March 2010: Clean Air, Clean Water & Healthy Communities - Doesn't everyone deserve them?
In 1992, the landmark First People of Color Environment Summit was held, drawing journalists, academics, lawyers and local leaders into a discussion of what defines "environment": places where people live, work and play. This Summit spurred the publication in 1994 of Unequal Protection: Environmental Justice and Communities of Color, which was written by Dr. Robert Bullard, a man known as the "father" of the Environmental Justice movement. Since then, Dr. Bullard's work and, indeed, the work of the University of Michigan's very own Dr. Bunyan Bryant has pushed the traditional environmental community and government leaders to think about--and act upon--the inconsistent application of environmental laws and the resulting disproportionate impact of air, water and land pollution on communities of color.
I invite you to listen to Focus on the Environment on Friday, March 5 on 89.1FM WEMU at 7:40 AM when Morning Host David Fair and I will be joined by special guest, Pamela Smith to talk about Environmental Justice issues in Michigan. Pamela is not only the head of the Lead Hazard Control Program for the Saginaw County Department of Public Health, but she was a key member of the state's Environmental Justice Working Group, which recently published the state's first Draft Environmental Justice Plan. David, Pamela and I will be discussing the background of the Environmental Justice movement nationally, what kinds of things have been done at the federal level to address the injustices related to hazardous waste facility sitings, etc., and what the state has done, most recently, to integrate real change into our decision-making process here in Michigan.