Wednesday, June 06, 2007
This Moment in Philly
Monday night I enjoyed a wonderful evening at the Philadelphia Free Library, where John and Teresa Kerry gave a talk on their new book, This Moment on Earth. Before the show, waiting in line for about an hour before doors opened, I had a great conversation with three local women who were quite excited for this opportunity to hear the Kerrys speak about their book.
As we waited, and chatted about current politics but of course also what we all knew we missed in 2004, I also remembered fondly the late October 2004 campaign stop in Philly. That was the first event where I had seen John Kerry in person, and probably the only time during the campaign that I heard a complete speech that he gave. While there'd been no doubt about my vote or commitment before that event, afterwards I realized what I'd been missing and I was annoyed with myself for not taking every possible opportunity to hear him speak. (I have since reordered my priorities in that respect. :) )
Anyway, back to Monday night. I'm sorry I didn't get photographs or audio to share with you, but I did take a few notes.
When JK came on he talked about how great it was to be in Philadelphia, how much he enjoyed the city, and did mention the big campaign rally in October 2004 as a fond memory. He also said they had just come from an event at the Academy of Natural Sciences - another of Philadelphia's many jewels, which is within a couple blocks of the library. He then introduced the book with the usual jokes, including that the book was produced from shredded Gonzales emails -adding, "I wish - but we couldn't find them," which got a nice chuckle from the crowd.
Getting into the serious stuff, JK talked about how the book was about optimism, about everyday people resolving problems in their own communities. He went on to describe some of the people in the book and the kinds of problems they were addressing. He tied these struggles into the political and cultural environment, with observations such as (these are all paraphrased of course):
JK went on to describe the mechanism of global warming in layman's terms. It was almost a little too lay for me, I was wincing at a couple of the simplifications, but I gotta remember that I was immensely privileged in the area of naturalist education in my upbringing, between growing up with a woods to roam in, a family that appreciated the outdoors, and the opportunity to study ecology in high school. I'm sure it was a helpful explanation for many in the audience. And I sure hope people start understanding this, because we will need educated voters to elect people who will start tackling environmental problems rather than denying them.
Finally, JK closed his portion by summing up what he sees as the three main efforts we need to undertake now to address global climate change: energy efficiency; alternative/renewable fuels; and clean coal technology. I know some folks think "clean coal technology" is a mirage at best, but I think that JK and others who really study it objectively understand that coal plants WILL be built no matter what, so the choice is what kind of coal plants will be built. It might be nice if we could just stop the coal industry in its tracks, but that's not realistic, folks. In any case, I don't know anyone who would disagree on the first two points, efficiency and alternative/renewable energy.
Next, Teresa spoke on her own experiences with environmental issues and her current concerns. She talked about her work that contributed to the greening of Pittsburgh, which was identified as America's "greenest city" a few years ago. This, by the way, is a truly amazing story of leadership to make something really big happen. One item she mentioned that I hadn't known before: when she took over the Heinz Foundations after John Heinz' passing, she instituted environmental criteria for the foundation's grants, to avoid their grant activity from contributing to the problem. That may seem kind of like a backroom detail, but that is how organizations are influenced to change - make the revenue stream dependent on the change. It is the vision to see those sorts of links and the determination to leverage them, that makes Teresa such an effective leader.
Teresa spoke a bit about some of the serious toxins issues we are faced with today. This is her area of expertise - if you missed it, be sure to check out the podcasts of her recent Women's Health and Environment conference, where the subject of environmental toxins was addressed in great detail.
She wrapped up with the story of the G-Diaper. She emphasized that this is an example of how people can create solutions to environmental problems, even when national leadership is failing us. As she said, it would be nice to have that national leadership, but when it isn’t there, we can still make a difference ourselves.
There was then a short Q & A, then we all headed upstairs for the book signing. The ladies I’d been sitting with were all gushing about what they’d just experienced… one said, “Oh my God, they’re so real” to which her sister fervently agreed; the third woman said something like “I think he’s so handsome!” which made me think of a few other “Kerrycrats” I know! (And of course I smiled and responded, yes they are, and yes he is. :) )
The book signing process was a little too much like an assembly line for me – it seemed the library staff really wanted to go home on time and were trying to get everyone through the line as quickly as possible. I swear they were glaring daggers at me for slowing the line to – gasp - exchange a few pleasantries with John and Teresa. It was great to have that brief opportunity though! And of course, they both looked great, and were quite gracious when we spoke. I think they must have been a bit tired of the assembly line by that time themselves (I had ended up near the end of the line, not wholly unplanned).
So that was my very pleasant “moment in Philly” on Monday night. Again I am sorry for the lack of photos, but ya know, I was too caught up in “the moment” to be fiddling with cameras and such.
I can leave you with this interview of the Kerrys done by the local radio station though – it’s very much worth the listen!
As we waited, and chatted about current politics but of course also what we all knew we missed in 2004, I also remembered fondly the late October 2004 campaign stop in Philly. That was the first event where I had seen John Kerry in person, and probably the only time during the campaign that I heard a complete speech that he gave. While there'd been no doubt about my vote or commitment before that event, afterwards I realized what I'd been missing and I was annoyed with myself for not taking every possible opportunity to hear him speak. (I have since reordered my priorities in that respect. :) )
Anyway, back to Monday night. I'm sorry I didn't get photographs or audio to share with you, but I did take a few notes.
When JK came on he talked about how great it was to be in Philadelphia, how much he enjoyed the city, and did mention the big campaign rally in October 2004 as a fond memory. He also said they had just come from an event at the Academy of Natural Sciences - another of Philadelphia's many jewels, which is within a couple blocks of the library. He then introduced the book with the usual jokes, including that the book was produced from shredded Gonzales emails -adding, "I wish - but we couldn't find them," which got a nice chuckle from the crowd.
Getting into the serious stuff, JK talked about how the book was about optimism, about everyday people resolving problems in their own communities. He went on to describe some of the people in the book and the kinds of problems they were addressing. He tied these struggles into the political and cultural environment, with observations such as (these are all paraphrased of course):
- our government now isn't doing as much as we were doing 20 to 30 years ago with respect to clean water - we've gone backwards
- there is no religion that doesn't have at its core, a respect for the natural environment
- one area where conservatives are worried about the environment is a case like the Anacostia river, where scientists have discovered the male fish are developing female genitalia. Of course that is only because the conservatives are worried about two male fish getting together and having children... (ok that was a joke, one of the better ones - the audience had a nice laugh on that one. I liked it. :) )
- New source reviews had been required for coal plants when they upgraded equipment, but the Bush administration has rolled back those requirements in the last few years. Think of that, and that 25% of kids in Harlem have asthma, which is exacerbated by air pollution, of which a major contributor is coal fired power plants. So, the coal issue is not just costing us in climate change risks, but adding to our health care costs as well.
JK went on to describe the mechanism of global warming in layman's terms. It was almost a little too lay for me, I was wincing at a couple of the simplifications, but I gotta remember that I was immensely privileged in the area of naturalist education in my upbringing, between growing up with a woods to roam in, a family that appreciated the outdoors, and the opportunity to study ecology in high school. I'm sure it was a helpful explanation for many in the audience. And I sure hope people start understanding this, because we will need educated voters to elect people who will start tackling environmental problems rather than denying them.
Finally, JK closed his portion by summing up what he sees as the three main efforts we need to undertake now to address global climate change: energy efficiency; alternative/renewable fuels; and clean coal technology. I know some folks think "clean coal technology" is a mirage at best, but I think that JK and others who really study it objectively understand that coal plants WILL be built no matter what, so the choice is what kind of coal plants will be built. It might be nice if we could just stop the coal industry in its tracks, but that's not realistic, folks. In any case, I don't know anyone who would disagree on the first two points, efficiency and alternative/renewable energy.
Next, Teresa spoke on her own experiences with environmental issues and her current concerns. She talked about her work that contributed to the greening of Pittsburgh, which was identified as America's "greenest city" a few years ago. This, by the way, is a truly amazing story of leadership to make something really big happen. One item she mentioned that I hadn't known before: when she took over the Heinz Foundations after John Heinz' passing, she instituted environmental criteria for the foundation's grants, to avoid their grant activity from contributing to the problem. That may seem kind of like a backroom detail, but that is how organizations are influenced to change - make the revenue stream dependent on the change. It is the vision to see those sorts of links and the determination to leverage them, that makes Teresa such an effective leader.
Teresa spoke a bit about some of the serious toxins issues we are faced with today. This is her area of expertise - if you missed it, be sure to check out the podcasts of her recent Women's Health and Environment conference, where the subject of environmental toxins was addressed in great detail.
She wrapped up with the story of the G-Diaper. She emphasized that this is an example of how people can create solutions to environmental problems, even when national leadership is failing us. As she said, it would be nice to have that national leadership, but when it isn’t there, we can still make a difference ourselves.
There was then a short Q & A, then we all headed upstairs for the book signing. The ladies I’d been sitting with were all gushing about what they’d just experienced… one said, “Oh my God, they’re so real” to which her sister fervently agreed; the third woman said something like “I think he’s so handsome!” which made me think of a few other “Kerrycrats” I know! (And of course I smiled and responded, yes they are, and yes he is. :) )
The book signing process was a little too much like an assembly line for me – it seemed the library staff really wanted to go home on time and were trying to get everyone through the line as quickly as possible. I swear they were glaring daggers at me for slowing the line to – gasp - exchange a few pleasantries with John and Teresa. It was great to have that brief opportunity though! And of course, they both looked great, and were quite gracious when we spoke. I think they must have been a bit tired of the assembly line by that time themselves (I had ended up near the end of the line, not wholly unplanned).
So that was my very pleasant “moment in Philly” on Monday night. Again I am sorry for the lack of photos, but ya know, I was too caught up in “the moment” to be fiddling with cameras and such.
I can leave you with this interview of the Kerrys done by the local radio station though – it’s very much worth the listen!
Labels: environment, John Kerry, Teresa Heinz Kerry, This Moment on Earth
Monday, April 30, 2007
What a long great trip it's been! - Wrapping up the THK blog tour
When Meredith Efken approached me in March with the suggestion that we do a "blog tour" to promote Teresa Heinz Kerry's upcoming Pittsburgh conference on Women's Health and the Environment, I had no idea what a blog tour was. To make it more intriguing, I learned from Meredith that a "blog tour" is something more and more book authors are doing to promote their newly released books - but Meredith was suggesting to adapt the technique to promoting the conference. Hmmm. Why not? So with the approval of the good folks at the Heinz Family Philanthropies and Teresa herself, we embarked.
Since 4/14 Teresa has visited 15 blogs, with great answers to interesting and challenging questions at each. In between, she prepared for and delivered (with of course the help of the other wonderful sponsors) the main event, an absolutely great conference on April 20th.
I had the good fortune to attend and live-blog the conference. I must say it surpassed my expectations - I have been to conferences before that left me thinking along the lines of "ok, fascinating, but so what? Will any progress happen because of this conference?" Of course I realize that some of my cynicism is just due to lack of knowledge on my part; it is quite possible that all of those conferences have been plenty productive, but I'm just not insider enough to know about it. But in this case - and maybe it was because I was at the blogger's table, and thanks to a shout out from Jeff Lewis in the introductions everybody knew we were there, we had a chance to meet a lot of people and hear a lot about efforts going on in the real world to put this great information to use. I saw real connections happening that I think will result in information being delivered to people who need it and will use it - eventually, even if not overnight.
The list of great moments at the conference is too long to give recognition to everyone, but I would say that the following were highlights for me:
- Steve Curwood - I just love that man. I really do. Steve moderated the panel discussions and did a wonderful job.
- Herbert Needleman's discussion of lead poisoning, and the history of lead poisoning awareness - he pointed out that the US was much later to legislate against lead exposure, compared with other western societies - I wonder if that could explain our belligerence as a nation?
- Fran Drescher - who would have thought that listening to someone talk about cancer could be *fun*?
- Laurie Valeriano, of the Washington Toxics Coalition - I think I led off the applause when she said that we should be able to walk down a supermarket aisle and pick up a product and know it's safe, without first having to go home and look it up on the internet!
- and of course Teresa herself. Not only was she delightful at the conference, we have had quite the conversation with her over the course of the blog tour - I have learned quite a lot and really come to understand what a wealth of information she has, and what a long-term commitment to environment and health that knowledge must come from.
From the blog tour, it is just impossible for me to select any favorites - every set of questions was interesting, and all the answers were well thought out, detailed, and informative. I learned something at every stop! Here is a list of the stops with direct links to the blog tour posts:
| 4/14 | Culture Kitchen |
| 4/15 | Light Up The Darkness |
| 4/16 | Democracy Cell Project |
| 4/17 | A Dem Fine Woman |
| 4/18 | Big Green Purse |
| 4/19 | John Kerry Is My Hero |
| 4/20 | The Democratic Daily |
| 4/21 | Post Carbon Institute |
| 4/22 | The Unofficial Kerry Blog |
| 4/23 | Culture Kitchen |
| 4/24 | We Love John Kerry |
| 4/25 | Violet Voices |
| 4/26 | Cocking A Snook |
| 4/27 | VB Dems |
| 4/28 | Tough Enough |
| 4/29 | Liberal Values |
Finally, I want to close with a list of (a few of the) links that were given out in the conference and the blog tour - these are some key resources we can use as we "continue the conversation" and just as importantly, start taking action in our own lives, to reduce ours and our children's exposure to environmental toxins:
- The new Women's Health and the Environment web page, where you can download the toolkit that was given otu at the conference
- Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep database - find out how safe (or not) are the cosmetics you are using
- Safer, flushable diapers (yes!)
- For your brain - finding common ground and workable solutions to environmental problems at the Heinz Center
- Don't get snookered - Evaluate the information you find on the web
- Find out about resources for buying locally at relocalize.net
- Find a community health center near you, where you can get health care whether you have insurance or not
Thanks to everyone who joined us on this wonderful trip - I hope you enjoyed yourself! And most especially a heartfelt thank you to Teresa Heinz Kerry, Jeff Lewis, Meredith Efken, Karen & Richard, all the bloggers who asked such great questions and made such great posts, and all those other wonderful souls who helped out in various ways - we couldn't have done this without you. Great job, everyone!
Shall we do it again for the Boston edition of this conference, this fall?
Labels: environment, health, Teresa Heinz Kerry, Women's Health and Environment Conference, women's issues
Monday, April 23, 2007
Women's Health and the Environment Conference - Recap
I'm back home after attending the Women's Health and the Environment Conference in Pittsburgh on Friday (Apr 20) and then taking advantage of the great weather to visit with family in West Virginia.
The conference was excellent - I quasi-live-blogged it at The Democratic Daily (quasi because my own laptop isn't aircard-enabled so I had to bum keyboard time from someone who was), and several other folks live blogged as well. And of course there is the ongoing blog tour with Teresa answering bloggers' questions about the conference topics.
Speaking of the blog tour, this blog will be the final stop on the tour, on April 30. Although I am planning to use that post to sum up takeaways, key website links, and so forth from the conference and the blog tour, I thought I would take a moment now to list the relevant links for those who missed them on conference day and want to catch up.
Most importantly - the conference website notes:
The presentations were all good, and some were absolutely fabulous. Standouts include Tyrone Hayes, Fran Drescher, and Herbert Needleman - but you'll enjoy the others, too, so if you have time, just watch them all!
At the conference, attendees received a "toolkit" that includes lots of information about how we can individually and together take action to safeguard our health from toxins in the environment. The materials in this toolkit are now available online, along with many other resources, and you can sign up to receive a newsletter.
While you're waiting for the podcasts and videos to be made available at the conference website on April 29, you can get the flavor of the proceedings, plus lots of great links to informative sites that were mentioned, by skimming the live blog threads:
Finally, don't miss Teresa Heinz Kerry responding to bloggers' questions on her Blog Tour (full schedule here). We are about halfway through the tour - catch the latest excellent post can be found at The Unofficial Kerry Blog, and later today there should be a post up at Culture Kitchen.
The conference was excellent - I quasi-live-blogged it at The Democratic Daily (quasi because my own laptop isn't aircard-enabled so I had to bum keyboard time from someone who was), and several other folks live blogged as well. And of course there is the ongoing blog tour with Teresa answering bloggers' questions about the conference topics.
Speaking of the blog tour, this blog will be the final stop on the tour, on April 30. Although I am planning to use that post to sum up takeaways, key website links, and so forth from the conference and the blog tour, I thought I would take a moment now to list the relevant links for those who missed them on conference day and want to catch up.
Most importantly - the conference website notes:
For those individuals who wanted to attend but didn’t register in time, check back on April 29, 2007 to view speaker videos or download podcasts.
The presentations were all good, and some were absolutely fabulous. Standouts include Tyrone Hayes, Fran Drescher, and Herbert Needleman - but you'll enjoy the others, too, so if you have time, just watch them all!
At the conference, attendees received a "toolkit" that includes lots of information about how we can individually and together take action to safeguard our health from toxins in the environment. The materials in this toolkit are now available online, along with many other resources, and you can sign up to receive a newsletter.
While you're waiting for the podcasts and videos to be made available at the conference website on April 29, you can get the flavor of the proceedings, plus lots of great links to informative sites that were mentioned, by skimming the live blog threads:
- The Democratic Daily
- Democracy Cell Project
- DailyKos (morning session)
- DailyKos (afternoon session)
Finally, don't miss Teresa Heinz Kerry responding to bloggers' questions on her Blog Tour (full schedule here). We are about halfway through the tour - catch the latest excellent post can be found at The Unofficial Kerry Blog, and later today there should be a post up at Culture Kitchen.
Labels: environment, health, Heinz Family Philanthropies, Teresa Heinz Kerry, women's issues
The Bush Administration's
public statements on Iraq
