Topics in This Issue:
Sex Trafficking Forum
Refugee Donations
Plastic Program
Becton Dickinson
Water Conservation
Housing Affordability
Himmel Park Vandals
Ready, Set, Rec (RSR)
Citizens Commission on Public Service and Compensation
COVID

Sex Trafficking Forum
A couple of weeks ago I shared in the newsletter that we’ll be hosting a series of sex trafficking informational meetings soon. We’re doing this in partnership with the ASU Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research, Pima County Juvenile Probation and Our Family Services.

The instructional piece of the first couple of meetings will be given by the ASU team, led by Dominique Roe-Sepowitz. She’s the Director of the ASU program. These first two forums will be held virtually. They’re a lead into in-person training and educational meetings we’ll partner in hosting with vulnerable youth in the community, and with adult leaders who are in contact with that group.

Please use this link to get the registration links. The training is free – the information is invaluable. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sex-trafficking-101-identifying-youth-in-our-community-tickets-558113601807

These events are open to anyone with an interest in learning the red flags and protective measures you can take with regard to sex trafficking. Each session will cover the same material, so you don’t need to register for both. They’ll review some of the Pima County 2022 data and explore the kinds of events we host in Pima County that can be a magnet for being trafficked. I’ve written this before; if you have young people in your home who have access to the internet and social media, then you’ve got vulnerable youth in your home.

Refugee Donations

We’re a bit over a week away from the rally in support of the Afghan and Iranian women who are living under the thumb of extremist rule. My office is tied in with this movement through our advocacy on behalf of refugees and human rights for all. Since I started sharing this in the newsletter I’ve been asked if the rally was intended for Muslim women only. Absolutely not. We hope to have the area full of like-minded people, all sharing the expectation that peoples’ right to live free from persecution and to chase their dreams to the fullest will be respected. We hope to see you there.

The event will include speakers who will share their own personal stories. These are people now living in Tucson and who are in contact with friends and relatives stuck on the ground living in oppressive conditions. Many of the people you’ll rub shoulders with during the rally are the same people you’ve been supporting with your donations at the ward 6 office. I continue working on reunification but given our broken immigration system that’s a tough lift. Supporting those who did make it out is a significant statement.

The event on March 8^th will begin at 5:30pm at 401 W. Congress. If you take part, please stay out of the street, and follow all traffic control devices when crossing. You can get more information by emailing [email protected] or by going to the Tucson Afghan Community Facebook site at Facebook.com/tucsonafghancommunity.

We continue to be grateful to all of you who donate to our local refugee community. The needs continue to be clean/new underclothes, hygiene products, warm clothing (jackets and coats- smaller sizes) and kids’ toys/adult reading material or puzzles. You can bring the things to the ward office before 1pm, M-F or by mail to 3202 E. 1st Street, 85716. The folks from Casa Alitas come by regularly collecting what you donate so I know they’re extremely thankful for your generosity.

Plastic Program

We get requests on a regular basis for someone to come and tell a group about the plastics program. While we don’t have the ability to make all these events, we can do it virtually with this YouTube video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihSLVnDfacI&t=3s

The video is just over 6 minutes long. You’re free to use it for informational purposes with your community group. If there are questions about how to engage in the program more fully, please reach out to us at [email protected] and we’ll be happy to answer.

One group that is actively supporting the program is the JCC and Congregation M’kor Hayim. Last week I included a note about their upcoming plastic collection event. We’ve since realized that if the entire community comes to take part our capacity for transporting the material could quickly be overwhelmed. With that in mind, please leave that event for congregants of those groups and if that’s not you, please continue dropping your material at the ward 6 office instead. It’s a testament to the popularity of the program that we have to split the sites.

In the past week I was also approached by a group that’s putting together an international model plane competition. There will be hundreds of visitors taking part in the show. Their organizers are familiar with what we’re doing and will be using that event to highlight the program, and importantly to use it as a collection site for their participants. The informational material the plane advocates leave with will expand awareness of the Tucson effort literally all over the world. Community participants who have gotten us to this point should take a bow.

With the international flavor of this issue in mind, I’ve shared in recent newsletters the fact that much of southeast Asia and the developing world have become the world’s dumping ground for plastic waste. A recent article published in the green section of Visual Capitalist had this graph.

Note the highest ‘polluters’ are largely Asian and Southeast Asian countries. Most are developing. I’ve written before that one of the factors contributing to ocean pollution is overwhelming the ability of developing nations’ ability to effectively manage the waste, we send to them. This graphic is a good example of that reality. Clearly the Philippines is not producing nearly 3x the amount of plastic waste as the rest of the world combined and dumping it in the ocean. The worlds over-reliance on plastic and our own failure to effectively manage its disposal is the source of the data shown in the graph. We produce it, dump it on the Philippines and they have no way to properly dispose of it. That’s the dynamic this graph is demonstrating.

One way we can play a role in addressing this is to reduce our own reliance on plastic. Take for example the carry out bags you get at grocery stores. Many people take their own carry out bags to the store and in that simple action cut down on the number of plastic bags in the waste stream.

Think of how often you go out to eat and end up taking home leftovers in a plastic carry out container. Consider taking some of the plastic re-sealable containers you use to store your leftovers at home to your next trip out on the town. You don’t need to leave with their plastic take-out container.

Single use water bottles are all over the place and at pretty much every outdoor event around. Take your own reusable water bottle to events. Many of you already do this when coming to activities at the ward office. We love seeing it. These are small impacts, but every bit helps us reduce the level of plastic we use in our lives.

These suggestions might seem counter to the program we’re involved with collecting plastic for productive reuse. The sad reality is that we are simply not going to run out of plastic. Think about the plastic you see every minute of every waking hour of your day. The stuff isn’t going away. If we can reduce our use of it, it helps the overall goal of reducing waste.

Would you like evidence that we’re nowhere close to running low on plastic? The community has now provided 53.21 tons of plastic since last August. I’m not at all worried that asking you to join in finding ways to reduce reliance on plastic is going to tank this program. In the alternative, it’s environmentally consistent with what this program and what ByFusion stand for.

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