Coca "Carcinogenic" Cola

http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/coca-cola-3.jpg

Many people in the United States, such as myself, have become adamant about reading the ingredients in the food we eat. Yet, perhaps this is not enough. Prompted by pressure from California health authorities, Coca-Cola is now changing the ingredient labeled as "caramel colouring" in their drinks. This "caramel colouring" is actually a "stew" containing 4-methylimidazole, which is known to the state of California as a carcinogen. Although the formula is being changed, there was a serious backlash from those in the beverage industry who proclaimed this was all just part of the "old cancer scam."

If we cannot even trust the labels we read, how are we to make proper judgments on the food we eat? Whether or not the beverage industry truly thinks their "caramel colouring" is a risk, the fact that they have simplified a chemical process into "caramel colouring" is enough to force a change. The public has a right to know exactly what it is they are putting into their bodies.This relates to environmental racism because low-income families are likely to be consuming Coca-Cola.

Whether or not companies believe the general public will understand the chemicals used in their products, it is imperative that they provide us with the information. To think that a known carcinogen is being labeled as simply "caramel colouring" is unacceptable and one that could likely leave Coca-Cola in court. Coca-Cola spans the globe, so this is a worldwide issue. The work done by California health officials in this case should be praised by all those who seek food justice.

Article here

by Chris Graham

Water Pollution in Kansas City

A group in Kansas City is seeking advice from local groups, individuals, and nonprofits on ways to deal with the stormwater runoff that is polluting the waters surrounding the city. There is a grant program in place that will help educate the public and also to put ideas for projects into action. The involvement of the community and local groups by the Mid-America Regional Council shows a commitment to respecting all forms of knowledge in the area.

We often think about stormwater runoff as a major source of pollution in cities on the coastal regions of America, but it is often the more dry areas that are affected most by runoff. Infrequent rains allow oil to build up on roads, and when it does rain, there is significantly more runoff. Areas in Mid-America, where water is more scarce and often directly next to farmland that uses pesticides face serious threats when it comes to water quality.

The fact that Mid-America Regional Council is seeking local opinions is encouraging. Rather than these local groups fighting for a voice, in some cases, they are now sought after and looked at as valuable knowledge-holders. Addressing the public with how to use these government grants is an excellent step being taken by this group. Water quality is a serious issue in Mid-America, but with bottom-up to bottom-down actions being taken, there is hope for the citizens that occupy the area.

Article here

by Chris Graham

    By Emma Vowels

       The Penobscot Tribe, residing in Old Town, Maine, has lived off of subsistence fishing in the Penobscot River for thousands of years. This river is extremely important to the community's well being. Subsistence fishing makes up a majority of the Penobscot tribe's diet. But the river also offers them much more than just necessities, a sense of cultural self and place. However, due to environmental degradation in their community, the Penobscot are watching their livelihood and lifestyle be stripped away. 

        Over many years, high levels of pollution have accumulated in the Penobscot river. Mainly responsible for this pollution are industries dumping their production by-products into the river, specifically pulp and paper companies and waste water treatment plants. The most prevalent chemicals that are a danger to those using the river are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, and mercury. All of these contaminants are capable of bio-accumulating inside river species, mainly fish. This potential ecosystem effect makes eating fish from the river unsafe, and since as early as 1987, the Penobscot tribe was warned to limit their fish consumption. Currently, it is recommended that the tribe members eat no more than one serving of fish from the river per week or per month, depending the amount of toxins that accumulate in each particular fish species. The tribe wants the pollution addressed so that they can safely use the river for subsistence fishing again.  

       The Penobscot natives also feel they should have the sovereignty to decided how much pollution is acceptable in the river, and be able to manage the waters they rely on themselves. Little has been done to address this environmental racism issue so far. The courts have not sided with the tribe, and media has protrayed the tribe negatively, as being greedy for money. Since the tribe has lost in court, they are hoping that the EPA will give them a grant so that research can be done on the bio-accumulation of pollutants in the river fish species. In the mean time, the Penobscot have had their lifestyle taken away from them, and this case of environmental racism is swept under the rug. 

Reference from: https://wiki.colby.edu/display/es298b/Penobscot+Subsistence+
Image from: http://www.ec.gc.ca/mercure-mercury/default.asp?lang=en&n=d721ac1f-1

Start the Revolution

Ernesto Che Guevara, also known as El Che was one of the greatest revolutionary men of all time, fighting for the human rights of people of color. From huge political issues to helping men and women gain their rights in the work force. Things from cosecha (field work) to the workers in the factories he helped give these, often times illiterate people a voice. He did more than just speak and give hope through words, but what set this man apart from the rest was his willingness to be hands on involved with everything he spoke of changing. He was there working with all the people he spoke to and making the necessary moves to create a positive change.

Although, some of Che's actions could be perceived by some as "too much" or crossing certain moral lines, he never, till the day he was murdered, stopped fighting for what he believed in, and for that very reason his legacy lives on like many other men including; Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcom X, Nelson Mandela, John F. Kennedy. Though communism may have lost its fire, he remains the potent symbol of rebellion and the alluring zeal of revolution. 

Che made his mark in history fighting for fair labor for minorities and their rights to having a safe environment as well as making the most of the land the were equipped with. So the question I'm opposing is who will be the next person man or woman to help give a voice to the men and women who can't speak for themselves?

By: Heidi Nunez

The Forgotten African American Farmers

One might often think of White or Mexican farmers when they think of our food system as it operates today. Yet, African Americans obviously have a long history in farming, due in large part to slavery. However, after slavery was abolished, African American involvement in farming continued. Rightfully feeling entitled to own a part of the land they had cultivated under opression and exploitation for generations, the motto of black former slaves became "forty acres and a mule." For a short time during the Reconstruction after the Civil War, Blacks were allowed to purchase land at reduced prices. However, the majority of the recently freed slaves still did not have enough capital or access to resources to take advantage of even this half-hearted offer. Sharecropping came into widespread use, in which the White farm owners allowed Black farmers to live on the farm and take control of a part of it. In exchange, the Black farmer would share part of the crop with the landowner. Still, this system perpetuated economic and political power in the hands of whites.

After the Reconstruction and moving through the 20th century, those African Americans who did own land suffered just as most other farmers did with the industrialization and consolidation of farming. Many lost their land and their livelihood, but minorities gave up an unequal share. Between 1900 and 1997, there was an estimated 98% loss of farmland ownership for blacks, versus only 66% loss for white farmers (Cultivating Food Justice, 2011). In recent years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been accused of racial discrimination in its dissemination of Agricultural support funds. Therefore, there has been a class-action lawsuit against the USDA on the table for a long time. Finally, after nearly a decade of court proceedings, a settlement has been reached for African American farmers. Yet this victory falls far short of equating a fair repayment to the history of loss, oppression, exploitation, and abuse of Black farmers.

http://www.americanblackfarmersproject.com/


http://articles.cnn.com/2011-10-28/us/us_black-farmers_1_african-american-farmers-national-black-farmers-association-racial-bias?_s=PM:US

-Brandon Alborg

Duwamish River Pollution and Poor Neighborhoods

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Is-Seattle-creating-ghettos-of-povery-and-2179942.php

Looking at data from the years 1990-2000 in Seattle, the American Journal of Public Health found that there was an increased stratification between rich and poor neighborhoods in relation to income inequality, property values, and pollution. Neighborhoods such as Ballard which previously were more industrial have become richer and more popular places to live, and thus the pollution sources have been moved to poorer, already toxin affected neighborhoods such as South Park and Georgetown, which are situated along the Duwamish River.

The Duwamish river and the communities surrounding it have a history of receiving an unequal share of pollution runoff from businesses such as Boeing and the Port of Seattle, among other factory operations located on the river. Residents of these neighborhoods already experience inequalities in health, such as increased asthma, diabetes, and colorectal cancer. Babies born to parents living on the Duwamish are more likely die as infants and also have a shorter life expectancy than the rest of King County. These health injustices are not getting better, but only beginning to be addressed by public health agencies. There exists a great deal of data detailing the environmental contamination which has been literally dumped in and around Duwamish river for years. The Duwamish is listed on the Superfund list, which is a record of the most toxic environmental areas in the United States. Yet, there is still work to be done to fully asses the extent of the damage, who is responsible, and how to clean it up.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Should-Duwamish-cleanup-also-focus-on-improving-1306234.php#page-1

The pollution of the Duwamish not only affects those in close proximity to the river itself. The toxins in the river affect the salmon and other sea life in the river. When those sea foods are eaten by those who have traditionally depended on the Duwamish for their food supply, such as the Native American inhabitants of the Seattle area, they ingest harmful chemicals. The Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition states that "PCBs are found in nearly all salmon in the river," and that the pollutants concentrated in the fish and shellfish can also be spread to other wildlife such as birds, which further distributes the toxins in the surrounding environment to other predators.

http://www.duwamishcleanup.org/index.html

The Cleanup Coalition has plans to clean up the river while supplying quality living-wage jobs, but there is much organization to be done.

-Brandon Alborg

BP's Bullying

Take a moment to watch this short clip about BP dumping oil-spill waste in Mississippi.

  

          Disparities in exposure to environmental toxins continue to become evermore prevalent, especially with the 2010 BP oil spill in the gulf.  To the privileged public, BP was doing an amazing cleanup job and the waste seemed to just disappear.  What a perfect and fair world we would live in if that were true.  However, 61 percent of the waste was dumped in communities of color.  I’ll admit that I too assumed the oil had miraculously vanished and everything had been restored to how it was before the accident.  The majority of the oil did vanish from the gulf, but it reappeared in the backyards of people of color.  These are the same communities that were hit the hardest by hurricanes Katrina and Rita and that live in poverty—there are no resources available to them to reconstruct their shattered lives.

            Conclusions of possible health effects that may result from the waste of the oil spill can be drawn, but there is little data to support these conclusions because the companies that are responsible for the oil spill have been allowed to keep that information private.  However, it is thought that exposure to benzene and other oil chemicals can create many risks to reproductive and maternal health. 

            Three out of the five approved dumpsites in Louisiana for the oil waste are located in primarily black communities.  The African American communities located along Louisiana’s Gulf Coast were some of the communities that were hardest hit by hurricane Katrina, and dumping the highly venomous waste from the oil will only add more hardships in their recovery efforts.  It’s pretty obvious that there is a blatant disregard of concern for the health and recovery of these impoverished communities.  The billion-dollar company, BP, sure can afford to clean up their mess without dumping their waste on those who are given no voice.  

Article referenced:  http://colorlines.com/archives/2010/08/environmental_racism_surfacing_in_bp_spill_waste_management.html

Video URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD2gJSM_sLY 

~Eve Hansen

Finally, Our Government Recognizes EJ

   In 2010 our leaders in Washington D.C finally recognized that environmental justice is an issue that needs to addressed.  In September of 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency revived an interagency working group to confront and fight environmental justice.  Surprisingly, environmental justice is an issued that has been ignored by our nation's capital for an entire decade.  Lisa Jackson, the EPA administrator called this action a movement that is dedicated to put a stop to communities of color being unfairly exposed to environmental hazards; such as, landfills, coal plants a and toxic waste sites being located outlandishly close to them.  The working group aims to lay environmental discrimination to rest. 


   Environmental racism has been ignored because "Officials believed environmental justice was an impediment to business interests", and therefore cast more as an "unfunded mandate than actual law".   Unfortunately, after more then ten year of serious neglect, the problems have only worsened.  The same year the EPA finally began to acknowledge environmental discrimination, the BP oil spill occurred and investigations have found that toxic waste from the spill had "been disproportionately trucked into minority communities".  The population of the coastal counties of Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana is 26 percent minority communities, but for some reason they received 55 percent of the waste from the spill--approximately 21,867 tons of waste.  


  In a 1987 report, it was found that race the biggest factor in predicting a community's exposure to hazardous material.  Sadly, when a similar report was done 20 years later, the findings remained the same.  It is about time that the government firmly tackles environmental racism and actively takes a role in creating changes that are legally bound.  However, the article discussing the developments in the capital was written in 2010 and I have not heard any news of changes or work being done by officials.  Furthermore, the 2012 Presidential Campaign is well underway and none of the candidates has a platform that includes addressing environmental racism.  I suppose it's a step in the right direction for the EPA administrator to acknowledge the issue of environmental discrimination, but the government must foremost collaborate with the communities affected and also collaborate with other communities.  Officials are practically clueless as to the extremity of the hazards and effects brought on by environmental racism, so why not listen to those directly affected?  It seems only logical.  

Waste from the BP oil spill being "disposed of" in a colored community.

Article referenced:  http://www.miller-mccune.com/politics/environmental-justice-comes-back-to-life-23344/

~Eve Hansen

A Local Concern: Uranium Mining in Spokane, WA

By Emma Vowels

These green shimmers of Uranium were thought

to be harmless by Spokane's miners

       Most of the discussions in this blog have focused on severe environmental racism issues in the U.S. South and Midwest, as well as distant developing countries. Little has been brought up about the environmental racism cases that have happened, or are still ongoing, in Washington State. The Northwest is known for being a "green" place, and we seem to have fewer major environmental racism issues than other places in the U.S. While we are lucky to live in a more environmentally friendly place, Washington State is not without its own environmental racism.
      During the Cold War, Spokane, a city in Eastern Washington, became the home of uranium mining to develop nuclear capabilities. The United States government was in the race for nuclear control against the Soviet Union, and so the mining was pushed forward with little regard for the surrounding environment or communities. The site was specifically located on the Spokane Indian Reservation, just outside of town. The reservation was home to 2,464 people. Spokane's tribal members became the main workers for the uranium mine. 
     All most 65 years later, the Spokane Tribe is suffering greatly from the environmental and health impacts of the uranium mine. The community around the mine has both been exposed to direct toxic by-product of the materials, and they have also had the natural resources they relied on for generations severely contaminated. Food and water produced near the site are simply too hazardous to consume. There have been as many as 40 hot spots for radiation exposure in this area. 
    In 2000, the Spokane uranium mine was declared a Superfund site. This was followed shortly by a lawsuit between the EPA and Newmont Mining Company, to determine responsibility for the damages. The Spokane tribe had a difficult time organizing to bring forth the issue of contamination. The tribe has also been largely removed from the decision making process regarding the mine. As of October 2011, the federal government came to agreement with Newmont Mining to conduct a $193 million clean up of the Spokane mine. 




Reference from: http://www.ouramericangeneration.org
Image from: http://m.spokesman.com/stories/2011/jun/05/i-watch-them-die-young-and-old/

The Fight to Understand "Cancer Clusters"

An image of Claire Schlaff: http://environmentreport.org/images/daily/claireschlaff.jpg

In Part 2 of "Mapping Cancer Cases in a Small Town," a town in West Michigan is highlighted, in which a woman who lost her son and husband to cancer is looking to start a cancer mapping project. In her local area of White Lake, Claire Schlaff has started to raise community awareness and concern for what seems to be a "cancer cluster" in their area. These clusters are usually attributed to some sort of polluting factor, and Claire thinks that the nearby DuPont paint factory (or other nearby factories) could be the answer. Although the White Lake area has been cleaned up in recent years, the decades of exposure will surely lead to more people with cancer.

This is an interesting case, because Claire Schlaff does not truly know if her town is a true "cancer cluster," or what exactly is causing people to get cancer--she just simply wants answers. The idea of "minimally acceptable risk" allows for certain people to be affected by pollutants, but it can lead to people like Claire being left without a husband and son. We have grown accustomed to hearing about people dying on the news, and we have become disconnected. Many of us fail to recognize that these people that died had friends and family. The environmental injustice upon Claire and the residents of White Lake is an interesting one, because it is a higher-income, mainly white community. This shows that environmental justice is a topic that people of all races and backgrounds should be concerned with.

Article here

by Chris Graham

Navy "Sinkex" Program: A Serious Environmental Hazard

http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/t7/ddg9sinkex.jpg

Much of what we have recently learned in this class relates to the small-to-moderate polluting factors or things that accumulate over time. Yet, recent research shows that the US Navy is involved in heavily polluting activities that are overlooked by the US government. Practices involving the military are often given an exemption from the EPA.

 The United States Navy's use of "Sinkex," which is short for sinking exercise, is the process of blowing outdated ships up and letting them sink into the water. In the past 12 years, 109 ships have been blown up. A 2005 Sinkex mission destroyed the USS America, which was over three football fields longs and contained about 500 pounds of PCBs (Polychlorinated Biphenyls) -- a substance banned in America since the 1970s. The practice of using the ocean as a "dumping ground" has been questioned since the 1990s, and many feel that the "live-action" practice that the US Navy receives from blowing up these ships is not worth the cost to the environment.

How are we supposed to make strides in protecting our environment when the very structure of power we  often rely upon (the US government) allows practices like this to continue? Although some of the ships were recycled, why not recycle them all? There are thousands of tons of steel on those ships that must be able to serve some better purpose than to just sit on the ocean floor. It is stories like this one that make people lose faith in their government.

Article here

By Chris Graham

Salt Gatherers in India

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLz_dUQPKfM

In the deserts of India, the world's third largest producer of salt, generations of workers gather salt for global distribution. They are paid mere pennies per kilogram of salt gathered. Children as young as ten are enlisted to help their parents gather. Younger children are are exposed to the toxic salt environment and develop lesions and sores. Older workers develop salt saturation of their hands and feet, which touch the bare salt all day, and thus their extremities will not even burn when they are cremated. The intense sun and malnutirition leads to eye problems and blindness.

The government is supposed to provide protective gear for these workers, but it either does not happen or the gear wears out quickly and is not replaced. The government denies that the workers are not supplied with proper protection. The corporations are not held responsible for exploiting these workers and using them as expendable machines to gather salt, with no concern for their well-being. The children are bonded to the salt worker life they are born into. Life expectancy is 50-60 years, dying from gangrene, tuberculosis, or blindness. One worker named Daya Ranto explains, "Poverty is our fate."

In terms of legal recourse, the workers have little to none. They actually work on an area designated as a wildlife sanctuary, thus being seen as invasive to the enivronment. This representation of the workers dehumanizes them and perpetuates their harmful treatment by those in power. They are not supplied with the educational opportunity to learn other skills to make a choice to do different work. The entire structure surrounding their lives does not allow them the ability to change their situation.

Full Article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/7305988/Salt-mining-leaves-bitter-taste-for-Indian-workers.html

-Brandon Alborg

Hidden Water Costs Of Our Industrial Economy

The Cananea Consolidated Copper Company , one of the world’s largest open pit copper mines is run by Grupo Mexico. Cananea is often referred to as, " the cradle of the Mexican Revolution." It is known as such due to the uprising there in 1906. There has been non-stop militant labor activism since then. The powerful miners union has been on strike since July of 2007. The mine’s reputation as a source of social injustices, including the displacement of residents, the exploitation and endangerment of miners, and political repression. The overuse and contamination of water in the copper extraction is another destructive, though perhaps less obvious, effect of the mine.
The copper mining and refining is known to be a water intensive process therefore when the mine draws water from the nearby Sonora and San Pedro aquifers and rivers it is using at least 18 million cubic meters of water per year causing a critical decrease in water flow which is is endangering the very existence of the city, Hermosillo. Farmers who use the water for their crops are now having to compete for the water resources with the mine.




By: Heidi Nunez

Injustice and Corruption in the Niger Delta

A small community in the Niger Delta has suffered environmental injustice to an unimaginable degree.  Erovie is a small, poor community where houses are made out of mud, and the residents drink dirty pond and river water.  Many oil companies target poorer countries for their place of extraction because they know their infinite bank accounts will entice the countries to sign a business deal, and that is just what Shell has done.  

In 2001 delegates from around the world attended the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, just thousands of miles away from where some of the most extreme racism was taking place.  Shell Oil Company injected a million liters of waste into an abandoned well in Erovie in 1999, it didn't take long for people's health to be affected.  Within two months of Shell polluting the well 93 people perished of a mysterious illness.   Two Nigerian Universities conducted independent research studies and they found that the substance contained poisonous amounts of lead, zinc and mercury.  The community has insisted that Shell pay restitution to the community, but the Nigerian government ran a newspaper ad saying that the substance proposed no obvious harm to the health of the people and environment. 

The reason for the government showing little concern for the injustice is because Shell produces two million crude barrels of oil a day.  The government and oil company share the profits with little money going to the communities that are being subjected to the hazardous and unfair environment.  It didn't surprise me too much when I learned that most of the money the government receives from the oil company is directly deposited into the bank accounts of the big government officials.  The coordinator of the non-governmental International Oil Working Group, Terisa Turner, said the environmental racism that is occurring in the Niger Delta is because of propaganda "devised by corporate public relations conmen, blinding oil consumers in the west from knowing or caring."

Capitalistic interests have now become the dominant factor in regulating societies around the world, thus putting human rights on the back-burner.  I think putting basic human rights before capitalistic interests is only logical and morally correct.

  

~Eve Hansen

Article Referenced:

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=18   

A Success Story: Little Village Environmental Justice Organization's Battle Against Coal in Chicago

Sign from LVEJO Demonstration found here

Rafael Hurtado, a Hispanic-American living in the Chicago area, and an organizer for the group Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, received exciting news when he learned that two local coal-fired plants near his neighborhood will be shut down earlier than expected. The two plants were originally set to be closed by 2018, but now will be closed by the end of 2014. These plants, which were built in the early 1900s, left soot on the surrounding neighborhoods and affected the health of those who lived near the plants--neighborhoods consisting of mainly low-income Hispanic people.

The problems with these Chicago-area plants are seen worldwide (especially in places like China): many power plants that are operating today were built before more stringent guidelines were put in place, so they are not held to the same standard as more modern plants, and for these plants to meet modern criteria for emissions, it requires a substantial amount of money. Chicago is on the forefront of the environmental justice movement's battle against environmental racism due to cases such as this one; low-income, minority groups are faced with a disproportionate amount of pollution and environmental hazards.

The work of Rafael Hurtado and the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization illustrates the kind of local effort that will be required to cause national and worldwide change. Often, people think that the only way to significantly change the rate of environmental degradation and environmental racism is to change national policy, but this bottom-up approach taken by Hurtado shows that this is not necessarily the case. Local effort creates change that can be seen immediately, and the collective effort of all local groups can lead to nationwide and worldwide change.

Little Village Environmental Organization Website

News Article This Story Was Taken From: : "Deal to shut Chicago’s 2 coal-fired plants reached"

 by Chris Graham