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Environmental Health

Clean, Unpolluted Air Should be a Birthright

November 29, 2012
Forty years ago, the nation made a commitment–in the form of the Clean Air Act—to cleaner air that would protect all Americans, especially our most vulnerable populations. Yet today, far too many American families are living and working in neighborhoods with dangerous levels of air pollutants that...
Jeff Levi's picture

Beyond “Code Orange”

November 29, 2012
In the summer of 2012, families throughout the United States, especially in urban areas, were alerted on dozens of days that the air was unsafe for their children to breathe. Some cities experienced record numbers of “code orange” and “code red” smog alert days. With childhood obesity also hitting...
Rebecca Watts Hull's picture

Pacha Supports Family Conversations about Obama, Sandy and Clean Air

November 29, 2012
History doesn’t repeat itself but it rhymes ~ Attributed to Mark Twain One of the highlights on Election Night 2012 was when Obama alluded to Hurricane Sandy in his victory speech , saying that we all want our children to live in an America that isn’t threatened by the destructive power of a...
Dave Room's picture

Rising Above Dirty Air: From a Grandmother

November 29, 2012
It is hard to think of breathing as a luxury—but for my granddaughter that is her constant reality. Our family lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, which is one of the smoggiest cities in the country, largely because it’s surrounded by a ring of five coal-fired plants. In the five generations that...
Patricia Moore's picture

Proposed Baltimore Energy Answers Incinerator

November 29, 2012
I am Katie Fink, one of the Environmental and Climate Justice Leadership Fellows working specifically on Region 7. I am originally from Baltimore, and therefore have a particular interest and stake in Region 7's environmental and climate justice issues. Because of this, I recently had and eye...
Anita's picture

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Mountaintop Removal Coal Southern Alliance for Clean Energy

November 29, 2012
Those fighting for the mountains and those who make the mountains their home have won a crucial victory. On Thursday, November 15, 2012, Patriot Coal became the first U.S. operator to stop large-scale mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining. Patriot Coal is known for destructive large-scale mining...
Angela Garrone's picture

Clean Air: A Civil and Human Right

November 29, 2012
Five year old Micah looks longingly out of the window of his Portsmouth, VA home as the kids walk home from school as they plan to toss their book bags on their beds, grab a snack and run back outside to enjoy the final daylighthours playing with friends before dinner. Micah won’t be able to do any...
Anita's picture

Social Justice: Business as Usual

November 29, 2012
On the heels of our highly divided presidential election, I had a cordial post-election discussion with friends, a mixed group of Republicans and Democrats. (Yes, this is still possible, even in Texas!) One friend said, “One of the things I love most about this country is that no matter what...
Gina Carroll's picture

It’s a No-Brainer: Children Need Healthy Air (and More) in School

November 29, 2012
It is a no-brainer: Healthy children are the key to the future of America. Understanding that children are more vulnerable to environmental hazards than the adults around them, and knowing that children cannot identify hazards or get out of harm’s way, our elected officials should ensure that all...
Claire Barnett's picture

Moms stand up for pesticide-free air in California's Central Valley

November 29, 2012
When a child's health is on the line, moms will often stand up in truly courageous ways. Like the mothers in the small, rural community of Lindsay, California who were concerned about how pesticides were affecting their children. These central valley moms enrolled in a project back in 2006 to...
Kristin Schafer's picture

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