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Need a speaker, trainer, or workshop presenter?
Anti-Corporate, Environmental Justice, and Student/Community Organizing Workshops available from Mike Ewall and ActionPA
Call or email to inquire about rates and logistics:
Mike Ewall
215-743-4884
catalyst@actionpa.org
Biography
Mike Ewall is the founder and director of ActionPA (a state-wide environmental grassroots support group in Pennsylvania) and the Energy Justice Network (a national organization to advance clean energy policies while aiding grassroots fights against dirty energy technologies). Since getting involved in high school in 1990, he has been actively involved in student and community environmental justice and anti-corporate organizing. He has assisted many communities in their efforts to stop landfills, incinerators and power plants and to address numerous other waste, toxics and energy issues. Since 1995, he's presented over 300 workshops in 26 states at over 100 schools and at least 80 activist conferences.
He has a strong background in addressing waste, toxics, energy and nuclear issues. His accomplishments include defeating two incinerator projects in his home county near Philadelphia, helping halt a nuclear waste dump that was to be built in Pennsylvania in the 1990s, stopping a mandatory water fluoridation law in Pennsylvania, stopping the nation's most urban proposal for a liquefied natural gas terminal (in Philadelphia) and authoring the nation's strongest mercury and dioxin laws (passed by local governments in PA to stop crematoria). Through his grassroots support work, many communities have achieved victories against power plants, landfills, incinerators, medical waste facilities and other polluting industries. His experiences range from fighting for environmental justice in rural and suburban communities in Pennsylvania to helping protest environmental racism in the state's urban centers (primarily Chester, Harrisburg and in Philadelphia, where large polluting industries exist and where more have been proposed).
Mike has long been active in campaigning for corporate accountability. His experiences range from fighting for environmental justice in rural and suburban communities in Pennsylvania to helping protest environmental racism in the state's urban centers to protesting corporate investments in the military regime in Burma.
Since 1993, he's been actively involved in the building Pennsylvania's grassroots movement for environmental justice. From 1996 through 2000, he was active in student environmental and anti-corporate organizing, mostly through the Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC) and 180: The Movement for Democracy and Education (a student pro-democracy/anti-corporate group active in the late 1990s). He's currently working on developing the Energy Justice Network, a national (somewhat international) group working to advance clean energy policies while aiding grassroots fights against "biomass" incinerators, new fossil fuel power plants and other proposed dirty energy technologies. Energy Justice Network is a founding member of the Energy Action Coalition, a U.S./Canada student and youth coalition on energy and climate issues.
WORKSHOP TOPICS
Energy Issues:
Other Environmental Issues:
Student and Anti-Corporate Organizing:
Energy Justice
Want to save the climate from global warming? Need to know how best to support green energy? The coal, gas, nuclear and incineration industries are all being revived in the name of "green" energy. Oil dependence would be replaced with harmful ethanol schemes, waste-based fuels and hydrogen from nuclear power and fossil fuel sources. Learn how we can stop this and support the clean alternatives: conservation, efficiency, wind and solar. [Note this workshop is a condensed version of the following two workshops, which go into more details on dirty and clean energy technologies, respectively.]
Energy and Environmental Justice
Nuclear power, coal, oil, gas, hydroelectric, incineration and "alternative" fuels production all damage the environment and disproportionately affect low-income communities and communities of color. Learn about the life-cycle impacts of these dirty power sources and how they affect people and our environment.
Replacing all Dirty Power with Clean Energy Within our Lifetime
Conservation, efficiency and CLEAN renewables (like wind and solar, not "biomass" incineration) can replace all dirty power sources within 20 years, if our government were committed to doing so. Learn about the potential for these technologies to revolutionize the energy sector and replace fossil fuels, nuclear power, hydroelectric dams, incineration and other dirty fuels.
Don't Nuke the Climate!
Nuclear power is being promoted as a solution to climate change, yet the nuclear fuel cycle DOES contribute to global warming. Nuclear power is also the most expensive, most racist and most environmentally damaging form of energy we have. Learn about pollution from nuclear reactors and the nuclear fuel chain, from mining to waste disposal, including nuclear power's connection to nuclear weapons and militarism.
Green Energy or Green Scam? -- "Green Energy" Marketing and Biomass
How do you know if a green energy marketer is legitimate? Do you know where the money REALLY goes? Are "biomass" and "biofuels" green energy sources or just another set of dirty technologies? Can buying "green" energy really make a difference? Learn the surprising answers to these questions from the one who exposed Green Mountain Energy's dirty and deceptive marketing practices, launching a boycott of the nation's leading "green" energy marketer.
The Burning Issues with Biomass and Biofuels
What are the down-sides of the use of "biomass" incineration for electricity or biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel? There are many issues, including toxic feedstocks, biotech crops, polluting smokestacked incinerators/refineries, excessive use of fossil fuel inputs, water and soil depletion, damage to forests, proliferation of factory farms, lack of adequate land and competition with food production. Biomass and biofuels aren't necessary and don't really help us get to the clean energy solutions we need to address global warming and fossil fuel depletion.
Beyond Combustion Engines: Breaking the Oil Addiction with Clean Energy in Transportation
Natural gas, coal-based liquid fuels, ethanol, biodiesel, waste-based fuels and hydrogen are all unacceptably polluting if used to replace the immense amount of oil consumed in the U.S. We need to move beyond combustion engines and mythical energy-wasting "solutions" like hydrogen and jump directly into a future that relies on aggressive conservation and efficiency tactics combined with the use of electric vehicles powered by clean energy.
No New Coal Plants!
A new wave of hundreds of coal power plants, coal-powered ethanol plants and coal-to-oil refineries are being proposed in the U.S. None of these are needed. Oil and gas aren't the only fossil fuels whose production are peaking. Peak coal is already on the horizon and the end of cheap coal is closer than most realize. Energy Justice has developed a national "No New Coal Plants" grassroots network. We can use everyone's help to stop this new wave of misguided energy development.
Global Warming Loopholes
Many environmentalists are skeptical of market-based emissions trading schemes, carbon "offsets" and "carbon-neutrality" demands. Many policies -- both legislative and at the campus purchasing level -- have loopholes that end up harming communities and undermining their climate-friendly intentions. Learn what these loopholes look like and how to advocate for policies that don't compromise away our goals and the rights of communities. This workshop will teach you how to be careful about your demands and how to make sure your campus-based policies are implemented in a just way.
Environmental Justice and Environmental Racism
What is environmental racism? Isn't it just about class? Learn about the realities of environmental racism. This workshop discusses the principles of environmental justice and what is means to be involved in the environmental justice movement.
Garbage Dumps, Incinerators and other Trash Talk
Where does your waste go when you throw it "away?" Where is "away" and who
lives there? What happens when you let trash be sent to landfills or
incinerators? What are the alternatives? This presentation can cover many
types of waste, including hazardous waste, construction & demolition waste,
sewage sludge, medical waste, contaminated soil and ash. What you don't know can
definitely hurt you.
Milk Does Nobody Good
Milk doesn't prevent osteoporosis, it causes it. Milk also causes cancers
and other health problems. It provides more than your recommended daily
allowance of toxic pesticides, dioxin, growth hormones (like rBGH) and
antibiotics residues. Learn the truth about milk and dairy products and
how to live without them. Learn about:
- Health problems linked with milk
- Milk, protein and osteoporosis
- Chemical and radioactive pollutants
- Bovine Growth Hormone, IGF-1 & Cancer
- Animal cruelty issues & the veal connection
- How to live without cow secretions
- VEGetariANism, meat production, food safety (as time allows)
Toxic Waste in you Water: Fluoride and Water Fluoridation
What you don't know about your toothpaste and drinking water -- Fluoride is
a toxic waste product of the aluminum and phosphate fertilizer industries.
If industry weren't permitted to dump this waste product into our drinking
water, they'd have to dispose of it as hazardous waste. Learn about
fluoride's effects on the brain, bones and other parts of the body and what
we can do to reverse the use of people as an industrial dumping ground.
Student Organizing 101
Many student organizations have a hard time maintaining an effective
organization, not to mention long-term, strategically organized campaigns. This workshop will teach you how to get and keep members, break down apathy, win effective campaigns, build student power and more.
Learn about:
- Picking an Issue: Service Projects vs. Issue Campaigns
- Dismantling apathy
- Dealing with cliques
- Fixing lame groups
- Democratic decision-making
- Recruiting and retaining members
- Effective meetings
- Strategy charts / power mapping
- Who REALLY runs your school?
- Being visible
- Dis-Orientation Guides
- Taking over student government
- Effective networking and coalition building, on- and off-campus
- Making sure your group survives after you graduate
As there are many components to this presentation, it works best as an
extended organizing workshop covering at least 3-4 hours. Less-detailed
1-2 hour presentations can be made, but would only cover parts of the
material. Try bringing leaders of various groups together for this workshop.
Community Organizing
Fighting to protect your community from some polluting industry or other noxious development? Many community groups have succeeded in fighting off environmentally-damaging development, but it's nothing like what you see in movies. Learn what works for communities and how to avoid pitfalls that cause groups to lose. Learn how to win without having to rely on expensive lawyers. We can help you with strategy development, group-building and much more. We can also design this workshop for student groups seeking to work with in solidarity with impacted communities.
Exposing Corporate and Military Connections to your Campus
The workshop explains the details on how to research the following types of
corporate/military connections to schools:
- Investments
- Procurements
- Waste Contracts
- Research Grants
- Students as Products
- Campus Governance (corporate ties to trustees...)
Learn how to "green" and de-corporatize your school! This workshop can also include a hands-on research trip to offices on campus where files on these corporate ties exist, helping you obtain some of this hard-to-get information on your school.
"Greening" Your School
Schools are institutions which create major environmental and social
impacts when they buy everything from food and paper to lightbulbs and
clothing. This purchasing power can be redirected to supporting products
which are more socially responsible.
Democratizing Your School
Most colleges and universities are run by corporate businesspeople and
political appointees rather than those who have the most interest in the
educational system. Learn how to fight for fundamental changes to
democratize schools, giving more power to students, faculty and staff.
How to Overthrow Corporate Rule in 5 Not-so-easy Steps
Corporations run our government, our media, our schools and ourselves.
Corporations have more rights than citizens, but it hasn't always been this
way. This workshop outlines specific methods to democratize and
de-corporatize our society.
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