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Table of Contents:
1) Jeremy Irons premiere of Trashed - new documentary on global solid waste crisis 2) NYC Waterfront Plan & Climate Adaptation: how to make EJ communities more resilient
3) NYC-EJA In The News
4) NYC-EJA Fundraising Appeal
September 2012 - Volume 3, Issue 4
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 | | Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons. |
Jeremy Irons, NYC-EJA and Allies Host Premiere of Trashed
On September 7th, Academy Award-winning actor Jeremy Irons joined forces with the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance (NYC-EJA) and several allies to host a private screening of the new feature-length documentary TRASHED. Directed by British filmmaker Candida Brady and featuring Irons as investigator and guide, this was the first U.S. screening of the film, which premiered in a special screening at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. Event co-hosts included: NY Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), NY Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI), Alliance for a Greater New York (ALIGN) and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). NYC Comptroller John Liu and Deputy Mayor for Operations Cas Holloway addressed attendees, with other key policymakers from local, state and federal offices in attendance.
This powerful documentary explores the global solid waste crisis and the environmental and health costs of humanity's excessive generation and irresponsible disposal of waste materials. The film is acutely relevant for New York City, which exports the great majority of our waste for landfilling and incineration, and where recycling occurs at 15% (less than half the national average). While the City is contemplating piloting problematic new incineration technologies, this film charts a course of true sustainability that focuses on waste prevention and recycling.
Following the screening, local environmental justice and labor leaders, and international experts discussed waste solutions for New York City, highlighting the troubled performance record of newer incineration technologies (such as gasification, pyrolysis and plasma arc) around the world, and discussing a recycling-intensive path forward for the City to advance sustainability and equity while creating thousands of green jobs. Panelists included: Eddie Bautista, Executive Director, NYC Environmental Justice Alliance; Bradley Angel, Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice; Ananda Lee Tan, North American Coordinator, GAIA (Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance); and Lenore Friedlaender, Vice President, SEIU 32BJ.
For interviews with Jeremy Irons and a review of Trashed, please see "NYC-EJA In the News" section below.
 | | NYC Comptroller John Liu. |
 | | Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway. |
 | | Jeremy Irons with reps from NYC-EJA, NYLPI, NYPIRG, UPROSE and NRDC. |
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 | | NYC-EJA presens Waterfront Justice Project at international conference, July 2012. |
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NYC's Waterfront Plan & Climate Adaptation: How to Make EJ Communities More Resilient
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The New York City Environmental Justice Alliance presented preliminary results of our Waterfront Justice Project at this year's international Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) Congress in Ankara, Turkey. The Project constitutes NYC-EJA's citywide community resiliency campaign developed in partnership with Pratt Institute's Programs for Sustainable Planning and Development to raise awareness on potential risk exposures to hazardous substances near the city's Significant Maritime and Industrial Areas (SMIAs) as a result of climate change impacts. The presentation was delivered by our Policy Analyst, Juan Camilo Osorio, who joined an international panel of experts focusing on the work of community-based organizations planning for disaster resilience. The Waterfront Justice Project stood out as an interesting case study of community-based research, integrating principles of environmental justice, community resiliency, climate change adaptation and pollution prevention, in a progressive approach to waterfront planning. NYC-EJA discussed the different challenges and opportunities faced by EJ communities in NYC due to the vulnerability of waterfront industrial neighborhoods to hurricane storm surge, among other threats. We shared how NYC-EJA's research and advocacy have informed each other in a year-long dialogue with the Bloomberg Administration to identify effective strategies to protect the safety and well-being of workers and residents located near the city's working waterfronts, and reduce their vulnerability against potential risk exposures in severe weather events. To improve NYC's Waterfront Revitalization Program, NYC-EJA's five-point agenda proposes the following:
1. Require risk assessments for climate change impacts in project planning/design in coastal areas
2. Mandate safe & responsible use of hazardous materials and toxic chemicals
3. Protect local industrial jobs and businesses
4. Protect & restore wetlands
5. Require waterfront public access, unless proven infeasible and unsafe, in the SMIA's
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FUNDRAISING APPEAL
Dear Friends:
We ask your help to sustain our campaigns for environmental justice. Please support NYC-EJA by making a tax-deductible online donation at www.NYC-EJA.org.
Founded in 1991, NYC-EJA, a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization, is NYC's only federation of community-based organizations fighting for environmental justice in low income communities of color. For over 20 years, NYC-EJA has successfully led reform campaigns on climate change, solid waste, power plant siting and brownfield remediation policies.
But we need your help to continue our successes. Your tax deductible online contribution can be made securely on the Donation page at our website www.NYC-EJA.org (don't forget the hyphen!). Your donation will support NYC-EJA's ongoing campaigns, including the new challenges posed by climate change. You can also mail a check payable to: New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, 166A 22nd Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11232.
Become an EJ Friend - $50.00
Become an EJ Ally - $100.00
Become an EJ Champion - $200.00 (our 200x200 campaign!)
For more information on NYC-EJA's work (or better yet, to support that work with a tax-deductible donation), please visit our website at www.NYC-EJA.org. You'll be glad you did!
Hasta la proxima,
Eddie Bautista,
Executive Director
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