I spent this Earth Day in Los Angeles California with the Bus Riders Union, Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) and the Labor Community Strategy Center for an evening connecting with organizers working at the intersection of climate, environmental justice and human rights from across the country. I was on panel about real community solutions to the climate crisis with Nikke Alex from Black Mesa Water Coalition and Sunyoung of the Strategy Center right after a panel about false solution to the climate crisis with Ash-lee Woodward with Mountain Justice, Bill Gallegos (CBE), and Tom Goldtooth with Indigenous Environmental Network. Below is my presentation about our solutions in Detroit.
(Transcribed)
Happy Earth day beautiful people! And this is a room of beautiful people. I feel like I’m at home. I am also from the Great Lakes region – which I was happy to learn from Tom is the center of the Universe. Good news for me.
My name is Diana Copeland and I am the Executive Director of the EMEAC. Last June we were one of the hosts of the United States Social Forum and we also held an action against the dirty Detroit incinerator June 26th – are the slides up there? The incinerator in Detroit is the world’s most polluting and children that live around the incinerator have 3 times the asthma rate as the rest of the nation. Due to the particulate matter, heavy metals at are released into the atmosphere as a result of the burning trash from the incinerator children miss out on school days and fun activities – cancer rates are higher - the quality of life among Detroit’s youth and community members is generally decreased. Keep in mind incineration is being touted as an “alternative energy” – these false solutions and framing are extremely dangerous to our communities.
The action was a powerful experience for the community because so many national partners came out to support us – like Grassroots Global Justice and the Ruckus society – they did a lot of the beautiful art for the action. It gave a platform for the affected community and put the community up front. The action had the demands developed by the local Detroit zero waste coalition:
- Stop the daily burning of over 2,000 tons of trash
- Begin citywide curbside recycling & recover materials for reuse
- Citywide composting as an industry
- Create new jobs & opportunities to attract green economies
- And we want full transparency of all waste contracts
City council and our former mayor had already agreed to this plan – but it has yet to be implemented.
The action was successful and the incinerator shut down as of last October – BUT - unfortunately it is almost guaranteed that the city will be burning the majority of its and surrounding communities, including Canada’s garbage for at least another 11 years, because of the deal with the new mayor for the purchase of the city’s incinerator in Nov. by a newly established energy consortium led by Connecticut-based Atlas Holdings.
As an organization we do work on strategic campaigns – like this obvious one against the incinerator but more than that we want to offer community based solutions as a real way to stop climate change and build community resilience. Moving away from the dirty incinerator and creating a city wide recycling facility is one (it is cleaner and would create many more jobs in the city).
Other Grassroots solutions – just to name a few
In addition to the disproportionate pollution – caused by the incinerator and hundreds of polluting industry, in the city of Detroit we are also up against a Right-sizing plan in the city proposed by the mayor– that would cut off services and force relocate many residents. We see this relocation effort and gentrification plan as an environmental justice issue - as a front line community we are demanding that the residents that have faced the worst of the ecological and economic crisis in the city receive priority on any incentives that would benefit the citizens of Detroit. The people’s plan is looking at scaling up local economies and strengthens community schools (while fighting off corporate charters and privatizations of natural resources).
Food justice/ composting – Detroit has over 1000 urban gardens and farms and we see urban farming as a solution to climate injustice by providing more green space in the city, creating more healthy foods inside the city and for its residents, creating new local economies, and dramatically cutting down on truck traffic that create harmful diesel pollution inside our city. As leadership of the food justice task force we are working to not only scale up the capacity for current farmers but also create new businesses in local foods marketing, local foods grocers, restaurants that serve local foods and create new businesses, curricula and emerging skill training inside Detroit schools. Just one example of the many schools we are working with, Nsoroma Institute located on Detroit’s far east side has:
- Community cooking demonstrations and cooking classes
- Aquaponics farm and curricula - to create healthy food for the neighborhood and a small amount of revenue for school projects
- Veggie stand – that 15 raised gardens with lots of squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, specialty herbs and much more!
- Worm composting – to reduce trash in at schools and to sell compost to supporting farms
The school is nestled among rows and rows of abandoned houses but the school is an absolute haven for students, parents and community.
Shout out to Detroit black community food security network
Digital justice and education solutions – media work is an emerging field and source of jobs in the city. As leadership of the Detroit Digital Justice Coalition (DDJC) we are working with local businesses, schools with the Allied Media Projects. Every collaboration we work with is based on the Environmental Justice and we work with every group to create our own principles of working together. Central to the principles of the DDJC is creating healthy communities. The DDJC provides space where people can investigate community problems, generate solutions, create media and organize together to promote alternative energy, recycling and salvaging technology. As a coalition we value multiple learning styles and expand the process of learning beyond the classrooms.
In Detroit we are using a multi-pronged strategy to fight false solutions and create models or real solutions.
