Earth Day 2011: Greening Transport

More than ever these days, the way we get around - whether by car, bus, train or airplane - has been in the daily news. Here in the United States, gas prices have now risen to $4 a gallon, with no sight of the prices going down anytime soon. Also, with the recent near airplane catastrophes due to sleeping air traffic controllers along with the ongoing worries about terrorism and TSA searches, air travel has become less pleasant as well.

The bottom line: Americans need to reduce their dependency on fuel for these modes of transportation not only because of the many battles in the Middle East, because also because of the growing global climate problem. Each year cars emit more than 300 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere in the United States alone. Aviation accounts for three percent of carbon emissions globally and rising.

With all this said, it is time to rethink alternative transportation methods. Of course, I am not advocating not taking a plane at all, but maybe limiting air travel to when it is absolutely necessary. I have to travel long distance a great deal for business, but in recent years I have embraced web conferencing tools like Skype to connect with business associates around the world. Not only is this better for the planet, but also on the wallet.

For everyday travel, there are also many great alternatives that I embrace. I don't own a car for both health and environmental reasons. By not having a car, it forces me to be more physically active and walk (or in some cases run) to catch a bus or train or just do stuff in my neighborhood. Not having a car and walking and taking public transit also allows me to be better acquainted with my surroundings and the people around you. Whereas if I had a car, I would feel more isolated because of the lack of interactions.

Furthermore, it makes no sense to own a car if you primarily live and work in a major city with decent public transportation like I do. Recently my city implemented a bike share program, which is also a great transport alternative. I am also a big fan of Amtrak and the growing light rail movement.

But even if you don't live in a big city, there are many ways to reduce your carbon impact. For example, if you live in the suburbs, instead of traveling in a car, why not use a bike or take the commuter rail for part of or for the whole trip. Also ask your employer if you can telecommute on some days.

Every little step makes a difference in every one's lives!

Haiti's Rice Problems

Over the weekend, I had a chance to catch the Frontline/World segment on Haiti's aid problems since the earthquake earlier this year. The report specifically focused on the dilemma foreign aid has "caused" on the island, especially for Haitians who sell rice. My issue with this report was the fact that Haiti has had a rice problem long before the earthquake, thanks in part to U.S. policies towards the island.

Excuse me for bringing this up - since NPR won't do it - but last time I checked, Haiti used to grow its own rice. I am surprised that nowhere in the program was this mention. It was almost a given that the United States was suppose to give rice to Haiti, rather than allow it to be food secure with its own agricultural resources.

A little history lesson...

From Reader Supported News:

Today, little rice is grown in Haiti; instead, the nation is a market for the subsidized rice crop grown in the United States. Human Rights lawyer Bill Quigley, now at the Center for Constitutional Rights, wrote about this trend in the spring of 2008, as food riots shook Haiti and other parts of the developing world:

In 1986, after the expulsion of Haitian dictator Jean Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loaned Haiti $24.6 million in desperately needed funds (Baby Doc had raided the treasury on the way out). But, in order to get the IMF loan, Haiti was required to reduce tariff protections for their Haitian rice and other agricultural products and some industries to open up the country's markets to competition from outside countries. The US has by far the largest voice in decisions of the IMF. "American rice invaded the country," recalled Charles Suffrard, a leading rice grower in Haiti, in an interview with the Washington Post in 2000. By 1987 and 1988, there was so much rice coming into the country that many stopped working the land.

Haiti is now the third largest importer of U.S. rice in the world. The rice is "dumped" on the island by American farmers receiving subsidies from the US government to grow surpluses of rice at a rock-bottom rates, undercutting Haitian rice farmers.

And some Americans have the nerve to call Haiti "the basket case of the Western Hemisphere," when, in fact, the United States and their friends at the WTO and IMF are undermining the very structure it needs to survive.

Disgusting...

Fall Into Bloom

Photos I took in Boston’s Jamaica Plain and Roslindale neighborhoods the week of October 25, 2009.

You are what you eat: Callaloo!

And for my last trick...for now, I will show you how to eat green.

My favorite dish is callaloo, a leafy vegetable originating from the Caribbean, cooked with onions, garlic and tomatoes. All of these items can be purchased at a farmers' market (Go Local!). Some people like to also add saltfish, pork or more vegetables, like carrots, okra and red peppers.

So here is my version.

Ingredients for 4 servings

*4 plum tomatoes
*1 large onion
*1 clove of garlic
*bunch of callaloo (approx. 15-20 stems with full leaves)
*extra virgin olive oil
*salt and pepper for taste

1. chop up all ingredients separately

2. saute tomatoes, onions, garlic, salt and pepper in a large frying pan with a tablespoon of olive oil for 5-7 minutes on a low fire.

3. mix in callaloo and let simmer on low fire for 10 minutes

4. turn off the heat and let it cool down, but eat it while it is still warm

Voila! I am master of the eco-kitchen!

In Defense of Van Jones

All I have to say about this is how interesting Van Jones, the man put in charge of pushing forward the green economy on President Obama's behalf, becomes unemployed the day before Labor Day.

Irony?

From his resignation letter:

"On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me. They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide. I have been inundated with calls -- from across the political spectrum -- urging me to 'stay and fight.' But I came here to fight for others, not for myself. I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past. We need all hands on deck, fighting for the future."

The case against Van Jones:

...Jones, who joined the administration in March as special adviser for green jobs at the CEQ, had issued two public apologies in recent days, one for signing a petition in 2004 from the group 911Truth.org that questioned whether Bush administration officials "may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war" and the other for using a crude term to describe Republicans in a speech he gave before joining the administration.

His one-time involvement with the Bay Area radical group Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM), which had Marxist roots, had also become an issue. And on Saturday his advocacy on behalf of death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of shooting a Philadelphia police officer in 1981, threatened to develop into a fresh point of controversy.

Fox News Channel host Glenn Beck launched the drive against Jones and all but declared war on him after a group Jones founded in 2005, ColorofChange.org, led an advertising boycott against Beck's show to protest his claim that Obama is a racist...

In Defense of Van Jones

He is one of the most dynamic activists of our time, and he has a track record to prove it.

From Wikipedia:

Jones founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in 1996, a California non-governmental organization (NGO) working for alternatives to violence. In 2005, Jones co-founded Color of Change, an advocacy group for African Americans.[1] Formerly based in Oakland, California, Jones founded Green For All in 2007, a national NGO dedicated to "building an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty."[2] His first book, The Green Collar Economy, was released on October 7, 2008, and reached number 12 on the New York Times Best Seller list.[3] In 2008, Time magazine named Jones one of its "Environmental Heroes".[4] Fast Company called him one of the "12 Most Creative Minds of 2008."

From a tech perspective, Jones has set the standard for online book marketing.

From Huffington Post:

Social and environmental activist Van Jones felt he had important message about the economy, energy prices and global warming to impart in his book "The Green Collar Economy," which was published this month. What he didn't have, as a first time author with an almost non-existent marketing budget, was the kind of money and name-recognition that typically helps place a book on the best sellers list and in the national conversation. So he improvised.

Using a Web-based, viral marketing strategy, Jones and Green For All, an environmental organization he recently founded, worked to get the word out about his book far and wide. The result was a place -- number 12 to be exact -- on the New York Times best sellers list in the book's first week...

I'm not worried about Jones, he will fair well. He might be more effective as an organizer than a policy wonk.

But I worry more for the people who brought him down.

Online green mapping fights eco-injustice

Being "green" has finally become a catchphrase in our daily lives. From hybrid cars to organic eating, more people are realizing that environmentalism is the right way to go to make the planet a more sustainable place to live in. However, despite all the green progress, environmental injustices still occur in both industrialized and developing countries. Recently, there has been a spur of online activism through the means of green mapping to bridge the sustainability gap.

Green maps were created in 1995 by the nonprofit Green Maps System to empower online activists around the world to locate areas in their communities that are both good and bad for the environment, such as recycling, traffic hazards, community gardens and toxic sites. The system is used in over 400 communities in 51 countries.

The system is very simple: users can create a map of their region on the website, and place icons indicating environmental impacts. Using the map created for the Banjul area of The Gambia, one can see where such things as solar energy sites, wetlands and horticulture gardens and clean drinking water sites are located. Hazards can also be seen, such as air and water pollution and waste dumps.

Green mapping helps different fractions work together to make the quality of life better for everyone. Many governments and local activists have used their finished maps to proactively address environmental problems in their communities. See the video above produced by Dorst MediaWorks for the Earth Institute at Columbia University about environmental justice activists in New York City.

Something Green is Growing Here

Finally, it's here. As you already know, I am a 2009 Urban Environmental Justice Fellow at the Institute for Justice and Journalism. Here are the first two components - one newspaper article and a photo slideshow - from my project on food as an environmental justice issue.

Article:Something Green is Growing Here: In Dorchester, residents of color take urban farming to new heights

NAFTA Drama

Forget the Real Housewives of Atlanta - the real drama is going down this week south of the border, where President Obama is meeting with Mexico's Felipe Calderon and Canadian Stephen Harper.

NAFTA was such a great idea that I thought I would give a wrap up of what's really going on.

From Canada Country Guide:

...Hit hard by low prices for their crops, many Mexican farm families have been forced to relocate to large cities or find work at border-town maquiladoras (factories using low-cost labour to make cheap goods for export to the U.S. and elsewhere), the NFU said.

Forced off the land into major urban areas, Mexico's farmers find these cities to be "increasingly lawless and dangerous" due to rising organized crime spurred by poverty and desperation, the NFU said.

"Many Mexicans are now trying to escape. Some are coming here. We need to connect the dots. Many of the Mexicans coming to Canada are refugees from NAFTA," the NFU's Saskatoon-based international co-ordinator Martha Robbins said in the group's release.

What's ironic, Robbins said, is that "as we are forcing open Mexican borders to our products, we are closing our borders to a significant portion of the Mexican people." ...

What about food safety?

From Foreign Policy in Focus:

...The abject failure of NAFTA and its SPP offshoot to bring "security and prosperity" to North America is clear with the economic, environmental, and social crises now affecting this region and much of the world. Unemployment is high, global warming is escalating, and the need to transition away from carbon-intensive energy sources is irrefutable. Multiple food and consumer product safety scandals, notably the recent swine flu epidemic that has been linked to poorly regulated meat processing plants that have spread throughout Mexico since NAFTA came into effect, have called the bluff of business lobbies seeking further deregulation. So has the financial crisis — which resulted from unregulated trade in novel financial products totally detached from the real economy...

Leave it up to lobbyists to spread the wealth of NAFTA to the rest of the world.

From Eyes on Trade:

Reuters reported on Wednesday that the leaders of six major U.S. business groups have called for President Barack Obama to back speedy passage of NAFTA-style “free trade” agreements (FTAs) with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. Wisely, the president has yet to send Congress any of the bilateral trade deals negotiated by former president George W. Bush with the three nations. In addition to pressing for passage of the three pending trade agreements, the groups urged Obama to pursue “major market-opening agreements with the Asia-Pacific and beyond,” essentially advocating for even more NAFTA-style FTAs.

In a letter to the president, the associations acknowledged that trade agreements can ship jobs overseas, and stated that "[T]rade agreements can have adverse effects on specific industries, workers and communities…”. Actually, this is true, and Obama knows it. On the campaign trail, President Obama repeatedly expressed opposition to NAFTA and promised to usher in an era of U.S. trade policy that would require respect for labor rights, environmental standards, and human rights. The Colombia FTA is especially controversial due to the repressive regime of President Álvaro Uribe. Colombia has a longstanding and egregious record of violations of labor and human rights, especially with regard to those of its indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples...

Oh, yeah, no love between Colombia and Venezuela these days either.

From BBC News:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused Colombia of carrying out a military incursion into Venezuela.

Mr Chavez said Colombian soldiers had recently been seen crossing the Orinoco river, which forms part of the border, and entering Venezuelan territory.

He said the incursion - which Colombia denies happened - was a "provocation".

South American leaders are gathering in Ecuador for a summit which is set to discuss Colombia's planned accord to allow the US use of its military bases.

Mr Chavez has been embroiled in a diplomatic row with his Colombian counterpart, Alvaro Uribe, since news of the plan emerged.

"The threat against us is growing," he said. "I call on the people and the armed forces - let's go, ready for combat!"

There goes the neighborhood...

Youth fight for food justice online

Photo by Umoja Community Builders

Last month the US Department of Agriculture released a report on food deserts - areas in the United States where communities lack access to supermarkets and other outlets selling foods necessary for a healthy diet. According to the report, 2.3 million Americans live more than a mile from a supermarket and do not have access to a vehicle. The report goes on to say that the "urban core areas with limited food access are characterized by higher levels of racial segregation and greater income inequality." In short, this problem largely affects low income communities and people of color. In recent years, there have been efforts by food justice activists around the country to bridge the food gap. One group in Chicago is taking back the food system online.

The Umoja Student Development Corporation is a Chicago-based, youth development organization which runs a six-week summer program in partnership with youth media group Free Spirit to film a short documentary about food deserts in the predominately African American community of North Lawndale.

"In my neighborhood, there are no grocery stores," said Porsha Treadwell, a student intern in Umoja's community builders program. "It is unfair that my community doesn't have the same access to healthy foods as other communities. It's just not right."

In addition to learning how to grow organic foods in community gardens and polling residents about their food shopping habits, the student interns have also kept a blog for the duration of the program about their own eating habits and the various social and environmental injustices that block access to food equity.

Also on the blog, the youth have created a slide show, displaying photos of themselves learning how to use cameras for their documentary.

Treadwell said this program has been a rewarding experience. She noted that she has had informative conversations with other residents about the food problem in the community, and how they now feel empowered to do something about it.

"When a community comes together, we can do powerful things," she said.

In Defense of Black Foodies: Michelle Obama

Black food justice activists have come under attack lately

The first lady is taking hits for her kitchen garden these days. Andrew Kimbell, Center for Food Safety executive director, argued recently that the garden has high levels of lead, due to some "nastiness issues."

From Huffington Post:

Unfortunately, something happened on the way to the realization of the First Lady's good intentions. Recently the National Park Service discovered that the White House lawn, where the garden was planted, contains highly elevated levels of lead -- 93 parts per million. It's enough lead for anyone planning to have children pick vegetables in that garden or eat produce from it to reconsider their plans: lead is highly toxic to children's developing organs and brain functions -- however, it's below the 400 ppm the EPA suggests is a threat to human health.

What caused this alarming contamination of the White House lawn? Some news outlets speculated that residue from lead paint might have caused the toxicity. However an article running on Mother Jones online has a more probable explanation. During the 1990s, the Clintons agreed to have the South Lawn of the White House "fertilized" with ComPRO, a commercially available "compost made from a nearby wastewater plant's solid effluent, a.k.a. sewage sludge."

Thanks Bill and Hill!

Then, Obama Foodorama's Eddie Gerham Kohan slammed him back with possibly not the best defense of the garden.
And Kimbell came back with the quickness.

What do I think? I think it's great that Mrs. Obama wants to teach Americans about sustainable gardening; however, she must also include dialogue on this most pressing issue on sludge fertilizer, which can be a teachable moment for all Americans about these hazards of gardening.

Will the Obama administration take on the sludge industry about this matter? Maybe Mrs. Obama will use her newly-found influence to take on Big Ag? Don't hold your breath, but for now, I want to keep an open mind about the garden.

"Organic" Food is Questionable

Surprise, surprise (I guess ???) - "organic" doesn't really mean organic, or at least according to the USDA. Leave it up to the DC food lobbies to continue to f*ck up the food system.

From Washington Post:

...Grated organic cheese, for example, contains wood starch to prevent clumping. Organic beer can be made from non-organic hops. Organic mock duck contains a synthetic ingredient that gives it an authentic, stringy texture.

Relaxation of the federal standards, and an explosion of consumer demand, have helped push the organics market into a $23 billion-a-year business, the fastest growing segment of the food industry. Half of the country's adults say they buy organic food often or sometimes, according to a survey last year by the Harvard School of Public Health.

But the USDA program's shortcomings mean that consumers, who at times must pay twice as much for organic products, are not always getting what they expect: foods without pesticides and other chemicals, produced in a way that is gentle to the environment.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has pledged to protect the label, even as he acknowledged the pressure to lower standards to let more products in...

...Under the original organics law, 5 percent of a USDA-certified organic product can consist of non-organic substances, provided they are approved by the National Organic Standards Board. That list has grown from 77 to 245 substances since it was created in 2002. Companies must appeal to the board every five years to keep a substance on the list, explaining why an organic alternative has not been found. The goal was to shrink the list over time, but only one item has been removed so far...

But wait, here's the best part.

The agency has not acted, for example, on a 2002 board recommendation that would answer a critical question for organic dairy farmers: how to interpret the law requiring that their cows have "access to pasture," rather than be crowded onto feedlots. The result has been that some dairy farms have been selling milk as organic from cows that spend little if any time grazing in open spaces.

"This is really a case of 'justice delayed is justice denied,' " said Alexis Baden-Mayer, national political director for the Organic Consumers Association. "The truly organic dairy farmers, who have their cows out in the pasture all year round, are at a huge competitive disadvantage compared to the big confinement dairies."

[Barbara] Robinson [who runs USDA's organics program] has blamed the delays on the program's small staff, saying that "we have to prioritize."

It's good to know Ms Robinson and the other "good" folks at USDA are looking out for America's food system. Too bad they don't have time to prioritize making sure our food is safe, healthy and sustainable.

Note to self: Start your own garden; food purchased anywhere can no longer be trusted.

Fend for yourselves...

Victory in the Niger Delta?

Good news for the Niger Delta



That's it, $15.5 million?!

There is not enough money in the world to pay the true amount due to the Ogoni people.

"Greening the ghetto"

Good news out of the White House today.

No, not that news, this news.

From Associated Press:

Some of the $4 billion from President Barack Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus plan that was budgeted to renovate public housing will be spent to create so-called "green jobs" by making the dwellings more energy efficient.

Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan was making the announcement Tuesday in Denver at a meeting of Obama's Middle Class Task Force.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, another task force member, also will announce that $500 million from the stimulus is becoming available to train workers for these jobs. That sum includes $50 million for communities battered by job losses and restructuring in the auto industry...

...Donovan said Monday that the investment in public housing will help meet several goals: improving the quality of public housing, reducing energy costs for residents and the government, and creating jobs for people who live in the units and in the surrounding community...

Van Jones' thoughts on this...

From New York Times:

E&E: You've advocated "greening the ghetto" in the past; how much of the $787 billion economic stimulus will go toward greening inner cities, and where will the money go?

Jones: HUD has somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 billion to do energy-efficiency retrofits and weatherization. I know [HUD] Secretary [Shaun] Donovan is going to be passionate about getting that money spent well. But I'm not in a position now to comment on all of the details, the particulars of how the various agencies are planning to spend the money.

E&E: A Rutgers University report published today suggests that most green job openings will not be new occupations, but rather traditional occupations with a new layer of "green" skills and credentials. For example, laborers and building contractors who need specialized training and certification to perform home weatherization audits. Do you agree?

Jones: Yes. That's one of the exciting things about this. Sometimes people think we're talking about some exotic occupation from Mars that nobody's ever heard of. That we're talking about George Jetson or Buck Rogers when we're thinking about green jobs. We're not talking about solar ray-guns; we're talking about caulking guns as one of the major tools we're going to need to be smarter with energy. Those are jobs our existing work force, with a little training, can start doing right away.

E&E: Going forward, what role should the private sector play with regard to creating and keeping green-collar jobs?

Jones: The president has made very clear that he wants the majority of these jobs to be private-sector jobs. I think that's appropriate. Entrepreneurship, innovation and the free market will solve a lot of these problems. We just have to get the rules right and get the supports in place so our new industries can take off.

That's what up!

Blogger gives Obama food for thought

Since Barack Obama's ascension to the White House, there has been a spur of interest online to follow the light-hearted sides of his historic presidency, while providing serious commentary on the administration's policy decisions. Jounrnalist and self-described “ag policy wonkette” Eddie Gehman Kohan founded her popular blog Obama Foodorama to discuss all things related to the president and food, "one bipartisan byte at a time." In a previous interview, she said she does the blog because "everyone eats," and "if you can't find something to personally relate to in the panopoly of continents, races, time zones and family situations that created Barack, there's always food," she said. "[Obama's] competing reputations as both a comfort food lover, a junk food addict and a gourmet make him highly accessible no matter what the entry point."

But don't expect to just read posts about last weekend's White House Correspondents' Dinner or what the Obamas eat on their night on the town, Obama Foodorama has become one of the leading blogs on food justice and advocacy.

In addition to blogging about the finer side of dining, Gehman Kohan has also created a following on her blog and her tweets because of her funny yet indepth discussions about the administration's agriculture policy, food safety and food-related health problems. Some recent posts have been on first lady Michelle Obama's ground-breaking organic garden, Green jobs advisor Van Jones' plans for a greenroof garden on top of the White House and the recent protest by African American farmers calling on the president to redress years of racial discrimination. According to Gehman Kohan, Obama has inherited a global food crisis.

More from Gehman Kohan:

"Immediate changes are needed in the way CDC, FDA and USDA work together during disease outbreaks, as well as the need for appointing not so much a food safety "czar" as a food safety "mentor" to coordinate the activities of the three agencies. We're in the middle of a period of terrible economic downturn, which leads to both hunger issues and grocery bill issues, and we're trying to figure out a new energy policy, which is directly related to the use of varying kinds of ethanol...which is directly related to food crops.

Also, sadly, the US is the biggest importer of Chinese food products in the world, and the Chinese make the most dangerous food products in the world. The issues on the blog affect everyone whether they're an official "foodie" or not. Eventually the blog may turn back into what the tagline claims -- a daily diary, one byte at a time -- a historic, electronic document of Barack and food. Right now, we have all kinds of interviews scheduled with foodie thinkers and food/farm activists, chefs and restaurateurs, as well as guest posts from other bloggers, in addition to the usual fun Chowbama gossip..."

The real story behind the swine flu?

Bob Gottlieb, professor of urban and environmental policy and director of the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute (UEPI) at Occidental College, spoke to the fellows yesterday about food as an environmental justice issue. He alluded to the recent discussion in the food justice community about the possibly origin of swine flu, and the reluctance to discuss it public. Below might give some insight into this issue.

From Food and Water Watch:

Today, amid increasing international concern about the global swine flu outbreak, Food & Water Watch urged leaders of the U.S. Senate and House agriculture and health committees to investigate the serious human health problems caused by industrialized pork production. The national consumer advocacy organization submitted a letter to Chairman Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN), asking their respective committees to hold hearings examining the source of the swine flu virus, the pathway for transmission between hogs and humans, and the conditions inside factory farms that could foster the growth and mutation of the influenza virus into more virulent strains.

“Factory farms have a long track record of maximizing volume and profit at the cost of human health and safe food,” said Wenonah Hauter, Food & Water Watch executive director. “The swine flu outbreak is unfortunately just the latest example of the negative public health impacts from intensive pork production.”

Food & Water Watch warned of other potential threats to human health, including the discovery at U.S. hog facilities of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) – the difficult to treat staph infection – and antibiotic-resistant E. coli on operations using non-therapeutic antibiotics.

“The public health issues of disease transmission, antibiotic resistant bacteria and worker health are critically important to rural communities, workers, and consumers and any research into these issues must be done in a way that is independent of any industry pressure,” said Hauter in the letter. “Congress needs to prioritize these topics for credible research that is funded and performed by public entities, not the pork industry or its trade associations.”

Van Jones on eco-elitism and roof gardens

Van Jones, President Obama's green man and author of the best-selling book, The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems, is the hot man of the moment.

Not only is he leading the way for the "Green New Deal," through his work with Green for All, he has also inspired his boss to grow food on top of the White House - literally.

From Obama Foodorama:

The White House is undergoing green renovations right now, and Ob Fo hears that in the future, there'll be a greenroof food garden, as the White House explores new ways of highlighting environmental stewardship, alternative agriculture solutions, and job creation. A "greenroof" is a roof made with vegetative cover, with growing media and plants taking the place of roof tiles, shingles, or gravel. In urban areas, a greenroof improves air quality, helps lower over-all air temperatures, and can prevent toxic rainwater runoff from getting into local watersheds. They're also an excellent form of insulation.

I'm just lovin' that a brotha is doing all this! Best of luck to him!

Black is the new Green...again

On the first day of the E.J. fellowship, we got a crash course on the subject by Johns Hopkins University professor Eileen McGurty, author of the book, "Transforming Environmentalism: Warren County, PCBs and the Origins of Environmental Justice."

In 1978, residents of the predominately black Warren County in North Carolina were devastated when they learned that the state planned to build a landfill in their community to hold forty thousand cubic yards of soil that was contaminated with PCBs from illegal dumping. The community responded to the state’s plans with a four-year resistance, ending in a month of protests with over 500 arrests from civil disobedience and disruptive actions.

"This was the first time national civil rights groups protested an environmental issue," McGurty said. “Environmental justice shouldn’t be a luxury, it is a right. But back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, this was a new concept.”

Today, there are calls again to make the green movement "black" again.

From L.A. Watts Times

...But there is another trend, too. Black is the new green. The American environmental elite is an increasingly racially diverse place.

President Barack Obama appointed sister Lisa Jackson to head the Environmental Protection Agency. He tapped grassroots, green-jobs brother Van Jones as special adviser to the White House. And his Labor Secretary, Hilda L. Solis, is a Latina with a record of championing green jobs and environmental justice. Black women like Majora Carter and Beverly Wright are at the forefront of regional environmental advocacy. And in his chairmanship of the National Wildlife Federation, Jerome Ringer has integrated even the conservation arm of environmentalism, which is historically devoid of racial minority leadership.

Even the first lady is encouraging kitchen-table environmentalism with her advocacy of local organic food and home-based gardening.

With this growing diversity of green leadership, it is harder than ever to claim that America’s racial minorities care little about environmental issues. For decades, ordinary citizens of color have become environmental activists when they organized to resist the toxic waste dumps in their neighborhoods, to force regulation of polluting industries in fence-line communities, and to bring attention to the negative health impact of particulate emissions near their homes.

But these largely decentralized, locally led movements were rarely understood as central to the conservation and climate-change environmentalism that dominated federal policy and the national imagination. So despite their efforts, the contributions of black, brown and poor communities have often been ignored in the story of a greening America.

The diverse new environmental leadership certainly changes this, but it remains to be seen whether a more racially diverse leadership creates a different kind of American environmentalism...

Despite President Obama's efforts to make the country more sustainable, one of the first major complaints about his green policy seems to be coming from other black environmentalists.

From African American Environmentalist Association:

The National Black Farmers Association (NBFA) and the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) say Barack Obama led the charge last year to pass a bill allowing black farmers to seek new discrimination claims against the Agriculture Department when he was a senator. NBFA also says that as president, his administration so far is acting like it wants the potentially budget-busting lawsuits to go away. John Boyd, right, head of the National Black Farmers Association, which has organized the lawsuits cannot figure out why the president wouldn't want to implement a bill that he fought for as a U.S. senator. NBFA notes that Congress has bailed out Wall Street auto makers and America's top banks.

At issue is a class-action lawsuit known as the Pigford case. Thousands of farmers sued USDA claiming they had for years been denied government loans and other assistance that routinely went to whites. The government settled in 1999 and has paid out nearly $1 billion in damages on almost 16,000 claims. Farmers, lawyers and activists like Boyd have worked for years to reopen the case because thousands of farmers missed the deadlines for participating. Many said the filing period was too short and they were unaware of the settlement until it was too late. The cause gained momentum in August 2007 when Obama, then an Illinois senator, introduced Pigford legislation about six months into his presidential campaign. Although the case was hardly a hot-button political issue, it had drawn intense interest among African-Americans in the rural South. The proposal won passage in May as sponsors rounded up enough support to incorporate it into the 2008 farm bill.

The potential budget implications were huge: It could easily cost $2 billion or $3 billion given an estimated 65,000 pending claims. With pressure to hold down costs, lawmakers set an artificially low $100 million budget. They called it a first step and said more money could be approved later. But with 25,000 new claims and counting, the Obama administration is now arguing that the $100 million budget should be considered a cap to be split among the successful cases. The position — spelled out in a legal motion filed in February and reiterated in recent settlement talks — would leave payments as low as $2,000 or $3,000 per farmer. Boyd, with Senator Obama at left, noted that Obama's legislation specifically called for the new claimants to be eligible for the same awards as the initial lawsuit, including expedited payments of $50,000 plus $12,500 in tax breaks that the vast majority of the earlier farmers received...

Developing story...

Black, Green and the Economy

Brentin Mock, one of my colleagues at the IJJ fellowship brought to my attention this great article in The Root regarding the green movement in the black community.

From The Root:

For blacks, the green movement has been primarily about bad things dumped in our neighborhoods. But health-based activism is no longer enough. Today’s black and green movement must be about jobs and economic sustainability....

...But that largely defensive, health-based environmentalism is no longer enough—if it ever was. President Obama has raised the stakes considerably by inextricably tying his massive economic agenda to the sustainability movement. And when you follow the links, the consequences of that decision are clear-black America's future might just depend upon its ability to paint its politics green.

Obama likes to point out that he's not the first president who's had to create a whole new economy. It remains to be seen whether his effort will as profoundly impact American life as Abraham Lincoln's railroad or FDR's GI Bill, but the audacious president hasn't been shy about his aspirations. "History reminds us," he thundered in his February address to Congress, "that at every moment of economic upheaval and transformation, this nation has responded with bold action and big ideas."..

...Nearly a quarter of black households live below the poverty line, a share that is probably growing. In February, black unemployment hit a whopping 13.4 percent, nearly double the rate for whites. A generations-long gap in homeownership is widening as blacks and Latinos-who were clearly targeted with subprime lending and often steered away from more affordable loans-are poised to lose billions and absorb an estimated half of the nation's wealth loss from foreclosures. Even the auto industry collapse looks likely to hurt black working families the most.

So what does a green economy look like? Green Jobs for All has begun sketching out a clear answer to that question (and, not for nothing, its founding CEO Van Jones is Obama's new green jobs adviser). First, you have to understand the potential: Green jobs aren't just high-tech, they're everything from new building trades such as installing solar panels to revamped old-school ones such as putting in insulation. Like manufacturing was to the 20th century, they're jobs that don't require college degrees but nonetheless generate middle-class wages...

President Obama brought up yesterday during his various media appearances that America needs to prepare the next generation in careers in the sciences, math and technology in order to stay competitive in the global economy. In order to ensure all Americans have access to these career opportunities, training will need to made available and resources are distributed equally.

It is also great to see people of color like Van Jones and Sonal Shah leading the discussion on the green economy and social innovation respectively.

I am looking forward to discussing this as the months go on.

Ruby Maddox Fisher on Urban sustainability

Happy belated Earth day! I was going through the my"Film Archives" on my computer, and found this footage I actually took last month because of I wanted to post this in honor International Women's Day.

Ruby Maddox-Fisher is the co-founder and past director of Gardening the Community (GtC), a youth-centered, community based, urban agriculture program in Springfield, MA. GtC grows organic frutis and vegetables on formerly abandoned lots while learning about and practicing agriculture, environmental stewardship and community development. She talks about the impact her nonprofit has made in the community regarding environmental justice.

Health Disparities continue in America

I am always reading about new studies that I already knew about without having to be researcher. But seeing a study on paper can solidify your beliefs. Well, this "new" study is one of those moments for me.

From Kaiser Health Disparities Report:

People who live in poorer neighborhoods are less likely to have access to supermarkets that sell a variety of fresh produce and other healthy foods, according to the analysis. Researchers noted that supermarkets are more likely to sell a wide variety of healthy foods at lower prices, while convenience stores usually sell less healthy food at higher prices. Studies included in the analysis found that:

1. The likelihood that blacks would meet guidelines for fruit and vegetable consumption increased by 32% with every additional supermarket located near their home;

2. People who have a supermarket in their neighborhood have a reduced risk for obesity, while easy access to convenience stores increased obesity risk;

3. Predominately black neighborhoods had half as many supermarket chains as predominantly white neighborhoods, while Hispanic neighborhoods had one-third as many supermarket chains as white neighborhoods;

4. Healthy foods such as fresh produce, low fat dairy foods, high fiber breads and lean meats were more accessible and of higher quality in white neighborhoods than in non-white neighborhoods; and

5. Rural communities tend to have worse access to supermarkets.

Okay, so what else is new? I grew up in a predominately black community, and I can tell you first hand that I still see more liquor stores and fast food joints than legit supermarkets in that same community. Now that I am older, wiser and appreciative of good health and wellness, I see the lacking access to healthy foods in the community as detrimental problem. So much so that I really want to learn more about how to better report on health disparities. I just so happen to be attending a conference this week on this very issue. I plan on blogging about what is being said and done about this from the experts.

Stay tuned.