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E-M:/ RE: / RE: / Environmental Justice, Lead Paint and Mich
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Enviro-Mich message from "Conan Smith" <conanmec@voyager.net>
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I understand how hard it is sometimes to understand how public health issues
relate to natural resource protection. They are not traditional
environmental concerns, but the cultural definition of "environmental" is
without a doubt undergoing significant and constant change.
Environmentalists, in my opinion, are the foremost thinkers regarding issues
that effect the ways that living creatures interact with each other and
their surroundings. No one would deny that "ecology" and "ecosystem" are
by-words of the environmental community. Harkening back to my Boy Scout
days, I remember that "ecology" comes from two Greek words for "the study of
the home." (Not that the Greeks were presaging lead paint or anything!)
Ecosytems are as much about human interactions with the rest of the world as
those of birds and bears.
One way to understand how public health issues like lead paint have an
impact on natural resources is to look for the underlying causes of urban
sprawl. In Michigan sprawl is caused by mass exodus from our urban areas --
as opposed to California where sprawl is more a product of massive
population growth. Ranking high among the reasons for people moving to the
country and developing more than 50,000 previously-natural-acres each year
is their dislike of city life -- it's dirty, it's dangerous, the schools
stink, the people scare me, etc. etc. If we want to really protect these
areas, we've got to address the causes of urban decline.
It's strange to think, perhaps, of public health or civil rights or crime or
education as environmental issues, but in the context of creating vibrant,
livable urban areas to slow the plunder of our open spaces and natural
resources it is right on. It's about creating healthy human ecosystems that
underscore an ethic about sustainable natural ecosytems.
I'm sure there is a listserv out there that addresses lead paint as strictly
a public health issue, but it is just as important a discussion for
environmentalists.
Conan Smith
Land Programs Director
Michigan Environmental Council
119 Pere Marquette, Suite 2A
Lansing, MI 48912
p. (517) 487-9539
f. (517) 487-9541
www.mecprotects.org <http://www.mecprotects.org>
conanmec@voyager.net <mailto:conanmec@voyager.net>
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-enviro-mich@great-lakes.net
[mailto:owner-enviro-mich@great-lakes.net]On Behalf Of Dave Dempsey
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2001 3:53 PM
To: CSim592951@aol.com; crgreene@med.umich.edu;
enviro-mich@great-lakes.net
Subject: E-M:/ RE: / Environmental Justice, Lead Paint and Mich
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Enviro-Mich message from "Dave Dempsey" <davemec@voyager.net>
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If people don't think lead exposures from indoor paint and the related but
distinct problem of lead exposure from contaminated soils are an
environmental issue, when at least 40,000 Michigan children are affected, I
don't know what IS an environmental issue.
Dave Dempsey
Michigan Environmental Council
119 Pere Marquette, Suite 2A
Lansing, MI 48912
517-487-9539 (phone)
517-487-9541 (fax)
http://www.mecprotects.org
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Postings to: enviro-mich@great-lakes.net For info, send email to
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