What We've Read |
This month’s book is “A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and its Assault on the American Mind” by Harriet A. Washington. A "powerful and indispensable" (Gerald Markowitz) look at the devastating consequences of environmental racism -- and what we can do to remedy its toxic effects on marginalized communities. 5/19 UPDATE: How's "A Terrible Thing to Waste" going for everyone? This one is heavy, but I also think it's incredibly important. A few years ago I did a GIS project for the Office of Sustainability mapping air quality and health impacts in the 10 most disadvantaged tracts in Long Beach. One of the tracts ended up being my neighborhood (which is incredibly racially and ethnically diverse, but mostly POC dominated). It shocked me to learn what the asthma rate is for kids in our area (thanks to our proximity to 2 major freeways, an oil refinery, a diesel rail line, and the Port of LB). And the extra sad thing? We're not even the worst air quality in LB...Does anyone else know which neighborhoods in your area are frontline communities bearing the burden of high pollutant loads? Are there any local organizations working to combat the issues? RESOURCES FROM OUR MEETING (5/31):
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May 2023
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