This last week a pair of articles from Connecticut and North Carolina caught my eye. Church folks are getting visible in the effort to address PFAS—“forever chemicals”—in their communities. Read the new comprehensive article from EarthJustice, Inside EPA’s Roadmap on Regulating PFAS Chemicals.
PFAS are a huge environmental concern effecting the health of ecosystems and people everywhere. Awareness of PFAS hit with a horrified bang just a few years ago. The effort of faith organizations such as Interfaith Power and Light have resulted in ongoing efforts by by people of faith to identify and remedy both the problem of contamination, as well as the human rights issues that accompany it.
This is a shout out to those efforts!
Thank you to those at Round Hill Church in Connecticut who recently hosted a conversation addressing PFAS in their community. The story ran in Greenwich Time, Frustrated Greenwich residents say not enough being done to fix toxic PFAS chemicals in water supply, and a recording of the talk was posted to youtube. This engagement by people of faith will continue to be hugely important to getting the problems of PFAS addressed—which for Greenwich meant cleaning up wells and the water supply of a local school.
Yes. People of faith care very much about this. The moral imperative is shared across faith traditions. Twenty six faith communities signed on to a petition from Quaker Friends in a 2020 legislative petition which stated that “Caring for God’s creation” and preventing “unjust suffering” to people and ecosystems means ensuring a healthy environment. Catholic groups also have called for action on PFAS, read from Earthbeat, Toxic contamination of water sources poses long-term hazards to American communities and environment.
Shout out also to Warner AME Zion Church and Davis Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in North Carolina. Black churches are and have been mobilizing to inform citizens and support ongoing testing of citizens who have been exposed to toxic chemicals from the Dupont now Chemours Chemical Plant near the Cape Fear River. This plant is linked to river contamination, with 100 miles of water unsafe to drink. The fight to stop the contamination is years long, includes numerous studies and more recently, interest from the UN.
Read more from the New York Times, North Carolina ‘Forever Chemical’ Plant Violates Human Rights, U.N. Panel Says. The allegations of human rights violations linked to pollution from the factory broadens a yearslong battle over the site and over the chemicals known as PFAS. And also from Grist, Is PFAS pollution a human rights violation? These activists say yes. Activists in North Carolina allege that DuPont has for decades fouled Cape Fear River. They want the UN Human Rights Commission to hold it accountable.
Faith organizations across the US have been working to bring information and visibility to their members. Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light offered webinars and educational information. Washington State Interfaith Power and Light, known as Earth Ministry, produced a great explainer, available in PDF, A Primer on PFAS Chemicals and Why They Matter.
The cost of waste—including forever waste—has fallen disproportionately on Black, Brown, and Indigenous people. This is happening also at one of the original flashpoints of the environmental justice movement, when great organizers such as Dr. Robert Bullard joined with citizen, church leaders and Sunday school teachers to attempt to stop a toxic landfill in their Alabama community. They raised awareness across the country, but did not have the power to stop the waste site from being built.
That waste site still exists, only now it takes in waste contaminated with PFAS from far-away states such as Wisconsin. Read a deep dive from Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin cleanup shifts toxic PFAS burden to Alabama Black Belt. ‘Father of environmental justice’ says sending fluorinated firefighting foam to a landfill in the mostly poor, Black town of Emelle perpetuates racism.
And PFAS are not just showing up in river contamination and landfills. These Forever poisons are causing trouble everywhere, including for wildlife, and even in the Arctic. An article from Mongabay, PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ harming wildlife the world over: Study.
PFAS do not break down in composting and mulching processes, and this compost and sludge is being sold to farmers. This explainer from Sierra Club dives deep into the issue.
Two stories from The Guardian help also to illustrate what is happening. New report finds most US kale samples contain ‘disturbing’ levels of ‘forever chemicals’. PFAS was found in seven of eight samples bought at US stores, with organic kale containing higher levels of the toxic compounds. And also Texas farmers claim company sold them PFAS-contaminated sludge that killed livestock. Two ranches also allege biosolids with ‘forever chemicals’ ruined crops, polluted drinking water and left their properties worthless.
One last important thing to mention about PFAS is their link to fossil fuels and the petrochemical industry, including plastics. I really appreciated this article from The Maine Monitor that really lays it out, Making the connection between PFAS and fossil fuels.
It’s a good thing that the toxic characteristics of PFAS are finally being measured and discussed, remedies will be harder won. In Maine investigations into PFAS led to an illuminating list of what PFAS are actually in, and the list is shocking with everyday items such as razors. There is frustration in Maine also that there are so many ‘exceptions’ to proposed new policies written to save lives and clean things up.
There is some hope emerging, tho, as government and industry work on how to break down these poisons. While acknowledging the hopeful headlines, there is still a long way to go. From Morning Ag Clips, NOAA’s Breakthrough Discovery in the Fight Against Forever Chemicals. NBOT Labs, in partnership with NOAA, has developed and validated what is considered to be the first scalable and cost-effective solution for removing PFAS.
Interested in taking action? Email your state chapter of Interfaith Power and Light and see if there is an initiative you can help support. This explainer from EarthJustice gives both information and a form for taking action, Breaking Down Toxic PFAS. What PFAS are, why they’re harmful, and what we can do to protect ourselves from them. Taking action in the public square and engaging in public issues of health and wellbeing are faithful and moral just plain good work.
Faithful in the public square. Read a 101 about Public Hearings and Comment Periods and how to speak for just public policy as a person of faith, as well as sign-ons and petitions.
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Just to say… my updates are not endorsements, and links are usually third party. Please make your own determinations. My goal here is to amplify the conversation and encourage engagement, learning, and resilience. And of course, to bless your efforts!