A day with Literacy for Environmental Justice

July 12th 2010

Today was easily the best day of the NEW VOICES ARE RISING Summer program so far. We traveled to Bay View Hunters Point in San Francisco (20 minutes away from Oakland) and hung out with two really cool people Anthony Khalil and Tracy Zhu from Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ for short).

So to start off the tour we walked down this sandy, rocky, and dusty trail into the middle of nowhere… Actually Heron’s Head park and to our left and right were all these exotic and wild mostly native plants and wetlands and marshes and birds making sounds. Directly across the marsh was the site where Hunters point’s community had a victory. The PG&E Power Plant was finally shut down and the remains of it were just a distant memory. To our right was the Eco Center or the living building… more on the Eco-center later.

So we got to our destination at the end of the peninsula and sat on these logs held together by nails. We walked down a semi-slope and began hearing cracking under our feet. I looked down and asked what it was I was stepping on. One of the youth decided to be funny and say it was rattle snake eggs knowing my fear of anything creepy, crawly, and slimy. But with this question came the first bio-break of the day and I was told that they were the bodies of crabs that had just molted and when I picked one up sure enough it looked like a white mini crab.

We went on to do some energizers forcing us to talk about various quotes from knowing ones past or roots to environmental racism and everything in between. After that we did some mapping exercises to get us familiar with our past and compare it to our future. Its crazy to see the startling difference between 1750’s and present day with all our industrial and technological advancements it amazed me how little of the natural landscapes were preserved.

We proceeded to the next part of the tour, which was the Hands-On- The- Land portion of the trip where we literally put our hands on the land and pull invasive plants (Weeds) by its roots out of the ground. The reason for this is because at LEJ they don’t believe in using harmful pesticides… YEAH LEJ!!! So in order to ensure that the native plants there survive we have to get on our hands and knees and pull those weeds… The sucky part is that I’m such a city boy and prickly things and dirt in my shoes are just not the spirit. But I’m glad to be contributing to such a great cause.

The Eco Center was easily the high light of the tour… I mean this house was designed to flow with nature not against it, and any building that’s pro nature is fine by me. The Rose Foundation actually gave a grant to LEJ to help out with the cost of the water treatment equipment.


It’s also off the grid meaning they don’t pay PG&E or Water. Why? Because of their Solar panels that absorb sunlight converting it into energy and a roof that catches rainwater. They also have a water treatment center inside the house. How cool is that? So not only are they saving a bunch of money but also they’re not harming the environment. What if everyone in America had this system of self-sustaining water and energy just imagine all the heavy polluting energy companies shutting down plants one by one. Sounds good to me at least.

Such a wonderful and empowering day for team Environmental justice, little confirmation that this battle is not such an up hill battle.