Guardians said,

“We are standing up for our future … Protect us from the dangers of fracking.”

“We deserve a fighting chance,” said Zapporah Abraham Paiss, a 13-year-old Centennial Middle School student. “With vibrant water, soil and plants,” said Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, a 12-year-old Centennial School student.

All, Food, Health, Protection

Raw milk saves family farms & maybe your health too

2 Comments

So much happens to your milk before it jumps onto the shelf of your local market and waits for you to buy it. For one thing, your milk might travel clear across the country before it gets there, even though there are plenty of dairy farmers right near you, and it gets pasteurized. The New York Times, in an article about the growing demand for raw milk, explains that liquids like milk and orange juice are subject to the pasteurization “process of heating and quickly cooling to kill pathogens,” but it, “also destroys beneficial bacteria, proteins and enzymes.” This is a different process than homogenization, which uses force to disperse fat molecules throughout milk so the fat doesn’t just sit on top in a layer separate from the lighter liquid underneath.

Small farmers – except in states where the sale of raw milk is allowed – are also, never able to sell their milk to the public and cannot set their own prices when they sell it, because they are obliged by law to sell to aggregators which truck it to a plant having a pasteurization machine, which is a huge piece of equipment very costly to purchase, maintain and operate. We should care about family farms because their owners care about us: they care about producing real, authentic, food that’s healthy to eat, and doing it using sustainable farming methods and by treating their animals well. Whereas on corporatized, or factory, farms, cruelty to animals is the norm and it is taken for granted that the environment and people’s health will be damaged as a natural consequence of their operations. Small farms are vital parts of a healthy food chain, a healthy economy and a healthy small business community.

Big farms are the ones that own the pasteurization machines and represent the organized dairy industry, which “contributed $4.8 million to federal candidates during the 2008 election cycle, with 60 percent going to Republicans. The top contributor was the Dairy Farmers of America, a dairy farmer cooperative.” About DFA, Mother Jones says, “…both the soybean lobby and dairy lobby are powerful presences on the Hill, as the fracas over last year’s climate bill showed,” and at a Syracuse conference held in 2004, Peter Hardin explained about this organization that forces family farmers to join their cooperative by refusing to give them access to pasteurization if they refuse to join,

Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) – the nation’s largest raw milk marketer – and Dean Foods (the nation’s largest fluid milk processor) have rigged a system that controls sale of one-third or more of U.S. farm milk. In areas where DFA has far greater control of all farm milk, such as the Southeast, producers’ milk prices suffer dramatic underpayments. DFA’s “market power” is a tool used against farmers.

This video is the Harvard Law School Food Law Society-sponsored debate on raw milk. Proponents of raw milk – not boiled at home – refer to surveys showing that 82% of lactose intolerant people are able to drink raw milk without problems and that when compared with pasteurized milk it is shown to build greater bone density in children. Children raised on raw milk have perfectly healthy teeth and, it was recently discovered that raw milk offers protection against asthma. Raw milk advocates claim that modern milk safety was made possible by faster transportation (cars over horses), better refrigeration and better hygiene – not by pasteurization as the big dairy farms claim.

If your state doesn’t allow the sale of raw milk, you can still have it if you own your own share of a milk-producing animal. Farmtoconsumer.org tells you how:

How Cow or Goat-Share Programs Work

The consumer purchases a share in a milk cow, goat or dairy herd. The farmer and the consumer enter into a contract whereby the farmer feeds and boards the animal and provides the labor to milk the animal and store the consumer’s milk. Such contracts are legal and valid, as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America. The consumer does not buy milk from the farmer. Rather, they pay the farmer for the service of keeping the cow or goat and his labor for milking and processing the milk into value added products such as butter, cream, cheese, etc. However, they may directly purchase other products from the farm, such as eggs, vegetables and meat.

Other resources
farmtoconsumer.org/
realmilk.com
NJ Raw Milk Group

All, Energy, Health

Portable Generator Safety

1 Comment

To avoid carbon monoxide hazard/poisoning when using a portable generator:

portable generator
• Always use generators outdoors, away from doors, windows and vents.
• NEVER use generators in homes, garages, basements, crawl spaces, or other enclosed or partially enclosed areas, even with ventilation.
• Follow manufacturer’s instructions.
• Install battery-operated or plug-in (with battery backup) carbon monoxide (CO) alarms in your home, following manufacturer’s instructions.
• Test CO alarms often and replace batteries when needed.
To Avoid Electrical Hazards:
• Keep the generator dry. Operate on a dry surface under an open, canopy- like structure.
• Dry your hands before touching the generator.
• Plug appliances directly into generator or use a heavy-duty outdoor- rated extension cord. Make sure the entire extension cord is free of cuts or tears and the plug has all 3 prongs, especially a grounding pin.
• NEVER plug the generator into a wall outlet. This practice, known as backfeeding, can cause an electrocution risk to utility workers and others served by the same utility transformer.
• If necessary to connect generator to house wiring to power appliances, have a qualified electrician install appropriate equipment. Or, your utility company may be able to install an appropriate transfer switch.
To Avoid Fire Hazards:
• Before refueling the generator, turn it off and let it cool. Fuel spilled on hot engine parts could ignite.
• Always store fuel outside of living areas in properly labeled, non-glass containers.
• Store fuel away from any fuel-burning appliance.

All, Environment, Health, Help, Nature, Protection

Sandy in New Jersey – News & General Resources

13 Comments

These resources are mostly for New Jersey residents – good luck to everyone out there! My family and I hope you stay safe, warm and dry. Please post any other resources you know as a comment. Please check in on friends, neighbors and seniors you know and help out if you can. Together we are strong and will overcome every challenge. (Post will be updated as information becomes available.)

Hurricane Sandy puts Hoboken train station under water

  • Very Important Tips

  • If you bought a generator from Costco DO NOT USE IT! Its causing FIRES!
  • Homeowner’s Insurance Issue: when Sandy touched down in New Jersey, it was not technically a hurricane. Many insurance policies will not pay for hurricane damage, but in this case, they cannot deny New Jersey residents insurance coverage for damage their properties have sustained. Check it out!

  • Shelters

  • Try calling your town’s police or county Office of Emergency Management (OEM) for up to date shelter and aid information. You can also use your phone to search for open Red Cross shelters by texting: SHELTER and a Zip Code to 43362 (4FEMA). Example: Shelter 01234 (standard rates apply) or visit the Red Cross website.

    Another way to look is using the search terms Google search for local shelters

    If you book into a shelter, please remember to bring any clothes, medications for yourself and/or family members, and linens if you can. They will have food, but you might also want to bring a book. If you bring a pet please bring a carrier case or crate, leash, pet food, any medications, a water bowl, and waste bags.

  • Pet friendly shelters on Jersey Shore
  • Pet friendly shelters in Morris County
  • Bergen County Regional Shelter (special needs accommodations and pet-friendly) is open at Bergen Community College, 400 Paramus Road, Paramus NJ
  • Shelters in Greater Newark, NJ.
    • Newark’s JFK Recreation Center on West Kinney Street is a pet-friendly shelter. Newark Stage Shelters (go there for transportation to a full-service shelter) are Berringer and Shabazz High schools.
    • Irvington Shelter at Chris Gatling Center 285 Union Avenue 973-399-6597 or call Police at 973-399-6600 or Fire Department 973-399-6555
    • Corey Arena in West Orange
    • Park Avenue School and Lincoln Avenue School in Orange are Staging Shelters.

  • Pets

    NJ pet owners who were separated from their pets during Sandy, please call 1-855-407-4787

  • See list of pet-friendly shelters listed under shelters

  • Safety Tips & Reporting

  • Don’t drive through water – most flood-related deaths occur in cars. Also, stay put as much as possible to keep roads free for emergency personnel until travel is safe.
  • Report downed wires, outages and gas leaks to your electric and gas provider:
  • How to eat and be well without electricity due to an emergency
  • Drinking water safety Connecticut DPH website tells us to check well and public water by sight and smell. Don’t use water that is dark, has an odor, or has floating pieces. Also, listen to the news or check with your water company.

  • Road Closures

  • Call 511 or visit 511 websites 511 NJ or 511 NY

  • How to Help

  • President Obama points out that the best way to help Sandy victims is to donate money or volunteer. Supplies not specifically asked for, create the need for emergency personnel to sort and manage the donations, and this creates a burden on their time and energy.
  • Facebook friend Kaia Shivers says “Donate directly to people in need NOT AMERICAN RED CROSS, ETC. (Kimi edit: so all of your money goes to help and not administrative fees). American Red Cross still has not explained the millions of dollars that disappeared in the Haiti Relief.”
  • Shuan In the City has some good ideas for New Yorkers who want to help.
All, Food, Health, Protection, Water

Shale Gas Outrage, a rally, in Philly 9/20

Leave a comment

Shale Gas Outrage PhillyOn September 20, the fracking industry returns to Philadelphia for their annual Shale Gas Insight conference.

Join thousands for the second Shale Gas Outrage outside the convention center at the intersection of BROAD and ARCH streets. We will rally and march to protect health, communities, air, water, farms, food, and climate. Demand green jobs and justice NOW! Let’s flood the streets of Philly again to stop them from fracking our future!

ShaleGasOutrage.org
ProtectingOurWaters.com

Buses leave around 8am on 9/20 and will return around 5pm the same day. SIGN UP FOR A BUS OR CARPOOL here. If you are a student, there may be a free ticket waiting for you. Email for more info.

Central NJ Bus
North NJ Bus
https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1185/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=75792

FULL SCHEDULE FOR 20th and 21st SEPTEMBER

THURSDAY, 20 SEPTEMBER
10am: Press Conference: Arch Street Methodist Church, Broad and Arch, Philadelphia, 19107

12-2pm: Main Shale Gas Outrage Rally Outside Convention Center, Broad and Arch, Philadelphia, PA 19107

Speakers include Sandra Steingraber, Josh Fox, Stephen Cleghorn

2-3pm: March
Blessing of the Waters (Interfaith event) TBA

7:30-10pm: Shale Gas Outrage After Dark (informal networking, connecting)

FRIDAY, 21 SEPTEMBER
8:30am – 12pm Health and Gas Drilling Morning Conference
College of Physicians of Philadelphia 19. S. 22nd St., Philadelphia, PA 19103

Speakers include Michelle Bamberger and Robert Oswald, authors of “Impacts of Gas Drilling on Human and Animal Health” and Dr. Walter Tsou, President, Philadelphia Physicians for Social Responsibility.

1:30pm – 5:30pm Mini-Organizing Conference
“Freedom from Fracking 2012”

All, At Green Drinks, Biking/Walking, Complete streets, Energy, Environment, Health, Justice, New solutions, Protection, Sustainable communities, Water

Green Drinks September 2012

Leave a comment

In September, Green Drinks discusses

  • How to Save the Internet and advocate for an open internet
  • Why fracking has such a disastrous impact on our national/local water supplies and why this practice should be ended
  • How to build healthy, bikeable/walkable communities

SAVING THE INTERNET & NET NEUTRALITY

Green Drinks Paterson-Clifton June 2012Open internet access is one of the great freedom fights of our time. We have to use it so we don’t lose it. This is now a standard topic of discussion at every Green Drinks 3 event. See more at http://thewei.com/kimi/verizon-wants-to-control-your-internet-keep-them-out/

FRACKING AWARENESS RESOURCES & ACTIONS

  • http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/fracking/fracking-action-center/
  • Global Frackdown http://www.globalfrackdown.org/
  • http://shalegasoutrage.org/ NJ & Philly on 20 Sept 2012

Newark Green drinks

Meets 1st Mondays at Rio Rodizio Newark except on major holidays.
1st Monday this month was Labor Day, so we didn’t meet.

Hackensack Green Drinks

Monday, 10 Sept 2012 7-9pm (and 2nd Mondays)
At Victor’s Maywood Inn, 122 W. Pleasant Avenue, Maywood NJ

Global FrackdownHackensack Green Drinks will be joined by members of 350.org and Food & Water Watch who will discuss climate actions and tell us about fracking teach-ins happening in September.

Paterson-Clifton Green Drinks

Tuesday, 18 September 2012 7-9 pm (and 3rd Tuesdays)
The Sultan Restaurant, 429 Crooks Avenue, Clifton NJ (outside if the weather’s nice)

Where to find us

Green Drinks 3 http://greendrinks3.org/
Like us on Facebook https://www.fb.com/thegreenwei/
Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/greenwei

Other events and actions

In solidarity with the Global Frackdown Actions taking place, September is Green Drinks 3 Fracking Awareness month.

FRACKING AWARENESS & ACTIONS
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/fracking/fracking-action-center/
Global Frackdown http://www.globalfrackdown.org/
http://shalegasoutrage.org/ NJ & Philly on 20 Sept. 2012

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

99% SPRING GROUP MEMBERS are welcome at any Green Drinks meeting. We discuss action plans and volunteer opportunities at most Green Drinks events.

=================================

Help Protect National Forests

America’s national forests provide essential habitat for lynx, grizzlies and other wildlife — and clean water for millions of Americans. Yet new rules could threaten the sanctity of these special places, paving the way for more logging and more destructive development on our national forests. Help protect these special places. Sign the petition online at: http://dfnd.us/vYt93D

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Prevent racism from blocking the Latino & Black vote

Watch the 4 minute video by Van Jones’ Rebuild the American Dream team
http://thewei.com/kimi/racist-romney-gop-move-to-block-the-latino-black-vote/ )

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

SHOE DONATIONS FOR HAITI
Collected at Stride Rite Wyckoff location ONLY
Monday-Saturday 10am-6pm
319 Franklin Ave, Wyckoff NJ

Stride Rite of Wyckoff is accepting worn/used shoes, children’s and adults for donation. All donations are sent to Haiti. We have received hundreds of pairs of shoes to date, but the need is much greater.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

After Rio+20: Moving Beyond 2015
RSVP at http://j.mp/rio20plus
15-19 OCT 2012 (9am – 5pm only)
COST: FREE
Ramapo College, 505 Ramapo Valley Road, Mahwah, NJ
In the campus Student Center Room SC 137

The speakers for this event series are all key players from Civil Society Organizations and from the United Nations, collectively engaged in planning for a post-Rio+20 future. The purpose of the workshop series is to lay out the framework for a road map to plan for a Global Citizens Movement to help us move beyond the major United Nations Rio+20 conference held earlier this year in June.

In this intensive workshop, the many dimensions of the UN Conference in Rio de Janeiro will be explored, and a coherent path forward will be charted.

As you may be aware, by most conventional accounts, Rio+20 was at least a disappointment, if not a failure. We argue that real, path-breaking, and innovative solutions began to emerge from the grassroots level out, and we will present many dimensions of these solutions, as well as strategize a way forward into a more sustainable future.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Support the Ramapough Indians.
Tell the EPA to clean up Ford’s mess in Ringwood.

Journalist Jan Barry started the research on the tragic and intentional pollution of a housing development which was home to members of a tribe of Ramapough Indians in Ringwood, NJ, and collaborated with HBO to create Mann v. Ford, a moving documentary about the crushing impact this has had on the health of tribe members as well as the water source for the entire region.

The site was prematurely de-listed by the EPA from its Superfund cleanup status, and several years later became the first site to be listed for a second time. Ford has resisted taking responsibility for the poisonous effects on tribe members of the toxic paint sludge it trucked in under cover of nightfall every day for many years, and has also resisted funding the cost of cleanup.

Make sure the EPA knows you support the clean-up of the Ramapough Indians by (Action 1) signing the Change.org petition and (Action 2) sending a letter to the EPA. Petition and sample letter available at

Tell the EPA to clean up Ford’s mess in Ringwood

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Click to give Hackensack Riverkeeper the chance to win a grant from Chase Community Giving
(must have a Facebook account)

Click on http://j.mp/gd4hrk2012
Click on “VOTE”
Click Accept the APP
Click “VOTE” again and a pop-up window should appear.

You get two votes, so use your second vote for any other organization

How can you get extra votes to vote for us?
• Share the special link you get with your Facebook friends – you may get an extra vote. (Make sure you use both of your original 2 votes so you can use the extra vote)
• Chase customers automatically get two more votes by logging in from the Chase Community Giving home page accessible through the Chase website

Learn more about Hackensack Riverkeeper’s amazing ecological advocacy and nature tours and cleanups at http://hackensackriverkeeper.org

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Click to give Morris County Hispanic-American Chamber of Commerce the chance to win $30,000
(You get 10 votes just for having an email address)

Click on http://j.mp/mchaccvoh

MCHACC was selected as a Voices of Health finalist for its commitment to the health of ethnic minority individuals in the northern New Jersey area. Learn more about the chamber at http://mchacc.org.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

OUR SPONSOR
MENTION GREEN DRINKS FOR 20% OFF Online or at the store

Eco Galleria

Eco Galleria at the Historic Oradell Train Station
400 Maple Avenue, Oradell, NJ
201-447-GIFT (4438)
http://www.ecogalleria.com

Eco Galleria carries fun or fine items handcrafted by artists from throughout the Americas in many price ranges. Including eco-friendly jewelry, pottery, glass, wood, fiber, watches, bags and more. Call ahead to have your gift boxed, wrapped and ready for pick-up or shop online at http://ecogalleria.com

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Interested in sponsoring Green Drinks? If you have a good cause or service, we have a contact base of about 6000 that can learn about your through our meeting announcements. Contact Kimi for information mailto:kimi@thewei.com or 862-203-8814
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

All, Health, Justice, Protection, Urban, Water

Truths about society in new book Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt

Leave a comment

Tim Knight shares a review of the book. Now I can’t wait to read it.

Excerpt from the preface

The ruthless hunt for profit creates a world where everything and everyone is expendable. Nothing is sacred. It has blighted inner cities, turned the majestic Appalachian Mountains into a blasted moonscape of poisoned water, soil, and air. It has forced workers into a downward spiral of falling wages and mounting debt until laborers in agricultural fields and sweatshops work in conditions that replicate slavery. It has impoverished our working class and ravaged the middle class. And it has enriched a tiny global elite that has no loyalty to the nation-state. These corporations, if we use the language of patriotism, are traitors.

Tim says,

I just finished Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt by Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco. It is superb, and I’ve spent a fair amount of time typing in passages from the book below in order to capture some of its theme.

The “me” of twenty years ago wouldn’t be caught dead reading a book like this. It is, after all, an unflinching assasination of our present capitalist system. As a younger person, I was wholeheartedly (and more than a little ignorantly) devoted to a dog-eat-dog, lassiez-faire capitalist system. And, in my adult life, I have lived that way, at least inasmuch as I created, built, and sold a successful business and have, before, during, and after that time, been a very active participant in the financial markets (both by way of trading as well as writing).

Experience and observation have moderated my views, however. At the outset I will say that I still regard capitalism as the most proper, natural, and constructive economic system, but I’m a much firmer believer in a modified version – – consistently-regulated with a distribution of wealth more akin to the 1970s than the present day – – than I ever imagined I would be.

and

There are several broad regions of the United States covered in the book, including the Indian reservations of South Dakota; the mean streets of Camden; the wretched lives of the produce-pickers in Southern Florida; and the “moonscape” of West Virginia’s coal country. It is this last area that includes a talk with Larry Gibson, an activist in West Virginia who grew up there, had to leave for a while due to family poverty, and has returned to try to fight for the region’s sake. He says the following, which is perhaps my favorite section of the entire book:

“Living here as a boy, I wasn’t any different than anybody else. First time I knew I was poor was when I went to Cleveland and went to school They taught me I was poor. I traded all this for a strip of green I saw when I walking the street. And I was poor? How ya gonna get a piece of green grass between the sidewalk and the street, and they gonna tell me I’m poor. I thought I was the luckiest kid in the world, with nature. I could walk through the forest. I could hear the animals. I could hear the woods talk to me. Everywhere I looked there was life. I could pick my own apples or cucumbers. I could eat the berries and pawpaws. I love pawpaws. And they gooseberries. Now there is no life there. Only dust. I had a pigeon and when I’d come out of the house, no matter where I went, he flew over my head or sat on my shoulder. I had a hawk I named Fred, I had a bobcat and a three-legged fox that got caught in a trap. I wouldn’t trade that childhood for all the fancy fire trucks and toys the other kids had.

Abuse of public trust, Health, Justice, Protection, Water

Terrible destruction: Appalachian mountaintop removal mining

1 Comment

While residents of New Jersey and Pennsylvania deal with the health threat presented by fracking, people in the Appalachias continue to wage their long and mighty struggle to preserve their health and economy in the face of the ongoing destruction visited upon them by mountaintop mining, a practice scientists have called, “pervasive and irreversable.”

The New York times describes mountaintop removal as

…a radical form of strip mining that has left over 2,000 miles of streams buried and over 500 mountains destroyed. According to several recent studies, people living near surface mining sites have a 50 percent greater risk of fatal cancer and a 42 percent greater risk of birth defects than the general population.

Foto by Damon Winter/The New York Times
Ryan Massey, 7, shows his caps. Dentists near Charleston, W.Va., say pollutants in drinking water have damaged residents’ teeth. Nationwide, polluters have violated the Clean Water Act more than 500,000 times.

When Robert Kennedy, Jr. came to Bergen Community College in Paramus, New Jersey and spoke about his fight to halt this practice, my younger son, Ari, a high school junior and I were there to hear him. Kennedy is an environmental lawyer, and years ago he fought to stop mountaintop removal mining on the premise that it violates the Clean Water Act. Kennedy won his court battle, but lawyers for the opposition filed a lawsuit disputing the meaning of the word “fill” relative to the practice of dumping left-over sludge into streams and rivers in that region, claiming that the sludge did not “fill” up the waterways since there was still water in them after the dumping occurred, and got permission to resume their destruction of nature and of people’s lives.

The Obama Administration is working to improved the lives of Appalachia’s residents by establishing a ban on mountaintop mining, but, big monied interests have the sympathy of the courts. On July 31, a judge overthrew new protections put in place by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, and ruled that mountaintop mining operations they had blocked, could resume. This type of favoritism is not new.

Robert Kennedy Jr.’s fight agains the devastation

The Appalachian Center reviews The Last Mountain, a documentary featuring Kennedy which addresses this issue

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – the best national advocate the anti-mountaintop removal movement has – is an effective narrator and driving force throughout the film. He puts the destruction and willful violation of laws meant to curb such environmental destruction into passionate, thoughtful words.

For instance, standing atop a “reclaimed” mountain with mine safety consultant Jack Spadaro, Kennedy looks around at a “forest” that is nothing but scrub grass and picks up a chunk of rock that’s supposed to count as topsoil. He says, “The extraordinary thing about this is how many lies they have to tell to make this whole fiction work. They have to say this is a forest. They have to say this is soil. And the amazing thing is how many people believe them.”

Kennedy was also powerful when addressing one of the key areas of conflict among the residents of Appalachia: the notion that protecting the environment must come at the sacrifice of jobs. As Kennedy says in a discussion with Coal Association President Bill Raney, most of the coal jobs in Appalachia have been lost to mechanization, not to environmental regulations. Coal companies are extracting as much coal as ever with a fraction of the work force.

His explanation of idea of “the commons” and how the notion that America’s water and environment are owned by us all has been eroded is also very compelling.

Congressional Bills and The Law

Congressman Steve Rothman wrote to me about bills in Congress on both sides of the mountaintop mining issue. Democrats want to stop it, but Republicans want to prohibit any regulations of the coal mining industry. When people tell you there’s no difference between Democrats and Republicans, remember this fact. Rothman writes,
Like you, I believe that communities need to be protected from hazardous emissions and destructive practices that jeopardize their health and that of the surrounding ecosystem. As you know, H.R. 5959 was introduced by Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) on June 19, 2012. If enacted, this legislation would require a study of the potential harm of mountaintop removal coal mining on the health of individuals in surrounding communities. If mountaintop mining is found to be harmful to health, a moratorium would be placed on mountaintop mining until it was deemed to be safe. This bill is currently pending before the House Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure and Energy and Commerce. The environment and the people of the Appalachians need to be protected from careless mining practices.

You may also be interested to know that, H.R. 3049, the so-called “Coal Miner Employment and Domestic Energy Infrastructure Protection Act,” was introduced by Representative Bill Johnson (R-OH) on November 14, 2011. If enacted, this irresponsible bill would amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act to prohibit the Department of Interior from regulating the coal mining industry, overturning 35 years of established precedent and putting our health and waterways at risk. I strongly oppose H.R. 3049 and any other legislation that would work to weaken the ability of federal agencies to regulate polluting energy industries and toxic run off into our rivers and lakes. This legislation is pending before the House Committee on Natural Resources.

Environment, Health, Justice, New solutions, Protection, Sustainable communities

EPA’s pollution assessment tool in beta

Leave a comment

The EPA released a beta version of the new Community-Focused Exposure and Risk Screening Tool (C-FERST). It will increase the availability and accessibility of science and data for evaluating impacts of pollutants and local conditions, understanding the overall environmental health consequences of your community and ranking risks. The tool will enable communities to identify environmental health issues, rank and prioritize issues, make informed and cost-effective decisions to improve public health, and promote actions.

Feedback is needed to finalize development, so please give C-FERST a test drive and share your experiences. More information here.