Think Globally - How to End Plastic Pollution With Judith Enck
Act Locally - Get The Latest Updates On Capital District Environmental Justice Issues
Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics, will begin the lecture by speaking about environmental justice and the plastic pollution crisis, exploring the toxicity of plastic production, the wasteful packaging landscape, and what people can do to protect the environment and join the fight against plastics. This will be followed by a 15 to 20 minute question and answer period.
Next, Public Health Physician, Dr. David Carpenter, will interview the following local environmental leaders:
- Bob Welton for the Rensselaer Environmental Coalition against the Dunn Landfill.
- Joe Ritchie for Lights Out Norlite, an activist organization bringing awareness about the health damages caused by burning toxic materials at the Norlite hazardous waste incinerator in Cohoes, NY.
- Barbara Heinzen for the Clean Air Coalition of Greater Ravena - Coeymans, a grassroots collection of concerned citizens fighting for air in Ravena, Coeymans, Selkirk, New Baltimore and South Bethlehem.
- Greg Campbell-Cohen from Environmental Advocates on replacing Troy's lead pipes.
The presentation will be 2 hours with time allotted for the audience to mingle afterwards and interchange their news and views on environmental justice in the Capital Region.
Presented by
The Justice Center of Rensselaer County
Cosponsors
- Rensselaer Environmental Coalition Against The Dunn Landfill Lights Out Norlite
- Clean Air Coalition of Greater Ravena - Coeymans
- Environmental Advocates of Troy for lead pipe replacement
- Free Admission, Donations Welcome
While the event is free, donations to the Justice Center of Rensselaer County, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, are encouraged to help secure future speakers to shed light on and bring justice to pressing social needs.
You may donate online at JCRC1.org. or by mailing a check to: The Justice Center of Rensselaer County, P.O. Box 1734, Troy, NY 12181.
About Judith Enck
On Nov. 5, 2009, Judith Enck was appointed Regional Administrator of Region 2 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by President Barack Obama. She is a Senior Fellow and Visiting Faculty member at Bennington College, where she teaches classes on plastic pollution. She is the founder of Beyond Plastics, an initiative that works on plastic pollution issues.
About Dr. David O. Carpenter
Dr. David O. Carpenter is a public health physician who received his MD degree from Harvard Medical School. He chose a career of research and public health rather than clinical practice. His earlier work focused primarily on basic neurobiology using electrophysiological techniques. This led to more neurotoxicological approaches in the study of the mechanisms whereby environmental contaminants cause reductions in IQ and altered behavior in children.
In 2001, he worked to establish the Institute for Health and the Environment as a mechanism to promote interdisciplinary research activities across the various schools and colleges at the University at Albany. In 2011, the Institute was designated as a Collaborating Centre of the World Health Organization in Environmental Health. A redesignation was received in 2019 and again in 2022.
His current work is in environmental causes of human diseases.
About The Robert J. Doherty Memorial Lecture Series
The Robert J. Doherty Memorial Lecture Series is dedicated to the life and work of an outstanding humanitarian and public servant. Doherty was the cofounder and first president of the Justice Center of Rensselaer County, an organization dedicated to achieving equality and to promoting a welcoming and diverse community by addressing persistent and structural prejudice in political, economic, environmental and social systems.
The intent of the Lecture Series is to call attention to vital social issues and to offer solutions to these major problems. Distinguished speakers cover such important subjects as racial discrimination, police reform, mass incarceration, environmental justice, and voting rights.