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| Greetings!
Summer has arrived - finally! Here's wishing you and your loved ones a safe and enjoyable summer, and if you live in West Harlem or anywhere else in Northern Manhattan, don't forget to pay a visit to the new West Harlem Piers Park. We here at WE ACT plan to hold at least one staff get-together at this urban oasis. Please be sure to come over and say hello if you see us there wearing our gray WE ACT t-shirts with green lettering...
In the meantime, below are just a few of the current goings-on at WE ACT. Thank you for your continued support of our work. We consider it a great privilege to serve you as we continue to advocate for healthy communities in Northern Manhattan and beyond.
Sincerely,
Team WE ACT |
 | Harlem in July: Activist Vandana Shiva |
(Image of Dr. Shiva courtesy of South End Press)  | The Riverside Church
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
490 Riverside Drive
New York City, NY Together with the Sisters of Earth, CSSR, The Riverside Church of New York, Faith Leaders for Environmental Justice, Green Faith, New York Faith and Justice, and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, WE ACT is pleased to welcome Dr. Vandana Shiva and her sister, Dr. Mira Shiva to speak at New York's Historic Riverside Church at 7 pm on Wednesday, July 7. This event will be open to the public for a free will donation. Dr. Vandana Shiva is a philosopher, environmental activist, eco-feminist and author of several books. Vandana, currently based in Delhi, India is author of over 300 papers in leading scientific journals. Vandana participated in the nonviolent Chipko movement during the 1970s. The movement, whose main participants were women, adopted the tactic of hugging trees to prevent their felling. She has argued for the wisdom of many traditional practices, as is evident from her work at Navdanya, a 20 acre farm in Uttranchal, North India. Navdanya is an organic farm and is actively involved in the rejuvenation of indigenous knowledge and culture. One of the ongoing programs at Navdanya is "Diverse Women for Diversity," which seeks to herald a global campaign of women on biodiversity, cultural diversity and food security. We look forward to seeing you there. |
| New Book: Toxic Chemical Exposure |
 WE ACT is pleased to recommend a timely new book for your summer reading collection. Steve Lerner's Sacrifice Zones: The Front Lines of Toxic Chemical Exposure in the United States tells the stories of twelve communities, from Brooklyn to Pensacola, that rose up to fight the industries and military bases causing disproportionately high levels of chemical pollution. He calls these low-income neighborhoods "sacrifice zones" - repurposing a Cold War term coined by U.S. government officials to designate areas contaminated with radioactive pollutants during the manufacture of nuclear weapons. And he argues that residents of a new generation of sacrifice zones, tainted with chemical pollutants, need additional regulatory protections. WE ACT's Executive Director Peggy Shepard had this to say about Lerner's new book: " These case histories from fenceline America are compelling, beautifully detailed stories that integrate authentic voices from grassroots struggles for environmental justice. Lerner captures the nuance of these community struggles, and posits the common paradigm linking these twelve communities as he heralds the pain, the passion, the human cost of life and death in America's sacrifice zones." Dr. Robert Bullard, who is fondly thought of as the father of the environmental justice movement, has also endorsed the book, as have Ken Cook, President of the Environmental Working Group, and Peter L. DeFur of Virginia Commonwealth University. Happy Summer Reading! |
| New Article: Residential Pest Control |
 In collaboration with WE ACT and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) has published a new research paper in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology titled Characterization of Residential Pest Control Products Used in Inner City Communities in New York City. We undertook this study to determine which active ingredients were used for residential pest control in Northern Manhattan and the South Bronx. Our objectives were to confirm the decreased use of OP insecticides following the 2000-2001 US EPA regulations and to determine which insecticides replaced the restricted compounds for residential pest control. Click here to read more about WE ACT's Northern Manhattan Garbage, Pests & Pesticides Campaign. |
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