Dumpster dive | April 2, 2025

Photo by Joe Zlomek on Unsplash

• April is Earth Month and Sierra Club wants to know how you plan to celebrate. Be sure to check out their 5 tips for sustainable living in your daily life.

  
  

• Another way to celebrate Earth Month: Send Greenpeace some $upport since they just lost a baseless $660 million lawsuit to Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, who sued Greenpeace in 2019 over protests at the Dakota Access Pipeline. The ruling is a threat to free speech: “This case should alarm everyone, no matter their political inclinations,” said Sushma Raman, Interim Executive Director Greenpeace Inc, Greenpeace Fund. “It’s part of a renewed push by corporations to weaponize our courts to silence dissent. We should all be concerned about the future of the First Amendment, and lawsuits like this aimed at destroying our rights to peaceful protest and free speech. These rights are critical for any work toward ensuring justice – and that’s why we will continue fighting back together, in solidarity. While Big Oil bullies can try to stop a single group, they can’t stop a movement.” [Greenpeace USA]

• Speaking of peaceful protests, I hope you're planning to attend the nationwide Hands Off event on April 5: "This is a nationwide mobilization to stop the most brazen power grab in modern history. Trump, Musk, and their billionaire cronies are orchestrating an all-out assault on our government, our economy, and our basic rights—enabled by Congress every step of the way." Show up at state capitals, federal buildings, congressional offices, and city centers, or find a location nearest you.

  
  

• Cory Booker stood on the Senate floor for 25 hours and 4 minutes in protest of the Trump administration's policies that exhibit "complete disregard for the rule of law, the Constitution, and the needs of the American people." For the same reasons, we can stand on a sidewalk for a few hours. [NPR]

  
  

• Booker's filibuster made history, breaking the previous record of 24 hours and 18 minutes held by Democrat Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. Booker physically prepared by limiting food and drink beforehand, whereas Thurmond made do by urinating into a bucket while keeping one foot on the Senate floor. Also notable: Booker, a black man, broke the record of a filibuster arguing against civil rights. [Mental Floss]

  
  

• The saga of the Palisades wildfires continues as protests erupt over the government's plan to dump and sort through hazardous wildfire debris at Will Rogers State Beach. The site is near vulnerable communities and less than a mile from two colleges and two elementary schools, so toxic airborne particles are a health risk. Besides, a beach sounds like a really, really bad place for asbestos, heavy metals, dioxins, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. [The Cool Down]

  
  

• Farther afield, toxic mines have made Kabwe, Zambia, the most polluted place on Earth. The mines shut down in 1994, but the damage persists and to heartbreaking effect: "The majority of children in this community have blood lead levels above 45 micrograms per deciliter of blood, and in some cases, it even goes up to 110. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there is no known safe level of lead in blood—although the safety threshold is generally set at 5 micrograms per deciliter (about half a cup of blood) and urgent medical treatment is required starting at 45 micrograms...Lead is a powerful neurotoxin that can cause a wide array of health problems including include memory loss, behavioral issues, learning disabilities, cardiovascular problems and kidney damage. In some cases lead poisoning can even be fatal." [NPR]

  
  

• It was through the article on Kabwe that I learned about sacrifice zones, which Wikipedia defines as "a geographic area that has been permanently impaired by environmental damage or economic disinvestment." It's not just land that's sacrificed, but people, too, since "the disproportionate environmental damage that some communities receive is directly related to maintaining privileges and lifestyles in other geographies. Another important aspect of sacrifice zones is that they are often located in low-income communities with a large presence of ethnic or religious minorities which benefits majority groups."

  
  

• Sidling up to the Trump administration, Meta loosened its content moderation policies earlier this year for its Facebook and Instagram platforms, opening the doors for more hate speech, more misinformation, more garbage and general awfulness. Following the changes, Google searches for how to cancel and delete Facebook and Instagram accounts increased by over 5000%. For details, watch Facebook & Content Moderation: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) (YouTube, 29:29). If you're not ready to delete your accounts, you can still make yourself less valuable to Meta by disabling targeted ads and marketing data collection. Mr. Oliver and his team give us those instructions through a very real website, https://johnoliverwantsyourraterotica.com/, featured at the 26:08 mark of the video.

  
  

• I've mentioned Hank Shaw here a few times, and Earth Month feels perfect for sharing one of his articles, The Serviceberry, featuring good karma, a gift economy, living in the moment, and recognizing "enoughness."

• Hank's article is a nod to The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, a book by environmentalist Robin Wall Kimmerer. Any of her books would be great reading for Earth Month, and for those who prefer fiction, check out Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingslover.