Four million cases of childhood asthma could be caused by air pollution from traffic – around 13% of those diagnosed each year, a global study suggests. Read more here.
Tag: Environmental Justice
“The odor was unbearable, as were the flies and stink bugs,” said Brasfield, who sports a greying handlebar moustache and describes himself as a conservative Republican. “The flies were so bad that you couldn’t walk outside without being inundated by them. You’d be covered in all sorts of insects. People started getting headaches, they couldn’t breathe. You wouldn’t even go outside to put meat on the barbecue.”
“Oh my goodness, it’s just a nightmare here,” said Heather Hall, mayor of Parrish, where the unwanted cargo squatted for two months. “It smells like rotting corpses, or carcasses. It smells like death.” Read more.
For years, Diane Wilson has tried to get Formosa Plastics Corp. to stop discharging plastic pellets from its sprawling petrochemical complex on the Central Texas coast. This week, she’s getting her day in court. Read more ...
Harris County has sued Intercontinental Terminals Co. for failing to prevent a massive chemical fire that burned for more than 60 hours last week and spewed an unknown volume of hazardous chemicals into the air and nearby waterways. Read more …
Why? Recent national studies show that flood buyout monies benefit whiter communities. Other reports reveal that federal disaster recovery dollars benefit higher-income people and how, after a disaster, income inequality is exacerbated and the gaps between the haves and the have-nots grows wider. Read more.
Pollution, much like wealth, is not distributed equally in the United States. Read more
Categories
More States Crack Down on Protesters
In anticipation of upcoming protests, the state of South Dakota has recently passed a bill threatening protesters. South Dakota also has a large population of Sioux tribal members culturally related to the Standing Rock tribe and the pipeline is planned to pass through South Dakota as well. Read more.
A massive fire at a fuels storage company along the Houston Ship Channel may burn for two more days, an official said on Monday as the blaze spread a plume of black smoke across the city, shutting schools in two nearby communities. Read more
An examination of monitoring data available for the first time concludes that 91 percent of U.S. coal-fired power plants with monitoring data are contaminating groundwater with unsafe levels of toxic pollutants. Read more here
I don’t mean wearing more green clothing or drinking green beer, but rather thinking and acting greener than you have most every other day. It doesn’t need to be Earth Day to raise the important issues that are fundamentally about our own survival. There are things you can do every day including St. Patrick’s Day to protect public health and the environment. For example:
- You can ask your federal legislators, state elected representatives, your friends and neighbors to support the New Green Deal. Start a conversation about the pro’s and con’s of the legislation. Let’s get more of the conversation happening so we can find common ground.
- Spring is around the corner so maybe you can start some seedlings to plant, when the warmer temperatures arrive, in your garden.
- Go zero waste today and bring your own glass or cup to your local pub where you’ll purchase your green beer or beverage of choice.
- Take part in a local parade or other festivity and use the gathering to educate people about how important it is to take care of our planet, beginning in your own backyard.
- Share words of wisdom and motivation for this ‘Green Day.’ “Going back to a simpler life is not a step backward; and to do good, you actually have to do something,” said Yvon Chouinard (founder of Patagonia).
Here is a fun St. Patrick’s Day Trivia link see how you do so you’re ready on Sunday. (AARP)
As a proud Irish woman, I leave you with this Irish blessing.
May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face and rain fall upon your fields.
And until we meet again.
May God hold you in the hollow of His Hands.