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| | | published Thursday, January 14, 2010 | 355 Views :: 0 Comments | |  |
KC breaks silence about environment
http://www.unews.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&uStory_id=9b342a90-2271-4cac-bdaf-484d476624e6
By: Alexia Lang
Posted: 1/11/10
Consider the silence broken in Kansas City.
Several hundred Kansas Citians gathered Jan. 8-9 at the Reardon Convention Center in Kansas City, Kan. for the third annual Breaking the Silence Environmental Conference.
Organized by Building a Sustainable Earth Community, the theme for the conference this year was how health and the environment connect.
Richard Mabion, founder of the conference and popular voice on KKFI, said the conference is about making connections with other people who are passionate and knowledgeable.
"Before you can move to a point in learning, you have to get to know each other," Mabion said.
Storyteller Molly Postlewait helped kick things off by telling stories and getting the audience involved.
With the help of a drum group, she asked the room to divide into teams of two to dance to the beat. The icebreaker had strangers meeting for the first time through a groove.
Sarah Rush, Booker T. Washington's great granddaughter, and Roderick Bremby, Kansas secretary of Health and Environment, keynoted the event.
Workshops, poetry, music, food and vendors kept participants busy throughout the conference.
Topics discussed included spirituality, gardening, rivers, environmental law, sustainable food production, energy efficiency, health research, health education, prisoner's re-entry, high school science, no child left inside, environmental organizations and more.
All activities were interactive and encouraged participation.
To end the day, participants viewed "Taking Roots," a documentary that tells the story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai, who led an effort to save the environment by planting trees.
'Think Outside the Bomb'
Approximately 85 percent of the non-nuclear components for a nuclear bomb are manufactured in Kansas City, at Bannister Road and Troost Avenue.
The Department of Energy (DOE) wants to move the KC Plant, operated by Honeywell for the DOE, to Botts Road and Missouri Highway 150 and many Kansas Citians are in opposition.
During a presentation called "Think Outside the Bomb" at Breaking The Silence, PeaceWorks Kansas City members cited concerns about $673 million in tax dollars that would be spent on the facility.
They said upkeep over the course of 20 years would amount to approximately $1.2 billion.
Maurice Copeland, who retired from the KC Plant, said he has seen first-hand the harmful effects of the plant.
Many of the people he worked with have developed leukemia because of exposure to carcinogenic chemicals, he said.
"What it takes to produce death also kills the producer," Copeland said.
Recognizing the United States does need protection, he said there are better ways.
"What we advocate is peace - peace without the threat of nuclear weapons," Copeland said. "Whether we realize it or not, we can have peace without nuclear weapons."
PeaceWorks' battle cry is to "Close it, clean it, don't just move it."
The DOE is considering the current site of the KC Plant for use as a national mercury storage facility.
Copeland has also attended all of the public meetings to speak out regarding that decision.
He said he is greatly concerned about locating a mercury storage facility in an area where residents and a water supply are in close proximity because of the associated health risks.
Jay Coghlan, executive director of Nuclear Watch New Mexico, gave a presentation about how a nuclear bomb is built and the effects it has when it is used.
He began by making it clear he is not a typical anti-war protester.
"I am in no way a pacifist," he said. "But I am against anything that kills innocent women, children, babies and harms the environment to the extent a nuke does."
One argument in favor of the facility is it would potentially provide 2,000 jobs to the area.
Coghlan supports green jobs in its place.
"I am a working stiff myself and I would be the last to be against jobs," he said. "I need jobs myself. But there are better ways to do it."
To keep things exciting, the local performance groups The Recipe presented poems about concerns facing the world, including bombs. To listen to their work, go to www.myspace.com/therecipekcmo.
Sadge Kieya, a spoken word artist, also presented her art. She spoke about corruption in the media and violence on the streets.
A tidbit of her advice was to "eliminate the threat, get a pet."
She also thinks there needs to be a "timeout for the haters," those who refuse to do good and only harm others.
The Kansas City, Mo. Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will meet at 9 a.m. Jan. 14 to consider the development plan for the new KC Plant facility.
It could be the last chance for residents to speak out about the move.
PeaceWorks will be hosting a potluck Jan. 20 to plan opposition to the plant. Contact Jane Stoever at 913-206-4088 for more information.
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