2 Comments

1. I'm tellin' says:

   February 1, 2012 at 6:09 am

   i’d tell on them:

   to al gore & roger moore

   Reply
2. Master Buz Lawson says:

   February 1, 2012 at 6:21 am

   You’re getting there…..not quite arrived yet, but getting there.

   The point is, all communities surrounding large cities face the corporate waste issue, and little is done, on a community level, to put a stop to it. Cities known for petro-chemical plants, pulp mills, nuclear power plants, etc. are supposedly governed by the EPA, in the amount of toxic waste allowable. The EPA doesn’t inspect regularly, and thier inspections are generally announced well in advance, giving offenders time to ‘clean up before mom comes with her white glove.’ It’s a racket, and at the top of it are, surprisingly, the same politicians who use environmental issues as campaign bravado to garner votes. Once in office, the lobbyists from the offending companies line the pockets of government officials as incentive to ‘look the other way.’ Tell me this doesn’t come as a surprise.

   Taking action on a local level, it is best to have a plan of action. When you have a plan in place, contact media watchdogs and inform them of what you intend to do and offer them the opportunity to ‘ride along’ to cover the story. Media coverage can be invaluable in alerting the otherwise apathetic community to a problem they may simply be too comfortable ignoring to feel that anything they may have to say about it would be heard, anyway.

   Make noise. Gather water and soil samples and have them tested. Go to the nearest liberal-arts college and offer your fight up to an Environmental Studies student, as a project for which they will most definitely get credit. Have them test your samples and publish the results. Get video….that part is really important. You can talk City Council to death and put them to sleep with facts, but nothing makes the point better than slapping them in the face with visual aids. Go to city hall and demand action. They won’t likely take any, at least at first, but that will give you the experience and confidence to make arrangements to speak before your State Legislature, introducing an initiative. If you have a lawyer friend who is contemplating running for public office, have that individual draft an inititative to address the problem, and get an army of volunteers to collect signatures on a petition to get your initiative on your state-wide ballot. If local politicians won’t act, and State politicians won’t act by resolution, then the voters, alone, can force action.

   If the test samples come up with levels of toxins exceeding EPA standards, turn your results over to the EPA and demand…..don’t ask….you pay these people to do what they do…..DEMAND that they take immediate action, as the lives and health of the people of your community are at stake.

   How’s that for a start?

   Reply