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Natural Awakenings Central New Jersey

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Ballot Power

Community Initiatives Secure Local Eco-Rights

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hile America will choose its next president this November, voters in Oregon may also vote on the right to local community self-government, enabling protection of citizens’ fundamental rights and prohibiting corporate activities that violate them. The Oregonians for Community Rights group, formed by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), submitted a constitutional amendment proposal to the secretary of state in January as a prelude to a larger signature-gathering effort to qualify the measure for the state ballot.

Concurrently, the CELDF is supporting other community initiatives on various topics that may inspire other regions to also be active at the grassroots level. For example, Oregon’s Coos County Protection Council is currently finishing its signature gathering to place a Right to a Sustainable Energy Future ordinance on a special ballot in May. It would protect citizens’ rights to clean air and water and the production of sustainable, localized energy, instead of county approval of several potential non-green energy projects.

Oregon’s Columbia County Sustainable Action for Green Energy is gathering signatures for a Right to a Sustainable Energy Future ordinance for its November ballot that would protect the county from fossil fuel projects like coal and oil trains and a proposed methanol plant, and close two natural gas power plants by 2025. Other state groups are seeking to have November ballots in Lane and Lincoln counties include bans on aerial pesticide spraying. A Lane County group has filed a local food system charter amendment that would ban GMO (genetically modified) crops locally.

“Community rights are driven by the people in the community, not by any organization targeting potential activism,” says Kai Huschke, Northwest and Hawaii community organizer of the CELDF, which has supported 200-plus separate community initiatives. Particularly active states have included New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon and Pennsylvania. “Organizing typically comes about due to a localized threat. It means settling into a long-term battle to change the structure of government, having resolve and organizing beyond just a ballot vote.”

Learn how to take local action at celdf.org.

Action Alert
Tick Talk

Spring officially sprung on March 21. We have turned our clocks ahead. We are looking forward to warm winds, sunny skies and the smell of fresh cut grass. The daffodils and tulips have recently bloomed and we are just starting with the yard work that comes with the warmer weather.  Sadly, another season has started ramping up.  Tick season.

•             The best form of protection is prevention. Educating oneself about tick activity and how our behaviors overlap with tick habitats is the first step.

•             According to the NJ DOH, in 2022 Hunterdon County led the state with a Lyme disease incidence rate of 426 cases per 100,000 people. The fact is ticks spend approximately 90% of their lives not on a host but aggressively searching for one, molting to their next stage or over-wintering. This is why a tick remediation program should be implemented on school grounds where NJ DOH deems high risk for tick exposure and subsequent attachment to human hosts.

•             Governor Murphy has signed a bill that mandates tick education in NJ public schools. See this for the details.  Tick education must now be incorporated into K-12 school curriculum. See link:

https://www.nj.gov/education/broadcasts/2023/sept/27/TicksandTick-BorneIllnessEducation.pdf

•             May is a great month to remind the public that tick activity is in full swing. In New Jersey, there are many tickborne diseases that affect residents, including Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, Powassan, and Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis.

•             For years, the focus has mainly been about protecting ourselves from Lyme disease. But other tick-borne diseases are on the rise in Central Jersey. An increase of incidence of Babesia and Anaplasma are sidelining people too. These two pathogens are scary because they effect our blood cells. Babesia affects the red blood cells and Anaplasma effects the white blood cells.

•             Ticks can be infected with more than one pathogen. When you contract Lyme it is possible to contract more than just that one disease. This is called a co-infection. It is super important to pay attention to your symptoms. See link.

https://twp.freehold.nj.us/480/Disease-Co-Infection

A good resource from the State:

https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/topics/tickborne.shtml

 

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