Wow. Our 2014 Awards Celebration: Victory for Healthy Communities, presented by Pacifica Companies, simply knocked the ball out of the park.

With friends, neighbors, allies, fellow advocates, business owners, sponsors and elected officials, we came together on Thursday, April 10, 2014, and had an incredible night of laughter, good food, award presentations and of course, selfies.

Click here to view our full gallery of event photos.

Nearly 300 folks spent their Thursday evening supporting EHC and helping us recognize the incredible work done by our #healthyhoods heroes. These heroes include:

Spirit of Justice Award: Ruth Heifetz, EHC founding board member and senior lecturer at UCSD School of Medicine; For a lifetime of dedication to raising awareness among students, professionals, workers and residents to the hazards of toxic pollution.

Champion Award:

• Alejandra Sotelo-Solis, City of National City councilwoman; For leadership on the Westside Specific Plan, the implementation of phasing out polluting businesses, adding 201 affordable housing units and more.
• Lara Gates, plan update manager at the City of San Diego; For stewardship of the Barrio Logan community plan update, enabling all stakeholders to find a just outcome to neighborhood land-use issues.

Community Award:

• Adriana Alfaro, EHC leader; For years of dedication to improving Old Town National City and tireless work towards achieving environmental justice in the San Diego region.
• Maria Martinez, EHC leader and promotora; For leading and inspiring community members in Barrio Logan to fight for a healthier neighborhood.
• The National City and Barrio Logan Community Action Teams; For standing strong as community leaders in National City and Barrio Logan and organizing and empowering other residents to have a voice in the issues effecting their neighborhood.

Using the hashtag #healthyhoods to capture moments for Twitter and Instagram, our guests helped document the evening one selfie at a time. Cumulatively, EHCSanDiego and friends posted close to 150 tweets during the event and got #healthyhoods trending in San Diego; meaning it was the most talked about Twitter subject in San Diego on the evening of April 10. One lucky social media maven even won an EHC t-shirt for tweeting at EHCSanDiego and hashtagging #healthyhoods throughout the event with photos and clever 140-character-or-less phrases.

Click here to view what all our guests said about #healthyhoods.

Thank you to all our sponsors, including: San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, MAAC, Port of San Diego, the California Endowment, Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest, the United Food & Commercial Workers Union and Ryan Brothers Coffee.

We can't say thank you enough to everyone who joined us to honor the people making healthy and safe communities a possibility for National City, Barrio Logan and all of San Diego. We are humbled and honored to know and work with all of you. See you next year!

Mientras seguimos gestionando para que CONAGUA firme la instalación de la Mesa Técnica del Alamar, el sábado 22 de marzo celebramos el Día Mundial del Agua. Environmental Health Coalition en el marco de las actividades de Salvemos la Playa, se encargó de la coordinación de la limpieza en el Arroyo Alamar, con el apoyo de CESDI y RECIMEC.

El objetivo del evento no es solamente limpiar la zona. El objetivo es hacer conciencia a través de la acción del impacto que tiene en nuestro entorno las acciones cotidianas que realizamos, pero principalmente, hacer conciencia a la población de que todo lo que hagamos río arriba va a afectar río abajo. El Arroyo Alamar después de recorrer 10 km se convierte en Río Tijuana y finalmente desemboca en el Estuario del Río Tijuana.

En el Arroyo Alamar asistieron 200 voluntarios y levantamos casi dos toneladas de basura. En el evento general de Salvemos la Playa con 15 sitios en Tijuana y Rosarito se recolectaron más de 13 toneladas con la participación de 1,500 voluntarios.

It's the nightmare we all wished wouldn't happen, but it does.

On march 23 at about 5 p.m., the E & S Autobody Shop located on Hoover Street and 11th Avenue exploded. Many of the Old Town National City residents communicated the incident to us here at EHC. They reported hearing explosions next to their homes, followed by a fire and toxic fumes. The black cloud of smoke could be seen from J street in Chula Vista, and the fumes are lingering even twelve hours past the incident.

Although unfortunate, it is not a surprise.

Jose Medina, an Old Town National City resident who lives roughly a block and half from the exploded business, shares how E & S Autobody Shop "is a big violator of clean air regulations in the 'hood'; continuously painting outside in the public way, in a neighborhood with homes and schools."

In fact, since 2011, residents together with EHC have reported over 20 code complaints for E & S Autobody Shop because of the business' unlawful painting of cars on the street and its after hours operation.

E & S Autobody is one of dozens of industrial uses located in the Old Town National City community threating the health, safety and quality of life of these families every day. We see the everyday life impacts these businesses have on humans reflected in children's asthma hospitalization rates in National City that rank above the county's average. In addition, the city currently ranks in the top 5 percent of California Environmental Protection Agency's CalEnviroScreen tool, which identifies communities that are disproportionally burdened by multiple sources of pollution.

In order to resolve this incompatible land use issue, EHC has worked with the community to phase out these industrial uses. The amortization ordinance that was passed in 2006, grants the City Council of National City the ability to order industrial uses (non-conforming uses as a result of the 2010 Westside Specific Plan) to be terminated within a reasonable amount of time, upon recommendation of the planning commission. National City is currently implementing the phase out of the first two businesses.

Today, the phase out of these toxic uses is ever more pressing. We cannot wait for one more explosion or a fire next to Kimball Elementary. Old Town National City residents deserve to live in a safe and toxic free community.

Warm(er) weather, setting our clocks forward an hour, more daylight in the evenings and more pollen in the air: Spring is here. And with spring often comes spring cleaning, a yearly ritual where we revamp our homes by decluttering, dusting and buying every cleaning supply in stock. But many store-bought cleaners are actually harmful and full of toxic chemicals that you and your family breathe in long after the cleaning is done. Set a new tradition in your family with easy, hand-made and toxic-free products.

With these tips from our Healthy Homes Experts, you don't have to worry about your loved ones breathing toxic chemicals and you can have the cleanest, healthiest home possible. 

• Buy non-toxic cleaning ingredients. Combinations of vinegar, baking soda, lemon, salt and dish soap can get the job done.
• Declutter.Clutter makes excellent hiding places for unwanted guests such as mice, roaches and spiders. Spring cleaning is the perfect opportunity to clear the unnecessary items taking up space in your home. 
• The kitchen.
  • Kitchens accumulate tremendous grease which becomes a food source for roaches. Mix baking soda, salt and dish soap together to make a great grease-cutting cleaner.
  • Clean the garbage disposal with a cut up lemon, salt and a few ice cubes to get rid of any residue or lingering smell.
  • Eliminate odors from the trash can by pouring baking soda into the can before replacing the plastic trash bag.
• The bathroom.
  • High humidity in the bathroom causes black spots and mold around the shower area. To prevent this from building up, keep a spray bottle of a water and vinegar solution underneath the sink and spray the infected areas. Another solution is to open the windows (if possible) or keep a ventilation fan on for five to ten minutes after a shower. 
  • Clean the toilet bowl with baking soda instead of bleach.
  • Rub a lemon on water stains in the shower to make them disappear. 
• The living and dining room.
  • In these rooms, focus on cleaning your windows, furniture, carpet, floors and curtains with a non-toxic solution made of vinegar, dish soap and water mixed in a spray bottle. This solution works like magic with dust around window sills and for removing stains on carpet or furniture.

Happy spring cleaning, everyone!

Did you know the Port of San Diego oversees 5,333 acres of public land? Of that 5,333 acres, 3,520 are water and 1,813 are land along the shore. Yet only eight percent of the 5,333 acres is parks, while 70 percent is currently "leasable land," also known as available space for big, industrial manufacturers or hotels and commercial operations.

Can you imagine how different San Diego would be if more than eight percent of the Port's 5,333 acres included parks, paths, benches, viewpoints and more for community members? 

We have a chance to tell the Port that is what we want. Now, the Port of San Diego is asking for our feedback as it drafts a new plan for land and water use for the next 50 years. Eight environmental organizations came together to recommend guiding principles to include in the Port's vision for the San Diego Bay, and now we must join them and make the community voice heard even louder. 

Please take a few minutes to fill out this survey (also available in Spanish) and let the Port know you want:

• Clean air
• Clean water
• Safe, reliable and accessible public transit
• Protection of natural resources in and along the Bay
• Increased recreational opportunities along the Bay, including access to the waterfront, parks and more

With your help, we can request the Port of San Diego lead the way in environmental justice. The Port has an opportunity to set an excellent example for the city by prioritizing nearby residential communities and pollution reduction, just as they did with the recent start-up of Shorepower on the 10th Avenue Marine Terminal. 

EHC has already prepared its recommendations, now it's your turn to recommend the Port take action by:

• Pursuing immediate action to improve public health by reducing air and environmental pollution
• Ensuring that Port and tenant operations don't continue to negatively effect the health and safety of adjacent residential communities
• Commiting to taking all available action to reduce the cumulative health burdens on Barrio Logan and National City
• Proactively ensuring that ecology of San Diego Bay is enhanced, not degraded, over the next 50 years
• Adopting clean air and clean freight policies that are aggressive and effective
• Implementing the Climate Action Plan and meet local pollution reduction goals and develop a plan to protect areas from sea level rise and other effects of climate change

Join us in specifically asking the Port to make San Diego's next 50 years clean, safe and healthy – a future we all deserve.