GAIA News June-July 2010 Issue
Dear GAIA Members and Friends,
Welcome to the second issue of the GAIA News! The last few months have been a time of amazing actions. From the streets of Detroit, Michigan, to mass rallies across India, to a community forum in Apaxco, Mexico, to the people's conference on climate change in Cochabamba, Bolivia - people are mobilizing against incineration and for zero waste, and demanding clean air, good jobs, and justice!
We're also waging battles in
the press, as waste industry lobbyists try to sell the trashing of
resources as "renewable energy" technologies. We faced a particularly
difficult challenge on the front pages of the New York Times in April,
and helped to open up space for debate in our response. GAIA members and allies are also taking the front stage with their own books, reports, awards, actions and popular music and video releases, several of which are featured below.
I am so inspired - each and every day - at the work that GAIA members are doing in communities around the world. One key member from Korea
is featured below. Honestly, over the last few years it's been
difficult to keep pace with the growth of our network and the movement
it represents, and so I'm happy to ask you to join me in welcoming new staff members
in the Philippines, Chile, India, Spain and the United States. I know
that I speak for all of our team when I say THANK YOU for being part of
the GAIA family. Together, we will achieve new
victories and continue to build community in favor of justice, and a
waste-free, toxic-free, and more sustainable world.
In solidarity,
Christie Keith
Co-Coordinator
GAIA
Asia-Korea: Learn about the work of GAIA member Korea Zero Waste Movement Network
The
Korea Zero Waste Movement Network(KZWMN) is a non-governmental
organization founded in 1997 as a network of 31 grassroots organizations
that came together to solve the waste issues caused by rapid growth and
urbanization in Seoul. Since then, the organization has grown into a
national network of 180 grassroots organizations that work to develop
zero waste strategies throughout the country. KZWMN works to keeps
incinerators out of communities and to shut down existing incinerators,
while promoting alternatives such as recycling and composting. They also
seek to decrease the use of disposable products and packaging. Their
efforts have greatly reduced the amount of waste going to landfills and
incinerators and have saved the government millions of dollars.
Currently, Seoul's zero waste plan is under discussion and KZWMN is
working to ensure that incinerators are kept out. They predict that the
Zero Waste Resolution for Seoul will be finalized in October. Read more
Photo: Courtesy of KZWMN
Asia-India: Green collar workers from all over India hit the streets in the capital!
India's waste pickers, waste
buyers and other bottom of the pyramid waste managers and recyclers
from 20 cities -Ahmedabad, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Delhi, Mumbai,
Ujjain, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Patna, Nashik, Nagpur, Bhopal, Ghaziabad,
Goa, Latur and Tirupati-hit the streets on March 10, 2010 with the
messages: "Recycling Cools! kuda hamara aapka nahi kise ke baapka!
We Recycle Resources!" The March 10th action was followed by
simultaneous rallies on March 25th. The rallies started at 11:00 am in
Delhi and culminated at 1:00 pm at Jantar Mantar for the First National
Public meeting of waste pickers. They wore green collars to assert
symbolically that they are India's true 'Green Collar Workers'. The
intention was to call attention to the fact that different Ministries of
the Government of India are speaking in discordant voices about waste
issues. For example, the government attempts to espouse recycling while
subsidizing incineration based waste-to-energy plants that compete with
recycling for feedstock. Click here to read the full article or learn more by reading the full report Livelihoods with Dignity.
Photo: Courtesy of Lakshmi Narayan
Africa-Swaziland: Thuli Brilliance Makama wins the Goldman Prize
On April 19, Thuli Brilliance Makama, Swaziland's only public interest attorney and a long-time GAIARead More. Makama is also the director of Yonge Nawe, an (NGO) that campaigns on issues of environment and sustainable development and she is on the board of groundWork, an organization featured in our last issue of the GAIA News.
member, won the Goldman Environmental prize. She was honored for her
work to include environmental NGO representation in Swaziland's
Environmental Authority, reinforcing the right to public participation
in environmental decision-making. After a three-year legal battle, she
finally won the landmark case to ensure that environmental groups have a
place on the Management Board of Swaziland's Environmental Authority,
where they will be able to monitor the actions of the Environmental
Authority and include the legitimate perspective of the environmental
justice movement in their deliberations.
Photo: John Antonelli © 1999 - 2010 Goldman Prize
North America-U.S.: GAIA members and allies join the citizens of Detroit in an action to close the world's largest incinerator On
Saturday, June 26th over a thousand people participated in an action to
demand the closure of Detroit's incinerator. The group urged Mayor Bing
and the City Council to protect the health and economy of Detroit with
zero waste alternatives that provide more jobs and a better quality of
life. A comprehensive recycling program would create 6-10 times as many
jobs. Their message was clear: clean air, good jobs and justice for all!
To learn more check out the Detroit Times article, an article on the action's website and a photo essay.
Photo: Langelle/GJEP
Latin America-Bolivia: Recyclers at the World People's Conference on Climate Change
April saw a new twist in the international climate change negotiations - the Bolivian government hosted the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth
in the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia. The conference presented a
stunning contrast to the button-down meetings in Bonn and Copenhagen -
it was alive with 22,000 campesinos, indigenous peoples and workers
from 92 countries. GAIA made a good showing,
joining more than a dozen representatives of South American grassroots
recyclers to give workshops, presentations, and press interviews. And,
of course, to raise our now-famous chant, "¡No incinerar! ¡Vamos a
reciclar!" (Do not incinerate! We're going to recycle!). For more
information about the Waste picker and Climate Change campaign, please
see the blog in Spanish and English.
Photo: Courtesy of Latin-American Waste Pickers Network (RedLa)
Latin America-Mexico: Atotonilco and Apaxco citizens mark the 1st anniversary of their peaceful sit-in against Ecoltec
May 6th marked the first
anniversary of the sit-in in Apaxco, Mexico against the company
Ecoltec, a Holcim subsidiary that uses waste to produce the toxic fuel
that is then burnt in cement kilns. Community leaders used this day to
organize a forum and to make a renewed call for federal and state
governments to put an end to the company's operations. Read More. Unfortunately,
this is not the only community fighting waste burning in cement kilns
in Latin America. In Brazil, Organização de Desenvolvimento Sustentável e
Comunitário (Organization of Sustainable and Community Development or
ODESC) has carried out a strong fight against waste burning in cement
kilns from a Holcim plant, a struggle narrated in the report "Holcim SA: Playing God,"
released in Portuguese in September 2009. Other communities in Mexico,
Ponce, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Chile, Argentina and Colombia are also
fighting this practice, and in Guatemala, the community of San Juan
Sacatepéquez is facing serious acts of violence and harassment because
of their fight to stop the construction of a cement plant by a Holcim
subsidiary.
Photo: © Greenpeace
Europe Report: When the EU Wastes the Climate: The EU Policy of Subsidizing Energy from Burning Waste is Worsening the Climate- by Joan Marc Simon, GAIA's Europe Coordinator
GAIA 's new report "When the EU Wastes the Climate",
released on June 30th, warns about the negative climate and
sustainability impacts stemming from the European Union's (EU's) current
policies to incineration based energy. A substantial part of the energy
produced by European incinerators is considered to be renewable, which
allows incinerators to receive considerable rate premiums and subsidies.
This has the effect of a false green subsidy to burn waste that could
be recycled or composted. In reality these subsidies end up creating the
opposite of the intended effect: more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,
less sustainability and less incentive to green the economy. Read More
Global Publication: Refusing to be Cast Aside: Waste Pickers Organizing Around the World Edited by Melanie Samson, Published by Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO)
In cities across the world,
millions of people sustain themselves and their families by reclaiming
reusable and recyclable materials from what others have cast aside as
waste. The book Refusing to be Cast Aside: Waste Pickers Organising Around the World
profiles waste pickers, the organizations and networks that they have
formed, and the struggles that they are waging in a number of countries.
It looks at how the law has been used to advance waste pickers' rights
and how municipal waste management systems in some cities have been
transformed to formally integrate waste pickers. It also explores how
waste pickers in different places have been affected by, and responded
to, privatization. Read more
Canada-Vancouver, BC: Music and Video Release
On May 27th, Shane Wiebe, Canadian Idol Star, and his wife Angela Wiebe released the song "Landfill in the Sky" to help fight waste incineration. Click here
for the full article. On June 22nd, the Wilderness Committee launched a
viral video in opposition to Metro Vancouver's proposal to build a new
garbage incinerator. The video "Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Breath," exposes the flaws in Metro Vancouver's research and claims, and is a great tool for local struggles everywhere!
Photo: Wilderness Committee
Global Action: July 3rd is International Plastic Bag Free Day!
Two years ago, during
the "Bag-free Catalonia" campaign, the Catalan Foundation for Waste
Prevention and Responsible Consumption, with the support of
municipalities, retailers, organizations and companies, declared July
3rd the International Plastic Bag Free Day. The aim of the day is to
make society aware of the need to lower consumption and to switch from
using plastic bags and disposable products to reusable ones. It will
also be a day of celebration, reflection and sharing of experiences. Our
colleagues from Spain - Fundació Prevenció de Residus i Consum in
Catalunya invite everyone to show solidarity with this day of action by
planning an activity or participating in one, and by going plastic bag
free. Click here to join and register. For more information please visit http://www.bagfreeday.org.
Photo: © Fundació per a la Prevenció de Residus i el Consum Responsable
GAIA is expanding! We have hired six new people since our last newsletter. Jhunnette Basco-Buenviaje has joined our Philippine office; she will help with finance and administrative work. Before joining GAIA,
she worked as a direct dialogue campaigner for Greenpeace for four
years, and prior to that, she held an administrative position for 8
years in an insurance company. Dharmesh Shah is GAIA's new India Climate/Waste picker organizer, he will be working with GAIA's members in India to provide campaign and information support, and to bring together GAIA's
distinct constituencies (environmental groups, waste pickers, etc.).
Dharmesh is based in Chennai (Madras), where he has already done some
work with waste pickers, and he spent an entire year in Bhopal,
researching the people's movement for justice there. Eduardo Giesen and Magdalena Donoso joined GAIA's team to work with members and allies in Latin America in all aspects of our work. Eduardo,
based in Santiago de Chile, is an electrical engineer and has many
years of experience working in the public sector on issues around
environmental management, energy, climate change, transportation and
sustainable urban development. Magdalena, based in Concepción,
Chile, is a journalist and has been involved with waste pickers' groups
in Chile and the region for some years now. She works closely with the
waste pickers' union in Concepción and has participated in several
activities that led to the constitution of the national waste pickers'
movement in Chile. Leslie Minot, who has consulted with GAIA for two years, joins the U.S. staff to support GAIA
fundraising. She has nearly 15 years of experience fundraising for
international, national, and local human and civil rights, health,
environmental, and youth organizations and projects. Lastly, Mariel Viella, based in Barcelona, Spain, is GAIA's
new Climate Policy Advisor. Mariel has been part of the movement for
action on climate change for the past eight years, and is on the Board
of Carbon Trade Watch. She has worked as a researcher and campaign
coordinator with European Youth for Action in Amsterdam, The climate is not for sale!
Campaign, and several anti-GM groups. She's also been an executive
editor, publications coordinator, and writer, as well as a member of
many social justice collectives.
