17 June 2004
(L-R: Sajitha Khan and Madhu Dutta)
The South African delegates met at the home of Anne Leonard, an international co-coordinator for the Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance (GAIA) . There, they met with Indian environmental activist Madhu Dutta. They also discussed the plans for the upcoming week. After having seen many of the injustices plaguing communities in New Jersey, the delegation looked forward to meeting organizations dedicated to reducing waste and finding alternatives to how trash is dealt with in the United States.
18 June 2004
At the GAIA office in Berkley, the delegates learned about how GAIA seeks not only to challenge the use of incinerators but also reduce pursue sustainable alternatives to incinerator technology. The alliance also focuses on monitoring the ecological effects of industrial pollution, particularly from the release of dioxins. At noon, the delegates at lunch with Dave Williamson, the recycling operations manager at the Berkley's Ecology Center, an alterative waste center that grew out of an early 1970s anti-incinerator campaign. The ecology centers recycling efforts began as a 1973 pilot project that carried out the monthly recycling of newspapers. Under their current municipal contract, the center offers weekly curbside recycling of mixed paper, plant debris, cans, glass, and certain types of plastic. Dave Williamson gave the delegation a tour of transfer station and described how their recycling efforts have demonstrated that between one half and three-fourths of our waste material can be either be recycled or naturally broken down through composting: “We take care to make sure everything we collect is recycled.”
After the touring the recycling facility, the delegation visited Urban Ore, a reclamation project that seeks to salvage useful material from the waste stream. Dr. Dan Knapp, the director of Urban Ore, spoke with the delegation about the possibility of recycling and reusing what we normally consider waste. Dr. Knapp emphasized the importance of looking at what gets thrown not as “waste” but as “discard,” material that can be passed along and used once again. This approach, according to Dr. Knapp, can help to make a zero waste approach a reality.
19 June 2004
Marie Harrison, Greenaction's Environmental Justice Community Organizer, welcomed us to the Bayview-Hunter’s Point area of San Francisco. This is a predominantly African-American section of the city and is burdened with a variety of environmental problems. For instance, Marie Harrison pointed out that the nearby sewage treatment plant takes in up to 86% of the city’s sewage, consistently emitting a foul odor into the adjacent neighborhood. She also pointed out how the shoddily constructed public housing units were bordered by a row of oil storage tanks. Several years ago, one of them exploded in the middle of the night. The city has made efforts to rehabilitate site, but have only built a slight concrete barrier to shield residents.
Across the road from the housing development and the storage tanker was a small playground and a power plant. “Most of this,” Marie Harrison offered, “is a result of poor planning. Planning has been so far off the beat that it has been ridiculous.” Both the navy and the power plant company have dumped chemicals into the waters near this playground. As many of the residents who live in this area are impoverished, families often fish in these waters for recreation and food. Marie Harrison has challenged not only those responsible to clean up the waters they have contaminated, but also has successfully pressured the city to up signs properly notifying residents in different languages not to eat from these water. “A grown person can only eat one in their lifetime; a pregnant woman is warned never to eat one,” she noted.
Marie Harrison took the delegation on a tour of the power plant adjacent to the neighborhood. Both the plant’s chemicals and the hot water that it spills into the surrounding waters have helped to make the surrounding waters of the San Francisco bay unhealthy. From the bridge in back of the power plant, we could also see the housing developments not far away.
Another set of low-income houses overlook this stretch of ground – once a shipyard, now a superfund site because of the U.S. Navy extensive testing of radioactive materials in this area. Even though this site has been covered over with plastic, clay, and dirt, dozens of fires have burst through the capping, sparked by the radioactive and toxic chemicals mixing underneath. According to Marie Harrison, residents have also counted at least 56 fires that have sprung up on the sides of the capped area. At one point, an underground fire brewed for 21 days below the surface. Through the site is in the process of being cleaned up, neither the navy nor the city have taken responsibility for the fires. “It will never be completely cleaned up because we don’t really know what is down there,” she said.
The South African activists were not surprised to hear that the Bayview-Hunter’s Point area has the highest rates of breast cancer for African-American women under 50 and one of the highest rates of asthma among African-American children in the nation. Much of this is due to chemical contamination from what use to be one of the largest employers in the area, the Navy shipyard. During the tour, Marie Harrison pointed out that the Hiroshima Bomb was assembled in this area and its leftover parts were dumped in the San Francisco Bay, near the Golden Gate bridge.
Marie Harrison also introduced us to Helen Jackson, the President of the Resident’s Association. She has been helping to organize the community around the problem of the mold and mildew that is prevalent in much of the low-income housing. This is largely a public heath hazard, as the mold and mildew is an annoyance and contributes to the repertory problems from which many of the residents suffer. She noted that this problem is largely caused by poor air quality and the shoddy construction of the housing. “The more I complain, the more they ignore me,” she said. “I had to go to the building inspectors with everyone in the city on my side” before they would consider the community’s grievances.
June 20 2004
After a week of visiting with different communiteis, the South African delegates took a free day to rest and visit different parts of the Bay Area.
June 21 2004
We spent the morning meeting with the staff of People Organizing to Demand Environmental & Economic Rights (PODER). This organization operates primarily in the San Francisco’s Mission District, one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city. The staff told us how they originally worked to educate residents about the problem of lead poisoning, primarily from ceramics and house paint. Soon afterwards, PODER addressed the lack of green space in this primarily immigrant neighborhood and the expansion of light industrial shops into the heart of the district.
Over the past several years, Neighborhood gentrification has emerged as the most pressing issue, as professionals seeking to purchase houses in the area have pushed up rents, displacing many small businesses and immigrant families. “We’ve always been behind,” said community organizer Oscar ? “Now we are trying to be proactive by getting involved in [city] planning.” Much like Newark’s Ironbound Community Corporation, PODER has worked with residents to develop a People’s Plan, a representation of how community members would like to see the Mission transformed.
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PODER Community organizer Oscar ? gave the South African delegation a tour of a park in the Mission District. Following up on the community’s need for more recreational spaces in the neighborhood, PODER helped residents to pressure the city to rehabilitate a run-down light industrial site.
PODER also introduced the South African activists to the Chinese Progressive Association (CPA), a 31-year-old grassroots community organization based in San Francisco’s historic Chinatown district. Originally focusing on worker’s rights, the CPA seeks to bring about systematic change by organizing some of the most marginalized groups, including worker’s youth, and new immigrants. Recently, PODER and the CPA have been working to build bridges between their respective communities by regularly bringing together youth organizer in joint efforts through the Common Roots program.
This cross-cultural collaboration has helped to reinforce their individual efforts.
Youth members of the CPA led us on a tour of the Chinatown district, pointing out different locations that highlighted different campaigns. This included an old garment factory and tenement apartments to point out issues of worker’s rights and hazardous housing conditions.
22 June 2004
In Oakland, the South African delegation met with the staff of the Northern California branch of Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), a state-wide environmental justice organization. For the past twenty-five years, CBE has been committed to changing the policies that allow industries to pollute without regulation while building a base of opportunity for people directly effected by this pollution. Through a membership-based organizing model, this organization works to build a pool of engaged individuals who can hold powerful institutions accountable while developing their leadership abilities. To supplement these organizing efforts, CBE also has legal and research experts on staff. “Through community organizing and putting on constant pressure,” noted CBE Northern California program director A.J. Napolis, “we’ve found that we can build the sort of power that we need.” For example, CBE has been successful in forcing the country to allow public participation in the development of its Clean Air Plan and pressuring the EPA to investigate the corruption of officials involved in the local air monitoring program.
The South African delegation spoke at Berkeley’s Ecology Center at an event organized by GAIA’s Ann Leonard. Each one spoke about the environmental justice struggles she or he has been involved in and answered questions from the audience. Afterwards, members of the delegation talked with those in the audience and shared information for future contact.
Posted by Toussaint at July 15, 2004 03:30 PM