California EJ Movement Issues Climate Change Declaration

Several environmental justice groups have issed a 'Declaration Against Use of Carbon Trading Schemes to Address Climate Change.' The groups believe that such systems are inadequate to confront the climate crisis; marginalize front-line communities fighting environmental justice battles; and are designed to benefit corporate interests - not communities or the climate. Endorsing organizations include California Communities Against Toxics, California Environmental Rights Alliance, Carbon Trade Watch, Communities for a Better Environment, GreenAction, Rainforest Action Network, West County Toxics Coalition and many more.

Item #16 of 21 items in the Declaration states:

"[C]arbon trading is undemocratic because it allows entrenched polluters, market designers, and commodity traders to determine whether and where to reduce greenhouse gases and co-pollutant emissions without allowing impacted communities or governments to participate in those decisions."

The Declaration Resolves:

"that the California Environmental Justice Movement will oppose efforts by our state government to create a carbon trading and offset program, because such a program will not reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the pace called for by the international scientific community, it will not result in a shift to clean sustainable energy sources, it will support and enrich the state's worst polluters, it will fail to address the existing and future inequitable burden of pollution, it will deprive communities of the ability to protect and enhance their communities, and because if our state joins regional or international trading schemes it will further create incentives for carbon offset programs that harm communities in California, the region, the country, and developing nations around the world."

Environmental Justice Movement says NO to Carbon Trading!

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE V. CAP-AND-TRADE

Utne Reader: "Environmental Justice For All"

Los Angeles Times

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation : Childhood Obesity

Call for Proposals: Active Living Research is a national program of the Robert Wood JohnsonFoundation (RWJF) and this call for proposals is the first to reflect a new emphasis on supporting research to inform policy and environmental strategies for increasing physical activity among children and adolescents, decreasing their sedentary behaviors and preventing obesity. Deadline: May 14, 2008

Findings are expected to advance RWJF's efforts to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by2015. RWJF will place special emphasis on strategies with the potential to reach racial/ethnic populations and children living in low-income communities who are at highest risk for obesity. Proposed studies must address one of the topics identified in the call for proposals. Childhood Obesity: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Route 1 and College Road, EastPrinceton, NJ 08543.

The State of Environmenal Justice In America 2008

Conference planning is going very well. This conference will bring together individuals interested in environmental justice from diverse groups at this noteworthy juncture in the history of environmental justice, through a process of dialogue and learning from each other, to:

1. Identify significant EJ success stories, strategies, and lessons learned, and how to replicate them.
2. Identify potential collaborations that can produce additional strategies and success stories.
3. Identify key dates and events in the history of environmental justice activities.
4. Identify emerging issues in environmental justice.
5. Develop an additional resource in Washington, DC for an annual environmental justice conference and other support to environmental justice efforts.

Expected outcomes:

• Rigorous analysis and discussion of environmental justice issues from diverse points of view.
• Better understanding of EJ successes and how to replicate them on the part of conference participants and other audiences (readers of conference related materials).
• Stronger commitment to EJ from key groups, agencies, business and industry, academic institutions and other entities.
• A comprehensive Conference Report including papers presented by conference panelists and others.

Projected audience:

The conference seeks to bring together federal employees, academics, business and industry, non-profit organizations, faith-based organizations, local community activists and others to participate in dialog on achieving equality of environmental protection. The conference will serve as an academic legal conference to advance scholarship regarding environmental justice. A related goal of this conference is to expose law students to the myriad and complicated aspects of environmental justice.