Environmental Justice Update

Thanks again to Patrick Schwing and Jennifer Darrell of the Young Adult Ecumenical Forum for teaching all of us a bit more about Environmental Justice. Now, Part II of Our Eleventh Concern:

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It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.

-Ansel Adams

The Young Adult Ecumenical Forum (YAEF)

As people of faith, we are deeply concerned about justice and the integrity of all creation. Therefore, the mission of the 2007 Young Adult Ecumenical forum is to raise questions about environmental justice and to announce good news about our ecosystem.

YAEF 2007 is a gathering of people between the ages of 18 and 35 and will include speeches on environmental justice and its connection to violence, hunger, and poverty.

More Resources

1. Eco-Justice Ministries

2. Young Adult Ecumenical Forum on Environmental Justice

3. An example of Environmental Justice work in one community

More Ways to Take Action

1. Visit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to learn more about applying for Environmental Justice grants or becoming an Environmental Justice Community Intern. Also, learn more about the EPA's definition of EJ.

2. Go to Step It Up 2007.org and take action locally!

Our Eleventh Concern: Environmental Justice

This week, Patrick Schwing and Jennifer Darrell, organizers of the 2007 Young Adult Ecumenical Forum to be held in Boston from July 26-29, tackle a topic of growing international concern: Environmental Justice. They also integrate two worldviews that I personally find fascinating: religion and the role it can play in inspiring social change and social action.

Be sure to take action on their post and support the right of every human being to a safe and healthy environment.

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"The whole style of American politics is nonecological. Ecology is a comprehension of systems, interdependencies, webs of relationship, connections extending over space and time -- and the very essence of our politics is to zero in on single causes." -Walter Truett Anderson

Environmental Justice is the right to a safe, healthy, productive, and sustainable environment for all, where "environment" is considered in its totality to include the ecological (biological), physical (natural and built), social, political, aesthetic, and economic environments.

Fast Facts:

1. 437 of the 3,109 counties and independent cities in the U.S. failed to meet at least one of EPA's ambient air quality standards.
2. 313,000 HIRED farm workers in the U.S. suffer from pesticide-related illnesses each year.

Learn More:

1. Environmental Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University

2. E.P.A-Environmental Justice Resource Page

3. Environmental Justice Scorecard

Take Action:

1. Attend the Young Adult Ecumenical Forum on Environmental Justice.

2. Go to Scorecard.org and oppose the EPA's plan to weaken pollution reporting standards.

3. Go to Scorecard.org to find out how your community is affected.

And look out on Sunday for Part II of this two-part post.

Update on Extreme Poverty

Thanks to Sam and Seth for publicizing this emergency that still affects millions. Now, the conclusion to their work:

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While empowering the poorest individuals to escape from extreme poverty is key, it is also important to recognize that the United States government can play a strategic role in supporting anti-poverty initiatives. By increasing foreign aid to support the MDGs and the Millennium Villages on the ground, creating more just trade conditions for poorer nations, and ensuring debt cancellation, the United States and other Western governments can do their best to ensure the end of extreme poverty.

More fast facts:

• More than 40 percent of women in Africa do not have access to basic education.
• A total of 114 million children do not get even a basic education and 584 million women are illiterate.

Learn More:

* Visit ONE.org to learn more about the ONE Campaign, a national US campaign to build political support for ending extreme poverty.

*And please check out The End of Poverty, written by anti-poverty advocate and UN Special Advisor on the MDGs, Professor Jeffrey Sachs

*And with this and all crises, be sure to seek as many perspectives as possible.

Take Action:

This daily crisis can be ended.

* Research the websites and book above.

* To join in the student movement, please visit us at The Positive Foundations to learn how your college or university can play an active role in ending extreme poverty.

* And sign the ONE Declaration to ensure the political support for ending extreme poverty.

Our Tenth Concern: Extreme Poverty

We're back, after a brief slumber, with a Concern that should wake us all up. Extreme Poverty affects millions of men, women, and children in every corner of the globe, of many colors and circumstances. Sam Nemat Vaghar and Seth Werfel, Executive Directors of the Positive Foundations and students at Brandeis University, masterfully take on this issue and offer solutions. Be sure to take action after reading their post and look for an update on Sunday.

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Extreme poverty. Defined as living on less than $1 per day, it is a daily crisis that impacts more than 1.2 billion individuals worldwide. It leads to more than 8 million deaths every year, and more than 20,000 deaths everyday. U2’s Bono has called it “a global emergency”. Here's more about the emergency that is extreme poverty:

Fast facts:

• Every year six million children die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday.
• More than 800 million people go to bed hungry every day...300 million are children.
• Everyday HIV/AIDS kills 6,000 people and another 8,200 people are infected with this deadly virus.
  

To address extreme poverty, 189 countries met in September 2000 and committed to achieving the eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger (halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day; halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger)

2. Achieve universal primary education

3. Promote gender equality and empower women

4. Reduce child mortality

5. Improve maternal health

6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

7. Ensure environmental sustainability

8. Develop a global partnership for development

These eight goals are tangibly supported on the ground through the Millennium Villages Project. To date, 78 villages in 10 nations of sub-Saharan Africa (an epicenter of the crisis) have been supported, allowing community led development to occur with technical and infrastructural support, and the villages will be self-sustaining after five years of initial support. The hope is that this model can be scaled up by African governments to eradicate extreme poverty throughout the respective nations.

Learn More by visiting:

* Millenium Promise and Columbia University to learn more about the Millennium Villages Project.

* The U.N. Millenium Project to learn more about the UN Millennium Development Goals

Take Action by:

*Making a financial contribution to The Millenium Promise,
or by visiting Omni-Peace.com when buying your next shirt. Now, you can be a conscious consumer who supports the Millennium Promise.

*Visiting Brandeis University during our Millenium Development Goals Week, April 11-17, featuring a live videoconference with Professor Jeffrey Sachs and lectures with analysts working in the Millennium Villages.

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Extreme poverty can be eradicated with your support. For further dialogue and/or if you have questions, please contact us at svaghar@brandeis.edu or swerfel@brandeis.edu, and look out for an update on Sunday.

Update on Global Warming

This is a hot issue-- and yes, that's a pun-- so thanks to everyone for posting your comments, and thanks especially to Jen for her hard work! Here's Part 2 of the two-part series... enjoy!

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Learn Even More:

• Visit Climatecrisis.net to check out the trailer for An Inconvenient Truth, buy the DVD, or calculate your personal impact on global warming. If you’re a teacher, you can also download educational materials to share with colleagues and students.
• ...
  
• Read The American Geophysical Union’s position on climate change. The AGU is a respected organization comprising over 41,000 Earth and space scientists, who agree that "natural influences cannot explain the rapid increase in global near-surface temperatures observed during the second half of the 20th century."

Take Even More Action:

• Buy/rent/borrow An Inconvenient Truth and watch it with everyone you know – friends, classmates, family, and neighbors.
• Sign The Heat is On! ... A petition to urge presidential hopefuls to make a commitment to end global warming.
• ...
• And keep the proverbial Heat On in your everyday life to end global warming for good!
  

Our Ninth Concern: Global Warming

You may have heard Al Gore speak about it, read the articles written about it, or seen the newstories discussing it. This week, guest blogger Jen Gaze takes you behind the scenes of Global Warming, and urges you to take action to stop it!

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Global warming is the result of an increase in the earth’s average temperature due to a buildup of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Although you may have heard different opinions in the media about global warming and whether it exists, there is no debate among scientists about the fact that global warming IS happening and that WE are causing it by burning fossil fuels and cutting down forests.

The bad news: the U.S. is the world’s largest carbon emitter, and if we don’t start acting now, parts of the world will be uninhabitable in as little as ten years. Scientists project a 20 foot rise in global sea levels which will put low-lying coastal areas across the globe under water. For the first time, scientists have found evidence that polar bears are drowning because climate change is melting the Arctic ice shelf! These and many other changes in our ecological system are indications that global warming has, and will continue to disrupt nature’s delicate balance.

The good news: there is still time to avert impending environmental disaster. By taking a few simple steps, each one of us can play a role in making our earth healthy again.

Learn More:

• Check out what the Union of Concerned Scientists has to say about global warming
• Watch the Global Warming cartoon presented in An Inconvenient truth if you don’t have time to view the film.

Take Action:

• Easy as 1, 2, 3! -- Commit to making three simple changes in your life to help stop global warming. Here’s just a few I found on the website:
• Switch to energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs. They use 60% less energy than a regular light bulb and can help reduce your electric bill!
• Turn your thermostat down 2° in the winter and up 2° in the summer. Check out the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy for more energy saving tips!
  
• Unplug electronics from the wall when you are not using them. Even when turned off appliances like hairdryers, cell phone chargers and TVs use energy!

• Raise your voice -- Join the Stop Global Warning March, a non-political effort bringing Americans together to declare that global warming is here now and it’s time to act.

An Update on Body Image

And now, Monica Mangual's mid-week post on Body Image. Thank you to Monica and to everyone who's helped address this concern!

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Not only do many individuals suffer with explicit eating disorders, others struggle with body dissatisfaction and sub-clinical disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. For example, it has been shown that 80% of American women are dissatisfied with their appearance. However, because there is a stigma regarding eating disorders, many individuals – especially male-- live in silence about their lifestyle.

Learn More:

• 46% of 9-11 year-olds are “sometimes” or “very often” on diets, and 82% of their families are “sometimes” or “very often” on diets
• 91% of women recently surveyed on a college campus had attempted to control their weight through dieting, 22% dieted “often” or “always”
• 95% of all dieters will regain their lost weight in 1-5 years
• 35% of “normal dieters” progress to pathological dieting. Of those, 20-25% progress to partial or full-syndrome eating disorders
• 25% of American men and 45% of American women are on a diet on any given day
• Americans spend over $40 billion on dieting and diet-related products each year

Take Action:

- Eat when you are hungry
- Rest when you are tired.
- Surround yourself with people that remind you of your inner strength and beauty

And be sure to visit the website of National Eating Disorders Awareness (NEDA)

Our Eighth Concern: Body Image

For Our Eighth Concern, guest blogger Monica Mangual addresses a topic that has probably touched all of our lives at one point or another: Body Image. She's a family counselor who's no amateur on the issue, so be sure to take action on her post and look for an update this Sunday, March 4.

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As someone who's felt the unnecessary and sometimes overwhelming pressure of society to look a certain way and be a certain weight, I have always considered myself an advocate for a healthy body, male or female. Although I've never struggled with an eating disorder, I have fallen into the traps of fad dieting, over-exercising, and basing my worth as a person by the numbers on a scale. This week, February 25 through March 3, 2007 is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. In the United States, as many as 10 million females and 1 million males are fighting a life and death battle with an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. Millions more are struggling with a binge eating disorder.

The most important thing you can do if you have a friend who is suffering from an eating disorder is address it with them! Remind them that you are there to talk and to offer support in any way you can, without judgment and without criticism.

Below are some statistics I’ve found regarding America’s dieting and drive for thinness:

• Over one-half of teenage girls and nearly one-third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting, and taking laxatives
• Girls who diet frequently are 12 times as likely to binge as girls who don’t diet
• 42% of 1st-3rd grade girls want to be thinner
• 81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat
• The average American woman is 5’4” tall and weighs 140 pounds. The average American model is 5’11” tall and weighs 117 pounds.
• Most fashion models are thinner than 98% of American women
  
• And more to come later in the week...

This week, let’s make an effort to celebrate our bodies!! What can we do to do this?

Make a list of all the things your body can do – read this and add to it often!

*Wear clothes that are comfortable and fit your body – throw out those jeans that are restricting and uncomfortable.

*Make a list of all the people that you admire and whether their appearance is important in their success.

*Keep a list of ten positive things about yourself that has nothing to do with appearance – repeat these and add to them regularly!

*And more later to come later in the week... post your suggestions today!

Finally, Visit the National Eating Disorders Awareness website (NEDA) to discover ways to celebrate your body and create positive body image. This site has tons of information regarding various eating disorders and what we can do to prevent and help them. Also, be sure to sign the “No Weigh! A Declaration of Independence From a Weight-Obsessed World”.

And post your suggestions today on how we can all create a world more supportive of who we are and how we look!