Countdown to 1.5 Episode 1 – ‘Not in our neighborhood’

Newark residents’ fight for clean air and water

Welcome to the first episode of "Countdown to 1.5," a podcast about environmental justice in the Garden State. Each episode brings us to the frontline of the climate change crisis to track the undeniable impact of global warming and the hopeful movements sparked in its wake. For this audio report, Public Square's engagement editor, Esther Paul, attended the recent march and spoke to residents who voiced their frustration with the projects.  This report is part of our "Countdown to 1.5" podcast series on environmental justice in the Garden State.

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Narrator:  In the US, scientists first sounded the alarm in 1988, when climatologist James Hansen testified before Congress about the dangers of climate change. And since then, humans have emitted higher levels of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which has resulted in rising global temperatures, extreme weather, and disappearing lands. We now face a dire goal to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels – a goal that seems unattainable due to the tremendous political will and curbing of fossil fuel emissions required on the part of all nations. 

Will we stand to meet the challenge? To begin answering this question, 'Countdown to 1.5' zooms into the impact of global warming at the community level.

I'm your host, Esther Paul. In this episode,'Not in our neighborhood!' – Newark residents' fight for clean air and water, we'll hear from Ironbound community members who are fed up with projects that could mean more toxic exposure in a region already bearing the burden of industrial smog. 

The march happened during COP 26, the 2021UN Climate Change summit, where world leaders met in Glasglow, UK, between October 31 to November 12 to advance a unified, global action in response to climate change. 

A pause here for some context: The central goal of COP 26 is to slash global emissions to "net-zero" by 2050. And to hit this target, we must decrease our reliance on fossil fuels like coal and petroleum, which release large quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when burned. It is these carbon emissions that trap heat in the atmosphere and cause the planet to heat up over time.

Newark residents, especially in the industrial, working-class Ironbound community, know all too well the consequences of fossil fuel emissions. Their calls for clean air and water echo those at COP 26 protests, and in communities around the world.

Marchers: “What do you want? Clean air! When do you want it? Now!

Narrator: Community members gathered at the Ironbound recreation center before marching to the site of the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission wastewater treatment plant. After the devastation of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the commission planned the construction of the Standby Power Generation Facility to allow the plant to run without power and service interruptions during future natural disasters. 

Residents were upset as they knew the plant would be powered by fracking, the controversial method of gas and oil production, and result in increased air pollution. 

Lillian Robeiro, a community member who was born and raised in the Ironbound, said she’s seen the harmful impact of pollution on Newark over time and believe limits on fossil fuel emission are necessary.

Lillian Robeiro: Enough is enough. They're like dumping on this community. It’s not just impacting the local residents, but the state itself, the people in this state, there's got to be limits. Its environmental justice, its environmental racism, because they're doing it to this community. Mostly it's immigrants, the Ironbound is mostly immigrants, people who don't speak English, right. So like they do this thinking, no one's going to show up. So we got to be louder.

Narrator: Christian Rodriquez, Urban Agriculture Manager of Down Bottom farms and community organizer for the Ironbound Community Corporation commented on pollution and impact on future generations.

Christian Rodriquez: We love Newark, right? This is our home, so we have to love it. My mom, myself and my great niece and nephews, we all have asthma, you know, and we wonder why. This is generations of families that create memories, we just want to create better ones. (Spanish translation) I know that my niece and nephews, they’re will remember this march when they grow up. Are y’all gonna remember this march? (Kids yell yes!) Guess what? They're gonna be marching for clean air later on in years and we don't want,

Narrator: Representatives from the Newark Environmental Commission and the Environmental and Social Justice Committee also joined the rally.

Winnifred Hinds, co-chair of the Newark Environmental Commission said for too long fossil fuel industries have been using Newark as a dumping ground. 

Winnifred Hinds: “We’re marching for clean air, clean water and environmental justice in Newark. So we are constantly bombarded by CO2 emission, you know, particle matters, methane, all sorts of dangerous chemicals. And you know, we are by Passaic River, which is also polluted. And so we're fighting, because we want the politicians and all representatives, and the fossil fuel industry to take us seriously to treat us like human beings.

Narrator: Like many others there, she was very concerned for Newark’s future generations.

Winnifred Hinds: As far as I'm concerned, this is a slow genocide, you know, like one out of three kids in Newark suffer from asthma. And so, we all know the repercussions of what happens to kids, when they suffer from asthma. You know, they miss school. And, you know, so their educational careers suffer, and you have high rates of cancer, heart disease, you know, in terms of kidney problems, high blood pressure, etc. So, we're hoping to put a stop to it.

Narrator: Reneé Pollard, Chair for the Environmental and Social Justice Committee, said the Ironbound couldn’t take anymore and the commission needed to propose an alternative. 

Reneé Pollard: “Today, I’m marching for the entire state because these communities have been—the Ironbound, they cannot take anymore. They're overburdened as it is. They cannot take one - not one more project. The children are sick. You know, the smell is atrocious. Okay, and you know, they can't take anymore. That's it. There's nothing else to discuss. I would like for them to either stop the project or convert to renewable energy, something alternative than what they’re proposing.”

Community member: Keep the movement going. No matter what they do we have to push back, push back, push back. No matter what they say you push back. You son’t give up. Sometimes, yea I get tired but you can’t get tired, push back, That’s why we gotta help each other, we gotta uplift each other, we gotta motivate each other and that’s how we create the change.”

Chant: What do we want? Clean air! When do we want it? Now!

Narrator: According to the statement from the PVSC, their revised operation of the proposed SPGF would reduce their annual operation hours by 720 hours, which could amount to a 40% reduction in air emissions in the region. Although they clarified, they have not decided how they're moving ahead. PVSC has since delayed the opening of bid proposals for the construction of the SPGF building.

If the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection clears the Aries Newark Biochar Production Facility plan, the facility would process waste from NJ and New York City into biochar—a type of carbon produced from wood chips and other agricultural waste. The company says that biochar could be sold as a concrete thickener to construction companies and that its production could help create hundreds of jobs in Newark.

But locals are not buying it. Not when the environmental price tag is so high. 

Narrator: Until next time, this is your host Esther, signing off. Special thanks to the Ironbound Community Corporation, and on behalf of everyone here at Public Square, thanks for checking out the "Countdown to 1.5" podcast.

Credits

 Music:

 “Rise and Shine” by Audiobinger is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

“State of Mind” by Audiobinger is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)