{"id":11403,"date":"2020-11-24t17:22:31","date_gmt":"2020-11-24t17:22:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dpetrov.2create.studio\/planet\/wordpress\/how-3-new-york-environmental-organizations-adapted-to-keep-working-during-the-pandemic\/"},"modified":"2023-02-28t18:47:12","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28t18:47:12","slug":"pandemic-environment-orgs-ny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/pandemic-environment-orgs-ny\/","title":{"rendered":"how 3 new york environmental organizations adapted to keep working during the pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"
covid-19 has forced everyone around the world to change the way they live. before the pandemic hit, however, there was another global crisis impacting people\u2019s health and economic security. nasa<\/a> predicts that the continuous increase in global temperatures will result in more frequent droughts and heat waves, more intense hurricanes and more ice melting from the arctic, causing sea levels to rise up to eight feet in the next 80 years. while these issues might seem far into the future, there are many environmental problems that people are facing right now. <\/p>\n in the state of new york, environmental organizations are fighting for access to clean water and clean air for their communities despite obstacles created by the pandemic. food & water watch,<\/a> a national nonprofit founded in 2005, works on a variety of environmental issues including industrial pollution, the spread of diseases by factory farms and the privatization of water.<\/p>\n \u201cwe work very closely with some wonderful groups in buffalo that were contending with, you might say, an epidemic of water shutoffs that became particularly acute with the pandemic because of the absolute imperative for people to be able to wash their hands,\u201d said new york senior organizer eric weltman. <\/p>\n as millions of people all over the country lost their jobs during the pandemic, many were unable to pay rent or their utility bills, resulting in widespread water shutoffs. in june, new york gov. andrew cuomo signed a bill<\/a> banning utility shutoffs until march 31, 2021, at the latest. this landmark piece of legislation is one of many that food & water watch has lobbied elected officials to pass. <\/p>\n another of the organization\u2019s major goals was realized in 2014 when cuomo banned fracking in new york state. however, this has not prevented the construction of other fossil fuel projects including pipelines and fracking power plants, which food & water watch has fought against in order to protect communities from exposure to harmful pollution. weltman says that the pandemic has not slowed down the progress on this campaign or any of the other work that his organization continues to do. <\/p>\n \u201cwe have a range of tools at our disposal to interact with people. and let’s be clear, i mean, we love to see people,\u201d weltman said. \u201cwe miss seeing a lot of our favorite activists and allies face to face but\u2026.we’ve got twitter, we’ve got facebook, we’ve got email, we’ve got texting, we’ve got zoom, we’ve got instagram \u2014 even old-fashioned telephones.\u201d<\/p>\n weltman continued to list all of the ways food & water watch has adapted to the pandemic including calling elected officials, hosting webinars, and sending out petitions. in the past, the nonprofit rented buses to transport people from new york city to albany to lobby in the state\u2019s capital. now, inspired by the marches for black lives matter, weltman and his colleagues have held outdoor rallies where people are required to socially distance and wear masks. <\/p>\n despite not being able to meet with fellow activists or speak with elected officials in person, weltman has found the silver lining to an online approach. <\/p>\n \u201cyou’re able to invite more people to attend and are able to invite more guest speakers. if you want to hold a zoom meeting and have a guest speaker from, you know, los angeles or honolulu or wherever, you just do it,\u201d he said. \u201cpeople are still craving connection and we\u2019re providing it.\u201d<\/p>\n just a little more than 60 miles north of new york city on the hudson river, one of the organizations that food & water watch works with faces its own battle with access to clean water. in the historical district of newburgh, generations of people have been plagued by a variety of illnesses including cancer and compromised immune systems. the newburgh clean water project (ncwp)<\/a> believes the source of this hardship is the long-term contamination of their community\u2019s water sources. <\/p>\n \u201cso we’re fighting lead in our water pipes and in our paint,\u201d said tamsin hollo, one of ncwp\u2019s steering committee members. \u201cwe’re fighting the pfas. we’re fighting pcbs in the hudson river. we’re fighting generations of manufacturing pollution. and most recently, we’re fighting this massive fracked gas power plant expansion just three miles from the center of newburgh.\u201d<\/p>\n according to the environmental protection agency (epa)<\/a>, pfas is an umbrella term for man-made chemicals that do not break down easily over time and have been shown to result in a number of health issues including low birth weight for infants, compromised immune systems, thyroid problems and cancer. pcbs<\/a> are organic chemicals used in industrial and commercial processes that can result in cancer, neurological issues and many other health problems. <\/p>\n deborah brown, also a member of the steering committee and one of the people who founded ncwp in 2017, said that continuous industrialization has created a cycle of pollution, beginning with the construction of the stewart air national guard base in 1934. <\/p>\n \u201cthe (new york state) department of health dropped our watershed from its maps very conveniently to allow the (new york state) department of transportation and the new york new jersey port authority to build a highway right on our watersheds,\u201d brown said. \u201cthere are storm drains so if there was some kind of accident, if there was some kind of spill of chemicals or anything, it goes right into our reservoir.\u201d<\/p>\n according to the u.s. census bureau<\/a>, newburgh\u2019s population is mostly latino and african american. the epa<\/a> has recognized that environmental issues disproportionately impact communities of color and that these communities do not receive the same protections that predominantly white areas do. on top of this, the centers for disease control and prevention (cdc)<\/a> found that communities of color have been at a higher risk from covid-19 due to \u201clong-standing systemic health and social inequities.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cthere definitely is a trend. i think just the term \u2018environmental justice community\u2019 was coined because of the relationship between poverty, race, and contamination,\u201d brown said. \u201cwhen you go around the country, where does the coal ash go? where do all the really toxic end products of the american lifestyle go? they tend to go to the places where poor people live and where people are the least listened to.\u201d <\/p>\n to combat these issues, ncwp successfully advocated to expand blood testing for harmful chemicals by the new york state department of health and demanded that the information also be provided in spanish. before the pandemic, ncwp held in-person events where people would break bread and share information to be prepared when different government agencies like the department of defense held community meetings about pollution coming from the air base. ncwp also held watershed tours where people could go see how the streams running near big box stores like kohl\u2019s and home depot carried trash into various water sources. <\/p>\n now during the pandemic, the grassroots organization continues to work with colleagues like food & water watch to campaign against a number of issues such as preventing a power plant in newburgh that operates only a few days each year from becoming a fracked gas plant that would operate year-round. throughout new york, 150 elected officials, including members of the state senate and state assembly, signed a letter<\/a> urging cuomo to stop the upgrade of danskammer generating station and prevent newburgh residents from being exposed to \u201cthe brunt of air pollution.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cright here, right now, this community cannot survive yet another source of pollution,\u201d hollo said.<\/p>\n in addition to partnering with other organizations, ncwp also relies on social media and webinars to get the word out on the dangers of contaminated water and fossil fuel emissions. according to hollo, who runs ncwp\u2019s social media accounts, there are pros and cons to strictly virtual advocacy. <\/p>\n \u201cnot having that face to face interaction, not having something on paper, i think, has not been the best way to reach out to our communities of color,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n hollo went on to explain that many people in her community only speak spanish or french creole but because ncwp is a small volunteer-based grassroots organization with limited funding, they can\u2019t afford instant translation for webinars and other online events. <\/p>\n \u201ci guess i’ll just say it’s a double-edged sword,\u201d she said. \u201cyou may think you’re reaching, you know, hundreds of thousands of people and you are, but are you reaching all the people for whom this is the most important issue and for whom this is really a life threatening issue?\u201d<\/p>\n despite these limitations, both brown and hollo have been astonished with how effectively social media has mobilized young people. <\/p>\n \u201cyoung people have created a different way of voicing their concerns and certainly the latinx community has definitely come out strong in newburgh against danskammer (power plant),\u201d hollo said. <\/p>\n she also noted that many of the older members of the community were concerned about their vulnerability to covid-19 and were unable to protest in person, creating a unique call to action. <\/p>\n \u201c(young people) had to carry the torch and they did it beautifully,\u201d hollo said. <\/p>\n one organization has used social media as not only a tool for change but as a way to create a network of young climate advocates. new york youth climate leaders (ny2cl)<\/a> is a coalition of 70 individual groups across new york state, founded in november 2019. the leaders of the organization are either in their late teens or completing their first semester of college, while members across the state range from middle schoolers to college undergraduates. the coalition focuses on policy surrounding fossil fuels, renewable energy, health care, and the green new deal. <\/p>\n