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POLITICS & COMMUNITY Citizen's Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste P.O. Box 6806 Falls Church, VA 22040 (703) 237-2249 http://www.cais.net/wolf/cchw/cchw.html by Laurie Ouellette Read more Non-profit profiles on Tripod.

Are you outraged by toxic dumping? If not, you should be, according to Citizen's Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste, a hard-nosed advocacy organization with a decidedly grassroots approach to environmental justice. Every year, corporate manufacturers release hundreds of dangerous chemicals into the air, ground and water, endangering both our natural resources and our communities--especially low-income and minority communities--but they need not get away with it. Thanks to CCHW, neighborhood groups across the U.S. have stopped polluters in their tracks, proving that every backyard is a potential battleground and every citizen a potential environmental activist. It all began with Lois Gibbs, a suburban housewife who happened to be living along the Love Canal near Niagara Falls when it was discovered that the area was severely polluted in the 1970s. Fueled by fear and outrage, Gibbs rallied her neighbors, launched a grassroots movement for environmental justice, and catapulted the phrase "toxic waste" onto evening TV news screens across America. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter responded to the pressure, and the federal government bought 235 homes and moved the families out. Shortly afterwards, a federal Superfund program was announced, with the goal of cleaning up the country's worst hazardous waste sites. After winning the federal relocation of residents victimized by the toxic dumping, Gibbs and other local activists were inundated with calls from people around the country who were facing similar threats and wanted help. CCHW was founded in 1981 to help grassroots community groups fight and win battles over toxic waste, air pollution, incinerators, medical waste, radioactive waste, pesticides, sewage and industrial pollution. Funded entirely by membership support, CCHW provides technical information, advocacy training and guidebooks on everything from hazardous waste to environmental racism, but it follows the motto that change begins at home. "We believe that the most environmental justice is from the bottom up through community organizing and empowerment," says Gibbs. "When local citizens come together and take an organized, unified stand, they can hold industry and government accountable and work towards a healthy, environmentally sustainable future. This is democracy at its most vital, and CCHW's mission is to give people the tools they need to bring it about." While the environmental justice movement spearheaded by CCHW is more organized and effective than ever before, the battle is far from over. In her new book "Dying from Dioxin: A Citizen's Guide to Reclaiming Our Health and Rebuilding Democracy," a shocking expose of how corporate self-interest takes precedence over human lives and the environment, Gibbs chronicles struggles over the cancer-causing pollutant in communities from New Bedford, Mass., to Pensacola, Fla. Calling the issue the Love Canal of the 1990s, CCHW is monitoring the EPA and working to "combat the industry's media spin doctors, create public awareness about the dangers of dioxin and change the way dioxin is regulated." Want to get involved? As the Taoist proverb says, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Start now by checking the quantity of hazardous waste released into your own neighborhood by punching your zip code into the following database. Learn about the effects of various pollutants from the Toxic Release Inventory. Learn how to take on corporate polluters in your area by "becoming your own pollution private detective." And finally, contact CCHW for information on how you can help fight toxic dumping in communities most seriously affected. Laurie Ouellette writes about media and culture and teaches at the New School in New York City. Her work has appeared in "Utne Reader," "Afterimage," "Women's Review of Books," "Independent Film and Video Monthly," and various books and journals. © 1996 Laurie Ouellette. All Rights Reserved.