EJ Communities
- Archived: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 21:56:00 -0400 (EDT)
- Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 19:38:36 -0400 (EDT)
- From: Karen Stromberg <Karen.Stromberg@state.ma.us>
- Subject: EJ Communities
- X-topic: Outreach
Maybe I'm extremely naive or out of touch, but I've always wondered how you can get people who are worried about basic survival issues in some of these communities to care about environmental issues at all. Given Maslow's Hierarchy, how can you focus on higher ideals when you're worried about housing, heat, education, food, basic safety, etc.?
It's been my experience in urban Boston that the people who want the public to be involved are those that are trying to "help" the community, and not the affected parties themselves. We've had instances where the public supposedly wants involvement in all 54 sites in their neighborhood, but then the only people that show up at a meeting where college students doing a project and 3 citizens who were in the wrong meeting but thought it was interesting. We've tried relocating a pregnant mother with a two year old when there are gasoline vapors getting into her home, but she just thinks it's inconvenient and doesn't seem to grasp the potential risks at all. What can/should we do?
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