Viva la Feminista

Environmental justice is an important issue to many Latino communities. Our communities are often located near smoke stacks, polluted land, undrinkable water, on and on. In Chicago, the Tribune ran a story today about our polluted communities*:  Federal and state officials have known for more than six years about hazardous levels of brain-damaging lead in a vacant lot near Walsh Elementary School in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. Yet even after field investigators raised alarms about children possibly inhaling or ingesting contaminated soil, the half-acre lot hasn't been fenced off or cleaned up. Nor have government officials posted signs warning residents in the low-income, largely Latino neighborhood that the lot is tainted with toxic lead dust. How are we expecting our children to grow up strong and learn all they can in school if they can't even breath clean air? If you ponder this question too, why not join in on a blog carnival that is happening? Moms...

DiálogoEcológico De los Redactores de E/La Revista Ecológica Querido DiálogoEcológico: ¿Qué está pasando con la propuesta de convertir parte del Gran Bosque Boreal en Maine en un gran parque nacional? -- Peter Griswold, Jaffrey, NH La idea de tornar una porción grande de las forestas en Maine central en un parque nacional se remonta por lo menos 150 años cuando él mismo Henry David Thoreau sugirió convertir a la región en "una reserva ecológica nacional" en ensayos acerca de sus viajes por el área a pie y en canoa en los años 1850. Hasta la fecha la mayor parte de las áreas en Maine central que Thoreau visitó son todavía principalmente subdesarrolladas excepto por la extracción intermitente de madera. Pero cambios recientes en la propiedad de la tierra allí preocupan a los ecólogos. La organización sin fines lucrativos RESTAURA: Los Bosques Boreales [RESTORE: The North Woods] ha estado liderando la creación de un Parque Nacional y Reserva de los Bosques de Maine po...

DiálogoEcológico De los Redactores de E/La Revista Ecológica Querido DiálogoEcológico: Siempre he sospechado que los perfumes y colonias no deben ser demasiado sanos simplemente porque el olor de muchos de ellos me molesta. ¿Es esto correcto? ¿Hay información disponible sobre el asunto? -- Lucinda Barry, Minneapolis, MN ¡Ahhh. .. el dulce olor de los productos petroquímicos! El Environmental Working Group (EWG) [Grupo de trabajo Ambiental] reporta que, aunque muchos perfumes populares, rocíos de colonias y cuerpo contienen cantidades ínfimas de esencias naturales, ellos también contienen típicamente una docena o más de sustancias químicas sintéticas potencialmente peligrosas, algunas de las cuales son derivadas del petróleo. Para proteger sus secretos comerciales, se permite a los fabricantes ocultar los ingredientes de perfumes, así que los consumidores no pueden depender de las etiquetas para saber los peligros que puedan acechar dentro de esa nueva botella de perfume. ...

EarthTalk® E - The Environmental Magazine Dear EarthTalk: What ever happened to the idea of turning Mt. St. Helens into a national park? -- Esther Monaghan, Boston, MA Mt. St. Helens, one of the less prominent yet massive peaks of Washington State’s Cascade Range, made history on May 18, 1980 by erupting with the force of 500 atomic bombs, devastating 230 square miles of formerly verdant forest and killing 57 people. After considerable debate about what to do with the decimated landscape in the aftermath, Congress sided with scientists advocating it be left alone for research and education. In 1982 Congress created the 172-square-mile Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument to be managed by the U.S. Forest Service, which had already been overseeing the forests on the flanks of the mountain as part of the surrounding 1.3 million acre Gifford Pinchot National Forest. But in 2007 federal budget cuts coupled with diminishing visitation led the Forest Service to close one of its ...

DiálogoEcológico De los Redactores de E/La Revista Ecológica Querido DiálogoEcológico : La pesca comercial de ballenas fue prohibida alrededor del mundo hace años, pero algunas naciones continúan cazando ballenas. ¿Por qué sucede esto y qué se hace al respecto?                                                                                                          -- Jackie O’Neill, Hershey, PA Lamentablemente para nuestro mundo y su biodiversidad, las ballenas todav...

EarthTalk® E - The Environmental Magazine Dear EarthTalk: The term “sustainable communities” gets bantered around quite a bit today. Could you define it for me? -- Holly Parker, Mechanicsburg, PA Kaid Benfield, Sustainable Communities program director at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), uses the term “sustainable communities” to describe places “where use of resources and emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants are going down, not up; where the air and waterways are accessible and clean; where land is used efficiently and shared parks and public spaces are plentiful and easily visited; where people of different ages, income levels and cultural backgrounds share equally in environmental, social and cultural benefits; where many needs of daily life can be met within a 20-minute walk and all may be met within a 20-minute transit ride; where industry and economic opportunity emphasize healthy, environmentally sound practices.” In his March 2011 NRDC ...

EarthTalk® E - The Environmental Magazine Dear EarthTalk: I understand there is good news about the recovery of bird species like the Peregrine Falcon, Bald Eagle and others owed to the 1972 ban on DDT. Can you explain? -- Mildred Eastover, Bath, ME Rachel Carson’s seminal 1962 book, Silent Spring, told the real-life story of how bird populations across the country were suffering as a result of the widespread application of the synthetic pesticide DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), which was being used widely to control mosquitoes and others insects. Carson reported that birds ingesting DDT tended to lay thin-shelled eggs which would in turn break prematurely in the nest, resulting in marked population declines. The problem drove bald eagles, our national symbol, not to mention peregrine falcons and other bird populations, to the brink of extinction, with populations plummeting more than 80 percent. Luckily for the birds, Silent Spring caused a stir, and many credit it wi...

DiálogoEcológico De los Redactores de E/La Revista Ecológica Querido DiálogoEcológico : He visto bastantes anuncios celebratorios en televisión, muchos patrocinados por British Petroleum (BP), instándome a ir de vacaciones en el Golfo de México. ¿Pero han vuelto las cosas realmente “a la normalidad?”                      -- Paul Shea, Dublín, OH El Golfo de México puede estar abierto para el comercio y ansioso de atraer turistas, pero todavía no está claro si los ecosistemas marinos y costeros son sanos dos años después de la explosión del aparejo de perforación de BP a 40 millas de la costa de Luisiana, dejando escapar al final 205,8 millones de galones de petróleo en la columna de agua. Cinco meses después del desastre de abril de 2010 la administración de Obama publicó un plan detallado de recuperación, invocando una inversión de hasta $21 mil millones—cuya ma...

EarthTalk ® E - The Environmental Magazine Dear EarthTalk: What is the “Fair Trade Your Supermarket” campaign? -- Brian Howley, Washington, DC A project of the non-profit Green America, the “Fair Trade Your Supermarket” campaign aims to empower consumers to advocate for more “Fair Trade” products on store shelves at their local supermarkets. Fair trade is a system of exchange that honors producers, communities and the environment by ensuring that farmers and artisans throughout the developing world are paid fair prices for their work and have direct involvement in the marketplace. The goal of the wider Fair Trade movement, according to Green America, is to build real and lasting relationships between producers in developing countries and businesses and consumers around the world. And that’s where your neighborhood grocer comes in. “While the Fair Trade movement is gaining steam nationwide, most of our supermarkets still carry few–if any–Fair Trade products on their shelves,” re...