The first earth day was on April 22, 1970. It was spearheaded by Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, who in 1963, was troubled that the environment was a non-issue in the politics of the country. Seven years later after much political wrangling, Earth Day was unveiled to an American populace that finally had a forum to express its concern about what was happening to the land, rivers, lakes, and air.
Today, climate change has become a looming threat to the world at large. Industrialized nations tried to tackle this issue at the Climate talks in Copenhagen last December, with no real success. In response, the Peoples Climate Summit is taking place in Cochabamba, Bolivia, as a response to the failure of the Copenhagen talks.
It is disproportionately the nations that have contributed the least amount of climate damage, that have suffered the worst. This can also be mirrored on a local scale as our working-class communities here in the bay area, tend to suffer the most environmental damage, such as the neighborhoods who loom beneath the spector of the Chevron refinery in Richmond.
Tonight we will be talking with Shana Lazerow who is the staff attorney for Oakland based organization, Communities for a Better Environment. Their mission is to achieve environmental health and justice by building grassroots power in and with communities of color and working-class communities. There organization is putting on an event this Saturday called, “Love Yo Mama Earth Day in East Oakland." The theme this year: "Green is Good for the Hood."
Guest: Shana Lazerow, Staff Attorney, Communities for a Better Environment (CBE)
"East Oakland suffers alot more of the environmental impacts of the Bay Area than the Bay Area as a whole or even Alameda County as a whole." - Lazerow
"This [event] is a celebration; people know they are suffering from the pollution that goes on. We want people to come together to feel empowered with and in their community, to really make a change." - Lazerow
Links:
Communities for a Better Environment - http://www.cbecal.org
2nd Segment:
We also talked with Robbie Clarke, of the Oakland-based organization, Just Cause. They are organizing a rally/protest in the SF Financial District to hold Wells Fargo accountable. The demands are to create jobs; keep families in their homes; rebuild our neighborhoods; stop predatory lending and reclaim our democracy.
Links:
Just Cause - http://www.cjcc.org
Soapbox Derby is Produced by: Jesse Townley, Lars Skjerping, Marshall Stax
Engineer: Lee Cressey
Host: Loretta Gaines, Lee Cressey
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