My normal approach to environmentalism has been one of, we’re completely f***ed, but I might as well try my best to be environmentally conscious. Working at the Sierra Club has changed my attitude greatly. Working with the community members of 48217, Ecourse, and River Rouge has infused me with some much needed positivity. Meeting with community members regarding what chemicals they wanted to be monitored at the air monitor that is getting placed at the New Mount Hermon Baptist Church was wonderful. Special thanks to Dr. Leonard for using her past experience as a teacher to keep the meeting moving smoothly. The Detroit chapter of the Sierra Club is focused on environmental justice and raising the quality of life for people and promote good health in the communities of Detroit, with a primary focus on the area code 48217 and the cities of River Rouge and Ecorse. For this summer I will mainly be helping with the Clean Power Plan which is all about helping the communities mentioned earlier shut down their coal power plants and help them have a smooth transition to clean energy source while also creating jobs for the area and fostering economic development. Along with this project the Sierra Club is working with union workers at AK Steel and community members to help bring AK Steel into compliance with Environmental regulations and make it a safer place to work. Two projects that I think will have a very great impact upon the health of the community and can only happen effectively if we work directly with members of the community. I am very excited for everything these projects entail.
It is hard to believe that I am writing about my first week in Detroit, because honestly it feels like I have been here much longer than that. I think that chalks up to the amount of running I have been doing and that I am working a real job rather than one with a random schedule. Though going around town and exploring while I run and bike has been very enjoyable, and I have seen many beautiful parts of Detroit. At this point I have come to the conclusion that practically everyone in Detroit is very nice and wonderful, but once people get in a car things change. A yield to pedestrians sign tends to be completely ignored and barely acknowledged at best. Also I got cussed out by a random man for crossing the road trying to get to the Dequindre Cut. That was terrifying. Other than that this has been a wonderful week and a half.
The first photo is just one of an awesome apartment building we saw while walking down woodward, that was during one of the group exploration trips. Also explanation on the car I saw it while we were driving home from Cleveland for the Good Jobs Green Jobs conference and it is a Mustang GT350. It is glorious, I acknowledge that it is slightly hypocritical of me to be into cars and also be into preserving the environment, but it has a flat plane crank v8 with a LOUD exhaust so I had a bit of a moment when it drove away.
