Roundup - Maryland's Environmental Commission And Black Indigenous People - Issue #8

photo by Pro Church Media via Unsplash

Can We Talk?

It's true. I have missed sending out The Intersection's weekly newsletter for the last two weeks. There is a reason. I am a part of the Google News Initiative as well as a Maynard Fellow. In both programs, I am learning to build out this organization. Specifically, I have been learning a ton - and I mean a ton - about audience engagement. Sorry for the late notice. But thank you for sticking with me, and continuing to engage. Also, I am working on a new newsletter that will be out next Friday.

CE County Executive On The Move

As you may know, there has been a lot, as usual, going on in Prince George's County. The County Executive seems to be making her rounds throughout the county.

County Executive Angela Alsobrooks @CEXAlsobrooks

We were so excited to welcome State House Speaker Adrienne Jones to Prince George’s County today for a tour of Legislative District 25, including the Hampton Park Project and Bishop McNamara High School. #PrinceGeorgesProud #GreatnessGrowsHere https://t.co/ceNArsyM5a

County Executive Angela Alsobrooks @CEXAlsobrooks

Great to join the Bridge Center at Adam’s House & community partners for this morning’s One Stop Re-entry Resource Fair. We remain committed to ensuring all Prince Georgians, including returning citizens, have the opportunities and resources they need to build a brighter future. https://t.co/XQ3drBUREi

County Executive Angela Alsobrooks @CEXAlsobrooks

So great to join our Police Department, Office of Community Relations, Council Chair Hawkins, faith leaders & residents for a community walk as part of the Faith & Blue Weekend event in. Strong partnerships between police, the faith community and our residents are so important. https://t.co/qMM894R8mY

Environmental Justice For All

Indigenous people came to D.C. to confront the Biden Administration about environmental problems in and around their communities. Jennifer Marly, San Ildefonso Pueblo, an organizer with Red Nation, talked to Democracy Now.

Jennifer Falcon, Nakoda, Lakota, and Dakota, with Indigenous Rising Media, was inside and said before Thursday’s sit-in at the Bureau of Indian Affairs that they warned President Joe Biden to “respect us or expect us” and he didn’t listen.

“So we're going to keep showing up until we die,” Falcon said.

Jamie Henn @jamieclimate

AMAZING energy today! It’s Day 4 of #PeopleVsFossilFuels but this movement is going strong. Resistance is renewable! https://t.co/abjWWex4Lc

Maryland and The Environment

Maryland has many environmental problems. Issues around the environment are under-covered in Maryland, especially in P.G. County. This newsletter will be a place where you can find various articles on environmental problems in Maryland. Here's this week's roundup.

"Environmental justice initiatives have been making strides in states across the country. But in Maryland, EJ advocates are frustrated by what they say are comparatively small steps taken by the Democratic-controlled legislature and Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.

More than a year after Hogan pledged Maryland’s support for the Chesapeake Executive Council’s historic agreement, all sides seem to agree that environmental justice has at least inched forward inside the state government. But advocates say the push has lacked focus and, at times, undercut its own goals."

"The governors of the states in the Chesapeake Bay drainage basin have inked a bipartisan pledge with the federal government to keep climate change from unraveling their 40-year effort to restore the estuary’s health.

Some environmental groups, however, are criticizing the agreement, saying it doesn’t press hard enough to ensure action will be taken. The pledge, they say, is short on specific goals for reducing pollution and lacks any mechanism for holding states accountable".

"Wildfire smoke produced in the west reached as far east as Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, increasing the number of smoky days in the east by 40 percent, according to an analysis released in September by NPR’s California Newsroom and Stanford University’s Environmental Change and Human Outcomes Lab. Researchers analyzed more than 10 years of data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration." 

"Renna McKinney is faced with a problem that could put her childhood church underwater. The Dorchester County native fears that frequent flooding could rob the community of Malone’s Methodist Episcopal Church, the first African American church established on Maryland’s Eastern Shore after the Civil War. Free Black people and formerly enslaved families from four …"

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