Neighbor to a Local Polluter

EARTHKEEPING NEWS
A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY

Volume Four, Number Six
July/August 1995

Call to Action:

Be a Good Neighbor to a Local Polluter

It is easy to feel like an exile sometimes, living under an economic tyranny with all our old securities in ruins. The temptation is to weep in anger and frustration by the waters of the nearest polluted stream. Or to confront the tyrant head on. Or we can try being a Good Neighbor.

Going on the assumption that those who work in the industrial plant that discharges toxins into your neighborhood would really prefer not to pollute the environment and endanger their own and others' health, you can try the Good Neighbor Project, a mechanism developed by the Minnesota based Citizens for a Better Environment (CBE), to stop the pollution. This project was selected by a group of industry and government representatives to receive the 1995 Minnesota Environmental Initiative Award because they deemed it "a tremendous example of the success that can be achieved through cooperation and collaboration between industry, citizens and community-based planning." This approach focuses on cutting pollution at the source by decreasing the use of toxic chemicals instead of attempting to control pollution once it is created.

The Good Neighbor Project is designed to raise the level of knowledge in communities affected by toxic pollution, and to bring concerned citizens together in dialogue with plant managers and workers to set goals for reducing their use of toxic chemicals. Using state statutes and federal laws (Public Right to Know Act and the Toxics Release Inventory) already on the books, CBE consultants update community organizations on current legislation; build the environmental skills of business, church and residential leaders; and help them to work with labor and management in the polluting facilities.

Neighborhood organizations play a key role in bridging the traditional "us versus them" rivalry that can derail productive discussions. The churches also play an important role. In Anoka, MN, for example, a letter from the Lutheran ministerial association was a significant factor in the successful campaign to upgrade and implement the pollution prevention plans of a munitions and metal box manufacturer.

Since 1993, when it published profiles of Minnesota's forty top polluters, CBE has worked with 20 rural, suburban and urban communities. It also has offices in Illinois and Wisconsin and is working at the national level as part of the Common Sense Initiative, a consensus building working group charged with redesigning environmental laws for six of the the nation's largest industries.

For more information on the Good Neighbor Project, contact Citizens for a Better Environment, 3255 Hennepin Ave. S, Suite 150, Minneapolis MN 55408; 612/824-8637; E-mail: cbemn@igc.apc.org