Category: Environment

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Peggy Shephard Tells About Her Harlem EJ Group’s Astonishing Accomplishments

Peggy Shephard at TedX Harlem

The WE ACT grassroots organization Peggy Shephard founded in Harlem, New York City has brought extraordinary benefits to the community: they have transformed the once filthy and decrepit Harlem piers into a gem of a neighborhood park, forced the city to upgrade its entire bus fleet to a cleaner diesel system, spearheaded robust community engagement activities and have led initiatives to bring fresh food and cleaner air to residents of upper New York City. In her TedX talk, Shephard tells about these and other of WE ACT’s fantastic accomplishments. read more

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NJ bill requiring school sustainability plans advances out of committee

Trenton – In an effort to ensure New Jersey schools are meeting the state’s environmental goals, the Senate Education Committee today advanced legislation sponsored by Senator Bob Smith that would require school districts to include an environmental sustainability plan in their long-range facilities plan.

“There are currently close to 600 school districts in New Jersey, and while they all vary in size, their facilities consume large amounts of carbon energy to keep them running,” said Senator Smith (D-Middlesex/Somerset). “With the climate change crisis resulting in drastic, observable changes in the environment, it is imperative that we meet our state goals to reduce the production and consumption of greenhouse gasses through expanding our use of clean energy. By requiring our school districts to look into means to become more sustainable, we can set a precedent for the rest of New Jersey to also find ways to be more environmentally friendly. We only get one Earth, and we must find real solutions to reverse some of the damage done by climate change before it is too late.” read more

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How one man is turning desert into green land

Allan Savory at TED 2013

Allan Savory has discovered a fool-proof method for turning dry deserts into lush, green and growing lands. The method? Run huge herds of livestock through the land and watch grass, bushes and eventually trees, spring up in their wake. Food and fauna can grow there. Ecological systems are renewed and recovered.

As the land is repaired and regenerated, carbon is also sequestered in the soil. There is no downside to Savory’s method. Watch him tell all about it in this TED talk.

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Can probiotics save honeybees from disease and collapse?

Honeybee hive

“Probiotics aren’t just for humans,” said Gregor Reid, Ph.D., Professor at Western’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and Endowed Chair in Human Microbiome and Probiotics at Lawson. “Our idea was that if you could use beneficial microbes to stimulate the immune response or attack the pathogens that are infecting the hives, then maybe we can help save the bees.”

Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-10-probiotics-honey-bees-fatal-disease.amp
Source Western University video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9_EV3H36lA read more

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EJ in Newark and globally: panel discussion January 11

NJ home to strongest EJ laws

On Tuesday, 11 January 2022 from 7:00-9:00pm a panel discussion will be held via Zoom as a joint initiative of The Wei LLC’s EJ Chat Series, Diversity United and Ahavas Sholom Jewish Congregation on ways that residents of Newark, New Jersey and communities around the globe are being impacted by environmental justice issues which affect their health, lifestyles and economic well-being. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a live question and answer session following the panel, which will be led by Kimi Wei. read more