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Film Screening: The Sacrifice Zone
by Ramapo Green
Private Location (register to display)
25
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Details
To learn more about the film visit thesacrificezone.org
Synopsis
If you travel down a one-mile stretch of Doremus Avenue in Newark, NJ, you pass a natural gas plant next to a sewage treatment facility next to an animal fat rendering plant next to a series of ominous looking chemical storage containers behind acres of fencing. Airplanes pass overhead every two minutes, their engines rattling windows, while a putrid smell wafts from the open pools at the sewage treatment plant.
This stretch is known as Chemical Corridor, and it’s located just down the road from schools and apartment buildings. It borders the Ironbound neighborhood, where Portuguese, Brazilian, Central American and African American residents are separated from toxic substances by little more than a railroad track.
The Ironbound district of Newark, New Jersey, is one of the most toxic neighborhoods in the country. Maria Lopez-Nuñez, a Honduran-American resident there, is waging a war for environmental justice. She is part of the Ironbound Community Corporation, one of the most effective environmental justice organizations in the country. The Sacrifice Zone follows Maria as she leads a group of environmental justice fighters determined to break the cycle of poor communities of color serving as dumping grounds for our consumer society.
Speakers
Melissa Miles
Executive Director
New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance
https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-miles-a4362b1b3
Melissa Miles (she/her) is the Executive Director of New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance, the only statewide organization dedicated to serving New Jersey’s Environmental Justice communities. Melissa began her career as a grassroots activist and community organizer while living in an Environmental Justice community in Newark, New Jersey. “I wasn’t born, I was grown” is Melissa’s personal tagline and speaks to her entry into environmental justice advocacy. Melissa holds an MA in Anthropology from The New School, however, she is also adamant when it comes to solutions to the world’s current environmental crises. The best and most relevant solutions come from communities and not from universities: “Those that are most affected, have the solutions” is the sentiment from which her advocacy stems. She is a part of several national coalitions including the Climate Justice Alliance, Moving Forward Network, The Coalition for Healthy Ports, and international coalitions such as The Movement of People Affected By Dams (MAB) and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives. She is also part of the New Jersey Environmental Justice Advisory Council responsible for advising state agencies including the Department of Environmental Protection on issues of Environmental Justice. Her “expertise” is rooted in her lived experience and her commitment to making sure that people at the frontlines are the protagonists in the struggle for their future.