Ohio’s Callin; It Wants It’s Rail Funds Back!

Cross-posted from the Ohio Student Environmental Coalition (OSEC) Blog, by Janina Klimas

Ohio students have wasted no time in registering their disenchantment and disapproval of our recently-inaugurated Governor, matching the speed with which John Kasich began  undermining Ohio’s recovery, environmental progress and industrial sector-development with a slew of austerity measures,  anti-environmental policies, and conservative attacks on public services, upper education,  and organized labor. Even before being formally inaugurated as one of the least popular starting governors in our state’s history, Gov. Kasich was overseeing the wreckage of our infrastructural aspirations through the unabashedly-nonsensical and lopsidedly-partisan initiative to kill the ’3C rail corridor;’ a project designed to not only provide alternative transit to one of the most densely traveled corridors in the U.S. currently  not served by high-speed rail, but also to provide jobs for Ohio’s families and beleaguered construction sector, and mobility and access both to Ohio’s young talent and elder residents.

The wash out from his success in killing 3C before even taking office? 16,000 jobs lost, $400 million federal stimulus dollars shipped to other states, and Ohio students joining the rest of the state in their lack of interest in any kind of honeymoon.

Thus, Ohioans sent a bold message on inauguration day; they’re not only mobilizing to hold Kasich accountable from day one, but they’re also building coalitions with labor, education, public services, industrial manufacturing and progressive organizations intent on ‘Defending Ohio’ from Kasich’s backwards policies.  These coalitions represent the true breadth of Ohio’s diverse and vibrant society; families and steelworkers and folks who love their green spaces and lakes and rivers, rather than asphalt industry lobbyists and silicon valley venture capital managers (notable additions to Kasich’s administration).  They represent the true strength of Ohio’s citizens in times like these, and amount to a movement not only for Ohio’s future in socio-political realms, but also for the green economy we know our state deserves and is capable of building.  A green economy our mothers and fathers would recognize, and our kids can be proud of.

Thus, Ohio students amplified their power not only in numbers at Saturdays rally, but also in their ardent potential as Ohio’s future; as intellectual capital in a state battling brain-drain, as an organized and cohesive force to be reckoned with, as social actors who embrace the wholeness and richness of Ohio, and as a movement being DRIVEN crazy by lack of effective public transit, students are showing the leadership and vision they deserve to see matched by our incoming administration.  So far, we’ve found it lacking.  After an outstanding student-caucus following the rally, we’re all excited to keep working together for the Ohio we want; one with it’s rail funds staying in the state, and it’s vibrant public sectors intact. Stay tuned for more student-led actions as Kasich settles into his new office; we’ll be making sure he doesn’t get too comfortable.

The Ohio Student Environmental Coalition is a statewide network of student groups working for a clean, safe, and just future for all, guided by a Steering Committee comprised of student representatives, alumni, and staff supporters.

From The Realm Of Hungry Ghosts To The Blessed Community: Who Do We Want To Be?

“So I admit it seems I’m no citizen functionin’, but the common law works against my every flaw”

A while back, in my early academic exploration of environmental justice (thanks Crystal!), I saw a graph that really blew my mind, both because the immediate implications of the graph were horrifying, and also because it was the kind of data point that has the power to deeply shift the terms of a number of debates by both undermining conservative cynicism about human nature and character (ie: poverty as a result of character defect or essential inferiority, and the primacy of base ‘self-interest’) while also tying together seemingly discrete issues of health, environment, justice, education, planning, poverty, and equity.  At once, the graph was a disturbing indictment of current conditions while also serving as a sign-post towards a better approach to addressing social ‘problems’.

The Thin Green Line

Once jewel of Lorain's industrial crown- this could be you!

I’ve been pretty vocal on this blog about different visions of the green economy.  As I see it, the transformation from gray to green is an opportunity for political economic shift towards a more democratic and decentralized state of affairs defined by cooperation and environmental justice advocacy.  But it’s by no means always clear cut.

So I present to you the (still hypothetical) Lorain County aquaculture complex:

An environmental consultant for the owners of the former Ford Motor Co. Lorain Assembly Plant will explore the possibility of a new aquaponic farm at the site, which sits at the intersection of Baumhart Road and US 6.

Officials said yesterday the concept is in early stages and installation will depend on future financing.

“It’s very much in the planning stages,” Wayne Dorband, of Loveland, Colo., said. “There’s no commitments from anybody from a financial aspect at this point.

“There’s at least a potential that the site could have that end use,” he added. “Certainly this is a business we will be in. Now we have to see if Lorain is the right location and if we can get financing.”

Last week, Dorband and Bevan Suits, of Decatur, Ga., announced their intention to form Worldwide Aquaculture LLC to promote the aquaponic technology. Dorband has a doctorate in fisheries management and Suits is the author of “The Aquaponics Guidebook,” an online guide to the indoor fisheries and gardens.

The Ford plant owners, IRG Lorain LLC, declined to comment on the possible fish farm there because the project is in its early stages.

However, the project has created buzz online when at least one green news Web site, www.treehugger.com, published a story and bird’s-eye view diagram of the Lorain plan. The proposed layout would have 86,000 square feet of planting beds and 303,743 gallons of water for fish.

The Lorain project could involve investment up to $5 million and create up to 55 jobs when operating, Dorband said. The concept involves concurrent, balanced growth of plants and fish, according to the Worldwide Aquaculture plans.

The fish could be tilapia, which Suits described as the preferred aquaculture species worldwide. The fish grow from fingerlings to a pound in about eight months and a 500-gallon tank can produce 250 pounds of live fish.

Fish in tanks produce waste, which is ammonia that is pumped out to become nitrates that feed plants.

The plants, probably greens that mature quickly, grow in gravel beds that filter the water, which is then pumped back into the fish tanks.

“The system is completely recirculating,” Dorband said. “There’s no discharge for any potential pollution for any outside source.”

Americans generally eat food grown far away — an average of 1,500 miles away, Dorband said. However, the aquaponic proponents believe food production will become more local over time as transportation costs continue to rise, Dorband said.

“We believe that regional food production will become the norm long-term,” he said.

The IRG site has highway access, lots of space and plenty of water, while Lorain is located near Cleveland and the northern Ohio market, Dorband said. His son is working on a similar shrimp farm near Beaufort, S.C., which would be close to the Charlotte, N.C., and Savannah, Ga., markets, Dorband said. Additional details could become available in the next few months, Dorband said.

“The biggest constraint in any of our projects right now is financing,” he said.

What do you think?  If there are any local food advocates or people from the labor community reading (unlikely, but you never know) I’d love to hear thoughts.  My only concern is a wary one, in that I wish there could be something that would be a little more labor-intensive.  That plant used to support a lot of workers (I wish I knew where to go for a count), and 55 jobs, while great, is not everything the doctor ordered for my erstwhile Obie-home.  It’s probably too early to say, but I was intrigued and warily amped about it, and I’d like to hear other reactions.

At the end of the day, I’m so interested to see how this turns out because it’s just another example of the experiment we’re engaging in out here in the frontiers of the green economy in the Midwest.  That Ford plant is a pretty solid metaphor for the predicament of much of this area.  It stands a testament to the once-prosperity, prosperity we know won’t come back exactly the same way.  Green offers an opportunity, but it depends on how we do it.  There are huge stakes involved in how the hell we transition the Midwest from what it was to what it will be.  We’re laying down that pipe and writing that script right now.  It’s interesting and terrifying, and in no small part why I stick around here, why I’m so excited and lucky to be here.

Peace,
Joel

Profiles In Awesome, Episode IV: Environmental Justice Legal Action

This may be the most important reason for Avatar to exist- to highlight that this is still happening.  A lot.

There are times when you have to cooperate, and there are times when you have to fight.  I was having a conversation yesterday (at a party… sigh.  I love Obies) about social entrepreneurship and the value of coalition building and working with business for good solutions versus the necessity of sometimes fighting, conquering, and winning against the forces that oppress you.

Kivalina,  “a traditional Inupiat Eskimo community of about 390 people about 625 miles northwest of Anchorage” faces the loss of the environmental conditions that made life possible on their island.  And they’re taking Exxon-Mobil to court to get their relocation money, for global warming damages (damages that have been documented by the Army Corps of Engineers and General Accounting Office).  For more information check out the Shishmaref Erosion and Relocation Coalition, which I believe is allied with Kivalina in the suit.

I first wanted to call global warming a long-term threat to indigenous (and poor, and women, and children, and people of color, and everyone) lifestyles, but the fact is, it’s happening right now.  But while global warming makes ways of life untenable, the extraction of fuels that lead to global warming also manage to make life itself untenable, by poisoning the actual bodies of the marginalized.

In the Ecuadorean Amazon, indigenous peoples face not necessarily the ill effects of global warming, but the environmental degradation that precedes and facilitates it.  Like Shishmaref and Kivalina, these indigenous people are taking Chevron to court for the damage done to them.  In this case it’s not because of loss of resources, but because of lack of safe drinking water and a huge spike of cancer.

Finally, environmental justice activists take legal action not just due to the loss of ways of life and health catastrophes, but because of political instability, oppression, and collusion in assassination and human rights violations.  In the Niger Delta, the family of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni Nine managed to get a $15.5 Million settlement from Shell, charging that they had collaborated with the Nigerian military to execute the writer and leader, Ken Saro-Wiwa.

In the spirit of Howard Zinn, I like to recognize the amazing work being done by these true heroes defending their political, economic, and environmental freedoms.  This is both out of admiration for their example and because their work helps accomplish what federal policy has so far completely failed to do- make polluters pay for the damage they do, and provide a strong incentive for better behavior.  Little by little, as more communities take up arms and defend themselves, getting the value taken from them in health and resources, I hope we can, across struggles, begin to build a better green economy.

Peace,
Joel

ps. I focus on only three environmental justice struggles, but it goes without saying that these struggles exist everywhere, and environmental injustices affect all manner of people (though as a rule, disproportionately the poor, people of color, women, and children).  Appalachia, the South Bronx, the Navajo, the Lakota, the Latino migrant farmworkers, the Blacks and poor of Louisiana’s cancer alley, the rural farm communities of the Great Plains and Midwest.  It is this that actually gives me hope for an eventual coalition that crosses all these boundaries and can effectively organize and advocate on behalf of the specter that plagues us all, the concentration of power and influence in the hands of a few.

pps. this does not mean I’m against cooperating with people.  This does mean that I think there needs to be resistance and challenging and power building along with cooperation.  Both carrots and sticks.  We need more of both (though I think confrontation particularly could really use a boost these days), and less of tuning out.

Cartoons Explain Cap And Trade

"Cap? Trade? CAPTAIN PLANET SMASH MULTINATIONAL CORPORATE-AUTHORITARIANISM!"- my dream hero

Granted there are more sophisticated explanations out there (Climate Progress, Center For Biological Diversity, 350.org, Friends Of The Earth, Sierra Club, and 1Sky can all probably help you), and this is a very contentions issue (about which I really need to do more homework), but frankly, I think cartoons are probably more accessible.  Unfortunately they’re not both on Youtube, so here, unceremoniously, are the links to the cartoons For and Against of cap and trade.

I am pretty skeptical of cap and trade.  I used to be a bit of a Climate Progress (which is pretty pro-ACES and more favorable of Obama than I am) true believer, but the more I watched health care and other progressive battles the less I was able to completely buy its coverage.  I will wholly admit though that I’ve got a lot of learning to do to dig into each sides’ argument.  Cartoons are a great first step.

Peace,
Joel

A Tale Of Two Johns, Or What Is Green?

The savior of Detroit?

The savior of organic agriculture and health?

I saw a post over at OpenLeft by Natasha Chart (one of my favorites there) that I want to highlight, because I think that piece, and one I read in the New Yorker (a profile of Whole Foods CEO John Mackey), are important for understanding the different potential routes the green economy might take.  Because this revolutionary economic shift can either correct or codify the problems of the old system, it’s essential that we identify what we think are that system’s features and flaws.  This discussion will focus on the urban and organic agriculture subcommunities of the larger environmental movement.  Proceed below the flip:

350 Alert: Climate Change Already Happening

No wonder they managed to get 15,000 people to a 350 rally in Ethiopia.

LA Times has a harrowing story up about how climate change is already exacerbating Africa’s refugee crisis.  Their figure for the number of refugees whose status can be attributed to climate change driven drought (1o million) does not even account for the wars that are already being fought over that drought in the Sahel and other arid regions.  This 10 million figure ought to be considered a low-end estimate for climate refugees, as conflict (like that in Sudan, Chad, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Central Asia, and anywhere that depends on a glacier for water) becomes increasingly tied to climate change.

How does this affect us (in case international misery isn’t enought to get you incensed)?  Paul Rosenberg at OpenLeft had a piece up yesterday about the national security implications of climate change.  Despair, frustration, and resentment borne of climate change will continue to produce blooms of conflict- conflict the likes of which we’re currently spending billions dealing with every day.  Billions spent on conflict (to say nothing of the war-dead) saps our will and ability to deal with domestic ‘issues’ like energy, health, and education reform that demand attnetion if we are to maintain anything resembling a secure livelihood.  As I mentioned in the caption of one of the 350 pictures I found yesterday, the national security community cannot afford to bullshit on climate change.  They know that we are in for a world of conflict if climate change gets as bad as it could, if we don’t prevent the worst from happening now.

And of course, it bears repeating that the people who are already beginning to suffer the most had the least to do with contributing to this problem, and have received next to nothing of the benefits from industrialization and first-world development.  Climate change is happening now, and it’s happening to those who had nothing to do with bringing it on.  Those people know where the blame lies.

Call your congresspeople, senators and President Obama every day demanding a recognition of a 350 ppm target.  I’m not even addressing whether that’s politically feasible.  The public option wasn’t politically feasible until we made it so, and now the administration and Democratic leaders are shitting a brick trying to figure out how to avoid responsibility for it.  Changing what’s politically feasible officially starts now.

Thank You Sherrod Brown

It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve proposed some good old fashioned civic action, so here’s something to hold you over for a dreary Tuesday.

Senator Sherrod Brown released yesterday one of the strongest statements of support for both green manufacturing and climate legislation I’ve seen from any Senator, Midwestern or otherwise, over at RollCall.com. Here are some choice excerpts:

“Some people would say that our current economic crisis compels us to delay action on comprehensive climate change legislation. I disagree. Inaction is not an option. Capping carbon emissions can create new jobs in a clean energy economy. Without action, we face dangerous consequences. We risk the health of our citizens, the viability of our coastal areas, the productivity of our nation’s farms, forests and fisheries, and the long-term economic and national security of our country.

To Northern Ohio Readers

It looks like I really stepped in it this time.

I’d like to apologize for some of the more insensitive comments I made in the previous post. I should have known better than to make light (though I wasn’t trying to) of Representative Kaptur’s wariness towards California and Massachussetts written legislation. The people of the Midwest have been underserved by coastal dominance of the federal process, and it makes perfect sense that she would want to ensure Ohioan representation of interest. If I had been a better note-taker I would have been able to give some more direct coverage of her concerns, could have done them better justice. I will say that in listening to her it was clear that the defense of her constituents was a major, if not the top, priority. To her credit, she was able to maintain that protective stance while also listening to and honestly considering our arguments and encouragement, which many have labeled (I think mistakenly) as extremely dangerous to our job and economic prospects. It would have been easy to write us off and ignore us as uninformed and out of our element, but she remained strong to her position while staying respectful and open to our interests.

Movie Screening on Monday: Trouble the Water

Please welcome Sarah Frank, of Sankofa school/Gather at the Table fame for her first post here at Citizen Obie. Here’s me hoping for more in the future! -JS

The film’s tagline reads, “It’s not about a hurricane.  It’s about America.”  Trouble the Water is a highly acclaimed documentary about the struggle for survival before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina.  Directors Tia Lessin and Carl Deal incorporate footage filmed by Kimberly Rivers Roberts, a New Orleans’ resident who survived the storm in her home.  

The film will be screened on Monday, April 20th at 7:30 PM in King 106 and will be followed by a discussion with director Carl Deal.  

Hurricane Katrina has been all but lost from our social justice radar in the years since it occurred.  But residents of New Orleans, both in the city and scattered all over the country, are still struggling to recover from the devastation. Hurricane Katrina was not a natural disaster.  In fact, everyone knew just how much of a disaster it would be, particularly for New Orleans’ poor and black residents.  For your social justice event of Monday, come see this very moving film and hear from the director!