Last weekend was the "big event" I had been helping plan for about 6 months on behalf of the Sierra Club. We called it the "West Oakland Air Pollution Workshop." The idea was to focus some community attention on the issue of air pollution, which in Oakland, has not been getting as much attention as I felt it deserved. Basically I felt the club was ignoring the issue, so I promoted this event and got "tasked" to organize it. And what do you get for volunteering? A lot of work!
Needless to say, I was happy when it was over on Saturday. The participants included some local regulatory bigshots. For instance, the director of an agency called the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, or BAAQMD for short. He came and spoke with all the folks in the room, including one community activist type who came to the event, it seemed, for the sole purpose of venting steam at the director. It may have been a legitimate gripe - I'm still not sure. Better not to dig too deep there ...
The rest of the speakers either conducted short presentations (the first two speakers) or participated in panel discussions. The presentations on air pollution focused on topics such as why it's bad to live close to a major road in the bay area, or, where are all the toxics sites in West Oakland (and why you wouldn't want to bring up small children there). It was very informative. Actually, sometimes I get the feeling it's not a good idea to pay too much attention to these presentations or statistics. After all, we are all living with a certain amount of pollution, so why trouble the mind or make oneself feel bad for living where one lives? If you think about it, though, if no one is scaring the public and the regulatory directors, then little motivation for action exists ... right?
A small success in this event is it gave the Sierra Club a little PR.
The club is regarded in environmental circles as somewhat stodgy and "white" (due to the fact, perhaps, that a lot of the club's activity centers around legal action). We were trying to counter this image. Never mind that all the people who came from the club, with one exception (my co-organizer Margaret) fit this description. The main thing was, to sponsor the event, to plan it, and just do it.
One of the presenters at the beginning, Azibuike Akaba / Cal EPA, explains the dynamics of toxicity in West Oakland (shown on map). Note the empty seats. Too bad we couldn't get more people to show up. If you want to have a hard sales job, try motivating the public to spend 4 hours on a May Saturday listening to people - even good speakers like Azibuike here - talk about air pollution!
I moderated two panel discussions featuring local activists or regulators. It was challening trying to manage a discussion where everyone had a lot to say...
On a side note, I am reading a really good book with environmental themes at the moment. It is called Garbage Land, by Elizabeth Royte. Discusses the "trail of trash" that we are leaving as a society as we move from the recycling-friendly 90s into an era where we have become the world's leading trash exporter. Pick up a copy at your local bookstore. You will not be disappointed!
