Join us for our February Membership Meeting on Saturday, February 10 at 10 am at 454 West 155th Street, the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge. In addition to celebrating Black History Month and Dominican Heritage Month, we will be talking about New York State's Beauty Justice bill, and what you can do to help get it passed. Personal care products – everything from cosmetics to soaps and shampoos to hair straighteners – are largely unregulated, with far too many containing toxic ingredients that have been linked to cancer, infertility, miscarriage, poor infant and maternal health outcomes, obesity, asthma, and many other serious health concerns. And a combination of racist beauty standards and aggressive target marketing have led young women and femme-identifying people of color to higher rates of use for these harmful products - on top of already being exposed to disproportionate amounts of toxic chemicals.
That is why we are currently advocating for the passage of the Beauty Justice bill (formerly known as the Safe Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Act), which will ban the most dangerous toxic chemicals from the majority of these products. You can help by writing a letter urging the NY State Legislature to pass it and join us on February 10 to more about the bill and our campaign!
We had another great week of advocacy at the state capitol! On Tuesday, Liz Reyes joined Just Green Partnership in lobbying state lawmakers to pass two bills to get PFAS out of more products in New York, including cosmetics and menstrual products. Also on Tuesday, Cameron Clark joined other members of our Climate Resilience Education Task Force in another part of the capitol to advocate for our climate justice education bill (S.278A / A.1559A), which would create climate education curriculum in all of the state’s public schools.
We Need Your Help Advocating!
The testimony of average New Yorkers is crucial for gaining support for environmental justice bills from lawmakers. And there are plenty of upcoming opportunities to help us advocate! Never gone on an advocacy day with us before? Check out this video to see what to expect!
February 27 - Beauty Justice Bill: Join WE ACT and the JustGreen Partnership, a statewide coalition we co-lead to advocate for a future free of harmful chemicals, as we head to Albany on to lobby for the Beauty Justice Bill. For those who sign-up to attend, we will do a Zoom prep meeting on February 26 from 6 - 7 pm to explain the details of this legislation, provide tips on talking to legislators, and answer any questions you may have.
March 13 - NY HEAT Act: Help us advocate for the New York Home Energy Affordable Transition (NY HEAT) Act to lower utility bills and reduce the power of the fossil fuel industry.
March 19 - Housing Justice for All: Help us advocate for the Housing Justice for All platform which includes several bills to increase tenant rights and stop rent increases and evictions.
April 16 - Earth Day: Celebrate Earth Day by advocating for a variety of environmental justice legislation including the Enhanced Public Participation Plan, the Beauty Justice Bill, and the Lead Paint Right to Know Act.
Food and transportation between New York City and Albany are always provided along with quick training to help you prepare to advocate!
The Power of People: Our Wrong Direction Campaign Fuels Support for LNG Pause
To counter congressional attacks on the Biden administration’s pause on liquefied natural gas export, Congresswoman Nanette Barragán referenced our Wrong Direction campaign, which featured Hilton Kelly as one of the people being impacted by pollution from these facilities, in her statement on the House floor. .
We had a great turnout of Uptown folks at our teach-in this week! We're launching the Our Homes Under Our Control campaign to fight for climate justice and housing justice side-by-side. Sign up here to stay up-to-date with the campaign and learn more at our next teach-in on March 7!
Celebrate Black History by Remembering the Unsung Heroes of Environmental Justice
In celebration of Black History Month, the United Church of Christ is hosting a webinar at 1 pm on February 14 to celebrate past environmental justice leaders and their contributions. Peggy Shepard and fellow Co-Founder and Board Member Vernice Miller-Travis will be among the participants, sharing memories of Cecil Corbin-Mark.
NIEHA Workshop: Engaging with Environmental Justice Communities
Peggy Shepard, Dr. Micaela Martinez, and Jaron Burke will be conducting a workshop, Engaging with Environmental Justice Communities: Letting Communities Take the Lead, at 10:45 am on February 20 at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences 2024 Partnership for Public Health Network Meeting, Climate Change and Environmental Justice: Engaging Diverse Teams, in Durham, North Carolina. They will be discussing our community-based participatory research work, its role in advancing environmental justice, and best-practices for researchers to engage with environmental justice communities.
LNG Pause: Jasmine Jennings blog post with NRDC’s Sustainable FERC Project Staff Attorney Morgan Johnson appeared in Common Dreams, celebrating the hard-earned LNG pause as well as the long fight to come.
Out of Gas, In with Justice: Our Out of Gas pilot program never seems to run out of gas. The Cool Down wrote a great article about our pilot program, based largely off an old article in The City, including a quote from Sonal Jessel.
Federal Progress for Environmental Justice: Peggy Shepard was quoted in the EHS Daily Advisor’s article about the Biden administration’s progress on environmental justice, which appears to be based largely off an old article from Yale Climate Connections. She noted that billions of dollars are now flowing from federal sources to communities and raised the concern as to whether those communities are ready to access it.
Webinar: Department of Energy Listening Session on Siting Consent and Nuclear Waste
Peggy Shepard will share environmental justice perspectives in a paneled listening session hosted by the Department of Energy (DOE) on February 15 at 1:30 pm in this third installment of the DOE's consent-based siting webinar series. "Siting" refers to the practice of building "facilities" that function as waste dumps or other polluting industrial sites. And these have often been in or near low-income neighborhoods and communities of color and done without their consent. In addition to a listening session with community leaders like Peggy, the audience will be invited to listen in and, if they have perspectives to share, submit them via[email protected].
Dr. Micaela Martinez will give a lecture at the annual Darwin Festival, a weeklong event that celebrates the work of Charles Darwin with sessions from leading researchers in the field of biology hosted by Salem State University in Salem, Massachusetts. Dr. Martinez will give an in-person talk on February 15 titled “From Air to Makeup: Addressing Environmental Justice in the U.S.” about how structural racism impacts environmental exposures and health in the U.S.
New Episode Coming Monday: Show Me The Money!
If you have had a chance to recover from our latest War on Rats episode, get ready for the “money” episode. Jaron and Lonnie will be talking with our policy team about the important role the state and city budgets play. Tune in to the newest episode of Uptown Chats on Monday to find out!
