Dear friends,
Yesterday, I tried to drop my compost off at my usual collection site. But the street was closed for the Brooklyn Marathon. Luckily, a resourceful friend — who had helped establish composting and a courtyard garden for the residents of her large apartment building — was able to relieve me of three bags of food scraps.
I schlepped my compost a mile from home without a second thought, and then I got freshly irritated with my beloved city.
As Councilmember Shahana Hanif points out, organics collection
should be a public utility. Our city should be invested in addressing environmental inequities fully. We shouldn’t simply rely on community-based organizations and the local drop-off centers.
Mandating composting citywide is economically sound, according to the city’s Independent Budget Office, which
estimates the DSNY costs for “collecting and disposing of the refuse, recycling, and organics” would initially rise about $39 million in the first three years of universal composting, up from a total of $775 million in 2019.
But those costs would even out in the fourth year and then result in savings of about $33 million per year after that, the IBO said.
Once the volume of organics collection increases, the city would be able to negotiate lower prices for processing organic waste.
The mayor’s preliminary budget does not include funding for the planned expansion of curbside composting, even though he campaigned on the issue. His new Sanitation Commission, Jessica Tisch, has already begun to lower (already low) expectations that the city will meet its zero waste by 2030 goal.
Please contact the mayor and your council member to let them know that you support universal organics collection. The action is ready-made!
Particulate pollution from gas-powered vehicles, industrial plants, and wildfires is increasing.
The Environmental Protection Agency monitors six air pollutants — particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, lead and ozone — as part of the Clean Air Act.
People of color are nearly four times more likely to live in a county with poor air quality compared to white people.
The EPA website states that
Numerous scientific studies have linked particle pollution exposure to heart attacks, aggravated asthma, and [a range of] respiratory symptoms. People with heart or lung diseases, children, and older adults are the most likely to be affected by particle pollution exposure.
Tell the EPA that we need stricter emissions regulations for commercial trucking! This 15-second (!) action comes from the Hip Hop Caucus.
the greatest teachable moment in energy history: instead of invoking the Defense Production Act to spur renewables production and energy conservation, it’s decided instead to set off a “frenzy” of construction on the Gulf Coast in order to send liquefied natural gas off to Europe. The infrastructure won’t mean a thing to Europe for three years or more—that’s how long it takes to build these ports and pipelines—but it will guarantee a few more decades of pouring methane into the atmosphere (and the more times you freeze and thaw and ship and pipe that gas, the more methane it leaks).
Write to the president to tell him that we need to seize this teachable moment to invest in renewable energy. This is a 30-second action!
Learn what’s happening on the ground in Ukraine and what you can do to help from Ukrainian climate scientist and leader of the Zero Fossil Fuel Campaign. This event, on Wednesday evening, is hosted by Th!rd Act.
EarthJustice has a series of ready-made actions to urge federal action to protect public lands and reign in the fossil fuel industry. Each one takes just a few seconds and is part of our collective relentlessness on behalf of the planet.
Take action with EarthJustice!
Here’s a very short video about youth-led climate action for which I was interviewed. Kudos to filmmaker Brian Torres.
Watch Earth Day 2022.
Have a great day!
with love,
L