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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Brent Newell, JD, Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment, 450 Geary Street, Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94102, 408-278-2279, mvanscherrenburg@kirschfoundation.org

The Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment (CRPE), an environmental justice law firm and member of the Central Valley Air Quality coalition (CVAQ), will present the latest research on the environmental and health impacts of mega-dairies, how this issue disproportionately impacts low income communities of color, and the work of CRPE to halt the proliferation of these dairies in the San Joaquin Valley. CRPE will also illustrate how developing and empowering leaders in impacted communities is much more powerful than legal action. California's San Joaquin Valley, the state's agricultural heartland, is host to a unique concentration of environmental health risks from air pollution, including pesticides, dust from plowed fields, smoke from agricultural burning, diesel emissions, and urban air pollution, among other sources. It shares the distinction of having the worst air quality in the nation with the Los Angeles area, with asthma and disease rates at epidemic proportions. CVAQ is a diverse group of organizations and individuals – from premier environmental organizations to grassroots communities of color – with the shared goal of cleaning up the Valley's air, and comprises more than 120 members representing 55 organizations with environmental, public health, community, and environmental justice concerns. CVAQ is an excellent example of how a coalition – operating in a politically conservative and environmentally hostile region – can add up to more than the sum of its parts.

Learning Objectives: