Keystone Pipeline is at the Forefront but Tar Sands Oil is Already in the U.S.

Recently, there was a victory for environmentalists and anti-Tar Sands activists.  Instead of letting the big oil companies push the permit through, President Obama and the State Department sent the Keystone Pipeline proposal back for a thorough independent re-review.  Now, the Keystone Pipelineis back on President Obama’s desk for immediate decision.  We sent a clear message to the White House so what’s next in the anti-tar sands movement?

from The Chicago Tribune

 While, Congress battledthis out in Washington, just like business as usual, Tar Sands oil IS already being refined in US refineries.  Don’t be fooled. Just because the oil companies hit a snag in their fast-tracked plan to send 900,000 barrels of heavy crude DAILY from Canada all the way to Texas, doesn’t mean they weren’t successful in getting Tar Sands oil into places along the Canadian/US border, like Detroit, Whiting and Toledo.

from Informed Vote

Refining tar sands heavy crude oil is far more environmentally destructive, producing two to three times more carbon than conventional oil and using vast amounts of fresh water to extract.

So while the residents living along the proposed pipeline route might be able to breathe a little easier, the fight is not over for the communities living on the fenceline along the US/Canada border.

Global Community Monitor has been working with communities living on the fencline of oil refineries for over ten years so it’s no surprise we were ready to go and jump started the campaign with a recent trip to Toledo, Ohio in order educate the local community about tar sands and how it will affect them locally.  BP/Husky, located in Toledo, OH is slated for a $2.5 billion expansion, but has not made public a date and time when the tar sands expansion will happen.

Global Community Monitor’s Bucket Brigades have been launched in 27 countries, allowing residents to sample their own air to answer the question, ‘What’s in the air that we are breathing?’  

Even if we do win, and the Keystone pipeline is defeated, we still need to work to stop tar sands oil from and to protect communities like Toledo, OH, Whiting, IN and Detroit, MI.  Why should those communities live with the increased risk of reproductive harm, cancer and other diseases while the oil companies rake in big profits?  These families are already overburdened with toxic emissions from the polluting refinery next door, it would be an extreme injustice to even think of expanding it to create even heavier toxic emissions.

Thanks for Celebrating With Us!

Global Community Monitor’s 10th Anniversary Celebration at Tres Mexican Kitchen was a huge success.  A big thank you to all that attended!

Over a hundred people attended and we raised nearly $10,000 to further our mission of empowering communities living on the fenceline.  The silent auction was a huge hit with great deals on local wine, hotel stays, event tickets and gifts galore.

Not only was it a very successful celebration but it was also an awe-inspiring opportunity to connect with other activists working for Environmental Justice around the country.  Hilton Kelley, 2011 Goldman Prize Winner from Port Arthur, Texas, shared stories from his community and from his fight for fenceline communities.

Connections were made, and victories shared from community organizers to policy advocates-those that have built a web of support for the grassroots Environmental Justice movement.

If you did not have a chance to make it to the event, check it out this incredible video from our community partners- watch here. Thank you to all that gave to GCM’s 10th. We greatly appreciate it. If you have not had a chance, it’s not too late to give to the 10th Anniversary. You can help us continue to assist grassroots leaders around the world. Donate here.

We’d also like to extend gratitude to Tres Mexican Kitchen for the delicious food and drinks. Special thanks to our flamenco guitarist, Carl Nagin, for creating a warm and inviting ambiance.  Sincere thanks to our host committee and event sponsors who provided the much needed resources and dedication in ensuring a great event.

Last, but certainly not least, thank you to our Event Committee including our Event Intern, Sarah Price.  We could not have pulled such a great event off without you!

Looking forward to the next 10 years.

Happy Anniversary from Shweta and Nity

Long time Environmental Justice organizers, Nityanand Jayaraman and Shweta Narayan tell how the Bucket Brigades moved their campaigns forward with a nice 10th Anniversary message followed by some light-hearted banter in the Out Takes

Party for the Planet: Nov. 15th: Goldman Prize Winner, Silent Auction and Flamenco Music!

Global Community Monitor is turning 10 and we’re having a party!  On November 15, 2011, GCM is hosting an anniversary party to celebrate a decade of breathing new life into communities.  We’ve proved that the Bucket Brigades are a force to conted and we’ve started building a movement for Environmental Justice through empowering fenceline communities.

The anniversary celebration will include food and drinks provided by Tres Mexican Kitchen and Tequila Lounge; and a silent auction with more than 40 items donated by: The San Francisco Giants, Hotel Durant, Beach Blanket Babylon, Patagonia Clothing, Osmosis Spa, LUSH Cosmetics ($200 gift basket), The Berkeley Rep Theatre, Brown Sugar Kitchen and many more. This is the perfect to time get a great bargain on an early holiday gift.

Get a chance to really talk with Hilton Kelley, GCM Board Member and Goldman Prize Winner from Port

Courtesy of The Goldman Prize

 Arthur, Texas; will be in attendance.  This is a great opportunity, in small informal setting, to hear first hand about his latest battle against the controversial Keystone Pipeline and dirty tarsands crude from Canada already in the US!

Last, but certainly not least, we’ll have beautiful flamenco music provided by guitarist Carl Nagin.  Come on down, relax to flamenco music while enjoying cocktails, great Mexican food and inspiring company.

Southwest Detroit Sends Their Congrats

Residents of Southwest Detroit discuss the Bucket Brigade, the power of the results and send their thanks to Global Community Monitor.  The residents of zip code 48217 have some of the worst air quality in the region.  Their neighborhoods are surrounded by heavy industry including an ever expanding oil refinery that has just started upgrading their facility in order to process heavy tarsands oil from Canada.  The Bucket Brigade has validated their health and safety concerns.  This has opened the discussion with the oil refinery and some residents are finally able to afford to move to a less polluted environment

Happy Anniversary Message from Thailand

Dawan Eng, member of Ecological Alert and Recovery Thailand (EARTH), a grassroots non-profit in Thailand sends a congratulatory message for GCM’s 10th Anniversary.  They have had great success with the Bucket Brigade over the years and sending a big thank you to everyone who has supported the projects.

We’re gearing up to celebrate 10 Years of Breathing New Life into Communities.  Don’t miss the party!

A Day in the Life of a Bucket Brigade Trainer

9 pm, Friday: I gear up with a weekend’s worth of necessities and two five-gallon buckets that are going to be transformed into community air monitors.  This weekend is my first solo Bucket Brigade training and I’m headed on the red-eye out of San Francisco to North Providence, Rhode Island to meet the members of ENUFF, a community group fighting for clean air.

6 am, Saturday: Eight hours later, I arrive in Rhode Island, buckets in hand, ready to empower yet another community with the Bucket Brigade.  I am met at the airport by Taryn Hallweaver, community organizer for the Toxics Action Center in Boston.  We have been working together for the past few weeks in organizing a Bucket Brigade training in North Providence.

The residents of North Providence, RI live right next to an asphalt plant.  Residents believe that the rates of asthma in children are much higher than nearby towns and the residents have been plagued with chemical odors from the industrial processes at the asphalt plant.  They wanted to know, ‘what are we breathing?’

Yet, this trip was special, a little more unique than the others.  We  had been collaborating with a team from Public Laboratories,  including a recent PhD graduate from MIT, on aerial mapping   through a low-cost method of floating a helium balloon over the site, with an attached camera that’s set to take continuous pictures from above.

The coolest thing about this, is that for the first time, community residents can finally see what’s going on behind the gate at the facility.  They get a picture of just how close the heavy machinery is to their recreation fields and day care facilities.

11 am, Saturday: With community members and the team from Public Laboratories, we gather around for a potluck and balloon inflating.  After  navigating the balloon around tree  limbs and power lines, we had our  map.

Sunday morning: The Bucket Brigade training begins.  Eight community residents, the community organizer, and a handful of curious observers gathered in an art studio to learn the basics of air pollution and community monitoring.  We added to the balloon maps from the day before, with community drawn neighborhood maps of toxic hot spots (where the pollution and odors are the worst).

We discussed wind direction, seasonal changes and the effects of temperature to determine the best place to take a sample.  Now we’re ready to build some Buckets!

 Sunday afternoon: Just a few hours  later, everyone in the room had  contributed to building two Buckets,  ready to take air samples.  The residents all practiced capturing the  ambient air in the special sample bag we ordered from the lab.

We went over some important Quality Control practices and filled  out the sample Chain of Custody form needed to ship the samples to  the lab and built out a solid sampling plan.  

Now, the residents are trained environmental samplers and the Bucket Brigade has been launched!

Sunday evening: I am back on the plane returning to the GCM headquarters, excited about the new balloon mapping project and encouraged that a new Bucket Brigade has found a home in Rhode Island.

 Stay tuned, sample results are on their way.

Happy Anniversary, from Desmond D’sa & The South Durban Community Environmental Alliance

Global Community Monitor launched a Bucket Brigade in South Durban, South Africa in 2000 in collaboration with the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA).  The South Durban basin is home to 285,000 people and numerous polluting industries. The industries include two large and older oil refineries, major chemical manufacturers, toxic landfill sites and chemicals storage facilities. After a long mobilization by SDCEA, a landfill site within a residential area accepting hazardous waste from industries was closed but has yet to be rehabilitated. Residents living near these industries suffer from high levels of respiratory illnesses and cancers.

Desmond D’sa has been a community leader in the fight for Environmental Justice in Durban, South Africa and has developed ties all the way to Richmond, CA.  With his leadership SDCEA has contributed to multiple Environmental Impact Reports and collaborated with NGO’s worldwide to confront Shell International about the incidents, accidents and high level of pollution from their refinery in Durban.  The Bucket Brigade provides the tools they need to take independent air samples and hold the government accountable for enforcing safety regulations and pollution control.

Activism and Organizing for Justice: Why We Do It

“Ain’t no power like the power of the people ‘cause the power of the people don’t stop!” was the message to take away from the Ella Baker Center’s15th Anniversary celebration.

The Ellas brought in hundreds of people: some new energetic activists with fresh faces, some old salty organizers willing to stop at nothing and artists of all ages ready to motivate us through the toughest times through creative and inspirational messaging.

Organizing for environmental and social justice is no easy task and the only way it’s even possible is with the power of the people.

So why do we do it?  Why do we commit ourselves so deeply to challenge the biggest, richest and most powerful corporate interests in attempts to change the existing power structure?

Now these questions will most likely produce an array of answers, just as diverse as the movement.

But, the real answer is that all of us believe in a better world, a better society for our families, children and neighbors.

Last week at the Young Nonprofit Professional Network’s annual party someone asked, ‘What do you do?’  My response was ‘I do Environmental Justice work’ and somehow I felt more empowered just by saying that.

Empowered because I know I am working in solidarity with hundreds of communities, coalitions and other nonprofits around the world.  

Just by empowering one person with the tools they need to be an effective activist, the entire community is lifted up and society will forever be impacted.

And, we will never stop because the more we push the more we win.  We refuse to be defeated.

We believe in clean air for Detroit, a healthy high school for West Oakland students and climate justice for Port Arthur.  We stand together with the residents of Richmond, CA and Durban, South Africa who are both fighting the same fight against big oil.

This work is fun and rewarding, but I do it because I can’t not do it.

We need to “be the change we want to see in the world.”  There is no other work to do until these injustices are rectified.

An injustice to one is an injustice to all and if we don’t come together and take a stand for that, who will?

We just got to keep remembering that there ain’t no power like the power of the people ‘cause the power of the people don’t stop.

Happy Anniversary from Western New York

Erin Heany and Natasha Soto from Western New York, send their congratulations to GCM for our ten years of breathing new life into communities.