CheckTheWeather

As we fly out on our quest to highlight the real, our paths crossed with emerging Hip hop legend DJ Cavem. Based out of Denver, Colorado, DJ Cavem incorporates all aspects of hip hop culture to the cause he is most passionate about, Food Justice. Check out the trailer from the interview and Check the site out next week for the full interview.

You may have heard this name from Def Poetry Jam or her many publications of fresh poetry, what you might not know is that legendary Poet and artivist Jessica Care Moore is down for the Green and for Checktheweather.net!
We caught up with the world-renown voice in Detroit at the US Social Forum. Check out her plug. Plus you can listen to the whole featured song, The Outcome off of Nas’ 1999 album Nastradamus below.

	Nas – The Outcome
	Found at The Outcome on Duck.fm

Another quick plug: Jessica Care Moore was featured in the MSNBC’s Grio100 African-American History Leaders in the Making just like Checktheweather.net co-founder Kari Fulton! Check out why the grio.com loves Jessica Care Moore by clicking on the link below

http://www.thegrio.com/black-history/thegrios-100/thegrios-100-jessica-care-moore.php

Much like Checktheweather.net, Al Jazeera was in Bolivia for the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth. While we edit all of our amazing footage check out this piece from Al Jazeera on how and why Bolivia is becoming a lead voice on climate change issues.

Whether it is healthcare reform, financial reform or environmental justice this short video Race to the Bottom is telling the story of real Americans struggling to get ahead. This video,created by Jonathan Ryan King, was submitted to the EPA Voices of Environmental Justice Video Competition  and highlights issues faced by truck drivers at the Port of Oakland.

Today on K street thousands of justice workers and organizers are taking to the streets of downtown Washington, DC to confront the Big Banks and Corporate Lobbyist directly. The protesters are calling for real financial reform and for the government to hold corporations accountable for destroying the economy and placing hard working people into financial debt.

Check out the live feed of the action courtesy of Jobs With Justice. For more information on what you can do to support worker’s rights visit jobswithjustice.org

This video has got to be one of the favorites. It’s clear it’s concise and dog gone it,  it’s really about environmental justice. Some of the finalist  in the EPA Enviromental Justice video contest were about polar bears and whales and honestly, they are cool but that is not what environmental justice is all about. Environmental Justice is about saving the endangered human!

Check out this video from a great group based out of Austin called PODER. This is a great example of one thing you can do to protect your hood. To learn more about their work visit: http://www.poder-texas.org/

The EPA has announced the finalists for the agencies, Faces of the Grassroots Environmental Justice Video Competition. The videos range from 30 second Public Service Announcements to 5 minute Informational videos. Everyday until we run out of video’s Checktheweather.net will feature one of the nominees (Yea!)

Today’s video of the day: Pesticides: A Farmworker Perspective. This video was submitted by Toxic Free North Carolina a non-profit organization that has been fighting Pesticide Pollution since 1986. Check it out:

For more information on Toxic Free North Carolina you can visit their website at toxicfreenc.org

Check out the folk over at the Alliance for Climate Education getting their flow on. Ummm…. not going to lie the cornball factor for this video is pretty high (sorry Ambessa). HOWEVER, the pure hilarity and good points about people being “Green” but not knowing what that that really means makes it worth watching. Find out more on how you can raise your voice and lower your carbon emissions at www.acespace.org

Check it out:

Crossposted from www.environmentaladvocate.wordpress.com
Written by Kirin Kennedy

Hey all,
So its been a while right since I’ve posted!!! Well lets remix my usual post!!! Today I got in the mail my U.S. Census Form!! Yes, I said it the United States Census Form!!! Now for me as a geographer, this is like crazy cool stuff, you can use Census data to make really cool maps that determine population, based off of racial identity, and addresses just to name a few!!! Why is this important, well population numbers decide how many congressional representatives we get!! Secondly, this form helps us learn about what services are needed, like bilingual services, increased schools and hospitals and so on!! When you think about it, if we get more moneys for schools, hospitals and other services we have also increased jobs in our local area indirectly!!! Now there is one other thing to really think about!! In the Environmental Justice debate there is always a question of racial intentionality, meaning did a company or entity, choose to dump in a site, because of racist ideals??? Many people/communities have loss legitimate cases because although the population is largely African-American and or severely underserved the Census numbers did not show a significant presence of that particular community. Many that they could not prove that the company meant to dumb or build harmful sources or substances in a community just because it was a community of color. See If we don’t fill out the form then we don’t COUNT or EXIST!!! In fact, we can’t really expect to complain about poor air and water quality, lack of transportation infrastructure, and other very important services that will lead to a greener economy if we do not fill out the form!!! So Lets help Define Our Decade and create a cleaner greener society by filling out the census form. I got mine in the mail today and made A video about it, so please watch and enjoy!!!!

2010 marks the 40th anniversary of the Environmental Protection Agency and for the first time in a long time that the EPA is on the J-O-B. One of the main reasons the EPA is getting it together, the Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. Checktheweather.net Video Blog Series “Word on the Concrete got a chance to get a few words with the Administrator before she went off to meetings on Capitol Hill.

Check out what she has to say about being the First African-American to head the Environmental Protection Agency. What she hopes for the future of going green. Plus a special message for the grassroots of America.

For more information on what’s going down at the EPA click here.

Also look out for future episodes of Word on the Concrete very soon….

1,000 bucks and having your work featured on greenforall.org, man that’s dope. It’s also what’s up for grabs in Green For All’s first ever Dream Reborn Art Contest. People from all over the country submitted raps, videos, poetry and artwork that represent and support a transition to a clean energy economy that is strong enough to stop pollution and poverty at the same time.

Want an idea of some of the projects? Check out one of the video contributions from Youth leader Ebony Payne from Washington, DC:

Visit http://contestvote.greenforall.org/ Today (February 24, 2010) and cast your vote for the best piece. Hurry today’s the last day so take a moment and vote. You don’t want them featuring anything you can’t stand then you’ll have to see it every time you visit Green For All’s site (ugh that would be extra whack)