Vivian Chang is the Executive Director of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network in Oakland California. Through APEN, Vivian works directly with underprivileged Asian and Pacific Islander communities, many of which are comprised largely of recent refugees to the U.S. (AEOE, 2006) APEN currently works on three levels: Direct Organizing in local communities, building a Network of API organizations and working in multiracial Alliances to affect regional and national social change.
Of these, direct organizing is at the center of APEN’s vision of environmental and social justice. APEN’s two local San Francisco Bay Area projects are the 11-year old Laotian Organizing Project (LOP) in Richmond and the 6-year old Power in Asians Organizing (PAO) in Oakland. As the Executive Director of APEN, Vivian supports and provides leadership for many APEN projects (AEOE, 2006).
Laotian Organizing Project: The Laotian community in Contra Costa County, CA lives in one of the most polluted regions in the nation. Contra Costa County is surrounded by more than 350 industrial sites and toxic hazards and homes, schools, and work environments are exposed to toxic levels of lead, pesticides, and other chemicals daily. As refugees who entered the U.S. in the 1970s, the Laotian community is still a relatively new population with little voice about the policies affecting their lives. LOP was started in 1995 to bring together the diverse Laotian ethnic and tribal groups and give them a voice in their government.
A long-term community-based Environmental Justice agenda for Richmond has been designed with LOP members. LOP is focusing presently on housing justice as it strongly affirms what environmental justice is all about: fighting for basic rights to protect communities where individuals live, work, and play. In the Just Cause Campaign for tenants’ rights and protections, LOP leaders and members work together with Richmond Vision 2000, a coalition of faith-based, labor, and community groups working together to promote a progressive environmental and social justice agenda (APEN, 2008a).
PAO: Launched in March 2002, PAO is another APEN project lead by Vivian Change, for the diverse Asian ethnic communities of Oakland. In the San Antonio and Chinatown neighborhoods of Oakland, there are large numbers of Vietnamese, Chinese, Laotians, Cambodians, and Filipinos, many of whom are recent immigrants and low-income. Similar to the Laotian community in Richmond, APIs in East Oakland have limited access to culturally appropriate services, bear higher rates of toxic exposure at work and at home, and lack access to decision-makers to impact change. Through PAO, it was found that the urgent need of the hour was affordable housing.
With language capacity in Mandarin, Cantonese, and English, PAO is reaching out to different ethnic groups and in just a few years, PAO has grown to be one of the largest base-building organizations in Oakland. PAO played a critical role in stopping the Pacific Renaissance Plaza Chinatown Evictions and won 100 low-income affordable homes and apartments in Chinatown for families and seniors (APEN, 2008b).
Worker Health and Environmental Justice Campaign Victory: XT Inc., a semiconductor manufacturer in Fremont, knowingly poisoned its workers with criminal levels of arsenic, a carcinogen, and reproductive toxin. The company fired its workers, mostly monolingual Chinese immigrants from Oakland, and moved the factory to Beijing, China. Left to deal with the specter of cancer and other diseases as a result of their exposure, the workers were organized by PAO to demand justice. APEN was able to settle with the company and establish a health monitoring fund. With the help of allies in the health sector, over 2,000 poisoned immigrant workers will have lifetime medical monitoring (APEN, 2008b).
Chevron Expansion: Currently ASPEN is involved in stopping the expansion of the Chevron oil refinery in Richmond which is poisoning the community for decades with its toxic pollutants. The EPA reported almost 300 pollutant spills from the Richmond refinery from 2001 to 2003 alone. These are highly toxic, often cancerous, chemicals. The EPA lists the refinery in “significant noncompliance” for air pollution standards and toxic flaring is a regular occurrence.
Deadly accidents are a far too common occurrence, including massive explosions and fires. Richmond’s cancer and child-asthma rates exceed area, state, and national averages. This is an ongoing project of APEN, lead by Vivian Chang.
The Asian Youth Advocates: this project seeks to support young Asian women in developing leadership skills as they work on many local issues of environmental justice, reproductive health, and community engagement. These youth have fought for safer practices in the nearby oil refineries and power plants, advocated for better and multilingual neighborhood warning systems in the event of an industrial spill, and organized community gardens where elders can plant traditional foods in safe soil.
Vivian Chang, Executive Director of APEN is the leading voice for the above causes. She connects well with local community members and takes an active role in environmental issues (APEN, 2008c).
Bibliography
AEOE (Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education) (2006). Eco-Heroes. Web.
APEN (Asian Pacific Environmental Network) (2008a). Direct Organizing. Web.
APEN (Asian Pacific Environmental Network) (2008b). Direct Organizing: Power in Asians Organizing. Web.
APEN (Asian Pacific Environmental Network) (2008c). Direct Organizing: Asian Youth Advocates. Web.