A violation of our right to life. EJ forum

In the White House Environmental Justice Forum, Cabinet Secretaries and Federal agency officials came together to discuss about the issue of environmental justice and to acknowledge its existence. The forum explained how environmental injustices target and affect the lives of minorities, low-income households, and indigenous communities. The abnormal levels of pollution and environmental health hazards are not only a threat to our current generation but also to future generations. Although various departments of the United States pledge that they are “committed to environmental justice and to promoting healthy communities for all Americans” (White House EJ Forum), not enough is being done as of right now. According to Secretary Salazar, “the Obama administration is committed to making environmental justice a central part of our everyday decision-making process” (EJ Forum), although this might be true, these words by Secretary Salazar are just words. We need action. The government must truly become involved in environmental justice so that we can finally regulate the injustices that are occurring everyday by large industries, refineries, and chemical plants, either accidently or non-accidentally. The EPA, along with Homeland Security must become more responsive and attentive to the terrorists we call pollution inside the boundaries of our country. In order to accomplish this, our government must incorporate the services of professionals to monitor air levels daily to ensure that no harmful substances are coming from these industrious plants and refineries. Furthermore, our government can also incorporate the help of community leaders and non-profit environmental organizations (such as the Bucket Brigade) to provide evidence and a stronger motive for environmental agencies to step in. Not only that, government agencies could study the pollution levels near industries that have received high numbers of complains from community leaders and non-profit environmental organizations to check for areas that violate the acceptable levels of chemicals in the air to create contamination facilities near these industries, refinery plants, and chemical factories as a safety net. These facilities would be run by individuals who are highly trained to deal with chemicals and pollution. These facilities’ top priority would be to contaminate any spills or leaks that have contaminated the air or water and to recycle or refine these products. Not only will this help make the environment safer for communities who consist mainly of low-income households and minorities, but also create jobs for these individuals. These facilities would be controlled by government agencies such as the EPA would receive their payments from the government and their neighbor industries, refinery plants, or chemical factories. Instead of fining these industries as a short-term solution, these contamination facilities would act as a much longer-term solution. However, these ideas can only be achieved if the citizens stand up and demand for environmental justice. According to The Declaration of Independence, every man has the right to life. Environmental injustices and abnormal levels of pollution violate this right. Although it might be impossible to stop environmental justice indefinitely, it is not impossible to reduce it. According to Secretary Sebelius, environmental injustices of pollution can affect every part of our daily life. Our government must step it up.

Louisiana Bucket Brigade

While looking over the Louisiana Bucket Brigade website, I gained an interesting scope into the inner workings of this organization. While looking through the site, I kept wondering, “What could I call the most interesting thing I found on this site? I pondered over this question and found that the most interesting thing to me on the Louisiana Bucket Brigade website is how the organization got started and the history of the “bucket”.

I was intrigued to find out that the history of the bucket started with a lawsuit that was filed in California due to sickness stemming from toxic fumes rolling out of a petroleum refinery. Edward Masry, who was so upset and wanted to fix the problem himself, called an environmental engineer and the “bucket” was born. However, this is the beginning of the “bucket” and not the Louisiana Bucket Brigade. While reading further, I discovered that Mrs. Anne Rolfes, who was so intrigued with the satisfaction the people of Mossville had with the “bucket”, brought it to Louisiana. While reading about her determination to succeed in raising  money to bring buckets to different communities, I became even more interested, since at this time I am trying to raise money for cancer patients. The rich history of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade is actually inspiring to read.

Knowing, through the statistics and other articles listed on the Louisiana Bucket Brigade website, that pollution in Louisiana has been significantly decrease is very important to me. I have been involved in many environmental projects and knowing every little bit of work can help heal the world is amazing. I hope that I can read further articles on the Louisiana Bucket Brigade site, so that I can find out about more environmental injustices plaguing not only our state, but also the country.

Louisiana Bucket Brigade

The Louisiana Bucket Brigade does a lot for the fenceline neighbors of chemical plants. They make sure that these neighbors aren’t harmed by the chemicals, such as carcinogens and other toxic chemicals, that are given off by these plants. When I visited the Louisiana Bucket Brigade’s website, I was surprised by many things.

One of the things that impressed me was the fact that they created the bucket. It’s an ingenious contraption that saves the time for the people who use it, since otherwise they would have to send results to a lab and go through a ridiculous process, just to find out the chemicals that are polluting their air. It has the potential to save lives. This air sampling device recognizes and identifies pollutants in the air. It is fairly inexpensive in comparison to how much it’s worth as well as the amount of money they could be spending, like the $2ooo alternative. This bucket is of great service to the public. Instead on continuously relying the government to fix the problem, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade took the issue into their own hands. It is indeed the Bucket Brigade’s way of striving for Environmental Justice.

Something that I also found interesting on the site was the fact that these companies would knowingly release chemicals into the communities. They would usually deny their unethical decisions to plague communities with pollution, something they are specifically to blame for. If it wasn’t for some of the Bucket Brigade’s efforts, a lot of people would be unaware of the chemicals that are released into their environment. These companies are only after money, so the fact that their polluting the air does not seem to faze them in the slightest. Luckily, the buckets are proof of the industrial plants’ lack of care for society. As a result, they have reduced pollution considerably in Louisiana.

Louisiana Bucket Brigade

On the LA Bucket Brigade website, I saw an article that caught my eye. The article was about the LA Bucket Brigade being honored for their response work following the BP oil spill.  What I found most interesting was that the LA Bucket Brigade launched an Oil Spill Crisis Map in which people could pinpoint the areas that oil was spotted in, as well as show where they have sighted injured wildlife or bad health effects from the oil. I thought this was interesting because most of the response work that I have heard about was people physically going out to help clean the waters or animals. By opening an Oil Spill Crisis Map, the LA Bucket Brigade made it possible for more residents and unable people to play an active role in the efforts to respond to this disaster. This gave everyone an opportunity to have a part in helping to clean after the spill. The article also praised the LA Bucket Brigade for their work in the costal communities during this time. They trained the residents in the Grand Isle and Pointe-Aux-Chenes areas to take samples to be tested for oil contamination. They also took in over 1,000 in-person reports of health problems that have stemmed from the oil contamination. From these reports more efforts could be made to help improve health care for the Louisiana costal communities. This is because the reports showed that the people in these areas have little access to the health care facilities they need, such as those that treat for chemical exposures. After working with these people who were directly affected by the oil spill, the LA Bucket Brigade is bringing these issues to state and federal agencies to hopefully improve the health care programs for these people. I’m excited to be working with the LA Bucket Brigade.

louisiana bucket brigade

When I first heard of Bucket Brigade I immediately thought of people going around with buckets and sampling water. But what was interesting to me was that these are actually buckets used for sampling air. I never thought that one would have access to measuring the quality of the air in their environment. This was pleasing to know because depending on what you breathe in, could be very detrimental to your health. But now my question is, when you find out that your air quality is unsatisfactory due to the waste of a refinery, do you get immediate attention once you bring attention to this situation? I think that the government should make a law banning contractors the right to build refineries in areas where there are residents, or they shouldn’t build houses near an oil refinery. this way no one is put in a conflicting situation.

What I also found quite shocking was the 17 refineries in Louisiana have had an accidents everyday since 2005. At that point I would no longer consider these accidents because these are more like a common occurrence. I would like to know what happened in 2005 that triggered all of these so-called accidents. Why hasn’t the government started to place fines on these 30 billion dollar? Its costs just as much if not more to clean up these accidents, so why not use the money spent for cleaning up, from the polluters themselves. They should not pay the amount necessary for cleanup purposes only, but extra as well. I am a firm believer in that once you begin to interfere with one’s income or profit then you decrease the amount of mistakes being made.

As a new resident of this state I find this website very informative and it rises awareness on very important issues that should have already been solved.

 

LABB

The Louisiana Bucket Brigade: an organization dedicated to serving and educating civilians on environmental injustice. When a person first logs onto their website, the first thing a person would notice is the LABB logo and motto, ” Clean air. Justice. Sustainability.” The site itself is well-organized and has that clean, welcoming feeling. The color scheme catches my eyes and directs me towards various highlights and updates of the organization.

If you look around, you can find campaigns archives and programs that the LABB are working on. This site not only provides the information, but gives readers a way to actively participate. For example, there are Facebook, Twitter, Flicker hyperlinks for those who want updates. Then there is a little tab at the top right hand corner that says “Get Involved” for those who want to start making a difference.

One of the things I noticed on the LABB site was the blog section. Scrolling down the archives, I could see the number of blogs written within a certain month as well as the year it was written in. Curiosity itching to read, I opened up one of the blogs dated “October 28, 2010.” The article began out sounding like an entry from a mystery novel. The rest of the article itself was very interesting. It talked about one writer’s experience with the ExxonMobile company in Baton Rouge. The writer was in Baton Rouge for a meeting and wanted to show her companion around the neighborhoods surrounding the Exxon company. At some point, the Exxon company catches them and police are called. I found this part of the website interesting because not only does LABB provide goals and success stories, but provide insight from an employee’s point of view. Throughout the site, there are various other sites that link a reader to articles and educational sites about oil spills, dangerous chemicals, and  ways to help. Overall, the site is a great eye-catching, well-organized site that provides great links for information and a way to for people to be aware.

My Interest in the LABB

The things I found most interesting on the Louisiana Bucket Brigade (LABB) website were the application criteria and its rewards. Upon first hearing about the organization, and what they stood for I was under the impression that anyone could help play a part; this isn’t so. In order to join LABB here are some of its requirements :

• Currently enrolled (junior, senior or graduate student) at a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) or a recent graduate (2008 and after); or
• Grew up in a neighborhood next to an environmental hazard; or
• Member of a student association dedicated to minorities (ie Black Student Association, Society of Asian Public Health Professionals)
•  Interested in a career in the field of environmental health and justice.
• Grade point average is 3.0 or higher.
•  If selected,  will be available for the entire nine week program: June 4, 2012 – August 3, 2012

Of these criteria many parts caught my attention for example, “student of a HBCU,” “member of minority association,” “and even “3.0 GPA or higher.” This was really important to me because often we hear people say “Don’t complain, if you’re not going to push for change,” and this is exactly what LABB is doing. Some or better yet most of the environmental injustices are taking place in uninformed,poor, minority neighborhoods. Residents are being bribed with money, and told that the proposed changes won’t have an impact on them or their well- being.

With this LABB is recruiting the citizens of these neighborhoods and educating them on the neccesities needed to help others, and help make a change; and instead of being bribed with money to release hazardous chemicals, or create massive landfills, LABB pays its participants $3,000 for their nine weeks of hard dedication.

In conclusion, LABB not only helps make changes in local environments, but it also helps make changes in local people. This organization proves that anything can be done, great or small, if you put your mind to it.

– “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” -Unknown

iWitness

On the LA Buckt Brigade website I found the iWitness population map very interesting. The map enables community’s members to contribute to the cause of saving the earth, well the start of alerting the right authorities so they can handle the situation accordingly. It makes me think back to how some people believe how one person can’t save or impact the world and this website completely rejects that. It gives power to the people who usually feel powerless and that still want to help with the world. Now the blog does say to talk about something I read so I read a few of the reports left by the members. It left me a little surprised because a majority isn’t verified. Now assuming the reports are true, the population per report wasn’t significant, but the fact that over hundreds of reports of “small” oil spills are reported a month then those “small” oil spills can add up to a “big” oil spill and hurt our environment. What can the effect of leaving these “small” oil spills do to the environment we live in? We should also be concerned about the well-being of the animals, water, air, and food because this all greatly impacts our daily life.

                This leaves me to question our talk about environmental justice because if so many reports are reported by the community, then how much more are hidden from our eyes from the oil companies? What justice is given to the people that live nearby? What if the BP oil spill caused us to have a mutation? Where will society draw the line with what we do to the environment and how it affects the lives of other human beings? I fear one day, another tragic environment accident will occur and life in that environment will never be the same. The question is how can I, as a Xavier students prevent this from occurring?

Louisiana Bucket Brigade

As I was searching through the Louisiana Bucket Brigade website, I found a link for the New Orleans Earth Day Festival. Having heard about this festival before, I was curious to learn more and figure out what it was all about.

This year, the festival will be held on April 22 at Bayou St. John’s  on Orleans Avenue. In past years, the festival has become highly popular because it is the only festival held in New Orleans that brings awareness to environmental justice and new ways to make New Orleans a “green” city. Part of the goal of this festival is to promote a healthy environment by reducing the amount of pollution in the air and conserving energy as much as possible.

I found this article interesting because the festival’s purpose is something everyone can relate to, both younger and older people. When it comes to conserving energy, there is a way for everyone to become involved. In addition to that, I feel as if there are ways that even us as a class, or as a school, can contribute to a festival of this sort. As we continue through this semester, we will learn more about environmental justice and what it really means. It is possible that we can create a booth of some sort and display our knowledge to the people of New Orleans. Also, there may be a way for us to try to start a campaign here at Xavier to promote saving energy where possible. We could make it close to an experiment and record our results and present them at the festival.

After reading about the New Orleans Earth Day Festival and the different things that go on during it, I feel as if it is something that everyone should be a part of. Making plans to go to this festival will help me to not only learn more about New Orleans itself, but it will also give me ideas about how I can do my part to help the environment.

Louisiana Bucket Brigade

While exploring the Louisiana Bucket Brigade website many things caught my eye. The thing I found most interesting was the “bucket” itself. How the bucket came about, the simplicity of it and how it gives citizens power to fight the chemical plants and refineries are some of the things I came across as I viewed the website. The bucket was born in California when attorney Edward Masry hired an environmental engineer to design a low-cost device he could use to detect harmful fumes bring release from a petroleum refinery that were affected residents near the refinery. Although the bucket was born in California it has had some of its greatest success in Louisiana. The bucket can be used by anybody and is relatively cheap. The bucket only cause $75 but can perform as well as it $2,000 counterpart. It detects over 100 toxic gases. All the individual has to do is drawn air into a Tedlar bag, a non-reactive plastic, inside the bucket, close the bag and ship it to the lab to be analyzed. Although lab cost is quite expensive, $500, it is worth the money. Most of time when residents located near refineries or chemical plants complain of weird odors or toxic air their concerns are ignored. The bucket allows them get evidence to back up their claims and opens others eyes to the problem. A good example of the success of the bucket happened in 1998 in Mossville. Louisiana. Mossville was surrounded by over 50 chemical plants, who consistently released toxic fumes into the air. After getting no help for the government the residents got together and started collecting their own air samples with the bucket. There results showed that their concerns where correct; the companies were releasing 200 times the amount of allowed toxins in the air. Companies were fined and the residents were finally heard. Chemical plants and refineries are usually located near low income neighborhoods because residents are less likely to have the money to explore problems but with the bucket these neighborhoods are taking action and standing up for themselves.