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Environmental Action 2009 Conference Schedule
Environmental Action 2009 Schedule 8:00-9:00 Registration and Breakfast. Special Event: Booksigning with Dr. Sandra Steingraber! 9:00-9:20 Welcome 9:30-10:45 Workshop Session I 10:55-12:10 Workshop Session II 12:20-1:30 Lunch/Discussions
1:40-2:40 Keynote Speaker: Dr. Sandra Steingraber 2:40-3:00 Awards 3:10-4:25 Workshop Session III 4:30 Reception Special Event: Booksigning with Dr. Sandra Steingraber!
Stopping Global Warming Starts at Home Last year Massachusetts took major steps to cap and begin to reduce our global warming pollution. Join advocates, organizers and legislators to learn what Massachusetts is doing, and needs to do to meet the challenge of global warming head on. WORKSHOP LEADER: Winston Vaughan is the Field Organizer for Environment Massachusetts. He began his public interest career as a citizen outreach director and has directed campaign offices in New York, Cleveland, Cincinnati and, most recently, Los Angeles, where he worked to pass first-of-its-kind legislation expanding roof-top solar power and curbing global warming pollution. Mr. Vaughan also worked as a development associate with Environment New Mexico to expand environmental organizing in the most rapidly growing region of the country. He graduated from Oberlin College in 2003 with degrees in politics and third world studies. Solving Our Waste Crisis by Closing the Loop: Moving Towards Zero Waste What are we going to do with all our trash? Experts say we can divert 70-90% of what we throw away and drastically reduce the need for burning and burying through policies like pay as you throw, waste bans and producer responsibility. Cities and regions across the world are now adopting zero waste as a policy and a goal that can create jobs, conserve energy, and reduce pollution from waste disposal. The Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District (CVSWD) recently adopted a zero waste goal and is currently working to eliminate organics from their waste stream. Based on their current plans, they estimate reaching a 50-60% diversion rate in five years, and now the entire state is moving towards adopting a zero waste plan. Come find out more about zero waste in Vermont and how you can set your state or community on the path to zero. WORKSHOP LEADER: Donna Barlow-Casey is the Executive Director of the Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District (CVSWMD), which represents and provides solid waste services for 22 cities and towns, including Vermont’s state capital. She has over 17 years of professional experience in the solid waste management field. Most recently, CVSWMD became one of the few organizations in the U.S. to develop a zero-waste plan, which is guiding its waste policy, practice and programming for the next decade. Understanding Contamination in Air, Water and Soil: How to find the data, how samples are collected, and how to interpret test results Whether trying to understand environmental reports or taking your own samples, you need to know the testing protocol and what the reports mean. In this workshop, learn how to understand air, soil and water test results. Also know what to look for and what data is already out there. Bring copies of environmental reports with plans and figures or your testing results and your questions for this interactive workshop. WORKSHOP LEADERS: Christene Binger is the Senior Hydrogeologist and Massachusetts Health and Safety Officer for GeoInsight, Inc.She has worked on many different environmental projects primarily in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Her work has focused on the investigation, assessment, and remediation of petroleum hydrocarbon, chlorinated solvents, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). This experience includes evaluating plume migration in both surficial and fractured bedrock aquifers. Ms. Binger has managed ground water extraction, soil vapor extraction, and oxygen injection remedial systems, and implemented in situ chemical oxidation remedial techniques. Ms. Binger completed a graduate degree at Washington State University (WSU) focusing on chlorinated solvent interactions with soil. . Cindy Keegan has a Civil Engineering degree from UMass and has been working in the environmental field for over 20 years. She has worked as an EHS manager for manufacturing facilities, as a consultant, and for environmental non-profits. She volunteers much of her time as the Chair of Salem’s Renewable Energy Task Force, on the board of Salem Alliance for the Environment (SAFE), and for HealthLink. She was the primary contributor to the EPA funded North Shore AIR project that reviewed all the air and health data in the towns of Marblehead, Salem, and Beverly. Raising the Funds You Need to Move your Group Forward in Challenging Times Join experienced fundraisers to learn about creative methods to raise funds to support your groups work in your community, region, and state. This workshop will be tailored to your needs. So bring your questions and past experiences to share and learn about fundraising opportunities including (but not limited to): grants of all sizes, working with community and small family foundations, running mail and phone appeals, special events like house parties, raffles, and silent auctions, face-to-face donor meetings, online tools, business sponsorships/partnerships and more! We’ll focus on practical answers and provide useful resources to take home. WORKSHOP LEADERS: For the past eight years, Ginny Callan has been a Program Officerat the New England Grassroots Environment Fund (NEGEF), working with groups from Massachusetts and Vermont. Shehasbeen a grassroots organizer since the 1970’s, focusing on energy, environmental and human rights issues. Ginny worked for the American Cancer Society as the Grassroots Director of Advocacy. She is the founder of the Horn of the Moon Café in Montpelier, Vermont, a vegetarian café that closed its doors after 23 years in business. She has written two natural food cookbooks, Horn of the Moon Cookbook and Beyond the Moon Cookbook. Ginny has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Goddard College. Megan Stokes EnvironMentors This workshop gives an introduction to EnvironMentors, a high school mentoring program devoted to helping students achieve success in college. Focusing on math and science skills, the program matches students with dedicated mentors to develop and execute an environmental project. A national program, the Boston EnvironMentors chapter is a partnership between Colleges of the Fenway and the City of Boston’s Odyssey High School. Environmental Action 2009 attendees interested in becoming Mentors and/or interested in suggesting future environmental projects are encouraged to attend. WORKSHOP LEADER: Jack Duggan is a faculty member at Wentworth and is a licensed professional environmental engineer. He is the Program Director for the Boston chapter of EnvironMentors. Saving Energy At Home Efficiency starts at home. Part of that efficiency comes from minimizing maintenance costs and part comes from minimizing operating costs. Come learn about the latest in home efficiency ideas and technologies, including where to find the best and latest compact fluorescent light bulbs, the truth about good air-sealing, and more simple steps you can take to noticeably lighten your home’s load on the planet. WORKSHOP LEADERS: Laura Kischitz is founder of Sustainable Life Solutions, which helps individuals save money and energy, and reduce toxins and consumption in their lives. Through “Green” Home Parties, Employee Eco-Fairs, and “Green” Educational programs, individuals learn how to take advantage of simple solutions, subsidy/rebate programs, and technology which results in fuel, electricity and toxin reductions, as well as financial savings. Laura is Co-Chair the Bolton (MA) Energy Committee and author of a series of sustainable living articles for Community Solutions newspaper columns. She is also the inventor of custom recycling centers and holds a B.S. in Management from Boston College. www.sustainablelifesolutions.com Extended Producer Responsibility and Clean Production Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is the extension of the responsibility of producers for the environmental impacts of their products and packaging to the entire product life cycle – and especially for their take-back, recycling, and disposal. Come learn about the policies that make producers responsible and the science that goes into clean production. WORKSHOP LEADERS: John McNabb is the former Director of Research & Policy at Clean Water Action and former Asst. Legislative Liaison for the Mass. DEP 1983-1989, has been a member of the Cohasset Water Commission since 1997. In 1998 John co-founded the15-town South Shore Recycling Cooperative, and has successful experience helping citizen groups block the siting of solid waste facilities and other polluting facilities in their communities. Pam Eliason has been working in the research arm of the Toxics Use Reduction Institute since 2000. She manages the Sustainability Research Fellows, Cleaner Technology Demonstration Site and Industry Matching Grant programs and facilitates Environmental Management Systems (EMS) industry workgroups in Massachusetts. She promotes Green Chemistry research and application in academia and industry. Prior to joining the Institute, she worked for 15 years in environmental engineering consulting, providing services that included Toxics Use Reduction planning and multi-media regulatory compliance auditing for industries across the country. Ms. Eliason earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Chemical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and did her Master’s work in Environmental Engineering at the University of New Hampshire. Issue Summit—Phasing Out Pesticides in the Commonwealth: Strategize for 2009 with the Massachusetts Coalition for Pesticide Reduction Whether they are called fungicides, herbicides or insecticides, these toxic pesticides are designed to kill. The good news is that less toxic solutions to pest problems exist, with organic pest management leading the way. Two years ago, Toxics Action Center and more than thirty-five groups launched the Massachusetts Coalition for Pesticide Reduction which won its second victory last fall by halting pesticide spraying proposed by the Massachusetts Highway Department. Unfortunately, Masshighways has announced plans to spray this year. Help us plan our pesticide-reduction strategy in 2009, and assist choosing new priorities. We need your help! SUMMIT LEADERS: Dr. Margaret Connors is the Co-Director of the Neighborhood Pesticide Action Committee (NPAC) – a Boston-based movement to transition the city’s parks and open space to pesticide-free zones. Trained in medical anthropology, she worked for over a dozen years in HIV prevention and research with intravenous drug users, and currently consults on research and evaluation of public health interventions. Margaret has worked with NPAC since its inception, when the group succeeded at influencing the city’s public health policy on the West Nile Virus. Meredith Lee is the Community Organizer for Rhode Island and Eastern Massachusetts for Toxics Action Center. She is currently working to promote a Zero Waste Plan for Massachusetts, as well as working with a number of groups in Rhode Island, including the Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island. Prior to working with Toxics Action, she worked worked as a lead organizer in Michigan, New Hampshire and Colorado during the 2008 presidential election. She graduated in the spring of 2008 from Pomona College with a B.A. in Biology and Environmental Studies. 21st Century Public Transportation Expanding public transportation is critical to fighting global warming, reducing hazardous air pollution, decreasing traffic and improving our overall quality of life. Unfortunately, $8 billion in debt has crippled the MBTA, delaying expansions and improvements that should have happened years ago. Furthermore, the state continues to fail to meet the needs of riders in low income neighborhoods and neighborhoods of color. Come learn about the problems public transit faces in Massachusetts and how you can get involved to help solve them. WORKSHOP LEADERS: Eric Bourassa is MASSPIRG's Consumer Advocate and coordinates MASSPIRG's advocacy in promoting public transportation. Eric also serves as co-chair of the MBTA Riders Oversight Committee, a citizen advisory council to the T. He has also authored numerous MASSPIRG reports, including Derailed By Debt: Unhealthy Choices The MBTA Will Be Forced To Make in FY2009 – FY2010. Earlier in his career with MASSPIRG, Eric spearheaded the successful effort to require tobacco companies to sell safer, self-extinguishing cigarettes in Massachusetts. Eric has testified before the state legislature on many different public interest issues, and is extensively quoted in Boston area and national news outlets. Before coming to MASSPIRG, Eric organized social service programs for the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations. Eric received his Masters Degree in American Studies from Brown University and graduated with honors from Dickinson College in 2000. He's been working with MASSPIRG since 2003. Lee Matsueda, ACE Green Initiatives at Colleges of the Fenway This workshop gives an introduction to the student-run environmental clubs on the Colleges of the Fenway campuses. Colleges of the Fenway include Wentworth, Wheelock, Simmons, Emmanuel, Mass Art and Mass College of Pharmacy. Currently, environmental clubs are involved in a variety of initiatives including campus sustainability and global warming awareness. The workshop will have an open forum format to allow conference attendees to share their experiences and initiatives with students with the goal of developing future partnerships. The workshop will be coordinated by Wentworth’s Green Team, a student club. Lobbying from the District Maintaining Your Group for the Long Haul There are reasons why groups come together and fall apart, and there are things you can do to maintain and build them. Learn how to identify problems within your group, and solutions to fix those problems. You will also learn models of governing that will help strengthen methods of communication, decision-making, group-building and help to maintain a leadership team. This will be an interactive workshop – come with questions! WORKSHOP LEADER: Meredith Small is the Organizing Director for Toxics Action Center. She oversees our community organizing work in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Before taking over as Organizing Director, Meredith began her work with Toxics Action Center in 2006 as the Community Organizer in New Hampshire where, among other things, she coordinated the grassroots campaign to ban the burning of construction and demolition debris. Prior to moving to New England, she worked for three years on environmental, poverty, affordable education, and democracy reform campaigns in California, Oregon and New York. Strategies For Beating the Big Boxes & Strengthening Your Communities Efforts toward Sustainable Growth The design and growth of a community is linked to obesity rates, energy consumption, affordability, water quality and availability and general livability of a place. Sprawl is Join Andre Leroux of the MA Smart Growth Alliance and Al Norman of Sprawl-Busters two key Massachusetts leaders in an interactive workshop and discussion about how to promote sustainable development in your community and stop inappropriate growth when proposed. WORKSHOP LEADERS: André Leroux is the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance, a coalition that promotes healthy and diverse communities, protects critical environmental resources and working landscapes, advocates for housing and transportation choices, and supports equitable community development and urban reinvestment. For nearly five years, André was the Director of Planning and Policy at Lawrence CommunityWorks, where he led an award-winning community planning and revitalization effort called the Reviviendo Gateway Initiative (RGI) in Lawrence, MA. André co-authored a PolicyLink report in 2007 with MIT Professor Lorlene Hoyt called Voices from Forgotten Cities: Innovative Revitalization Coalitions in America's Older Small Cities. Al Norman is the founder of Sprawl-Busters, an international clearinghouse on big box sprawl issues, and organizing consultant to hundreds of communities around the world. Norman is the author of Slam-Dunking Wal-Mart an underground classic for neighborhood groups, and also the Case Against Wal-Mart. Norman a former journalist for Newsweek lives in Greenfield, MA. He owns one share of Wal-Mart stock. Bottled Water and the Race to Protect Local Water from Corporate Giants Bottled water is emerging as the next great environmental issue, threatening local control of water resources, using enormous quantities of energy and producing toxins. Come learn about the many ways that bottled water threatens your health and local and global water environments. Corporate Accountability International will tell you how you can get involved in their Think Outside the Bottle Campaign to fight water privatization. Local activists from Montague, MA will also share their stories. WORKSHOP LEADERS: Rob Kerth is the Massachusetts Field Organizer with Corporate Accountability International. Currently, he's leading a statewide organizing effort aimed at getting Governor Patrick to eliminate state spending on bottled water. Previously, he has worked for the 1Sky campaign in New Hampshire, pressuring both major presidential candidates to strengthen their positions on global warming, and has canvassed and directed an office for the Fund for Public Interest Research. Rob graduated from Yale University in 2008. John Stewart is a Field Organizer with Corporate Accountability International. John went to school at Georgetown University, where he pursued degrees in Spanish and Latin American Studies, with a focus on studying social movements. In the fall, he worked with 1Sky Campaign in Madison, Wisconsin, to build broad grassroots support for bold action on climate change, such as creating 5 million green jobs and cutting global warming pollution 25 percent by 2020. Currently, he is coordinating four state-wide campaigns for Corporate Accountability International’s Think Outside the Bottle Campaign working to take direct action against Nestle’s abuses of local communities. Joanne Sunshower, M.Div., has been a social change agent since organizing high school councils to address interracial relations in the 1960’s. She has worked to build community strength through food coops, work exchange, and as an organic farmer and midwife. She was a founder of Centro Presente, Cambridge, MA, and was a member of the caucus that founded the Women’s Theological Institute in Boston.She is coordinator of the Montague Alliance to Protect our Water, that played a significant role in stopping Nestle from invading the Montague Aquifer in Western Massachusetts. Issue Summit— Don’t Waste Massachusetts! - Strategize to Stop Waste Incineration and Promote Waste Reduction Over the next year, Massachusetts environmental agencies will draft and release a new Solid Waste Master Plan governing how the state will manage garbage for the next decade. Over the years, recycling rates have stagnated, and now the state is considering opening the door for new incinerators across the Commonwealth. Toxics Action Center has joined other groups including Clean Water Action, the Sierra Club, the Conservation Law Foundation, MASSPIRG and RATS, to push the state to stop waste incineration and promote waste reduction. Come learn how you can get involved. We need your help! SUMMIT LEADER: Sylvia Broude is the Lead Organizer for Toxics Action Center. She oversees our community organizing work in Southern New England and also assists communities to tackle everything from cleaning up hazardous waste sites, to halting the construction of poorly-sited energy and waste facilities, to reducing pesticide use in lakes and ponds and along roadways. Before taking over as Lead Organizer, Sylvia worked for three years as the Community Organizer in Western Massachusetts and Connecticut. Prior to joining Toxics Action, she ran electoral campaigns in Florida and New Jersey with MoveOn.org Political Action and the Sierra Club. She has a B.A. in anthropology from Yale University. Linking Environmental Justice with Breast Cancer Advocacy This workshop will explore intersections between the environmental justice and breast cancer advocacy communities. Sandra Steingraber will discuss findings from her work related to early puberty among communities of color. Presenters will also discuss breast cancer trends across race and class lines, and the structural and environmental drivers of these health disparities. The workshop will conclude with a conversation about collective action and policy approaches to addressing these problems. WORKSHOP LEADERS: Ami Zota is a postdoctoral research fellow for Silent Spring with expertise in exposure assessment, source apportionment air pollution modeling, environmental epidemiology, and community-based research methods. She is currently working on the Breast Cancer and Environmental Justice Project to understand sources and exposure pathways of outdoor and indoor air pollutants in a fence-line environmental justice community. Dr. Zota completed her doctorate in environmental health at the Harvard School of Public Health under the direction of Professor Jack Spengler. Dr. Zota received an award at the 2006 International Society for Environmental Epidemiology Conference for her work to determine how pregnant women and young children are being exposed to mining-related metal pollutants. Ecologist, author, and cancer survivor, Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D. is an internationally recognized expert on the environmental links to cancer and reproductive health. She has taught biology at Columbia College, Chicago, held visiting fellowships at the University of Illinois, Radcliffe/Harvard, and Northeastern University, and served on President Clinton’s National Action Plan on Breast Cancer. Steingraber’s highly acclaimed book, Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment presents cancer as a human rights issue. It was the first to bring together data on toxic releases with newly released data from U.S. cancer registries. In 1997, Steingraber was named a Ms. Magazine Woman of the Year. In 1999, the Sierra Club heralded Steingraber as “the new Rachel Carson.” And in 2001, Carson’s own alma mater, Chatham College, selected Steingraber to receive its biennial Rachel Carson Leadership Award. A View From the Top: The Department of Environmental Protection in 2009 We are very fortunate to be able to offer a workshop with one of the top environmental officials in Massachusetts: Department of Environmental Protection Deputy Commissioner Lucy Edmondson. Find out about environmental success stories from this past year and the Department of Environmental Protection’s vision for future work in this interactive session. Bring your questions! WORKSHOP LEADER: MassDEP Commissioner Laurie Burt has appointed Lucy C. Edmondson as MassDEP’s Deputy Commissioner for Policy and Planning. Before coming to MassDEP, Edmondson spent 13 years at the New England Office of the U.S. EPA in Boston, where she was the Energy and Transportation Team Leader in the EPA Office of Ecosystem Protection. She has been recognized with the National Gold Medal, EPA’s highest honor, for her work to reduce diesel pollution. She was a member of the Green Team, which worked to reduce the environmental impact of EPA’s New England operations. Prior to joining EPA, she was a transportation planner for the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM) in Boston, a public education coordinator for the Union of Concerned Scientists in Cambridge, and a director and organizer for the Public Interest Research Groups in Oregon and Massachusetts. She holds an undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College in Maine, and a Masters Degree in Environmental Policy from Tufts University in Medford. Good Green Jobs Green jobs are all the rage, but what is a good green job? Millions of dollars will are being to address this long-underserved need and this region is among the national leaders in developing these programs. This panel will focus on the efforts to develop high quality, lasting employment in the environmental sector. Local Foods: A Growing Movement The local food movement is changing the way we eat in New England. Learn about: Why it is more important than ever to eat locally; How to start up a community Farmers Market; and How to get involved and/or start up a Community Garden. Please join us in hearing important perspectives about what we can do at the personal and community level to increase and support our reliance on fresh, delicious and often organically grown local food in New England. WORKSHOP LEADERS: Fred Yen is the founder & manager of Winchester Farmers Market and board member of the Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Market. Fred has been an organic community gardener for 30 yrs. He is also a committee member of the Winchester Energy Management Committee charged with reducing energy use in municipal buildings and an active member of Sustainable Winchester whose mission is to promote sustainable lifestyles. Fred is the owner of Double Dragon Development Inc a residential construction business. Carol Bonnar , an avid urban community gardener, has become increasingly interested and involved in environmentally responsible gardening. As a board member of the South End Lower Roxbury Open Space Land Trust (SELROSLT) and coordinating committee of the Worcester Street Community Gardening (WSCG), she has joined a network of urban gardeners who enjoy the collective efforts of working with folks from diverse cultures. The WSCG is the second largest community garden in the South End, with over 100 garden plots. WSCG gardeners are involved in an ambitious soil remediation project in anticipation of the 2009 season. Carol has a master’s degree in education from Harvard and is a certified fundraising professional. Her career has been in nonprofit management and administration. The New Threat: Debunking Gasification and Other Incinerators in Disguise Companies like Casella, Covanta, and Caletta Renewable Energy claim a revolutionary solution to our waste and energy crises. They say that gasification, plasma arc and other “conversion” technologies are “emissions free” and “zero waste,” that they will fight global warming, and make garbage disappear. Fortunately, we know the truth about these technologies and are working to unmask these incinerators in disguise. Come find out about the next big threat to public health, environment and climate throughout Southern New England. Proposals for these facilities are popping up all around Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, and Massachusetts is currently considering lifting a moratorium that would open the door to even more waste incineration in the state. This workshop will discuss gasification in relation to garbage, construction and demolition debris and coal. WORKSHOP LEADERS: Monica Wilson co-coordinates GAIA's global network. She joined the network in 2002, previously serving as GAIA's lead U.S. organizer. She has also worked in the U.S. on corporate responsibility and environmental health issues and on a campaign against Shell Oil's abuses in Nigeria. Monica currently serves on the board of the Grassroots Recycling Network. She is also a master composter. Monica is based in GAIA's Berkeley, U.S. office. Shanna Cleveland is a Staff Attorneyfor Conservation Law Foundation working to advance climate protection through promoting effective legislation, energy efficiency and renewable energy, and initiatives aimed at reducing reliance on fossil fuels. Shanna earned her B.A. from Harvard University with honors and her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she served as an Executive Editor for the Virginia Law Review. She worked as a litigation attorney before receiving her LL.M. in Environmental Law from the Vermont Law School with honors. She is admitted to practice in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the State of Hawaii, and the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii. Issue Summit— Stopping Dirty Power Plants: Strategize to Make Sure Governor Patrick Delivers on His Promise for Clean Energy Last year the state of Massachusetts passed the Global Warming Solutions Act, capping global warming emissions up to 25% by 2020, and 80% by 2050. This is one of the strongest policies in the country to fight global warming, yet proposals to build new dirty fossil fuel burning power plants are still cropping up throughout the state. These proposed oil- and gas-fired power plants not only threaten global climate, but they also endanger public health and target many overburdened communities across the state. Come together with community groups from across the state to develop a statewide strategy calling on Governor Patrick to deliver on his promise for clean energy today and ensure a healthy tomorrow. SUMMIT LEADER: Alison Carney is the Western Massachusetts Community Organizer for Toxics Action Center. She is currently working with community groups on several campaigns, including Citizens United for a Healthy Future in Northampton. She is also working on Toxics Action's statewide Zero Waste Campaign. Alison started at Toxics Action after spending the fall working on the presidential campaign. She graduated from Wellesley College in 2007 with a BA in Peace and Justice Studies and Middle Eastern Studies.
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