[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 58 (Thursday, May 5, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E884]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    RECOGNIZING EARTH DAY IN HARLEM

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                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 5, 2005

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and recognition of 
Earth Day events in Harlem, New York, and to recognize the dedication 
of advocates of environmental justice. This year, Harlem will celebrate 
the 35th anniversary of Earth Day--a day designed to raise our 
collective awareness of the challenges facing our environmental and 
global communities.
  In the first Earth Day celebration, the Nation directed its attention 
to the issues of the environment and ways to ensuring its protection 
for years to come. Congress adjourned--on a Wednesday--for the day to 
allow Members to hear from their constituents. Roughly 20 million 
Americans united to express their collective demand for a safer, 
cleaner, and healthier global community. The Clean Air Act, the Clean 
Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the creation of the 
Environmental Protection Agency followed shortly after that momentous 
day. These were true efforts, not in name alone, to provide important 
and needed protections to our environment and to make our communities 
safe, clean, and healthy.
  This year, Harlem will focus on the environmental problems of 
communities of color. West Harlem Environmental Action, Inc (WE ACT) is 
a non-profit grassroots environmental group that has worked to improve 
environmental quality and to address equity and justice in 
environmental issues for predominately African-American and Latino 
communities. For the last 7 years, they have worked to raise community 
awareness of environmental hazards, to identify and research ecological 
threats to minority communities, and to attain governmental policies to 
protect local communities.
  As part of their Earth Day celebrations, WE ACT will honor six 
luminaries in the field of environmental justice: Alphonse Fletcher, 
the chairman of Fletcher Asset Management; Dr. Kenneth Olden, the 
director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Services 
(NIEHS); Dr. Joseph Graziano from the Department of Environmental 
Health Sciences at Columbia University; Lucille McEwen, Esq., president 
and CEO of Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement; Dr. Rafael 
Lantigua, associate director of General Medicine at New York 
Presbyterian Hospital; and Full Spectrum Building and Development, 
Inc., a Harlem-based development firm that built the first green 
building in Harlem. These individuals will be awarded WE ACT for 
Environmental Justice Awards for making ``substantial inroads to 
preserve natural and built environment, and improve environmental 
health in communities of color.'' They will be honored for their hard 
work in ensuring that minority communities are safe, clean, and healthy 
communities.
  Fellow Members of Congress, please join me in thanking WE ACT for its 
hard work in organizing Earth Day activities in Harlem, New York. This 
is a significant day in American history and to our future. We must do 
more to truly protect our environment from the threats of pollution, 
industrial contamination, and abuse. We must find a balance that will 
protect our nature, the environment, and our communities.

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