RADIOACTIVE WASTE, RACISM AND RISING OCEANS

The Bay Area Chapter connected with Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice's "We Can't Breathe" campaign in San Francisco's Bayview and Hunters Point neighborhoods, a low-income community of color (33.7% African American, 30.7% Asian, and 24.9% Latinx per the 2010 Census) where residents suffer from high rates of asthma and cancer and where radioactive waste and toxic contamination at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard Superfund site and multiple other contaminated sites are located.

As one of the lowest lying points in San Francisco, Bayview and Hunters point will also be the first impacted by rising oceans. Since 2016, sea levels have risen by almost 8 inches and will continue to rise and threaten Bay Area communities along the coast and bayside. Bay View and Hunters Point are particularly vulnerable to this sea level rise because of their hazardous radioactive waste. This contamination poses serious danger to current and future residents of the proposed 10,000 homes at the contaminated Shipyard Superfund Site, where radioactive and toxic cleanup has been marred by fraud and lax standards. 

Attendees found the program insightful, and many had not been aware of these issues prior to the event.  The panelists encouraged attendees to write to Mayor London Breed to encourage her and the City/County of San Francisco to support the community by cleaning up the toxic and radioactive waste at the Hunters Point Superfund Shipyard site and other sites in the BVHP.  Attendees were also encouraged to support and join the "We Can't Breathe" Campaign's Car Caravan Protest to City Hall.

An encore presentation of this program will be hosted by The Commonwealth Club on Thursday, October 1, 2020, 12 - 1.  More details to follow.

Speakers:

Bradley Angel, Executive Director with Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice

Pamela Tau Lee, Board Chair Emeritus with Chinese Progressive Association

Dalila Adofo, Community Organizer, Policy Advocate, and Coordinator of the Bayview Hunters Point Community Air Monitoring Project with Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice

Ahimsa Porter Sumchai, MD, Medical Director of Golden State MD Health & Wellness and Principal Investigator for the Hunters Point Community Biomonitoring Program.

Moderator:

Alma Soongi Beck, Climate Justice Co-Chair for the Climate Reality Project Bay Area Chapter