Love Canal activist Lois Gibbs to speak in Edwards
Special to the Daily |
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What: Lois Gibbs, who led the fight over Love Canal, speaking at Colorado Mountain College Sustainability Speaker Series.
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
Where: Colorado Mountain College, Edwards.
Cost: Free.
More information: Lois Gibbs helped expose Love Canal as a toxic waste dump site. Her efforts led the Superfund program. For more information, contact Mercedes Quesada-Embid, Ph.D., associate professor of sustainability studies, at 970-569-2900, ext. 2946, or visit coloradomtn.edu/edwards/ or the Facebook page of Colorado Mountain College in Edwards.
EDWARDS — The woman who fought the feds and chemical companies over deadly environmental health hazards in upstate New York will speak at Colorado Mountain College tonight.
When Lois Gibbs learned that her Niagara Falls neighborhood, Love Canal, was built on top of a toxic waste dump and that residents were suffering reproductive abnormalities, birth defects, cancers and other serious health issues as a result, she fought back.
FIGHTING THE EFFECTS OF TOXIC WASTE
She rallied her community and drew nationwide attention to the effects of toxic waste. She took her fight to the street and the media, appearing on 60 Minutes, 20/20, and dozens of other television programs. She earned awards and accolades, including a Nobel Peace Prize nomination and Outside Magazine’s Top 10 Who Made a Difference honor roll.
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In 1980, President Jimmy Carter delivered an emergency declaration and relocated more than 800 residents away from the toxic neighborhood. Cleanup of Love Canal started shortly thereafter.
Following Gibbs’s success with Love Canal, she created the Center for Health, Environment & Justice. Her organization has assisted more than 11,000 grassroots groups in organizing against dangerous environmental conditions.
