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Categoría: Nuestra Labor

Children and toxics don't mix. We understand your concerns and want to answer any questions you may have about keeping your children safe from lead in candy, including:

Facts about candy with lead
Why might lead be present in candy?
What are symptoms of lead poisoning in children?
Where can I find a list of candies that have been tested for lead?
Should I discuss lead in candies with my healthcare provider?
What is being done about lead in candy?
More questions, more information

Candy 7

Facts about candy with lead:

  • Lead has been found in some chili and tamarind candy and some candy wrappers
  • Lead damages children's brains and causes irreversible development problems
  • It is against the law to sell candy that has more than .1ppm lead in California

Why might lead be present in candy?
Some candies brought into the United States may contain lead, coming from lead-containing inks found in wrappers, unwashed chilis or acidic, lead-laden spices (tamarind, chili powder and paprika, to name a few).

What are symptoms of lead poisoning in children?
Children can be poisoned by lead without looking or acting sick. As a result, lead poisoning may go unrecognized. A blood-lead test is the best way to determine the diagnosis of lead poisoning.

Potential signs and symptoms of lead poisoning in children include:

  • Learning disabilities
  • Reduced IQ
  • Hyperactivity
  • Aggressiveness 

Click here to learn more about lead-poisoning in children. 

Where can I find a list of candies that have been tested for lead?
You can find a list of candies that have been tested for lead here. You may contact the California Department of Public Health for more information.

Patients and families should be well informed before ingesting any candy. A blood-lead level test is the most readily available method to evaluate lead exposure. 

Should I discuss lead in candy with my healthcare provider?

Yes. Many cases of childhood lead poisoning occur in children under the age of six from sources other than candy, such as lead-based paint, paint chips, dust, dirt and/or glazed pottery. Such exposures are normally augmented by hand-to-mouth behavior during normal child development. Environmental Health Coalition recommends testing children once a year until age six.

Candies are likely to be ingested well beyond the recommended ages for screening, however. As a result, many cases of lead poisoning in older children, pre-teens, and adolescents may be missed. If this is a concern for you, ask your healthcare provider about a blood-lead test.

What is being done about lead in candy?

  • Environmental Health Coalition advocated for years to enact a California law that removes lead from candy by requiring frequent lead-level testing and a change in candy manufacturing processes
  • The California Food and Drug Branch continually monitors candies for traces of lead
  • Manufacturers are regularly audited to ensure safe production of candies
  • Standards are being raised statewide: to be certified as lead free in California, companies must have their candy tested for lead and checked by an independent food quality auditor
  • When lead is found in candy, a recall warning is sent out by the California State Health Department. Get more information here. 

I still have questions.

You can find more answers to your concerns about lead in candy here.

If your question was not answered, you have several options.

  • Call or Esta dirección de correo electrónico está siendo protegida contra los robots de spam. Necesita tener JavaScript habilitado para poder verlo. Environmental Health Coalition - (619) 474-0220
  • Contact your County Lead Prevention Program: Find your local prevention program here
  • Contact the California Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Branch:
    • 850 Marina Bay Parkway, Building P, Third Floor, Richmond, CA 94804
    • (510) 620-5600

Detalles
Categoría: Barrios Libres de Tóxicos

Thank you for being a part of Creating Healthy Neighborhoods: Community Planning to Overcome Injustice.

The 20-minute video below (in both English and Spanish) illustrates seven steps to fight for environmental justice through community-engaged planning.

Creating Healthy Neighborhoods explores the interconnectedness of issues facing communities and uses real-life examples and case studies to show how real people can become advocates and activists for social and environmental justice in seven steps:

Step One: Identify the Problem
Step Two: Build Power
Step Three: Develop Strategy
Step Four: Develop Core Community Principles
Step Five: Develop the Community Vision
Step Six: Organize and Advocate to Win
Step Seven: Achieve the Vision

To begin your introduction to our community-proven, seven-step process, watch the full Creating Healthy Neighborhoods video and download our leadership training below.

The movie is available for download, or you can purchase a copy of the DVD in English and Spanish.


SESSION 1

SESSION 2

SESSION 3

SESSION 4

Creating Healthy Neighborhoods - English (Download Here)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Creating Healthy Neighborhoods - Español (Descargar Aqui)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Detalles
Categoría: Barrios Libres de Tóxicos

Creating Healthy Neighborhoods: Community Planning to Overcome Injustice

Creating Healthy Neighborhoods explores the interconnectedness of issues facing communities and uses real-life examples and case studies to show how real people can become advocates and activists for social and environmental justice.

Creating Healthy Neighborhoods Trailer - English 

 

Creating Healthy Neighborhoods Trailer - Español

 

Environmental Health Coalition announces a free curriculum and video-learning tool, Creating Healthy Neighborhoods. This inspirational toolkit empowers real people to become leaders for health and justice in their communities, just the way EHC community members have.

The 20-minute full video shows the impacts of toxic pollution and discriminatory land use policies in ways that anyone can understand, empowering everyone to become involved in planning and policymaking. It illustrates seven steps to fight for environmental justice through community-engaged planning. Use this knowledge to gain a fuller understanding of land-use planning – and take action to create healthier, more vibrant and livable communities where you live.

Detalles
Categoría: Campaña Fronteriza Pro Justicia Ambiental

 

Jovenes

"Jóvenes Pro Justicia Ambiental" es parte del Colectivo Chilpancingo Pro Justicia Ambiental y un proyecto de Environmental Health Coalition.

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Está conformado por más de 20 jóvenes de entre ocho y 19 años de edad que además de aprender a organizar y sobre temas que afectan su calidad de vida se encargan de desarrollar herramientas y crear vínculos con la comunidad para apoyar las campañas de trabajo del Colectivo Chilpancingo Pro Justicia Ambiental.

Algunos ejemplos de los materiales que han desarrollado son cuatro libros para colorear con la información de las campañas de Environmental Health Colalition. El Grupo de Jóvenes también elaboró dos cómics, el primero, "La historia de mi colonia", cuenta la lucha de la comunidad para limpiar Metales y Derivados. El segundo, "Queremos Aire Limpio" explica el problema de contaminación por el paso de camiones de carga pesada por la comunidad y las posibles soluciones para mejorar esta situación.

Contactar Jóvenes Pro Justicia Ambiental en Facebook

Detalles
Categoría: Desarrollo de Liderazgo

Welcome to Environmental Health Coalition's SALTA Community Leadership Training Program. This page has everything you need to learn about SALTA, create a registration account to download the curriculum and log in to return for more downloads and to provide feedback.

What is SALTA?
What is the SALTA approach?
What are the SALTA sessions?
How can my organization use SALTA?

WHAT IS SALTA?

SALTA (Salud Ambiental Lideres Tomando Accion – Environmental Health, Leaders Taking Action) is a web-based, interactive leadership development curriculum that provides community leaders with skill-building training in community organizing, policy advocacy, building power, community health, environmental justice and effective communication.

SALTA is a key component to ensuring that EHC achieves our core mission. More than education, SALTA is integrated with EHC's organizing and advocacy efforts to achieve environmental and social justice.

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WHAT IS THE SALTA APPROACH?

SALTA programs represent the organic educational efforts of the different campaigns, teams, leaders, and staff that make up EHC and were designed specifically for our leaders based on our local efforts. We began SALTA trainings in 1996, and now more than 2,000 individuals have been trained.

Developed and field tested by EHC staff and leaders during the past 15 years, SALTA uses a popular education approach that makes the training inclusive and accessible to all participants. Trainings are based on the knowledge, skills and real-world experiences of EHC staff, leaders and training participants. 

Popular education, which has varying interpretations, is best defined by the practice where participants share their own understanding and feelings about a specific topic or issue and that understanding and feelings are considered valid. The idea of popular education (often described as "education for critical consciousness") as a teaching methodology came from a Brazilian educator and writer named Paulo Freire, who was writing in the context of literacy education for poor and politically disempowered people in his country. It's different from formal education (in schools, for example) and informal education (learning by living) in that it is a process which aims to empower people who feel marginalized socially and politically to take control of their own learning and to effect social change.

The SALTA sessions improve participants' sense of belonging to a community as participants and stakeholders of their societies. They begin to see themselves as empowered members who can make change.

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What are the SALTA sessions?

Click the sessions below to learn more.

SALTA leadershipSALTA leadership training environmental justiceSALTA leadership training environmental health 1SALTA leadership training environmental health 2SALTA leadership training change the power structureSALTA leadership training messaging for social changeSALTA leadership training organizing sessionSALTA leadership training advocacySALTA leadership training land use and leadership

Leadership

Social change relies on leaders who act to improve conditions for themselves and their communities. In this session participants explore the roles and responsibilities of community leaders working for social and environmental justice.

Environmental Justice

In this session, the concepts of environmental racism and justice are discussed and defined through the lens of the history of the civil rights and environmental justice movements. Participants identify injustices in their neighborhoods and learn about inspiring organizing victories.

Environmental Health I

This session makes the link between pollution and human health in the workplace and community. The basics of the routes of exposure with a focus on childhood lead poisoning are presented.

Environmental Health II

Building on the Environmental Health I session, here the problem of air pollution with focus on diesel and greenhouse gas emissions is presented. Solution-oriented prevention strategies such as pollution prevention, the precautionary principle and cumulative impacts assessment are discussed.

Power

In this session we answer the questions: What is power? How can community organizations build power to make change? Power analysis and EHC’s Social Change for Justice model are presented.

Messaging for Social Change

Participants in this session will learn effective methods of persuading individuals and decision-makers through effective messaging. Use of personal stories is encouraged to inspire trust and hope.

Organizing

The foundation of community organizing is relationship building. In this session participants learn basic organizing skills and how to use them to build on their messaging skills.

Advocacy

Participants learn basic advocacy skills and how to use them to influence policy makers to take actions for environmental and social justice.

Land Use and Leadership

The last session provides a comprehensive review of the program and combines learning to develop a model organizing and advocacy plan. The plan incorporates the Problem/Solution/Action method.

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HOW CAN MY ORGANIZATION USE SALTA?

The main objectives of SALTA are:

  • To develop unity, commitment and shared consciousness on core principles
  • To enhance leader's skills and effectiveness
  • To develop an understanding of all efforts

If these objectives are consistent with your organization's mission and theory of change, SALTA can provide a forum for learning and growing. SALTA training works best when integrated with active campaigns and opportunities to use the skills in the real world.

Each session builds on the prior one. You may use individual activities or sessions as stand alone workshops but be aware that there may be topics covered in prior sessions that are integral to full understanding.

You will find it necessary in some cases to change or adapt some of the information or activities to suit your purposes, communities and local efforts. EHC encourages adaptation for individual needs of non-profits, environmental and social justice organizations, unions and public schools however any for-profit enterprise must first get permission directly from EHC.

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Subcategorías

Justicia Climática

Las comunidades de color y escasos recursos deben ser líderes en lo que respecta a soluciones ante el cambio climático, ya que, si bien es cierto que éste nos afecta a todos, las comunidades de escasos recursos son las que sufren los primeros y peores impactos.

Científicos climáticos locales pronostican cambios importantes en la región de San Diego, entre ellos calores extremos, sequía, escasez de agua, incendios naturales, contaminación atmosférica y elevación del nivel del mar. Los efectos del cambio climático se magnifican en barrios de escasos recursos como Barrio Logan, City Heights y National City debido a que es en estas comunidades en las que se encuentran ubicadas las principales fuentes de contaminación. Sus habitantes asimismo enfrentan industrias contaminantes, infraestructura inadecuada, limitadas alternativas de transporte y pocas oportunidades económicas.

En 2015, el Ayuntamiento de San Diego adoptó un Plan de Acción Climática cuyo fin es reducir la contaminación en dicha ciudad durante los próximos 50 años. EHC trabajó arduamente en vigilar que este plan priorizara la equidad social.

EHC vigila que nuestras comunidades participen plenamente en desarrollo de políticas y en abogacía para reducir la contaminación atmosférica, mejorar las alternativas de transporte y lograr que se beneficien de la transición hacia prácticas energéticas limpias y eficientes. Nuestra labor para fomentar dichos cambios se realiza en apego a nuestros principios rectores.

Green Energy

Renters need clean energy too. In San Diego, non EJ communities have more than double the residential solar (40 per 1000 residents) compared to EJ communities (18 per 1000 residents).55 We attribute this discrepancy to a variety of barriers making solar installation difficult to access and afford for all people.

San Diego is a “solar star,” but not for environmental justice communities. According to a 2018 report by Environment California, San Diego has the second most solar power capacity among the 69 cities surveyed. Unfortunately, installed solar power does not extend to EJ communities.

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The map titled Installed Residential KiloWatts of Solar Power, per 1000 Residents, by Zipcode, City of San Diego, 2017 shows the geography of the number of kilowatts installed per 1,000 residents. The table titled Average Number of Solar Installations per 1000 people includes this metric and the average number of installations broken out by EJ communities, City, and non-EJ communities. Both statistics highlight that residential solar power installation in EJ communities is minimal.

A study done by the California Energy Commission identified barriers and recommendations to bridge the clean energy gap for low-income customers and small business contracting opportunities in disadvantaged communities. The structural barriers identified include low home ownership rates, insufficient access to capital, and aged buildings. The report by the California Energy Commission is an excellent guide to inform the implementation of the San Diego CAP.

Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH)

In 2015, the California Environmental Justice Alliance together with the Center for Sustainable Energy, GRID Alternatives, and the Association for Energy Affordability, with the support of EJ allies like Environmental Health Coalition (EHC) secured passage of California Assembly Bill 693. This legislation provides $1 billion to install solar on multifamily affordable homes in disadvantaged communities across the state.

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EHC will build awareness of AB 693 and the need for solar energy in EJ Communities and provide funding application technical support to increase solar deployment on low-income multifamily housing complexes in National City, Barrio Logan, and City Heights, so that they too can benefit from the utility savings from renewable energy and energy efficiency.

What to learn more, support, and get involved:

• Contact Caro Esta dirección de correo electrónico está siendo protegida contra los robots de spam. Necesita tener JavaScript habilitado para poder verlo. or call 619-474-0220 ext 131
• DONATE to EHC

Niños Saludables

Los niños de nuestras comunidades merecen hogares saludables donde crecer sin estar expuestos a plomo y otras sustancias químicas tóxicas.

  • Los ataques de asma que requieren hospitalización y las visitas a salas de urgencia son hasta tres veces mayores en niños que viven en comunidades con niveles elevados de contaminación atmosférica
  • Muchas de las viviendas en comunidades de escasos recursos se construyeron antes de 1979 y aún tienen pintura a base de plomo
  • Hace más de 15 años, padres de familia comenzaron a reportar que sus hijos se estaban enfermando tras consumir dulces que posteriormente se descubrió contenían elevados niveles de plomo

La labor de la Campaña Niños Saludables de EHC es reducir o eliminar los riesgos ambientales a la salud infantil y fomentar viviendas y comunidades seguras, saludables, accesibles y asequibles.

Le invitamos a seguir estos vínculos para conocer más acerca de Niñez y Tóxicos, Prevención de Intoxicación Infantil por Plomo y Dulces Libres de Plomo.

Barrios Libres de Tóxicos

Las comunidades de color y escasos recursos han sufrido por mucho tiempo por prácticas racistas de uso de suelo que merman su salud, seguridad y calidad de vida.

Tóxicas combinaciones de desarrollos industriales, autopistas y rutas de camiones de carga se concentran en barrios de escasos recursos, entremezclados con hogares y escuelas. El trasfondo de este patrón que vemos con demasiada frecuencia son normas discriminatorias de uso de suelo que no protegen la salud de la comunidad.

La manera en que se planifican nuestros barrios—o en que se les abandona al descuido por falta de planificación—determina los niveles de contaminación atmosférica y la concentración de industrias tóxicas con los que tienen que vivir los habitantes. Por otra parte, las comunidades de color y escasos recursos viven una carencia de vivienda asequible y un limitado acceso a transporte público, espacio abiertos y alimentos sanos. La justicia ambiental existirá solo cuando se trate a todas las comunidades por igual.

La diligencia de nuestros y nuestras dedicadas(os) líderes han dado como resultado triunfos monumentales en materia de justicia ambiental, entre ellos:

Nadie tiene mayor derecho de determinar el futuro de una comunidad que sus propios habitantes. El Modelo de Cambio Social para la Justicia materializa esta creencia. Al empoderar a los integrantes de la comunidad mediante desarrollo de liderazgo, organización comunitaria y esfuerzos de abogacía colectivos, ellos(as) se convierten en líderes comunitarios a quienes nos sumamos en abogar por comunidades saludables, hogares saludables y entornos naturales tanto limpios como seguros, laborando hacia la meta final de lograr justicia social y ambiental.

Community Land-Use Planning

Under California law, all municipalities are required to complete General Plans that provide a blueprint for a long-range vision for cities. EHC successfully advocated for an Environmental Health and Justice element in the National City General Plan and a buffer zone between polluters and homes/schools in the Chula Vista General Plan – both firsts in the state. State law does not require the completion of community, area and specific plans, but when executed they apply General Plan standards to a specific geographic area to enable communities to determine the density, building height, zoning and amenities for their neighborhoods.

EHC’s community-driven planning efforts have focused on these plans because they offer the opportunity for self-determination for residents and enable residents to be proactive rather than reactive to inappropriate development proposals. The process also represents a holistic strategy for a community to engage in planning. It may allow residents, perhaps for the first time, to envision their community using their values and aspirations, not the developer’s or the city councilmember’s.

EHC currently works on community-driven land-use planning in Barrio Logan, City Heights and Sherman/Logan Heights in the City of San Diego, and in National City.

In each community, the underlying process is the same.

Building Community Power

BarrioLoganCommunityPlanningAuthentic community involvement in every aspect of community planning and visioning leads to better outcomes that respect neighborhoods and their residents. EHC’s core strategies for all our efforts include community organizing and policy advocacy, which we combine with grassroots leadership development, research and communications to implement each strategic plan. To ensure that the community’s voice is heard, EHC employs the following tactics:

  • Community Action Teams
    In each community, EHC establishes a Community Action Team comprising residents trained as EHC leaders. These leaders develop the community vision and priorities that direct our efforts. They serve as spokespersons for the campaign at meetings with elected officials and government agency representatives and on various planning committees established to oversee plan development.
    José Medina, National City resident since 1969 and EHC leader, expressed his hopes for the Old Town National City Specific Plan when he said: “The plan will allow me to see the neighborhood change into something I remember when I was a boy, when a lot of residents were connecting with each other. In the mid-80s it changed for the worse – I saw houses flattened and autobody shops moved in.”
  • Leadership Training— SALTA (Salud Ambiental Líderes Tomando Acción -- Environmental Health, Leaders Taking Action)
    All EHC leaders complete an eight-session Core SALTA training program providing them with skills and knowledge to become effective advocates and community organizers. A five-session mini-SALTA focusing on land use also provides training on redevelopment, zoning, and affordable housing, plus air quality, contaminated site cleanup, reducing industrial pollution, and sustainable building, including green building materials and renewable energy options.

  • Conducting Community Surveys
    EHC Leaders commit to understanding the priorities of their neighbors and representing those needs when developing EHC platforms and positions. They utilize community surveying as a method for collecting and documenting these needs. In National City, for example, leaders surveyed residents and found that the highest priorities included development of affordable housing, relocation of auto body shops and changing zoning to prohibit incompatible mixed-use. These community priorities were incorporated into the community plan.

  • Community Visioning
    Once aware of the impact and importance of community planning EHC leaders in both Barrio Logan and Old Town National City elected to develop their own neighborhood vision. EHC raised funds to employ a land-use planning firm to work with residents to develop detailed plans with zoning changes, volume and affordability levels of new housing units, identification of industries for relocation, park acreage, school requirements and more. Barrio Logan’s community plan—one of the City of San Diego’s oldest—had not been updated since 1978. After years of promises and delays, residents took planning into their own hands. This resulted in the Barrio Logan Vision, now endorsed by over 1,000 area residents, community organizations and local businesses. EHC then secured $1.5 million from a neighboring downtown development agency for the City to update and revise the official Barrio Logan Community Plan, a process starting in early 2008. EHC pushes for the community plan update to be consistent with the Barrio Logan Vision.

    Hilda Valenzuela, EHC leader and Barrio Logan resident, expressed her excitement about the start of the planning process: “I hope with the Community Plan Update process we can resolve the problems sooner – improve affordable housing, have a healthier environment for children and a better place to live.”

Ensure Healthy Neighborhoods

For many years, EHC has promoted pollution prevention and the precautionary principle as the best way to prevent toxic exposure for community residents and workers. Communities subjected to toxic exposure due to discriminatory zoning need to take action to protect themselves and create separation between residential and industrial land uses. They must also ensure that industrial businesses adopt and implement the most up-to-date technology.

  • Buffer Zones
    EHC proposed the Toxic-Free Neighborhoods Ordinance in the City of San Diego in 1990, which would have required a buffer between industries using or emitting hazardous materials and residences, schools, and day care centers. Local polluters spent thousands of dollars lobbying against the ordinance and ultimately defeated it. Without an ordinance, EHC targeted polluters that chronically violated the law. Master Plating fit the bill with over 150 violations on the books. Community organizing efforts compelled the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and local government to take action resulting in Master Plating’s shutdown in 2002. CARB’s monitoring revealed a cancer risk four times higher than a "typical urban area" due to hexavalent chromium emissions. As a result of this local action, CARB developed the Air Quality and Land Use Handbook in 2005 that recommended buffers for many polluters for the first time in state or local regulatory history. The recommended buffer for chrome platers is 1,000 feet. The distance between Master Plating and the house next door was 4 feet. The guidance document also recommends separation of housing and major roadways, which presents difficulties with "transit-oriented development" that may encourage development very near freeways.

    Elvia Martinez, Master Plating’s next door neighbor and EHC leader, said: “This is the way it’s supposed to work…when a community works together to make its neighborhood a better place to live.”

  • Zoning
    Community plans can include zoning ordinances that determine where industrial, commercial and residential areas can be located. "Mixed-use" zoning that allows free uses in the same area plagues Barrio Logan and National City. EHC seeks specific zoning designations in the new community plans that separate industrial areas from residential areas and remove incompatible mixed-use zoning.

  • Polluter Relocation and Removal
    Rules that prohibit new sensitive uses near pollution sources help, but to restore residential neighborhoods and make them healthy places to live, polluters adjacent to homes and schools must be relocated. EHC has pursued several tactics to accomplish this. In National City, the City Council adopted an amortization ordinance that will phase out industries currently allowed to operate near sensitive uses such as schools. The ordinance sets up a process for relocation of prioritized industries when the amortization period is triggered.

Desarrollo de Liderazgo

Nadie conoce la lucha de vivir con contaminación tóxica como la gente que enfrenta este reto todos los días de su vida. “Hablamos por nosotros mismos” es el principio para cuyo logro labora EHC a través de nuestro programa de desarrollo de liderazgo, el cual vela porque los afectados tengan la oportunidad que merecen de elevar sus propias voces y exigir cambio.

El desarrollo de liderazgo es esencial para alcanzar el éxito y es una de tres estrategias rectoras del Modelo de Cambio Social para la Justicia de EHC, y que permite que el poder de la base se guie hacia nuestras metas.

El curso de liderazgo estandarte de EHC, SALTA (Salud Ambiental, Líderes Tomando Acción), se imparte a todos y todas las(los) líderes de EHC que forman parte de nuestros Equipos de Acción Comunitaria. En 2017, SALTA celebro su vigésimo aniversario junto con más de 2,500 líderes locales que participaron en el mismo. EHC recientemente organizó su exitoso curso de capacitación para ofrecerlo en línea como un programa interactivo de desarrollo de liderazgo a fin de permitir a líderes de todos los rincones del mundo adquirir las habilidades y experiencia necesarios para lograr la justicia ambiental en sus propias comunidades.

Para líderes apasionados por transformar sus barrios, nuestro Video y programa de capacitación Barrios Saludables: Planeación Comunitaria para Superar la Injustica utiliza ejemplos verídicos y casos de estudio para ilustrar que cualquier persona puede convertirse en activista y defensor de la justicia social y ambiental a través de la planeación comunitaria.

Campaña Fronteriza Pro Justicia Ambiental

Toda comunidad ubicada en una frontera internacional tiene el gran privilegio y la gran responsabilidad de superar los límites políticos y fusionar a dos culturas en una singular forma de vivir. La Campaña Fronteriza Pro Justicia Ambiental labora en reducir la contaminación tóxica que genera la industria maquiladora en Tijuana y fomentar un comercio internacional y una globalización justos.

Nuestra participación en la región fronteriza inició en 1983 con nuestro copatrocinio de una Conferencia Ambiental Internacional en Tijuana. Nuestras relaciones transfronterizas continuaron fortaleciéndose en torno a una diversidad de temas de justicia social y ambiental. En 1993, creamos nuestra Campaña Fronteriza Pro Justicia Ambiental en aras de impedir la suscripción del Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte, en reconocimiento de la devastación que ocasiona el comercio injusto a lo largo de la frontera.

Nuestro Equipo de Acción Comunitaria en Tijuana, el Colectivo Chilpancingo Pro Justicia Ambiental, inauguró las oficinas de EHC en la Colonia Chilpancingo en 2002 con la finalidad de apoyar a habitantes de la localidad comprometidas con la lucha por la justicia ambiental a lo largo de la franja fronteriza mexicana.

Le invitamos a ver los videos y leer más acerca de los históricos esfuerzos de éxito de EHC, entre ellos:

Metales y Derivados Toxic Site

leadbundlesCon la globalización corporativa, el comercio y la contaminación han aumentado a lo largo de la frontera de Estados Unidos y México. Tratados como el TLCAN fallan en responsabilizar a las corporaciones contaminadoras o en proporcionar recursos para la protección ambiental.

De los 66 casos registrados como sitios de deshechos tóxicos en los estados mexicanos fronterizos, el más infame es el de Metales y Derivados en Tijuana, una fábrica maquiladora estadounidense que reciclaba baterías importadas de los Estados Unidos. El propietario, José Kahn, huyó al otro lado de la frontera en 1994 cuando debido a reportes de la comunidad de problemas de salud, y repetidas violaciones a la ley medio ambiental registradas por el gobierno mexicano, se clausuró la maquiladora. El Sr. Khan dejó 23,000 toneladas de deshechos tóxicos mezclados, incluyendo 7,000 toneladas de escoria de plomo, exponiendo a la intemperie y a los trabajadores y familias de la colonia Chilpancingo de Tijuana.

La EHC y la comunidad llevaron acabo una campaña por más de una década para obligar una limpieza. En 1998, la EHC y la comunidad presentaron una petición ciudadana con la agencia ambiental del TLCAN, la Comisión para la Cooperación Ambiental.
El reporte de la comisión, publicado en 2002, concluyó que el sitio representaba un "grave riesgo a la salud humana." Sin embargo, la comisión no tiene la autoridad ni los recursos para limpiar sitios tóxicos. Después de más de una década de organización y abogacía, en 2004 la EHC y la comunidad celebraron junto con el gobierno mexicano la firma del acuerdo histórico para la limpieza, y formaron un grupo binacional de trabajo compuesto de comunidad y gobierno. La limpieza concluyó en 2008, antes de la fecha programada, e incluyó monitoreo independiente por parte de la comunidad. (Descargue la cronología completa de la limpieza.)

Metales y Derivados es el caso emblemático del fracaso del TLCAN de cumplir con la promesa de sus negociadores de proteger la salud pública y el medio ambiente. Sin embargo, Metales y Derivados simboliza la justicia ambiental que se logró. El caso estableció por primera vez la estructura transfronteriza y colaboración entre gobierno y comunidad en las limpiezas de sitios tóxicos, y no hubiese sido posible sin estos individuos y organizaciones quienes contribuyeron al esfuerzo.