Pool Party!

Purchase your tix by clicking here! Thanks.

bike lanes and community often conflict *updated*

But this one doesn't really seem like it is more than just drivers asserting their privelege.

The Brooklyn Paper: Prospect Park West’s two-way bike lane is on a roll



Blogger's note: I try to resist posting too much bike stuff. It's not always explicitly environmental. I think this one is pushing the limit of things relevant to this blog. But I think it's neat.

Streetsblog made a video of interviews at the Community Board Meeting, including newly elected Councilman Brad Lander. The video is boring. Click through it, you'll get the idea.

UPROSE bus tour

At the Law Review Panel:



back in February, Elizabeth Yeampierre talked about the work of UPROSE and the video shows the bus they use for the EJ Bus Tour. Here's a media spot from a REALLY awesome project, Brooklyn Independent Television, with a piece about it.

Can we take that tour sometime soon?

tech savvy

Look at our brilliantly designed new compost bin!

Appleseeds, so capable in law and labor.

Toxic Colonialism: U.S. Military Policy and Vieques

GC co-sponsored a CLORE/LALSA Panel today.

Here is the video that was played at the beginning if you're interested:


Please participate in the conversation over at the CLORE blog where they have posted the things that didn't get fleshed out.

Here are some scattered notes I took during the conversation
-History of Navy base in Vieques pollution. 62 years of bombing. Puerto Rico is the oldest colony in the world.

Javier Cuebas: Speaking about primary strategy of civil disobedience and other tactics. Vieques is a reflection of PR diaspora, has different meanings to people living on the island. Vieques known as 'little sister' - reflection of PR experience.
-with the exception of nuclear bombs, all other weapons tested there
-extremely sick population as a result.
on stateside - two camps - deniers and those who are aware of it.
majority of people IN PR are in agreement that vieques is a problem. galvanizes people on the mainland.

at one point navy propoosed transfer of population of vieques to the mainland.
dracula plan.

John Arthur Eaves - how did a gringo mississippi lawyer end up on this case? former mayor called him up, due to publicity from another case.
why did it begin as a case and become a mission?
1-faith
2-modern day civil rights movt - would not have happened anywhere else in the US
3-explains full cost of war
4-health of the people there
5-vieques best opportunity I have had to make a difference
the case - began w/administrative claim. took 4-5 years to collect medical records. doctors didn't even know teh illness the ppl were facing
told by politicians that the votes were not enough,
case dismissed, no evidence that navy's activities
relied on faulty ATSDR conclusions.
all sorts of procedural issues, eventually moved to San Juan ct, govt moved to dismss for sovereign immunity
discovered through FOIA that USNavy knew of problems in 1978
this is where it is now.

Vieques is now a superfund site.

ATSDR

JC - ADOVACY AND ALLIANCES TO BRING people w/ different ideologies together
PR senate passed unanimous resolutions about Vieques
casapueblo - community organizing in PR
everything connected for advocacy through regulations
"politicians, they like to be in office"
identify commonalities among the actors. develop political alliances

questions

community focus needed for a real 'break'

The Indypendent » Greenpeace Indirectly Pits Itself Against Indonesian Farm Workers

The Indypendent Blog posted this brief article about the effects of Greenpeace's recent big campaign against Nestle. Greenpeace has really started to nail down how to wage a successful campaign with cutting viral videos and aggressive pushes against well-known corporations. It's the kinda stuff that makes environmentalists go "oo yeah, you get 'em Greenpeace". And it seems that the campaign is having rapid success, but not without a drawback, pushback from Indonesian palm oil farmers.

At CUNY Law we speak often about organizing and advocacy and the role of the law within that, and I think this issue raises these questions on a big scale. Specifically - how can large environmental groups wage effective campaigns without sacrificing community needs? Can this be done on a large scale or is a smaller community focus required to preserve the lives of workers when one corporation holds all the economic power in a region? Are viral video campaigns inherently exploitive?

And so on.

At the International Law Society's event a few weeks ago "Blood and Capital: Holding Corporations Accountable for Human Rights Violations" we did see some great legal work utilizing the Alient Tort Statute that seems to allow for this type of work. Is there a way that Greenpeace and the other gigantic environmental groups can integrate some of CCR's and EarthRights strategies?

Much to consider, and it's important for all of us to consider these questions in our summer work and beyond.

Regardless, here is the somewhat stomach turning Greenpeace video, in case you haven't seen it.

How to strangle a climate skeptic [VIDEO] | Grist

How to strangle a climate skeptic [VIDEO] | Grist

Bottled Water blows.

I know I'm a little behind posting this, but Appleseeds probably are too wrapped up in studies to have spent 8 minutes on this yet.

Annie Leonard is using Youtube really really well.

Anecdotally, I do notice that CUNY students seem to use a their own bottles of tab or coffee or tea more than plastic bottles. Any thoughts?

Perhaps we can stream this at our Freecycle event?

BeeTeeDubs, this is the scariest part, around 4:55 onward.

NYCDOT releases new stats (via Streetsblog)

Streetsblog New York City

Do any 3Ls remember or know that only in 2008 did Jewel Avenue get a bike lane?

"A 2007-2008 redesign of Jewel Avenue in Queens added a buffered bike lane, introduced some traffic calming measures and gave pedestrians longer crossing times. Afterward, bike volume along the corridor increased fivefold, and 91 percent of cars now travel at or below the speed limit. Before implementation, local politicians protested the removal of traffic lanes, but the data show that congestion hasn't increased at all."

Check out the link that shares some of the recent stats from the NYCDOT for other great little facts about how much transportation improved as a result of more bike lanes, more bus lanes, etc.

American Enterprise Institute accidentally makes the case for climate legislation | Grist

American Enterprise Institute accidentally makes the case for climate legislation | Grist

So I'm trying to share things here that relate to the environmental law with a focus on NYC, or just NY. This is neither, but it is funny AND interesting. Conservative think tank attempting to claim that just a growth in prosperity is the result of a decline in greenhouse gas emissions, when in reality, it is environmental regulation. CO2 of course is not regulated and has increased where the other significant emissions have decreased in the past 30 years.

Let's pass more laws.