Making it work for everyone

OK, confession time: I watched about half of the No Impact Man movie when I first got it from the library. It was due yesterday and remembering how long I waited for it on the request list, I watched the second half before returning it.

The second half was very thought-provoking. I really respect Colin Beavan and his wife, Michelle Conlin, because they were very upfront not only about the challenges of trying to spend a year making as little impact as possible, but also about the strain that it put on their marriage. They also went through the painful time that year of Michelle getting pregnant and losing the baby.

It was helpful to see some of the things that went wrong for them, or that were just plain frustrating, because it gave me encouragement when things don't go as well as I'd like (like my garden so far this year). For example, flies started breeding in their worm bin and then spread throughout the house. (At the end of the movie, as they discussed the new practices they'd keep and the ones they'd get rid of, Michelle said, "Worm bin goes!") They also tried, after shutting off their electricity, to use a "pot in a pot," a system for keeping foods cool developed in Nigeria, and it didn't work very well.

At one point, when Colin is installing a loaned solar panel on the roof of his building, he comments that he now realizes, "It's not about using as little as we can use, but about how to get people what they need in a way that doesn't harm the planet." In other words, how do we make living more environmentally work for everyone?

This came up for me in the context of a conversation on an online forum about eating locally. One woman who is lactose intolerant and can't absorb gluten (a substance in many grains, including wheat, oats and barley), said that eating local for her would mean not getting the nutrients she needs to live. In earlier times when local food systems were all that most people had, people with dietary restrictions like this woman often died young. I don't believe we should sacrifice people in the name of doing something environmentally good, such as more local eating. But, as someone in the same conversation pointed out (as do most locavores), our current non-local food production system isn't sustainable. So once more, we come back to Colin's question: How do we get people what they need in a way that doesn't harm the planet?

Mayer, a lifelong activist who mentors Colin about urban gardening, thinks that individual action isn't the way to go at all. He argues in the film that doing things like changing your lightbulbs fools people into thinking that's enough, and lets politicians and business off the hook for making the big societal changes that need to happen. Colin counters that "walking the walk" is the best way to get people to listen to you as you fight for the larger changes needed. I would add that just because big changes are what's needed shouldn't be a reason not to make the small changes. But Mayer's point is well-taken: I can't grow complacent and think that small changes are enough, or that, "At least I'm doing something!"

Colin later says, "Using less is NOT enough; we need to demand that our systems become sustainable." That takes action. In response to a question asked by a college student about the most important thing one could do for the environment, he answers, "Volunteer for an environmental organization." These groups have been on the frontline for years in trying to make our systems more sustainable, both through their actions and their advocacy.

Powerful video

Please watch The New Sound, by the organization Green for All. It's a short clip about the difference a "green collar" economy can make for poor communities, affecting everything from health to employment.

Speaking of health, I am closely watching the health care debate and very much praying that it ends with us implementing some sort of universal health care policies. No Impact Man had an interesting post about the connections between health care and the environment. It's rather obvious, actually: our access (or lack thereof) to such things as healthy, affordable food and a clean environment to live in greatly affect our health, which affects the costs that we as a society have to pay for health care. Colin adds that much of our consumerist society is due to the fact that we often have to have corporate jobs in order to afford health care. How many people would be entrepreneurs, perhaps inventing things that are more sustainable, or would pursue more artistic or humanitarian endeavors, were it not for the need to have a job that provides medical benefits?

The environment and health in communities of color

So much of this stuff ties together... good health, universal health care, the environment, justice issues, etc., etc....

My family and childhood were fairly stable, and yet my siblings and I, and several of my cousins, spent much of our childhoods without our fathers. Not because they abandoned us or ended up in prison--but because they died. Like many African-American families, my family suffered and continues to suffer greatly from such things as diabetes, strokes, heart disease and cancer.

The same is true of my husband's family, and he himself has diabetes and had open heart surgery five years ago. Back in Massachusetts (which now has a state-wide system of universal health care), he was monitored monthly. Here in Washington state, we pay higher health care premiums, higher co-pays and for the first time ever, have had to pay deductibles. All while earning less than we did in Massachusetts and paying more for virtually everything (except auto insurance).

As a result, my husband isn't getting the level or quality of care he got back in Massachusetts. He had a stress test today, and it was worrisome to his doctor. We don't yet know what it means, but it scares me. I think of my daughter, possibly becoming yet another child in my family to not grow up with her father--again, not because of abandonment or imprisonment, but because of health issues.

My organization and several local churches are working with Amy B and the health department on a new initiative to try to reduce the shockingly high infant mortality rates here in Tacoma, especially among communities of color. We met today and Amy B showed us a segment of a documentary called, "Unnatural Causes." This segment was about infant and maternal health in the African-American community, and how low-birth weight and infant mortality are more than twice as high among blacks than whites, at all socioeconomic levels. One major cause: stress. The film points out that a lifetime of cumulative stress for a mother can affect her babies in utero, already putting the children at risk. Like almost everyone Amy B has shown this film to, those of us in the room were stunned and almost in tears by the end of it.

It's because of things like this that I've become so invested in environmental issues. I nursed my daughter for a long time (longer than I wanted to, LOL!), because I wanted to help her have the best start in life I could, given that she already had strikes against her in her family background. It's why I want to provide her and other children from communities of color with access to healthier, affordable foods. It's why I want to prevent their exposure to toxins.

I'm taking steps to start the Hilltop Farms, identifying partners and looking for funding, but it's going to be a lot of work. And the group that Amy B is trying to pull together is trying to create a web of support for low-income pregnant women and new mothers. The link between the two is that we want to provide women in the group with coupons to shop at the Hilltop Farms farmer's market, as well as recipes and meal ideas. WIC provides $10 worth of farmer's market coupons to recipients for the entire season (June-October). That, of course, doesn't go far at all (and yet, I still saw a long line of women lined up for WIC coupons at the Tacoma Farmer's Market last summer, so there IS a demand). Our plan would be to provide a $10 coupon every time a woman attends a workshop, or something like that.

When we met this morning, we talked about how easy it is to get overwhelmed by all the issues. For me, they're personal as well as professional. Trying not to--since now I know more about how damaging stress is...

And please let Obama be able to put in place some form of universal health care! The lack of it is literally killing our country.

Weekend Update

On Saturday, Amy A (me) and Amy B did a workshop on the environment during the youth session of the Washington Alliance of Black School Educators annual conference. Amy B talked about environmental justice, and I talked about individual and collective action and opportunities in the green economy. It didn't go as well as I had hoped. We spoke in the mid-afternoon, and the young people, who had been very engaged in the morning, were tired by then. Also, I wasn't as prepared as I would have liked. But it was a start.

It was also great to get to know Amy B better. In addition to her work in public health, she founded a nonprofit with some of her graduate school classmates that focuses on environmental justice issues locally and tries to make sure that people of color and low-income communities are represented when environmental issues are being addressed here in the state. She also has a cornucopia of animals at home, and invited me to bring my little one over sometime to see them.

Meanwhile, said little one and hubby were visiting a farm here in Pierce County, run by an older black gentleman. My daughter got to see chickens and goats, and pet a baby pig. This farmer is interested in partnering with us for the Hilltop Farms idea by providing produce for a farmer's market that we would like to start up here. Hubby bought two dozen organic eggs from him. I wasn't sure I could taste a difference, but I could definitely see a difference. The yolks are much firmer, and a much brighter golden yellow than non-organic eggs.

When it rains, it pours!

Is there another expression I can use? This one often has negative connotations, and I want to use it the most positive sense.

A short while ago, my boss pulled me into a meeting with a woman from the public health department, also named Amy. (When we first met, she said she was excited to meet another woman of color named Amy, since there aren't many of us!). The discussion turned to all the ways we want to work together to serve the community, in terms of preventing infant mortality, improving health, and improving the environment. It turns out that Amy's college thesis was on the topic of environmental justice in Tacoma. The upshot is that in the long term (meaning the next six months to two years), we want to plan and implement programs including a farmer's market, Hilltop Farms urban gardening, a support program for pregnant women and new mothers, nutrition classes at the local food pantry, and more. And in the short term (meaning this weekend!), Amy and I have been asked to plan a workshop for a group of teens around environmental issues.