Economy

California Recycling Bill Highlights Rift Between Mainstream Environmentalism and Environmental Justice Movement

OAKLAND POST — When a group of liberal lawmakers in the state capitol in Sacramento recently proposed legislation that would raise the amount of recycled plastic required in bottled beverages sold in California, many environmental activists lauded the move as a much-needed step in the fight to curb plastic waste.

Published

6 years ago

June 20, 2019

Khalil Abdullah

By Khalil Abdullah

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – When a group of liberal lawmakers in the state capitol in Sacramento recently proposed legislation that would raise the amount of recycled plastic required in bottled beverages sold in California, many environmental activists lauded the move as a much-needed step in the fight to curb plastic waste.

But as debate over the legislation begins to take shape, critics say that it is becoming increasingly clear that the proposed recycling requirement would, if enacted, have an unintended consequence that hurts one group in particular: low-income Californians, particularly those in African-American communities around the state.

The bill, AB792, would mandate that plastic bottles be made with 25 percent recycled plastic by 2021 before it steadily increasing the recycling requirement to 75 percent by 2030. The bill faces a major test in early July when the Senate Environmental Quality Committee considers whether to send it to the full Senate for a vote.

To supporters, the bill would put in place necessary targets to accelerate a reduction in California’s overall plastic use. But consumer advocates worry that the bill would create new production costs that average Californians would have to pay for.

A major concern is that the bill would unintentionally discourage bottled water consumption at a time when research shows that water is key for better nutrition and a successful diet.

The health implications are especially significant for African-Americans, who have experienced higher rates of diabetes than white Americans partly because of poor diet. The proposed legislation also comes at a time when studies have consistently shown black and Hispanic Americans are more inclined to drink bottled water than other ethnic groups.

In addition, research suggests that minority families without access to clean drinking water are more likely to turn to less healthy sugar-sweetened beverages. With African-Americans and Hispanics making up more than 60 percent of Californians suffering from obesity, some advocates say creating new barriers to healthy drinking options could put these individuals at an even greater risk of developing chronic conditions.

Therefore, experts and advocates are asking state lawmakers to slow down the pace of the bill in order to identify unintended consequences of the recycling legislation, regardless of its lofty goals.

The recycling bill has also had unintended consequences politically. It has exposed a rift between mainstream environmentalists and environmental justice advocates.

Specifically, some in the environmental justice movement complain that many mainstream environmental organizations have focused on high-profile issues like climate change and bottled-water recycling while largely neglecting the day-to-day environmental hazards that communities of color face in many American cities.

These environmental hazards largely stem from a number of factors, including rampant industrial development and unwise land-use policies in many cities. The toxic legacy that these communities confront include incinerators, landfills and contaminated water.

In fact, mainstream environmentalists have drawn heavy criticism for their relative silence during the water-contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan, a predominantly African-American city where there is now a pressing need for bottled water.

The differences between the mainstream environmental movement and the environmental justice movement appears to have deep roots: research that has shown people of color and low socioeconomic status have been historically excluded from preeminent environmental groups, many of which are largely white and enjoy the support of wealthy funders.

In 2014, researchers conducted one of the most comprehensive studies examining the intersection between race and environmentalism in environmental institutions. Their conclusion: An overwhelmingly white “green insiders’ club,” with racial minorities occupying less than 12 percent of the leadership positions in the environmental organizations studied.

Dr. Dorecta E. Taylor, the study’s primary author, is a graduate of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and is presently professor of environmental justice at the University of Michigan, where she also serves as the program director of the Multicultural Environmental Leadership Development Initiative. She is also the university’s director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Taylor says White environmentalists are ignoring pressing environmental justice demands due to their failure to move outside of their own insular communities. She said, “One of the things they should be doing is stop being so afraid of people of color, and meet them, interact with them, cultivate them, and start recruiting them.”

Khalil Abdullah, is a Washington, D.C.-area writer and editor. He staffed the Committee on Transportation and Environment for the National Black Caucus of State Legislators before and while serving as executive director. As a national editor for San Francisco-based New America Media, he edited and occasionally wrote on environmental issues.

This article originally appeared in the Oakland Post.

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Activism

Undocumented Workers Are Struggling to Feed Themselves. Slashed Budgets and New Immigration Policies Bring Fresh Challenges

Founded more than 20 years ago, Street Level Health Project started with a handful of nurses and volunteers visiting day laborer sites in East Oakland to provide medical assistance and other resources to newly arrived immigrants. They quickly spotted symptoms common among day laborers: nausea, fatigue, and headaches. Sitting in the sun for hours waiting for work is typical. Once on a job, some men shared incidents of nearly passing out while working. Volunteer nurses also noticed signs of hunger among the men, with some going days without eating a proper meal.

Published

1 week ago

March 4, 2025

Oakland Post

Day laborer zone sites are scattered across several streets in East Oakland, California. The sites allow workers to find temporary jobs in skilled labor such as construction, landscaping, and agriculture. Photo by Magaly Muñoz.

By Magaly Muñoz

Up and down the streets of the Fruitvale neighborhood in Oakland, immigrant workers head to empty parking lots and street corners waiting for a job. Some are as young as 14 and as old as 60.

Diego, a man in his late thirties, is a construction worker who arrived in the United States nine months ago. He, like many of the men standing beside him at the day laborer site, came to the U.S. in the hopes of providing a new life for his family. Now, Diego and other immigrants are worried as threats of deportation increase from the Trump administration.

Also worried are organizations such as Street Level Health Project, an Oakland-based nonprofit dedicated to providing access to health care and basic services to these laborers.

Street Level Health Project’s funding primarily comes from federal and local grants, These are in jeopardy because of city budget constraints and proposed cuts to federal social service dollars.

Already, the nonprofit’s local funding has been cut. The City of Oakland decreased one of the organization’s grants by $35,000 in one of its latest rounds of budget cuts, with city officials citing a looming budget deficit.

“Our primary day laborer program funding right now is secured, but we do have concerns in this next budget cycle if it will continue to be secured, given [the budget shortfall], and the recent cut to 13 community grants across the city,” said Executive Director Gabriela Galicia.

“We’re the safety net to the safety net,” said Galicia. As Oakland’s sole organization devoted to helping undocumented workers, Street Level is often tasked with “picking up the leftovers” for groups that provide resources to the larger immigrant or underserved communities, she added. Now, that mission is under threat.

Level Health Project is a nonprofit organization in East Oakland that provides health and employment resources for immigrant day laborers and their families. The staff upped their efforts to provide information about immigration rights in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidency. Photo by Magaly Muñoz.

At day laborer sites in East Oakland, several workers said that they often skip buying groceries or meals for themselves in order to save money for rent or other necessities.

Diego, who like others interviewed for this story asked to not share his full name because of his undocumented status, said he’s lucky if he makes $300 a week. He said that is enough to pay for the small room he and his son rent in the Fruitvale – but not enough to feed them both. Diego said that he will sometimes go days without food.

The family Diego rents from is more fortunate, he said, because they’re able to afford meat and rice. At times, Diego said, it’s hard to ignore the savory smell that finds its way to his bedroom. Diego tells his son to look away from his landlord’s table to avoid feeling envious about what they cannot buy themselves.

“It’s hard because I know there’s food at the store, but there’s never enough [money] to buy it,” Diego said. “We barely have enough to pay our rent every month.”

On top of paying for the basics here in the U.S., day laborers also face pressure to support relatives in their home countries.

Pedro, interviewed on his BART ride home after an unsuccessful day of trying to find work in East Oakland, said his family in Guatemala regularly goes days without eating because he can’t make enough money in the Bay Area to send home to them.

“A lot of [day laborers] have their families back in [Latin America], making it harder to keep up with our needs here,” Pedro said. Some days he said the only thing he eats is the fruit that some local organizations hand out to workers like him.

Street Level Health Project is providing weekly grocery bags to immigrant day laborers and their families to address the growing need for food in the community. Photo by Magaly Muñoz.

Bracing for bigger challenges

Before the pandemic, Street Level Health Project had a hot meal lunch program at their central office in the Fruitvale, where the organization provided meals twice a week for over 50 people. The organization also had a hot meal breakfast program where they prepared 50 to 90 meals, three times a week.

Understanding the food insecurity that many day laborers face, the project launched a food distribution program in 2011, distributing nearly 70 bags of groceries weekly. Thanks to additional funding, they were able to increase that to 150 food bags a week during the pandemic.

In recent years, Street Level Health Project reduced its weekly grocery distribution back to 70 bags and cut its hot meal program completely. Galicia, the director, said that’s because of the end of COVID-19 funding and staffing reductions.

Street Level Health Project also receives regular donations from the Alameda County Food Bank, but Galicia said it has not been enough to restore the food distribution program to what it was during the pandemic.

Currently, Street Level has a $100,000 grant from the city of Oakland to provide wrap-around services for day laborers, such as getting jobs for the workers, providing assistance with CalFresh and MediCal applications, and referring people to legal aid or immigration assistance. Galicia said that funding is barely enough to do the amount of work that the city expects.

Meanwhile, the $35,000 cut in funding has impacted the organization’s workers’ rights outreach and education services, she said.

The Oakland Post tried reaching out to city and county officials several times for comment but did not get a response.

Galicia fears city leaders will make even harsher cuts during the upcoming budget cycle this spring to balance a $130 million shortfall. Last year, Oakland cut funding for public safety, arts and culture programs, and 13 other nonprofits that serve the city’s most vulnerable populations.

Yet the budget concerns don’t stop with local government.

In the wake of Trump 2.0, organizations across the country are handing out “red cards” with the rights that immigrants should be aware of when encountering immigration officers. Photo by Magaly Muñoz.

Since President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, immigrant communities and the organizations that serve them have been in crisis mode.

Trump, who ran on a promise to deport millions of immigrants, has signed executive orders to stop birthright citizenship, shipped migrants to Guantanamo Bay, and attempted to freeze federal funding to social programs. Undocumented residents are increasingly anxious that their families might get separated.

Galicia said this is the time for local and state governments to invest in their organizations’ staff and direct resources, not take them away, from the people on the frontlines.

“I think that it’s just as important that funders are able to give to our teams, not just for the community but because the people doing the work have to be well, and we need ample resources to be able to do this work to support our community,” Galicia said.

For Pedro, the day laborer in Oakland, the combination of less support from nonprofits like Street Level Health Project, along with fear raised by the Trump administration’s deportation threats, has left him fearful. He is not alone, he said. He has noticed fewer day laborers showing up to their usual spots. Pedro said he himself fears encountering an immigration officer on his way to work.

“We don’t want to leave our homes, but at the same time, if we don’t go outside, we don’t work,” he said. “If we don’t work, we can’t afford to live.”

Oakland Post reporter Magaly Muñoz produced this story as part of a series as a 2024 USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism Data Fellow and Engagement Grantee.

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Alameda County

After Years of Working Remotely, Oakland Requires All City Employees to Return to Office by April 7

City Administrator Jestin Johnson recently told city unions that he is ending Oakland’s telecommuting program. The new policy will require employees to come to work at least four days a week. These new regulations go into effect on Feb. 18 for non-union department heads, assistant and deputy directors, managers, and supervisors. All other employees must be back at work by April 7.

Published

3 weeks ago

February 19, 2025

Oakland Post

Oakland City Hall. File photo.

By Post Staff

The City Oakland is requiring all employees to return to the office, thereby ending the telecommuting policy established during the pandemic that has left some City Hall departments understaffed.

City Administrator Jestin Johnson recently told city unions that he is ending Oakland’s telecommuting program. The new policy will require employees to come to work at least four days a week.

These new regulations go into effect on Feb. 18 for non-union department heads, assistant and deputy directors, managers, and supervisors. All other employees must be back at work by April 7.

The administration may still grant the right to work remotely on a case-by-case basis.

In his memo to city unions, Johnson said former President Joe Biden had declared an end to the pandemic in September 2022, and that since then, “We have collectively moved into newer, safer health conditions.”

Johnson said “multiple departments” already have all their staff back in the office or workplace.

The City’s COVID-era policy, enacted in September 2021, was designed to reduce the spread of the debilitating and potentially fatal virus.

Many cities and companies across the country are now ending their pandemic-related remote work policies. Locally, mayoral candidate Loren Taylor in a press conference made the policy a central issue in his campaign for mayor.

City Hall reopened for in-person meetings two years ago, and the city’s decision to end remote work occurred before Taylor’s press conference.

At an endorsement meeting last Saturday of the John George Democratic Club, mayoral candidate Barbara Lee said she agreed that city workers should return to the job.

At the same time, she said, the city should allow employees time to readjust their lives, which were disrupted by the pandemic, and should recognize individual needs, taking care to maintain staff morale.

The John George club endorsed Lee for Mayor and Charlene Wang for City Council representative for District 2. The club also voted to take no position on the sales tax measure that will be on the April 15 ballot.

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Activism

Actor, Philanthropist Blair Underwood Visits Bay Area, Kicks Off Literacy Program in ‘New Oakland’ Initiative

These community activations were coordinated with the San Francisco-based non-profit program “Room to Read.” Ray said he is also donating his time to read and take pictures with students to encourage their engagement and to inspire them to read more. The inspirational book “Clifford Ray Saves the Day” highlights Clifford Ray’s true story of saving a dolphin.

Published

3 weeks ago

February 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Blair Underwood (left) and Barbara Lee (right). Courtesy photo.

By Paul Cobb
New Oakland Series
Opinion Part 3

The Post mentioned three weeks ago that a number of our local luminaries were coming together to support the “New Oakland” movement. As this current national administration continues to eliminate our “legacy” institutional policies and programs left and right, most communities find themselves beyond “frozen” in fear.

Well, esteemed actor, long-time Bay Area supporter, and philanthropist Blair Underwood returned to Oakland this week to speak with city leaders, community trust agents, students, the Oakland Post, and local celebrities alike to continue his “New Oakland” initiative.

This week, he kicked off his “Guess Who’s Coming to Read” literacy program in some of Oakland’s middle schools. Clifford Ray, who played the center position of the 1975 World Champion Golden State Warriors, donated close to 1,000 books. Ray’s fellow teammate Charles “The Hopper” Dudley also gave Converse sneakers to students.

Underwood also spent quality time with the Oakland Ballers ownership group and visited the amazing Raimondi Park West Oakland community revitalization site. In the 1996 TV film Soul of the Game, Underwood played the role of the legendary first Black Major League Baseball player Jackie Robinson and commended the Ballers owners.

“This group of sports enthusiasts/ philanthropists needs to be applauded for their human capital investment and their financial capital investment,” Underwood said. “Truly putting their money and passion to work,” Underwood said.

Underwood was also inspired by mayoral candidate Barbara Lee’s open-minded invitation to bring public-private partnership opportunities to Oakland.

Underwood said he wants to “reinforce the importance of ‘collaborative activism’ among those most marginalized by non-empathic leadership. We must ‘act out’ our discomfort with passionate intentions to create healthy change.”