Poor People’s Campaign in the Glades
On Thursday, April 18, the Florida Poor People's Campaign held a field hearing in Belle Glade at the Sierra Club office as part of the National Emergency Truth and Poverty Tour organized by the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. The Poor People’s Campaign (PPC), originally led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has been revived under the leadership of Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis. PPC’s Moral Agenda addresses the following issues afflicting the poor: systemic racism, poverty and inequality, war economy and militarism, ecological devastation, and “our nation's distorted morality.” The Belle Glade field hearing was the final stop of a week-long tour across Florida and was organized to allow local and regional elected decision makers to hear directly from their constituents. While no local electeds were present, attendees were pleased that U.S. Congressman Alcee Hastings sent an aide to listen and report back.
Fake Billboard for a Fake Claim
“SAFE Communities” is at it again, making false claims that insult the intelligence. This time it is with a photo-shopped picture of a fake anti-Sierra Club billboard. “SAFE” is using social media to distribute the clearly photo-shopped graphic superimposed on a billboard. Not only does the billboard not exist, but the billboard used for this trick actually is found far away from the Glades, near St. Augustine, Florida.
Counterattack on STOP THE BURN: Big Sugar loses its cool
In February, Sierra Club partnered with local Stop the Burn activists to send a mailer out to residents in Belle Glade, Pahokee, and South Bay.
Join Our Stop The Burn Campaign
This campaign is about asking the sugar growers to be BETTER NEIGHBORS.
It is time to stop the “black snow.”
ALL our children deserve a healthy environment.
Have ideas you want to share? We want to hear from you.
Good jobs and green harvesting: A match made in heaven
Where are all of these jobs the sugar industry claims are the reason for maintaining the status quo in the Everglades Agricultural Area? The truth is that they are so few and far between that there is plenty of room for green jobs, the kind of jobs that can sustain families, the local economy, and the environment. The end of pre-harvest sugar field burning and true Everglades restoration, along with a movement to bring justice and equity to the residents of the Glades, can combine to bring new economic opportunities to the communities that ring Lake Okeechobee. So how do we get from here to there? At the 2019 Everglades Coalition Conference, a panel explored how the fight for social, economic, and environmental justice go hand in hand and how green jobs should and can be a part of the near future of the Everglades Agricultural Area.
Gillum/King = bold leadership on “black snow”
Residents living within and around the Everglades Agricultural Area have their health, property, and quality of life threatened by the toxic smoke and ash fall, or “black snow,” produced by the yearly, 6-8 month long, pre-harvest sugarcane field burning season.
Sierra Club Belle Glade Office Grand Opening!
On Saturday, August 11, 2018, we celebrated a new and exciting phase of Sierra’s work in South Florida with the grand opening of our Belle Glade office in western Palm Beach County. Sierra Club is the first environmental non-profit to open an office in the Glades, within the Everglades Agricultural Area and by the shores of the water heart of South Florida and the Everglades - Lake Okeechobee.
Times' Bill Maxwell on Stop Sugar Field Burning Campaign
This town’s motto is "Her Soil is Her Fortune." The soil, called "muck," is the moist, dark earth where sugarcane thrives. Also called "black gold," the soil does indeed provide a financial fortune for the growers who have powerful influence on lawmakers and other important leaders.
Bullsugar.org
Thick smoke looms over the Glades most months of the year. In these communities south of Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, ash falls on houses and cars, the children call it black snow. Schools have a protocol for when the plumes reach down into town, calling kids inside, closing windows, pulling shades. They still talk about the day when students from Rosenwald Elementary School went to the hospital for smoke inhalation.
Community Workshop Helps Clear the Smoke on Sugarcane Burning
More than 30 residents of Lake Okeechobee’s Glades Communities gathered for the "Stop The Burn!Go Green Harvest! Community Workshop," on December 3, in Belle Glade. Leaders of the Stop Sugar Field Burning Campaign team, based in South Bay and Belle Glade, gave a series of inspiring presentations about their campaign to end the harmful, outdated practice of pre-harvest sugarcane burning and switch to the burn-free, modern alternative of "green harvesting."