10-Year-Old Leads Campaign for Constitutional Right to Clean Air

Albany – Three weeks ago, Hoosick Falls kids helped launch a campaign to ensure a Constitutional right to healthy air, clean water, and a safe climate for all New Yorkers. Their videos have been shared hundreds of times on social media, and seen by tens of thousands of people. The campaign continues today with two South Albany residents —10-year-old Lawrence and Willie White, a respected community leader and Executive Director of A Village Works, Inc.— releasing videos calling on Governor Cuomo and state legislators to pass an Environmental Bill of Rights to protect the air they breathe from toxic oil trains and diesel truck emissions.

These videos are released as President-elect Donald Trump assumes power and prepares an agenda that is potentially disastrous for New Yorkers’ protections and health. Among Mr. Trump’s many threats include rolling back the Clean Air Act, reinforcing the need for New York to step up its own protection of our communities.

Speaking about the health ailments that affect residents in South Albany, White notes, “We’ve identified a lot of different issues: asthma, emphysema, bronchitis, thyroid issues, and on and on and on. This is living proof that New York needs a Constitutional amendment for clean air, for a clean environment, for all New Yorkers.”

Peter Iwanowicz, executive director of Environmental Advocates of New York said, “These folks are heroes. It takes remarkable strength to live in fear for your own health, based simply on the water you drink and the air you breathe, and still take a stand to protect all of us. We need to see that kind of strength in our political leaders. I’ve spoken to people all across this state who are consistently surprised they lack the legal right to clean water and healthy air. We’ve seen time and again in other states and countries that a Constitutional right is often the only legal avenue people have against decisions that harm their health.”

Bill Samuels, founder of EffectiveNY said, “The fact that less than a mile and a half away from the Governor’s Mansion in Albany, 200 of New York’s children can be allowed to live in the toxic conditions so vividly illustrated in these videos is unconscionable. Governor Cuomo and the State Legislature must take immediate action to pass a Constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to fresh air and clean drinking water so the residents of Ezra Prentice Homes and all New Yorkers can finally get the environmental justice they deserve.”

Source: Environmental Advocates of New York