Bilingual Asthma Care Workshop

Take control for a healthier life. Come and learn self-care tips for your children who have asthma! The workshop will be led by a registered nurse.

Monday, November 14th
6:00- 8:00 pm

Cascade Middle School
1525 Echo Hollow Road
Library

Taller Bilingue Sobre Asma
Tome el control de una vida mas sana. Venga y reciba consejos para ayudar a sus hijos con asma. Este taller esta a cargo de una enfermera registrada.

Lunes, 14 de noviembre
6:00 – 8:00 pm

Cascade Middle School
1525 Echo Hollow Road
Bibliioteca

Co-sponsored by: Centro LatinoAmericano 541.687.2667/ Beyond Toxics 541.465.8860

Want to know more about schools and pollution? Check out this link on the ESCO Good Neighbor Agreement Public Forum.

Over two years ago ESCO began working with neighborhood representatives to negotiate a good neighbor agreement after we learned that Chapman Elementary School and six other schools in NW Portland were ranked among the worst 2% in a national study of schools and toxic industrial air pollution. For more information on that study:

Executive Director Lisa Arkin speaks about the very high incidence of asthma among children in Lane County on a local TV news show hosted by Shelley Kurtz.

See the interview clip from KVAL-TV below:
 

Lisa Arkin, OTA Executive Director and KVAL-TV host, Shelley Kurtz pose for a photo after the interview which aired LIVE on June 2nd.

MORE INFORMATION:
If you live in Lane County and have a complaint about the quality of air in your neighborhood, please contact LRAPA (Lane Regional Protection Agency), you can use this online form: http://www.lrapa.org/online_complaint_form.php
or call their office in Springfield: (541) 736-1056

To read more about OTA’s partner in the West Eugene Industrial Corridor Environmental Health Project, Centro LatinoAmericano, click here.

If you are interested in joining our West Eugene Community Action Group to be part of the solution in addressing the concerns related to air toxics, please join our FaceBook link or e-mail us at info@oregontoxics.org . Meetings are once a month, and topics discussed relate to environmental health concerns. We look forward to your participation!

Read Oregon Toxics Alliance’s latest report on the alarming rate of asthma (especially among children) in West Eugene neighborhoods.

One of the many reasons why Environmental Justice in West Eugene was such a big issue was because of the lack of access to information. We found a lot of the families there are either 1) unfamiliar with current environmental information such as health, resources, recycling centers, etc. and 2) don’t have regular access to internet – which as we all know, is such a golden resource for all kinds of things. Not to mention, access to environmental health information in their language.

But this article I just came across, which actually relates to our project,  on how the conservation movement should be more diverse- Conservation Movement Must Become More Diverse-(4/7/2011 by CEO of The Nature Conservancy), touches on important factors in OTA’s environmental justice mission. “Minorities currently comprise about one-third of the US population, and by 2050 will represent more than half of the American people.” Yes, we are reaching a point in America where cross-cultural communications is important, and where mitigating different perspectives and incorporating these perspectives to form a new and diverse “mainstream culture”, is highly relevant for a progressive and just society.

Which brings me to my next point: environmentalism needs to shift its definition from the western origins in which it  came from to the current nature of the word. We are no longer separately regarding nature and people as a dichotomy in the way our earth system works, but really, as a unity. When I asked basic questions to some students in West Eugene about what they thought the environment was – I got the expected answers: air, water, trees, birds. Yet, when I asked them what they are trying to do about the environment, I was surprised to find out how involved and how much they knew about recycling, cleaning, sustainable living, gardening etc. When I was in high-school, environment to me was merely a conservationist term.  But over the years I learned that people, environment, and energy(of all kinds) coexist together in what we call Earth.

It’s a big giant web, really. When you detach one part of the web on one side, the rest of it falls or lays there swinging without support. Yet to keep a web full and solid, a spider knows to attach all sides. I feel that society needs to learn from spiders in this regard. When one part of our earth is suffering, a direct relationship is being affected in another part of our world or perhaps across the street- though we may not hear of it, see it, or feel it. Western civilization has not raised us to think in this way – in fact, everything is compartmentalized into structures and systems, that the connections are extremely difficult to perceive. If we were to remove that veil, we could see how time, space, and energy is all related in our planet.

Now getting back to the origins of this blog post…

Going back to diversity, one important aspect of our environmental justice project is to incorporate all people, regardless of the different perspectives of what “environmentalism” is to participate and be active and voice their opinions and concerns. The more others understand that environmentalism is no longer just a conversation or academia word, and rather, a word that shouldn’t even be a word- but really an idea that must be embedded in all aspects of society, the more people would be aware of their connection to the web and how all things affect all.

What do you think?

~Alison

I found this very interesting link on environmental justice impacts.  Though it is focused on tribal lands, some of these measures can be just about useful in any community. Here is the link from Tribal Energy and Environmental Information Clearinghouse website.

I list a few of them that are relevant to the West Eugene Environmental Health Project

1.  “Mitigate any impact that has been determined to adversely affect and cause a disproportionate effect on minority or low-income populations”

2. “Job training programs aimed at developing the skills of the local population to enable them to be employed at these facilities.” Not necessarily at facilities for us, but yes, developing the skill of the local population is one aspect of the project we hope to implement later this year. After speaking with mothers, we found there to be a need for Green Cleaning workshops, where they not only will learn about alternative uses of cleaning products, but perhaps attain certificates as well.

3. “Develop and implement focused public information campaigns to provide technical and environmental health information directly to low-income and minority groups or to local agencies and representative groups.” -Yes! very important. And much needed.

I think one of the things I love most about my job is talking to people. When I first started doing this, I wasn’t sure how many people would actually want to tell me their opinions and perceptions…especially about the environment. But what I found is that this topic in West Eugene is so bottled up- especially if you don’t have access to information or say, the internet to blog about it. I really think it’s a shaken soda bottle waiting to fizzle out and explode.

I found that it doesn’t take an expert to know that something is not right. But where do you take this observation to – to the local grocery store cashier? to your spouse? to your neighbor?

I think more people are concerned about the environment, than they’d like to admit. And myself and the team of canvassers helped people open up and provide a portal for the residents to communicate their concerns. We were there to collect stories – “story”, by the way, is my new favorite word.

But I found something priceless in West Eugene- and that is the stories of Latina mothers. These stories not only encompass their concerns about their children, and whether they are doing all they can to ensure that their child grows up with many opportunities and privileges. It is much deeper than that – hidden in spaces between “health” and “environment” also lays the foundation of cultural complexities intertwined with observations of America…that have sometimes been handed down from generation to generation. I tend to analyze groups and situations sometimes from the perspective of a social anthropologist– and I found that embedded in the concerns from the Latino mothers lies a yearning to participate, to become active, to get the ball moving, to be heard…and that to me is heroic.  I was filled with such humility when I learned of the passions that lay in these women to protect their children and husbands…

…yes their husbands

They reminded me of flamenco dancers ready to take the stage with their footsteps and castanets.

So what next? I am  hoping to garner this new found, priceless, pandora’s box energy and meet regularly with the mothers. I am slowly starting to see the snowball effect forming…I met with a handfull last week, but they are inviting others at our next meeting, and hopefully they in turn will invite more. And soon we will have a rock. A really strong one.

Will keep you posted.

~alison

Through the environmental justice lens, we can look at factors of the environment that affect our health. That was what we did last year in West Eugene where we asked residents how they perceived the quality of their air and its relationship to their health. There were some interesting results. About 60% of them said for example, that yes, you do detect air pollution. That includes sight, smell, taste, etc. We also found there was a high asthma rate—higher than Lane County’s average percent at 10.5.  What does this all mean?

Breathing poor air does not stem only from one source of pollution. In most cases, its origins are from multiple sources including industrial plants, cars, trains, and even in our homes. Combating air pollution from industrial plants is no easy task, but cleaning the air in our homes is. This is why a component of the project is to look at reducing and preventing respiratory illnesses through green cleaning. Have you ever felt nausea or detected chemical smells while using some of your household products such as bleach or ammonia when cleaning? There is a reason why they are toxic, and why they hurt our bodies. Pouring all of that icky stuff down the drain won’t help our Earth either. So where do we begin? We are not asking you to buy expensive alternative household cleaning products from the store. It is simpler actually. There are ways in which you can make your own cleaning solutions simply by using for example, vinegar, lemon, etc. Such fun and money-saving ideas that not only protect your health but the environment as well. How easy can it get? Very easy. And fun.

So let’s say you are not interested in alternative cleaning products, or don’t have asthma or allergies. Or perhaps you are more concerned at how industrial plants affect the quality of air we breathe. What do you do now? Become an active community leader is what I say. We have found a group of concerned mothers, leaders, and residents just like you who are interested in knowing what the problem with our poor air quality is and what to do about it. Come and join us at our next meeting! You know you deserve clean air.

Oregon Toxics Alliance and Centro LatinoAmericano together are facilitating a Community Advisory Committee to address the concerns related to disproportionate air pollution exposures in West Eugene neighborhoods.

The preliminary results of the West Eugene Environmental Health Project suggests that residents have been more exposed to multiple air pollutants and suffer health consequences because of the effect of cumulative pollution.

The goal of the Committee is to form community-based action plan they’d like to see implemented next year and report and present to local officials, neighborhood associations, and other groups and institutions.

Next Meeting Date: Friday, March 18th, 2011

Where: Centro LatinoAmericano,
944 W.5th Avenue in Eugene

Time: 6:30 – 8 pm

Free beverages and snacks will be provided!

Read the PDF version of the Powerpoint Presentation:
West Eugene Industrial Corridor Environmental Health Project
(A 2010-2011 project to assist EJ neighborhoods in West Eugene)