Founded in 1970, the Ecology Center serves one purpose: protecting healthy people and a healthy planet. We believe that the central question of our time is how human beings are going to thrive in the world without destroying the earth's ability to sustain us. This can only be achieved with your support.
Lead levels are harmful in many schools and childcare centers. With 'Filter First', they soon won't be
Thousands of Michigan children are at risk of lead poisoning. They’ll soon be protected at the places where they spend much of their days.
Last week, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law “Filter First” legislation, three bills that will require the installation of lead water filters in all schools and childcare centers. Costs will be offset by $50 million dollars set aside (so far) in the state budget.
Schools and daycares should be places where children are safe from dangerous neurotoxins, like lead," said Meli Garcia, regional environmental health organizer for the Ecology Center. “Lead impairs children’s brain development and can trigger serious and irreversible learning, and behavioral problems. Now water that has been sitting for extended periods in school pipes will be filtered before children and staff take a drink.
“Michigan lawmakers have just enacted the nation’s strongest measures protecting kids from lead in school and childcare centers,” said Cyndi Roper, Michigan senior policy advocate for NRDC. “These bills implement a solution that actually gets lead out of drinking water while also realizing dramatic cost savings.”
The legislation’s passage comes after a nationwide Environment America report gave Michigan an F grade for its efforts to remove lead from school drinking water. With “Filter First” legislation becoming law, the ranking would be boosted to an A.
Research by Elin Betanzo of Safe Water EngineeringLLC revealed that 89% of the 114 schools and childcare facilities that voluntarily submitted water samples to the state had dangerous amounts of lead in their water.
Lead stunts mental, physical, and social development. Young children, whose minds and bodies are growing most, are especially at risk. No amount of lead is safe.
The filters will prevent lead found in fountains and taps from leaching into the water that children and staff drink. Lead leaching is possible in water fixtures new and old and is especially prevalent in those left unused for long periods of time. That makes schools and childcare centers, with their many breaks and weekend closures, especially prone to lead contamination.
“We have monitored hydration stations in older school buildings in Michigan and have hundreds of data points,” said Nancy Love, a distinguished university professor at the University of Michigan. “Bottom line: Lead exists in buildings without lead service lines, and hydration stations with properly maintained filters work to remove lead below detection. The Filter First legislation is a game changer for Michigan’s children.”
“There has not been a bigger moment in the lead poisoning fight since lead paint was banned 45 years ago,” said Charlotte Jameson, chief policy officer for the Michigan Environmental Council. “Momentum is on our side. We can make lead poisoning history, not current reality.”
The policy within the legislation, dubbed “Filter First,” is more effective than replacing water infrastructure outright because even new plumbing contains lead. It is also hundreds of millions of dollars cheaper and much faster to implement, according to an analysis prepared by NRDC for the Filter First Coalition, a 40-member group that has advocated for such policies for over five years.
The legislation’s passage comes as other transformational lead prevention efforts are realized. Gov. Whitmer also approved the widely bipartisan effort to get all toddlers routinely tested for lead poisoning, and legislation to get more homes tested and treated for lead contamination is moving through the political process.
“Michigan has recently passed two important pieces of legislation to move the needle on lead poisoning of Michigan children,” said Mary Sue Schottenfels, staff member with Wayne State University’s Detroit Lead Parent Advocacy Group. “Filter First assures safe drinking water in Michigan schools and Universal Lead Testing makes sure that ALL Michigan children will be tested for lead poisoning at ages 1 and 2. Although we need to do more to eradicate lead poisoning in our State, this is real and meaningful progress.”
The Ecology Center voiced support for legislation introduced today to hold polluters accountable for cleaning up contamination. The seven-bill package, led by Sen. Jeff Irwin and Rep. Jason Morgan, would increase transparency for contaminated site cleanup and put in place accountability measures so corporations that pollute our land and water are responsible for paying to clean it up, not taxpayers.
“Corporate polluters must pay for the burden they place on communities' health,” said Michael Garfield, director of the Ecology Center. “Too often, communities living near polluting industries face higher rates of cancers, asthma, and other diseases. This package of bills will make it easier for those harmed by pollution to seek justice and holds polluters accountable to cleaning up their mess."
Michigan has more than 24,000 known contaminated sites. The corporate polluters who caused the damage have evaded responsibility for cleanup costs at about half of those sites, putting the financial burden of “orphaned” sites on the state and, ultimately, taxpayers. Even at sites with a “responsible party,” current law allows polluters to leave contamination in place if they limit access. The Polluter Pay legislation will set more stringent cleanup standards, increase transparency, prevent sites from becoming orphaned, and make it easier for those harmed by pollution to seek justice.
From 1990 to 1995, Michigan was a national leader in holding corporate polluters accountable thanks to strong “Polluter Pay” laws. During that five-year period, Michigan taxpayers saved more than $100 million because corporate polluters were better held accountable for paying for their mess. In 1995, those laws were stripped away, and the number of contaminated sites has increased.
The Electric Vehicle Transition Should Be a Just Transition for Workers
We believe you cannot have a healthy planet without healthy people – and healthy people need safe working conditions, fair, family-sustaining wages, and good benefits. That’s why the Ecology Center stands with the United Auto Workers (UAW) in support of their strike demands for a fair share of the auto industry’s profits and full partnership as the industry makes the transition to electric vehicles.
We joined with 100+ organizations in signing on to Labor Network for Sustainability’s open letter to the CEOs of General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis urging them to do right by the workers by preserving and strengthening good union jobs as they transition to clean transportation. The full letter can be read here.
The Ecology Center’s Director, Mike Garfield, said the following,
“Former UAW President Walter Reuther was a keynote speaker at Michigan’s first Earth Day in 1970, the event that led to the founding of the Ecology Center. Soon after, the Ecology Center and UAW organized one of the first labor-environment conferences at the UAW’s Black Lake retreat center.
Over the decades, we have worked alongside autoworkers to address environmental health issues both inside and outside the auto industry’s factory walls. The Ecology Center’s staff have been union members since 1991. As UAW auto workers stand up on the strike line, we stand in solidarity with them.
The United States must transition to electric vehicles, and Michigan is poised to lead this transition. However, it cannot come at the expense of autoworkers’ health and well-being. We must prioritize individual and community health above profits. We can build a nation with unionized, well-paying green jobs to support our transition to a cleaner, more sustainable future.”
ANN ARBOR, MI — The Ecology Center announces the receipt of $25,000 to support work with the City of Lansing to take innovative and equitable steps to improve children’s health. Three city projects were given awards totaling $75,000 to be split between the municipalities working to reduce neurotoxic exposures for expectant families and young children while also addressing climate change.
“Sadly, at birth, babies have already been exposed to hundreds of toxic chemicals from a wide range of sources, including consumer products, industrial pollution, and pesticide applications,” said Tracey Easthope, Senior Strategist from the Ecology Center. “This funding will help us use the power of purchasing to reduce harmful chemicals in products, thereby limiting one source of chemical exposure.”
With the funding, the City of Lansing, MI,will implement an adopted sustainable procurement policy and create practical deliverables that other municipalities can use to foster sustainable procurement in their communities. The Ecology Center will provide technical assistance and support.
“The partnership with the Ecology Center is critical to provide important technical support for our work to implement our city’s Sustainable Procurement Policy to better protect our residents and employees, to address the changing climate, and to protect the environment,” said Lori Welch, Sustainability Manager for the City of Lansing – Public Service Department.
The City of Lansing has been an active participant in the Great Lakes Climate Adaptation Network (GLCAN) Procurement Workgroup, formed by the Ecology Center to support regional sustainability and procurement professionals as they work towards more socially- and environmentally-conscious purchasing practices. Through the workgroup, cities, counties, and universities across the region collaborate to build robust, sustainable purchasing programs and implement progressive criteria.
Though 35 of the 50 largest US cities have adopted local climate action plans, just a fraction of cities have integrated specific strategies to reduce ubiquitous toxic exposures within their climate, sustainability, or resilience plan. To help reduce this gap, Healthy Babies Bright Futures awarded three $25,000 grants for cities to plan a locally appropriate action that reduces neurotoxic exposures with a climate, resilience, and/or sustainability co-benefit. Cities in Michigan, Colorado, and North Carolina were selected as recipients of this funding.
In addition to the work in Lansing, the City of Boulder, CO, will develop and implement a sharable communication campaign to leverage community environmental toxic chemical exposure studies so residents better understand the impact of lawn chemicals on prenatal and early childhood exposure and healthier alternatives. The City of Hendersonville, NC, partnered with community-based organizations on a community garden revitalization project, including growing food using organic methods, conducting cooking classes, and providing hands-on educational experiences in the garden for neighborhood children.
“It’s exciting to see individual municipal actions being integrated into a city’s day-to-day work,” said Kyra Naumoff Shields, PhD, Bright Cities Program Director. “We are thrilled to work collaboratively with talented staff in Boulder, Hendersonville, and Lansing and with their technical advisors to support local work and share it broadly to help build brighter futures for the kids in all of our lives.”
About the Ecology Center
The Ecology Center is a non-profit environmental advocacy organization established in 1970 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Ecology Center develops innovative solutions for healthy people and a healthy planet in four primary areas: environmental health, environmental education, energy & climate change, and zero waste. This work is accomplished through educating consumers to help keep their families healthy and safe, pushing corporations to use clean energy, make safe products, and provide healthy food, and working with policymakers to establish laws that protect communities and the environment. For more information, visit www.ecocenter.org and follow @Ecology_Center.
About the City of Lansing
Lansing, Michigan, is a city that has a rich and diverse history. Michigan’s capital since 1848, the City of Lansing was incorporated in 1859 and is currently home to approximately 113,000 residents. The City of Lansing formally adopted its Sustainability Action Plan in 2022, demonstrating its commitment to cultivating a more vibrant, resilient, and sustainable city.
About HBBF: Healthy Babies Bright Futures is a nonprofit organization that measurably reduces the largest sources of babies’ exposures to neurotoxic chemicals that harm brain development. We use original research, city governments, and strategic partnerships to empower parents, build resilient communities, and pressure decision-makers to keep babies' brains safe from neurotoxic exposures.
The Bright Cities program provides grants and tailored best practices to city governments to equitably reduce community exposures to neurotoxic chemicals. Forty-four cities have designed and completed projects that reduced harmful exposures to neurotoxic chemicals. Our three main areas of focus are: healthier air and environments; nontoxic and environmentally-preferable purchasing; and increasing access to organic and healthy food. View the RFP for this award.
It started with a 17-hour drive across the Midwest in a car filled with $20,000 worth of air quality monitoring equipment.
The rest of the cohort followed by airplane a few days later.
The league of environmental justice champions from southeast Michigan included Donele Wilkins of Green Door Initiative, Theresa Landrum from the Original United Citizens of Southwest Detroit (48217), Roshan Krishnan from Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, Raquel Garcia from Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision, and Kathryn Savoie and Jeff Gearhart from the Ecology Center.
The Detroit group was headed to the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota to meet with indigenous activists from the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nations, known as the Three Affiliated Tribes. Their activist counterparts in North Dakota were from the Dakota Resource Council and the Fort Berthold Protectors of Water and Earth Rights (POWER).
For years, both groups of advocates had been fighting the same offender: the petrochemical industry. And though they lived thousands of miles apart and on separate ends of the supply chain – extraction in North Dakota and refining in Michigan – both parties suffered from the same ailment: toxic air pollution.
It made sense that the two groups meet to swap notes and support each other.
The goals of the meet-up were two-fold.
First, collect data. Tribal members knew fracking operations were impacting their air quality and their health. But without air monitors on the reservation, they had no evidence. An air monitor network, the first on the Fort Berthold Reservation, would provide much-needed data to support their requests for stronger regulation.
Second, build power. The two groups planned to share knowledge and create community among themselves. With an adversary as rich as the oil and gas industry, the only effective tactic to counterbalance their wealth of resources is to build people’s power to push back.
The trip helped to develop relations between our two communities. We have more in common than not,” said Raquel Garcia, executive director of Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision. “We were able to dive in and learn about each other's communities and become invested in each other's projects and visions.
But how did folks from Detroit and tribal members in rural North Dakota end up with air pollution from the same industry, even, at times, the same company? The Detroiters were about to learn the reason.
Detroit environmental justice leaders and a tribal member stand beside a recently installed air monitor on Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.
The Ever-Shrinking Sovereign Territory of Fort Berthold
The first stop on the reservation for the Detroit leaders was the Three Affiliated Tribes Museum in New Town, North Dakota, where they learned the history of the tribe and the land.
Upon entering the museum, there hangs a photo of an indigenous man, head bowed, weeping as he bends to sign a document. The document he is signing will give away the tribe’s land rights to the United States for little in return. And while the photo is from the 1940s, the sentiment captured could be from any time in the last 200 years.
When first recognized by the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1851, the Fort Berthold reservation encompassed 12 million acres. Today, the reservation comprises slightly less than a million. Repeated land confiscation by the United States government and the impacts of the Dawes Act, which broke up communally-owned land into individually-owned parcels, resulted in the increasingly shrinking territory of the Three Affiliated Tribes.
Nonetheless, before the 1950s, the reservation was self-sustaining, with tribal members raising livestock and farming the land around the banks of the Missouri River, which splits the reservation on a northwest-to-southeast diagonal. Sadly, following the Flood Control Act of 1944, the United States Army Corps of Engineers installed the Garrison Dam on the Missouri River, flooding out more than 150,000 acres of reservation land. The effects of the dam on the tribal nation were devastating – 325 families, representing 80% of the tribal membership, were forced to relocate to higher ground when the rising water submerged their homes, towns, churches, and graveyards. The tribe lost nearly all of its agricultural land.
Map of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation before and after the Garrison Dam was constructed. The tribe lost more than 150,000 acres due to dam construction.
When the oil and gas companies came knocking on the tribe’s door in the early 2000s, it’s likely the residents were not surprised that the white people had come to take from them again.
That the reservation was sitting atop rich oil and gas reserves had been well established. But excavating it had been cost-prohibitive until the industry perfected the technique of hydraulic fracturing, known colloquially as fracking.
The fracking boom in North Dakota took off in 2008 and the state quickly became one of the top oil-producing states in America.
When land is fracked, after drilling deep into the Bakken shale bed, a high-pressure mixture of water, sand, and chemicals is shot horizontally into the bedrock, creating fractures. These fractures are held open by sand in the fracking fluid, from which escapes that treasured substance: oil and gas.
But that’s not all – methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas, is also pushed out during fracking, sometimes so much so that the gas must be flared, or lit, to burn off the excess gas. The flares on the reservation and west North Dakota shine so brightly they can be seen from space.
Along with methane, fracking operations release toxic petroleum hydrocarbons like benzene, toluene, and xylene, and increase ground-level ozone. The industry also brought heavy-duty truck traffic clamoring through the area, kicking up dust, increasing truck-related traffic fatalities, and further polluting the air with diesel emissions.
Our environmental justice team had come to help investigate these air pollutants.
“We hold all of Mother Earth sacred, including the air.”
After learning the history of the land, the group met with a longtime activist and recently elected state House of Representatives member, Lisa Finley-DeVille. Lisa has been working on air quality and environmental justice on the reservation for many years.
The people of my tribe, The Three Affiliated Tribes, have lived on and cared for our land for millennia. We hold all of Mother Earth sacred, including the air,” said Lisa, as reported by Buffalo’s Fire in 2021. “Since the start of the Bakken oil boom, the oil and gas industry has polluted our air and harmed our health by flaring and venting methane from wells and pipelines.
Lisa and her husband gave their visitors a tour of the reservation, highlighting the toxic legacy of the oil and gas industry. They brought them up to date on how the community had been working to combat the negative impacts of fracking and flaring around the reservation.
Together, the group installed the last of the seven air monitors on the rolling grasslands, with grazing horses, jutting buttes, and robotic well pumps dotting the landscape behind them. An air sampling device, which pulls air into a canister when toxic compounds are detected, was also installed to provide definitive evidence of pollutants present.
The environmental justice leaders from Detroit tour the reservation with tribal member and House Representative Lisa Finley-DeVille, learning its history and the sources of air pollution.
The data from the monitors will be displayed on an online dashboard to allow people to access real-time information about the air they breathe. After six months, the compiled data will be shared with the community and elected officials so they can take informed action and work on policy solutions. Colorado State University will analyze the samples collected for toxic air pollutants like methane and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) like benzene, toluene, and ethane.
“We need to move away from fossil fuels”
The environmental justice leaders from Detroit were well-versed in community-based air monitoring. The group has worked together for the past two years to install a neighborhood-level monitoring network in their city. Most of the group had worked on environmental justice in their communities for decades.
Detroit and nearby municipalities suffer more from poor air quality and higher asthma rates than any other Michigan community. The University of Michigan estimates over 700 premature deaths occur annually in Detroit from exposure to pollution.
One of the decades-long advocates is Theresa Landrum, who lives in southwest Detroit. Her neighbors, mostly Black homeowners, have passed their houses down through multiple generations. Across the street from her neighborhood’s community center is an oil refinery, one of the dozens of industrial sites nearby. Her zip code, 48217, is number one in air pollution in Michigan. According to the EPA, a disproportionate amount of people have asthma and cancer in her neighborhood, likely due to sulfur dioxide emitted from the plant.
For years, she has raised awareness in her community about the dangers of emissions, brought elected officials and media on toxic tours of the industrial sites, and supported policy and planning efforts to end air pollution.
Traveling to North Dakota with the Ecology Center to learn about fracking, the area concerns, the history of the area, and forming allies across the country deepened my understanding and urgency of why we need to move away from fossil fuels even more,” said Theresa.
Like their indigenous allies, air pollution was just one of the problems inflicted on their Detroit communities. Racist planning policies put industrial and manufacturing facilities, an incinerator, and highways in their backyards, impacting their health and local economies and displacing hundreds of families.
Building Community Power at the Parshall Powwow
After three days of learning and information sharing, the group celebrated by attending a local powwow in nearby Parshall, North Dakota. They enjoyed traditional Native American foods like fry bread. The sound of drums echoed throughout while folks of all ages, from toddlers to elders, were called up to dance. Those present celebrated their community, culture, and shared resilience in carrying it forward.
In October, the North Dakota partners returned the visit and came to Detroit to reconnect with the Detroit environmental justice activists and learn about the impact of the oil and gas industry in the city.
Together, the groups will work to build power and share advocacy and policy solutions. And hopefully, one day, the air will be clearer in both communities.
To view the air quality monitoring dashboard on the Fort Berthold Reservation, visit the Just Air portal.
The Ecology Center’s Regional Environmental Health Organizer, Meli Garcia, provides her perspective.
This fall brings unprecedented progress toward ending childhood lead poisoning in Michigan. A set of lead poisoning prevention bills have been reviewed by the legislature. These policies include universal testing of all children at ages one and two years old, installing water filters in all of Michigan’s daycare centers and schools, and giving the state enforcement over the federal Renovation, Repair and Painting Act. Both the universal testing and filter first bills have been signed into law.
The Ecology Center has been working to remove lead from our homes and environment for almost five decades. We are elated to see this long-overdue progress.
Our regional environmental health organizer, Meli X. Garcia, works tirelessly alongside the Great Lakes Lead Elimination Network (GLLEN) to end lead poisoning through lobbying and education. But Meli’s advocacy work isn’t just a vocation – it’s personal, too. She was exposed to lead as a child through her bedroom windows and suffered fatigue, brain fog, and trouble concentrating.
Lead has been found on toys, in paint (in homes built before 1978), in the soil, in the water, and in other consumer products.
Lead is especially dangerous for children. According to the Centers for Disease Control, lead can cause “developmental delays, difficulty learning, behavioral issues, and neurological damage.” There is no healthy amount of lead exposure for children.
Lead poisoning is a public health issue that has persisted for decades. In this interview, we shine a light on Meli’s lead advocacy work, her personal experiences with lead, and the advice she has given the public on what we can do to make things better.
(This interview has been edited for clarity and length.)
Why is lead advocacy work important to you?
Lead advocacy work is extremely important to me because it should not exist any longer. It’s been over 70 years since the poisoning first started in the United States due to lead paint. Although we have seen progress, we need to see a final end to all lead poisoning! It’s very damaging to our children and family’s health. We need to ensure the safety of our children and be the voice for them. It can cause ADHD, neurological issues, nerve damage, concentration issues, lower IQ, and behavioral issues.
Although we have seen progress, we need to see a final end to all lead poisoning!
Do you have a personal connection to this work? What motivates you to continue in it?
I do have a personal connection. I was exposed to lead as a child. I had to consume a high vitamin C-rich diet and an iron-rich diet. My symptoms were fatigue, brain fog, irritability, and not being able to concentrate in school. I was exposed through lead-chipped paint in my bedroom windows. This exact problem persists today.
How did you get involved with lead advocacy work?
I got involved with lead advocacy work in September of 2022. I was drawn to helping in the efforts to end lead poisoning at a regional and policy level. I also have had the opportunity to hear the stories and work directly with those families directly impacted by lead poisoning.
I am motivated to continue to work with lead issues because children and our families deserve to live a lead-free life.
This is a big, multi-part problem. What do you believe needs to happen to solve it? Is solving it possible, or is progress the best we can hope for?
We need to pass policies that help protect our children. We have to reach lawmakers and strive to pass current lead legislation that provides filtered drinking water and universal testing for our children. We have to get to the source of the problem, which is lead paint!
My goal for lead advocacy work is to speak with lawmakers and help educate them on the Ecology Center’s lead priorities. The Ecology Center and its lead allies have been working on getting filter first and universal testing bill* packages to pass. I want to help push for those! I also want to help our GLLEN members connect and work together regionally to end lead poisoning.
(GLLEN is a coalition of non-profit organizations in the Great Lakes states working on solutions to end lead poisoning.)
*Universal testing of toddlers for lead and the filter first policy were signed into law in fall 2023.
How does working on lead advocacy make you feel?
I understand that passing legislation takes time. Lawmakers are bombarded with several policies they need to move. We are just one piece of the public health puzzle. I get excited because we have a lot of caring regular people, health professionals, and, of course, the Ecology Center, who are being the voice for our children.
The only way to make real change is to change the mind of lawmakers and keep advocating to move and pass lead legislation, otherwise old bad policies will continue to harm our children.
What can community members do to help?
Community members can get their children tested for lead. They can test their homes for lead as well. They can also call their lawmakers and urge them to pass current lead legislation. For those who have been directly impacted by lead poisoning, they can testify and share their story with the local press.
Get Involved
In 2021, Michigan ranked 3rd in a nationwide assessment of blood-lead levels in children; 78% of children who were tested had lead in their blood. Learn more about the Ecology Center’s lead advocacy work here.
By Crystal Zanders, Ecology Center’s Communications Fellow
An ecology-inspired art park is coming to Detroit’s East Canfield this spring, designed by award-winning artist Jordan Weber and sponsored by Sidewalk Detroit. Planned to be built in the footprint of an industrial plant, the art park will include tree plantings to address legacy pollution and pay homage to African queens who resisted colonialism.
The Ecology Center is grateful for the opportunity to honor the contributions of eco-activist artists in our community. Sidewalk Detroit is an organization working in partnership with Detroit communities to celebrate and facilitate art and joy for the public.
Sidewalk Detroit’s Community Focus
When Ryan Myers-Johnson launched the original Sidewalk Festival in 2012, she envisioned hosting a one-time event celebrating neighborhood streetscapes by putting on a street art, music, and performing arts festival. Sidewalk Detroit, a grassroots arts organization, was born out of that festival. It has been supporting, creating, curating, and celebrating neighborhood art and arts programming in partnership with the communities it serves ever since.
Today, Sidewalk Detroit works with artists, community partners, and the community itself to increase access to art. According to Augusta Morrison, senior program strategist with Sidewalk Detroit and a celebrated artist in her own right,
“The organization kind of grew into a more specific focus around community engagement through an artistic lens. We think a lot about spatial equity. When we are in different types of spaces, who are those spaces built out for? So, we are intentional on how we engage with residents and stakeholders (such as businesses and community leaders and civic organizations), keeping the community at the heart of the conversation. We want to go a mile deep and one inch wide. Our mission is to advance spatial equity through the lens of arts and culture.”
Jordan Weber, eco-art activist
The award-winning artist Jordan Weber was selected for the 2023 Artist-in-Residence program at Sidewalk Detroit, not just because he is a rising star in the art world but in large part because of his commitment to eco-activism and community engagement with art. He has extensive experience creating public art pieces that are free and open to the public. His past works include repurposed police vehicles that he used to create community gardens/workout equipment in Des Moines and the urban farm he designed in collaboration with community members in Minneapolis during the George Floyd protest.
The Installation*
For Sidewalk Detroit, Jordan Weber has agreed to create an art installation. The site of this installation has been carefully chosen. They will place it in an art park located within the shadow of the Stellantis-Mack Assembly Plant, the toxic fumes of which are responsible for some of the highest asthma levels in the country. As part of the installation, they will plant specific trees that help remove toxins from the air, creating a space that literally heals environmental violence and ecological racism.
Across the street from the park is the Barack Obama Leadership Academy, an elementary charter school that serves a student body that is 99.6% Black children who have been exposed to these toxic fumes. Part of the vision of this installation is that students will be able to walk over and experience and enjoy the art and learn about air quality. The Ecology Center, collaborating with Green Door Initiative, will install air monitors at the school and park, integrating air quality education into the installation design. Within the design of the installation will be space for the school to use as an environmental justice learning center.
Jordan Weber isn’t just deciding what he wants to do and putting in the park; he is working with Sidewalk Detroit to hold community meetings and solicit feedback during every step of the process.
The installation will be completed in stages. In the first stage, they will build 30-foot shiny metal gates as an entrance to the park, representing an entry to the forest, an entrance into healing and nature in the middle of the city. The gate design was inspired by the crowns of Queen Ranavalona III of Madagascar and Queen Idia of Benin from East and West Africa representing East and West Detroit. These African queens are known for their resistance to colonialism.
Sidewalk Detroit is focused on supporting and creating art that speaks to social, political, environmental, and racial issues affecting the communities that they serve. This project is another avenue through which they are making things better.
Michigan Ranked 26th Among States for Electric Vehicle Policies
September 22nd, 2023 - With the Detroit Auto Show winding down and National Drive Electric Week just kicking off, a broad coalition of organizations supporting bold action on equitable, electric transportation in Michigan called on state leaders to redouble their efforts to achieve the state’s goal of 2 million EVs on the road by 2030. While the Clean Cars 2030 coalition praised the state’s ambitious goal and progress, it cited a recent study from ACEEE ranking Michigan 26th in the nation for EV-friendly policies to suggest the state still needs to double down on its commitment.
“While Michigan has been making important strides in preparing for and encouraging the EV transition, particularly in attracting new battery and EV manufacturing investments, it has fallen behind other states in policies that help more Michiganders get behind the wheel of an electric vehicle,” said Charles Griffith, climate and energy program director at the Ecology Center. “If Michigan wants to be a true leader on electric vehicles and achieve its climate goals, policymakers must step up their game to advance policies and programs that improve access to EVs for all Michiganders.”
The MI Clean Cars 2030 campaign is united around making Governor Whitmer’s goal of having 2 million electric vehicles on the road a reality by making electric vehicles the optimum choice for Michiganders and expanding access to EVs and EV charging infrastructure – especially for the most gasoline-burdened drivers. The campaign also supports preparing the workforce for the transition to 21st-century automobile manufacturing, helping to ensure the retention of good-paying auto jobs.
The coalition is calling for developing a comprehensive plan and adopting additional policies and programs to ensure Michigan meets its 2030 goal in alignment with recommendations included in the Governor’s MI Healthy Climate Plan.
The top priorities of the campaign include the following:
A comprehensive Transportation Electrification Plan (TEP) to lay out a strategy for meeting the state’s 2 million EVs by 2030 goal
Additional investments and policies to ensure the equitable deployment of EV charging infrastructure, especially in Michigan communities where charging opportunities may currently be limited
Vehicle purchase incentives to help offset the higher up-front cost of EVs, targeting low and moderate-income gasoline-burdened drivers
Increased funding for job transition and retraining programs to ensure Michigan’s workforce is ready.
ACEEE’s 2023 State Transportation Electrification Scorecard ranked Michigan 26th overall with 23.5 points out of 100 and noted the progress on electrifying its transit and school bus fleets and the investments of its utilities in EV charging infrastructure. ACEEE’s State Energy Efficiency Scorecard echoes this progress on utility efforts, where Michigan ranked 3rd for utility and public program benefits. ACEEE found that the state could do more to incentivize the purchase of EVs, lags in outcomes such as the number of electric vehicles and chargers per capita, and could do more to ensure equitable outcomes.
"Michigan received zero points related to equity-focused policies and should dedicate funding to underserved communities to ensure everyone benefits from the transition to electric vehicles,” said Peter Huether, senior research associate at ACEEE and lead author of the report.
“Michigan is already a leader in creating EV-related jobs and providing EVs for the nation,” said Rob Sargent, policy director at Coltura, an organization focused on maximizing gasoline-use reductions. “But much more can be done to get more Michiganders to switch, starting with low- and moderate-income gasoline-burdened families who use lots of gasoline.”
Earlier this year, Michigan lawmakers made significant strides toward the goals in this plan by adopting a 2024 budget with several EV-related investments: $125 million for clean and electric school buses, $5 million for EV charging stations along Lake Michigan’s coastline, and $1 million to begin transitioning the state’s vehicle fleet to EVs. These are critical steps forward, but other recommendations that were included in the Governor’s Executive budget from her MI Healthy Climate Plan were left unfunded.
“The transportation sector is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions — and cars and trucks account for about 60% of the total for the sector. This is why it’s so important to focus on a rapid and just transition to all-electric vehicles for the everyday commute,” said Amy Rogge, co-founder of MEVA.” “Every year, it’s becoming easier to buy and drive an EV due to lower-priced new EVs coming into the market, more used EV purchases, and a vastly increasing number of charging stations across our state. Plus, they’re just so fun to drive!”
While Michigan has made crucial steps forward in the 2024 budget that will help advance MI EVs, more work will be required for MI to establish itself as a leading state, let alone a top 10 state in encouraging EV adoption.
The MI Clean Cars 2030 campaign is committed to making electric vehicles the optimum choice for Michiganders by 2030, achieving Governor Whitmer's goal of 2 million EVs and making EVs accessible to everyone--especially the most gasoline-burdened drivers. We must take Michigan's commitment to the next level for this to be possible.
The Ecology Center is a non-profit environmental advocacy organization established in 1970 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Ecology Center develops innovative solutions for healthy people and a healthy planet in four primary areas: Environmental Health, Climate Action and Clean Equitable Energy, Environmental Education, and Zero Waste. This work is accomplished through educating consumers to help keep their families healthy and safe, pushing corporations to use clean energy, make safe products, providing people with innovative services that promote healthy people and a healthy planet and working with policymakers to establish laws that protect communities and the environment. For more information visit www.ecocenter.org and follow @Ecology_Center.
MEVA is a grassroots organization, founded by Michiganders looking to better their community and the world. When we overlaid our diverse experiences in healthcare, automotive, and community organization, we found that electric vehicles can solve problems that Michigan faces While Michigan has made critical steps forward in the 2024 budget to help advance MI EVs, more work will be required to establish itself as a leading state, let alone a top 10 state in encouraging EV adoption. on many fronts.
Coltura’s mission is to improve climate, health and equity by accelerating the switch from gasoline and diesel to cleaner alternatives. Since 2015, Coltura has made a significant impact on gasoline policy and culture. Building and leading diverse coalitions, Coltura has been a driving force in gasoline reduction policies. Coltura’s groundbreaking research, data tools, polls, articles, reports, papers and law review articles have laid the foundation for innovative policies around the country.
The 2023 State Transportation Electrification Scorecard is the second edition from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) that evaluates states’ policies to encourage electric vehicle (EV) adoption. States are evaluated on over 40 metrics across five policy areas: EV and EV infrastructure planning, incentives, transportation system efficiency, electricity grid optimization, and transportation electrification outcomes. States are also evaluated on their efforts to incorporate equity and the actions of their regulated utilities.
September 20, 2023 - Legislation to require young children to be screened for lead poisoning cleared its final hurdle Tuesday and is on track to be sent to the governor’s desk.
Members of the Senate concurred Tuesday in an H-1 substitute for HB 4200 Trackedby a 27-10 vote without debate.
Under HB 4200 and SB 31 Tracked, children would be required to be tested for lead poisoning at certain ages and the tests would be recorded on their certificate of immunization. The Department of Health and Human Services would be required to develop rules for implementing the changes. House members passed SB 31 last week.
Sen. John Cherry (D-Flint) said the legislation will help increase protections for children from lead poisoning.
“This is just going to make sure that we help parents know if their child is being exposed and be able to address that exposure,” Cherry said.
He said when someone tests for lead in their blood, the information would be sent on to their local health department so that they can help provide remediation for the source of the lead, whether it be water, lead paint or soil.
Cherry said further steps to help address lead exposure would include legislation waiting on votes in the House to require schools and day care centers to have filtered bottle-filling stations and faucets specific for drinking water (See Gongwer Michigan Report, April 20, 2023).
Cherry said support for the lead testing bills is strong in his district.
“Flint was kind of the canary in the coal mine on this,” Cherry said. “We want to make sure we’re taking those lessons … to try to help everyone else before similar things happen.”
As passed, the bill would require children in the state to be tested for lead poisoning at 12-months old and 24-months old, beginning January 1, 2024. One more test would be required between the ages of 2 and 6 if the child has no previous record of being tested.
Children living in areas with a high risk of lead poisoning would have to be tested at age 4.
New measure will help thousands of children each year
Michigan moved closer to ending lead poisoning today when state lawmakers passed legislation to expand testing.
Senate Bill 31, sponsored by Sen. John Cherry (D-Flint), and House Bill 4200, sponsored by Rep. Helena Scott (D-Detroit) would incorporate two lead tests into the checkup routines of all Michigan children. If lead is detected, children would be treated accordingly and tested more often.
Under current law, only children on Medicaid are required to be tested for lead. But not all children who are exposed to the toxic metal are on Medicaid. About 70% of Michigan homes—the most common source of lead poisoning—were built before 1978, the year lead paint was banned. This means that the 4,000 or so children diagnosed with lead poisoning in Michigan each year is likely an undercount.
"It's a great day for children's health and the health and wellness of the people of Michigan," said TaNiccia Henry—co-leader of theDetroit Lead Advocacy Parent Group, whose grandson was poisoned by lead in Henry's own home. "Lead testing needs to be mandatory for every single child, and the problem I have right next door is the reason why."
The day the lead bills passed the Legislature, next-door renovators showered Henry's home with potentially lead-laden dust, so she shut her windows and called local officials. She said the universal testing legislation will give parents the knowledge and resources to protect their kids.
The legislation is the result of years of advocacy and education from Henry and the other 184 members of the Michigan Alliance for Lead Safe Homes (MIALSH).
"Universal lead testing would not be possible without the parents and healthcare workers who spent 13 years fighting for it," said Melissa Cooper Sargent, environmental health advocate for the Ecology Center. "Now, lead poisoning can be caught and treated before it devastates children's mental and physical development. All children will be better able to thrive at school, at home, and with friends."
"Universal testing will have the most profound impact on ending lead poisoning since lead paint was banned in 1978," said Ellen Vial, Detroit program manager for the Michigan Environmental Council, which has convened MIALSH since its creation. "When paired with other great health legislation underway, 2023 could be a year of truly transformational change."
Now, MIALSH will work to prepare families, organizations, and health departments for the shift toward universal lead testing. It will also continue to educate lawmakers about its other top priorities: lead-safe home repairs and inspections.
