Toxic tours.
Toxic Tours are one way we do political education/teaching. They involve bringing politicians, environmental agency staff and others into the communities where activists live and/or work to build awareness of the problems there and find ways to support local activists in trying to solve them. We have done toxic tours of the coal infrastructure and coal processing in Curtis Bay and the industrial development model on Fairfield Road.
Environmental Justice Tour.
We often do walking tours with University Professors, stakeholders and politicians to give a visual and physical description of the Curtis Bay community. We want folks to understand what it means to be engulfed by industry. We often walk to the open air coal pier and talk about the history of export-oriented coal followed by Fairfield Road where everyone hears about the kinds of industries that have historically existed in this community.
Fair Development Tour in Curtis Bay and Cherry Hill.
Baltimore’s Fair Development Housing Plan and Zero Waste Plan both underscore the importance of fair development, community-based and community-driven development, an idea that came out of earlier conversations within the Baltimore Housing Roundtable (now the Fair Development Roundtable). The group focused on “development” without displacement. On the housing side, we launched the 20/20 campaign pressuring the city for 20 million dollars annually to support community land trusts (CLTs) as long-term affordable housing options. On the zero waste side, we are pushing for sustainable green industries, city-wide recycling and curbside composting, reuse facilities, etc. We have hosted groups of politicians, academics, city stakeholders to understand this alternative model of development by visiting the sites for both zero waste and CLT in South Baltimore.