For over a century, our governments failed to regulate lead as it entered almost every facet of our consumer market and infrastructure. Despite long-standing knowledge of the risk of lead poisoning, lead was used for its versatility and low-cost. New studies estimate that at least half of the United States population was exposed to adverse lead levels during early childhood. While statutes and regulations have been put in place to prevent the continued use of lead in infrastructure and some products, few hold anyone responsible for affirmatively removing lead hazards.
This presentation on Food Waste was part of our 2015 Community Fair and is an introduction to the issue of food waste. Even as people continue to struggle with food insecurity, massive amounts of food are wasted during production, distribution, and by consumers. This presentation examines these issues and takes a look at some creative solutions to the problem of food waste at local, regional, and national levels.
There is a pervasive myth in America that individualized estate planning is only available to the very wealthy. For some, the message has even been that these services are only appropriate for the rich. Still others may know that individual planning is available, but believe that they and their loved-ones cannot benefit. They believe that because they do not have sufficient assets, nothing can be done.
This presentation, recorded as part of Fair Shake’s 2015 Community Fair, provides an introduction to my practice as a sharing economy lawyer. The sharing economy is a general trend towards sustainable economic and community development in a way that facilitates community ownership, localized production, cooperation, small-scale enterprise, and the regeneration of economic and natural abundance.
Looking at environmental concerns through a reproductive justice lens (and looking at reproductive concerns through an environmental justice lens) can help attorneys articulate needs that might otherwise go unaddressed and unnoticed in conversations about legal concerns and potentially available remedies. Recent statements from the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics on environmental justice, concerns surrounding the spread of Zika virus, and the impact of black lung on Appalachian families all demonstrate the unique way our environment impacts our reproductive health and the impact that has on our ability to plan and provide for our families. These scenarios demonstrate the way an individual’s ability to exercise their reproductive rights and gain access to reproductive healthcare can contribute to how successfully that individual navigates the environmental concerns they may be facing. They also demonstrates the way economic and social factors impact an individual’s exposure to harm and access to justice.
A fellow attorney once told me that what I am saying boils down to “nothing happens in a vacuum.” However, I think working at the intersection of environmental and reproductive justice means much more than that. As an attorney committed to serving modest-means clients and an attorney committed to addressing the environmental legal concerns of women and families in particular, using these lenses to tackle a legal problem brings unique counseling and fact-gathering skills and provides an opportunity for novel approaches to legal action.
