Taking Action for
Health and Environmental Justice
Green Energy Environmental Justice Campaign
Greenaction is working
with urban, rural, desert and Native communities to promote
green, renewable, affordable and public power - and to oppose proposed
and existing polluting power plants. We produced a brochure
"Call to Action
for a Healthy Future: Clean, Renewable and Safe Energy."
Health and Justice for Bayview Hunters Point (San Francisco,
California)
The campaign by Greenaction
and the community to shut
down the polluting PG&E Hunters Point power plant, to oppose the
expansion of Mirant's Potrero power plant, and to support renewable
energy, conservation and energy efficiency is gaining momentum.
Greenaction and community groups held a successful
Peoples Earth Day celebration and protest on April 20th that
included a march by hundreds of people on the PG&E Hunters Point
power plant. Greenaction and allies released a Community
Energy Plan at a press conference at City Hall on May 1st,
and delivered nearly 5,000 postcards to Mayor Willie Brown urging
support of our green energy demands.
We continue our support
for the community in pressuring
the U.S. Navy to do a thorough cleanup of contamination at the Hunters
Point Shipyard.
West Oakland Toxic-Free Neighborhood Campaign (Oakland,
California)
Greenaction and West Oakland
community groups are working to stop
the toxic threat from the Red Star Yeast facility that emits
cancer causing chemicals and foul odors into the neighborhoods near
the plant. We are conducting a community education and organizing
campaign to inform and mobilize residents, who also are exposed to
numerous other toxic contamination and pollution sources including
a vinyl chloride contamination site and diesel truck emissions. Greenaction
and the community will attend
the upcoming May 20th public meeting and June 20th public hearing
being held by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District on Red
Star Yeast's Title V Clean Air Act permit application.
Victory! I.E.S. Incinerators Dismantled! (Oakland, California)
Greenaction continues to
monitor and watchdog the situation at 499 High Street in Oakland following
the enormous community victory
in our four year campaign against the Integrated Environmental Systems
medical waste incinerators. In mid-April the incinerators
were dismantled, and Greenaction is monitoring the remediation of
contamination at the site.
Stericycle Medical Waste/Environmental Justice Campaign
With
Stericycle's purchase of IES's customers and assets, much of the waste
previously burned at the IES incinerators will be autoclaved at Stericycle's
facilities in California. Greenaction is actively opposing Stericycle's
shipments of California medical waste to incinerators in Utah and
Arizona, as the victory in Oakland must not turn into another community's
problem.
Greenaction is working
on the Gila River Indian Community reservation in Arizona to educate
the tribal government and tribal members about the dangers of the
Stericycle medical waste incinerator located on their land. We are
also reaching out to residents in Utah near that incinerator to educate
them about the dangers of waste incineration. We are assisting Albuquerque,
New Mexico residents in their fight to stop Stericycle's attempt to
greatly expand a waste transfer station next to homes and turn it
into a treatment facility. We have been meeting with Stericycle to
encourage them to encourage their customers to reduce the amount and
toxicity of medical waste being generated by health care institutions.
Health Care Without Harm
Greenaction is part of
the international Health Care
Without Harm coalition working to transform the health care
industry to reduce their use of toxic materials such as polyvinyl
chloride (PVC) plastics and mercury-containing devices, and to end
incineration of medical waste. We work with health care institutions,
community and health groups, workers in hospitals, and government
agencies in this effort.
Greenaction Helps European Communities
Greenaction's Director
traveled to Slovenia to help Health Care Without Harm activists from
Europe and the Phillipines learn about the successes in California
against waste incineration and in promoting safer non-incineration
treatment technologies. The Slovenian government is being lobbied
heavily by the incinerator industry to start burning medical waste.
We also met with staff at a large hospital in Ljubljana, the capital,
and held a successful conference on alternatives to incineration.
Inner Fire Youth Project
As
youth involvement is a vital component of Greenaction, we have launched
the Inner Fire Youth Project to educate, train, mobilize and empower
youth in environmental justice campaigns. We are organizing youth
events, conducting workshops, developing curriculum, mobilizing youth
for community action, and networking with other youth groups.
San Joaquin Valley Environmental Justice Project (California)
We
are a founding member of the newly formed Central California Environmental
Justice Network,
and participated in the successful founding conference in Fresno in
mid-November. The predominantly Latino and low-income communities
in the valley are hard hit by pollution and environmental racism,
suffering from pesticides, toxic waste dumps, polluting power plants,
and contaminated wells. We are working with the Grayson Neighborhood
Council and other community organizations to stop Stanislaus County
from turning a local garbage dump into a regional mega-dump for garbage
and sewage sludge.
We are also assisting
residents to oppose the resumption of tire incineration at a facility
that had a massive tire fire two years ago.
Stop Dumping on South Phoenix, Arizona
We
support this low-income community of color fighting the disproportionate
presence of toxic and waste facilities that threaten public
health and the environment. We alerted residents to a new proposal
by Milum Textile Services for a medical waste facility, and forced
the State to hold a public hearing. We provide organizing and technical
support to residents tired of their community being a dumping ground.
Midway Village Fights for Health and Justice (Daly City,
California)
Greenaction supports
residents of the Midway Village housing project living on top of and
next to cancer causing chemicals from the adjacent PG&E facility.
We will continue supporting residents demanding for permanent relocation
away from this toxic neighborhood, along with just compensation and
lifetime medical care. Residents suffer from cancer, respiratory problems,
skin rashes and bloody noses.
Stop Bush's Plan to Drill for Oil in Arctic Wildlife
Refuge! (Alaska)
Greenaction
is proud to continue our support
for the Gwich'in Indian Nation in northern Alaska and Canada to help
stop Bush's plans to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge. The Native and environmental coalition succeeded in
convincing the U.S. Senate to defeat the oil drilling plans in April,
and we will continue our work to protect ANWR until this threat is
over.
Greenaction Web Site (www.greenaction.org)
Our website is being used
by thousands of people across the country and the world. Community
and environmental activists, students, educators, government officials,
media and even polluters regularly visit the Greenaction website for
updates, solid information and action alerts on campaigns for health
and environmental justice.
Join the Greenaction Activist Network!
Call (415) 248-5010
or Email us at greenaction@greenaction.org
to
sign up and get involved!
