The Green Amendment: the People's Fight for a Clean, Safe, and Healthy Environment by Maya K. van Rossum

Author:Maya K. van Rossum
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Disruption Books
Published: 2022-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Nexus of Climate Change

When I think about climate change and all the industries that have brought us to our current precarious reality, I don’t think about it as a stand-alone problem. I think of all the different ways that industry damages our environment and communities. And I recognize that often, when we address environmental damages of one kind—such as polluting emissions to our air, water, and landscapes; or the devastation of the wetlands and forests that absorb and purify our water—a happy side effect is that we also find ourselves reining in climate-changing emissions. The breadth of environmental rights protections that Green Amendments provide can help secure a number of pathways to argue for the reduction of industrial activities that are a source of climate harms. For example, advocating to mitigate industrial air pollution and protect human health in communities like Port Arthur, Texas, will simultaneously help reduce emissions contributing to the climate crisis. It’s what politicians love to refer to as a win-win. Port Arthur needs these kinds of win-wins.

Port Arthur lies along the short stretch of the Texas–Louisiana border that runs through Sabine Lake, just north of the lake’s outlet into the Gulf of Mexico. Home to nearly fifty-five thousand people, the city is enveloped by the fossil fuel industry: refineries, tank farms, pipelines, liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities, and more. In fact, Port Arthur is home to the largest concentration of petrochemical facilities in our nation, among them the largest oil refinery in the United States.20 Petroleum refineries, fossil fuel power plants, and oil and natural gas operations are among the top sources of climate-changing emissions in our nation and world.

John Beard, who is now “60-ish” (in his words), was born in Port Arthur, and has lived there all his life. I first crossed paths with John at an event in Washington, DC, in 2021. As part of the Build Back Fossil Free campaign, we were joining with frontline and Indigenous communities from across the nation to demand that President Joe Biden live up to his promise to firmly address the climate crisis by creating a fossil-free future—one where people are given priority over industry and corporate greed. In addition to holding signs, chanting, and singing with grassroots leaders and protesters on the sidewalk in front of the White House, invited speakers like John and me were telling our stories of how the fossil fuel industry devastates the lives of today and tomorrow. Soon, I found myself among those taken away by police to be arrested for our audacity. Imagine that: singing, chanting, and speaking truth to power, on a sidewalk outside the White House, was an arrestable offense! As a result, John and I didn’t have the chance to meet that day, but I sought him out afterward.

When we caught up via Zoom later that year, John told me about his hometown. We talked about his decade of service (from 2003 to 2012) on Port Arthur’s city council. John shared that after serving in local government, he dialed back his public persona for a while.

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