Root and Branch
Thanks to everyone who made the 1-Day University of Change a Useful and Productive Day
Electric Buses: A Big Climate Change and EJ “Something You Can Do Now”
Register for the Electric Glide Bus Pub Crawl here.
Thursday, December 6th
Catch the bus at 6:30 or 7:00 pm
at the Green Door in the Farmers Market District
600 South Harwood Dallas 75201
Plug In. Get Lit. Stay Current.
How did we get from cement plants burning hazardous waste in Midlothian to transit or and school buses making runs in inner city Dallas?
The answer is PM, Particulate Matter. The two-decade fight against the cement plants was one long primer on PM pollution. They were, and remain the largest industrial sources of the pollution in North Texas. We learned firsthand about the toxicity, reach, and insidious health effects of PM pollution. Not just strokes and asthma, but IQ loss, Autism, Dementia, Diabetes, low-weight births. PM is the new lead.
Every boiler, furnace, fire, flame and combustion engine produce PM. Diesel engines emit an exceptionally toxic form of PM called Black Carbon.
Because they’re on the road so much, are diesel or natural gas-powered, and make people wait by the side of traffic-heavy roads to ride, bus systems turn out to be a major source of PM pollution. And climate change gases. And smog. A rough estimate shows DART’s bus fleet would be the 10th largest PM source in Dallas County if it were all parked in one spot. But of course its the dispersed nature of a bus fleet’s pollution that often makes it more of a widespread threat to public health than a stationary “point source” a.k.a. an industrial facility.
What’s missing is a constituency for electrification of school district bus fleets and transit agencies like DART and Trinity Metro. Because of the potential impacts and benefits, this could be a wide-ranging and powerful alliance – PTAs, transit riders, physicians, environmentalists, environmental justice advocates, and even the utilities that could buy the power from bus batteries. But until we get the ball, er wheel rolling, its all just that – potential.
One of the reasons we’re sponsoring the December 6th “Electric Glide bus pub crawl” as part of this year’s Root and Branch is that we wanted to start that rolling. And real, wheels-on-the-bus-go-round-and-round rolling discussions and presentations on the advantages of electric buses are part of the evening, but so is just showing your support for the goal of electrification as something local officials could accomplish right now, especially if they combine their collective purchasing power.
The more people that show-up on the 6th, the more DART and local school boards – whose memberships we’re inviting as well – will get the impression someone gives a damn and the more we’re a force to be reckoned with. We need a people’s lobby for 21st Century electric buses in DFW.
In exchange for coming out and forking over $25, we give you three custom drinks, Graham Dodds’ food, a presentation by Dale Hill, the co-founder of the Proterra electric bus manufacturer, and maybe, just maybe some food for thought about what we all can do right now to advance a bunch of causes in one campaign that’s winnable at the local level in the Trump era.
Register for the Electric Glide Bus Pub Crawl here.
Thursday, December 6th
Catch the bus at 6:30 or 7:00 pm
at the Green Door in the Farmers Market District
600 South Harwood Dallas 75201
Plug In. Get Lit. Stay Current.
Al Armendariz, Graham Dodds, and Brett Shipp Take an Electric Bus to a Bar: 2019 Root and Branch Preview
Every year Downwinders at Risk takes a week off and sponsors a floating conference aimed at
making North Texas organizers and activists better advocates.
This year’s Root and Branch Revue is again packed with star power and covers new ground. Here’s your first preview of what’s being offered.
Mark you calendars now. These events are for people exactly like you.
Wednesday/December 5th
Why Does Green Look So White in DFW?
A Discussion from the South Side of the River
7 to 9 pm
African American Museum in Fair Park Dallas
FREE
Featuring:
Al Armendariz, Former EPA Regional Administrator
Cherelle Blazer, Sierra Club/Beyond Coal
Clarice Criss, Field Manager, Color of Change
…and others
Co-sponsor: Sierra Club/Beyond Coal
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Thursday/December 6th
Electric Glide Bus Pub Crawl
How Electric Buses Can Save Profits, People, and the Planet
6-8:30 pm
Start: The Green Door in the Farmers Market Dallas
$25
Price Includes:
Custom Electric Glide Cocktails from The Green Door and Harwood Tavern
Pop-Up restaurant with food by Chef Graham Dodds
Presentation by E-bus manufacturer Proterra founder Don Hill
Co-sponsor: Climate 350
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Saturday/December 8th
1-Day University of Change
A Full Day of Workshops to Help You Become a Better Advocate
10 am to 5:00 pm
GoodWork Co-Working Space 1808 S. Good Latimer Dallas
$25 Includes lunch and all these workshops….
“Mapping Injustice” with Robert “The Map” Mundinger
“Build Your Own Air Monitor” with Constant Marks
“Zoning 101” with Paul Cardin
“Investigative Research” with Brett Shipp
“Portable Air Monitor Training“ with the Downwinders PM Committee
“How to Stop a Batch Plant and Other ‘Standard’ Polluters” with David Frederick and Tamera Bounds
WITH MORE TO COME
2017 R&B in pics
Scientists, Officials, and Activists: All in One Day
One- Day University of Change
Tomorrow – Saturday Jan. 28th
Two tracks of workshops going on all day
9:30-5:50
Walk-Ups Welcome
$35 for workshops plus lunch
$20 for students
Bluebonnet Ballroom, UTA Univ. Center
300 West First Street, Arlington
It only happens once a year
Flint Water Protectors!
Local Elected Officials in a Q&A!
Drones!
Lawyers! Scientists! Activists!
SCHEDULE
9:00- 9:30 am Morning Registration
9:45-10:45 am
Classroom #1
The Dos and Don't of Citizen Health Surveys
Leslie Allsop, University of Texas Health Science Center Classroom
Classroom #2
Using Science to Make Violations Stick
Tamera Bounds, Mansfield Gaswell Awareness and Downwinders at Risk, with Ranjana Bhandari of Livable Arlington
11:00 am – 12:00 Noon
Classroom#1
Citizen Monitoring of Drinking Water
Doug Carlton of UTA's C.L.E.A.R.
Classroon #2
State of the Air – An Asthma Forecast
Shammara Norris, Asthma Chasers
LUNCHTIME FORUM
12-1 pm
Catered Lunch
Local elected officials talk about protecting their quality of life goals in the face of state and federal opposition
Dallas County Commissioner Theresa Daniel
Dallas City Council Member Sandy Greyson
Fort Worth City Council Member Ann Zedah
1:15 -2:15 pm
Classroom#1
Fighting Environmental Permits in Texas
Ilan Levin, Attorney, Environmental Integrity Project
Classroom#2
Petition Rights: The Source of Citizen Power to Take Back Their Towns
Linda Curtis, Independent Texans
2:30 – 3:30 pm
Classroom#1
Strategy vs Tactics
Jim Schermbeck, Downwinders at Risk
Classroom#2
Door-to-Door Outreach
Corey Troiani, Texas Campaign for the Environment
3:45 – 4:45
Classroom #1
High Tech Tools for Citizens
Dr. David Lary, University of Texas @ Dallas, Doug Carlton, University of Texas @ Arlington, Jim Schermbeck, Downwinders at Risk
Classroom #2
How Flint was Exposed
Melissa Mays, Water You Fighting For and Nayyirah Shariff, Flint Rising
5:00 – 5:30
Air Sampling and Monitoring Drone Demonstration (weather permitting)
5:30
Happy Hour Networking
REGISTER HERE NOW
OR WALK-UP ON SATURDAY
(It's a secure Click and Pledge pay portal established just for this event, so the $35 registration is called a "donation." Just click on the $35 button and fill out the credit card info and you're done)
Do You Have an “After-March” Strategy for Change?
Three events this week can help make you a better activist…year round
– A high-level discussion about Civil Disobedience as a tactic for
social change
– A forum with Flint Activists on the front lines of the nation's best known
environmental justice fight
– A full day of skills and information workshops featuring local experts
and elected officials
Don't Miss These One-Of-A- Kind Opportunities
1. Get Inspired by Flint National Heroes Melissa Mays and Nayyirah Shariff.
These are the Lois Gibbs and ErinBrockovichs of our age.
Flint is our Love Canal.
This is their only stop in Texas.
You have TWO opportunities for quality time with them.
Thursday, Jan 26th, from 7 to 9 pm at the beautiful Mountain View Performance Hall, they'll be "Exposing the Poison Water and Toxic Government" that caused the Flint Scandal and then joining local lead activists from West Dallas and Frisco. This evening with them is free and open to the public.
On Saturday, January 28th at UTA as part of our 1-Day University Of Change they'll both be doing a workshop on "How Flint was Exposed." Limited seating to spend up close and personal time with national environmental justice heroes. Register here.
There are still arrests being made in Flint and Michigan because of this scandal. There is still a problem with lead in Dallas. Come hear why the two problems are connected.
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2. See the Public Premier of the Trailer for a New Film on Flint – "Bigger than Water" co-produced by Earth Day Texas
The same team that produced "Racing Extinction" is now turning its attention to the public health crisis in Flint. This is the first public showing of their trailer promoting "Bigger than Water," expected to be in theatrical release soon. It serves as an introduction to the Women from Flint, Thursday at 7 at the Mountain View Performance Hall.
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3. DRONES!
Come see the future of citizen air monitoring. If the weather holds, Cap't Dave Schafer from UTD's drone fleet will be giving a live demo flight right after the "High Tech Tools for Citizens" workshop at Saturday's 1-Day University of Change. In addition, he'll have the better part of his fleet on display during the day for you to look at up close. UTD's drones have been used in many air quality studies, including EDF's recent one in the Barnett Shale gas patch. Downwinders is working in collaboration with UTD to develop our own North Texas CLEAN Air Force drone capacity.
Register herefor the workshops and the drone demo on Saturday, January 28th, beginning at 9:30 am and ending by 5:30 – 6:00 pm.
(It's a secure Click and Pledge pay portal established just for this event, so the $35 registration is called a "donation." Just click on the $35 button, fill out the credit card info and you're done)
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4. ONE NIGHT ONLY: Sixty Years of Local Civil Disobedients on a Single Dallas Stage
Peter Johnson was there on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma in 1965.
Mavis Belisle organized what is still the single largest act of Civil Disobedience in Texas history at the Comanche Peak nuclear plant.
Cory Troiani and Ron Seifert have been on the front lines of the movement to stop new fossil fuel pipelines.
LaSadion Anthony is organizing local anti-police brutality protests that challenge the status quo AND traditional approaches to civil disobedience.
All of these remarkable people will be talking about how and when civil disobedience is used effectively – or not – after a screening of "Above All Else" about the East Texas Keystone Pipeline blockade. Be part of the discussion.
At the Angelika Theater @ Mockingbird and Central, Tuesday, January 24th 7 to 9 pm.
ABSOLUTELY FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
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5. Face Time with Local Elected Officials Who Actually Care About Quality of Life Goals
As part of our 1-Day University of Change on Saturday January 28th, we're hosting a special lunchtime discussion with local officials who've been outspoken in their defense of clean air and water, sustainability, and sane transportation options.
So far, Dallas County Commissioner Theresa Daniel and Dallas Council member Sandy Greyson have agreed to participate. This is your chance to ask them about local strategies to fight hostile state and federal governments and tell them what you think they should do.
Register for the 1-Day University of Change here. $35 for the whole day – includes lunch. (It's a secure Click and Pledge pay portal established just for this event, so the $35 registration is called a "donation." Just click on the $35 button, fill out the credit card info and you're done)
Root and Branch 2017: Here’s Your Chance to Put on a Show
AN OPEN MEETING
Help Us Start to Organize the 2017 Root and Branch Revue
Activist Conference
Saturday, September 10th
3-5pm
Common Desk Co-Working Space
633 West Davis in North Oak Cliff
If you could plan a conference for you and your peers to help train and motivate you as environmental activists in Texas, what speakers, events, forums, exhibits, panels, music, and/or art would you choose?
Last year Downwinders brought Love Canal's own Lois Gibbs to DFW to be our featured guest at the very first Root and Branch Revue – a conference aimed specifically at training and educating DFW and Texas environmental activists. We also teamed up with the Young Turks at Bar Politcs to present the first evening of "environmental comedy" in DFW history, and hosted a panel on what fracking activists can do in the wake of new state restrictions on municipalities.
Because of the elections, Downwinders has scheduled the next the next Root and Branch Revue for January 25-28, 2017. This time we're specifically focusing on "Citizen Science," through the lens of Environmental Justice.
We're looking for DFW activists who want to help shape the content and format of this one-of-a-kind event, so we're opening up the planning process to everyone who's interested. This is our first public planning meeting.
Bring your thinking caps and dreams. We need ideas for workshops, speakers, etc. for this "SXSW for activists." If you ever attendded a conference and wondered how you'd run things differently, now's your chance to put theory into practice.
First Public Strategy Session for Texas “Fractivists” Since State Legislature Stripped Cities of Zoning Authority
What: “The Future of Fighting Fracking in Texas”
When: 7-9 pm Thursday, November 5th
Where: Historic Texas Theater in Oak Cliff, 231 West Jefferson
Who: Regional and Statewide Activists, Attorneys and Organizers
(Dallas)— A new alliance of groups fighting for more protective fracking regulation in Texas is using a Dallas environmental conference to host the first statewide strategy session responding to the passage of HB40 by this year’s state legislature.
Dubbing itself the “Texas Grassroots Network,” organizers include key members of local groups in Arlington, Denton, and Mansfield. Since their first meeting during the summer, they’ve also received calls from South Texas residents who live in the Eagle Ford gas and oil field. Their aim is to create something Texas has never had – a statewide coalition of grassroots groups tackling the same industry and the same problems caused by that industry setting up shop too close to people.
On the evening of Thursday, November 5th, they’re taking over Dallas’ historic Texas Theater to begin what they say will be a wide-ranging and free wheeling discussion about what the best options for those who don’t want to live side-by-side with drilling rigs in light of the legislature’s restrictions on local zoning.
“It’s time to regroup and come up new ideas and strategies about how to stop irresponsible fracking,” said Tamera Bounds, of Mansfield Gas Well Awareness. “We need to use our anger of what the legislature did to fuel new efforts and recruit new supporters. Most Texans want local control of fracking. Our job is to build a statewide movement reflecting that.”
“The Future of Fighting Fracking in Texas” is the second featured event of local clean air group’s Downwinders at Risk’s four-day floating conference, called “The Root and Branch Revue.” Other conference events include an evening of “environmental comedy” with Bar Politics, a day of workshops aimed at sharpening activist skills, and an attempt to construct “the world’s largest S.O.S” outside EPA Regional Headquarters in downtown Dallas. Lois Gibbs, of Love Canal fame, is the featured guest.
But it’s Thursday’s panel discussion and a follow-up on Saturday that could potentially have the biggest impact on the Texas environmental movement. Many opponents of urban fracking are still reeling from the state’s ban on local zoning restrictions last spring. There hasn’t yet been a coordinated or articulated response. Organizers of the Texas Theater discussion aim to fix that.
Participating will be some of the most high-profile regional fractivists, including Bounds, who’ll moderate, Adam Briggle and Cathy McMullen from Denton, Ranjana Bhandari form Arlington, and former DISH mayor Calvin Tillman. Joining them onstage on stage will be Public Citizen/Texas staffer Tom “Smitty” Smith, Austin-based environmental attorney Marisa Perales, and Lois Gibbs herself.
“HB 40 has forced us to look beyond our own city limits and find new ways to organize residents,” said Bounds. This public strategy session is one of he first steps we need to do that and regain momentum.”
Next Week is Giving Day: Help Us Bring Lois Gibbs to Town
As many of you already know, Next Thursday, September 17th is North Texas "GIVING DAY."
They'll be an All-Star panel on the future of fighting fracking in Texas after HB40.
They'll be a rally at EPA headquarters to demand the Agency enforce evnironmental laws.
They'll be an entire day of workshops on how to be a better activists. Want to know how to do your own air or water sampling? Get better media coverage? What industrial poisons affect you in DFW? You can learn from the experts.
It looks like they'll even be a comedy troupe review taking aim at DFW's air pollution.
But we need your help to pull this first-ever conference off and do it right. Our goal is to raise $7500 next Wednesday to help cover the expenses of our speakers, book our venues, and provide food and materials.
We're STILL the only group solely focused on DFW air quality.
We're STILL the only group with a full time staffer devoted to your lungs.
And we're STILL completely dependent on local contributions from our supporters to stay in business
EALLY need you to take the time next Thursday to give generously to an effort that affects the very air you breathe. And keep on the lookout in your mailbox for news about our first-ever grassroots conference for people just like you.