Pieces of A Broken System

We are thrilled to bring you a new opportunity to support the youth led work to create Zero Waste and Development Without Displacement in Baltimore. South Baltimore youth leaders Terriq, Taysia, Maria, Charles and Sarah have built a new zero waste social enterprise taking pieces of Baltimore’s failed waste system to create stunning works of art. Baltimore Broken Glass is a project to sustain and grow the youth led movement that gives us a real chance to end incineration in Baltimore and build a new Zero Waste system for communities, workers and the environment. We are asking for your generous support with 3 ways to help:

1. Sustain our work at our patreon page here and get a beautiful gift,

2. Buy individual pieces at our etsy store here for yourself or a friend,

3. Watch and share our launch video here to help spread the word!

What do we need?

It is important to us to share the ideas and challenges at the center of Baltimore Broken Glass that pushed us to bring it to life. We, as youth who live within a mile of two toxic incinerators and a landfill in South Baltimore, recognize that our leaders and our system have failed us. We see the evidence for this everyday. The dangerous increase in methane emissions, the persistently sky high asthma rates and unsafe working conditions all tell us something major is off. But it is what we do not see that is even more concerning.

Think about it, our schools, universities and anchor institutions serve hundreds of thousands of tons of food in and around Baltimore and yet we have zero permitted composting infrastructure within 30 miles. Instead, policy choices to support trash incineration with millions in public subsidies takes something as solvable as managing food scraps, upwards of 40% of our waste stream, and turns it into a paralyzing challenge.

From the perspective of our long term human survival this system makes no sense and is a total disaster. But, from the perspective of controlling short term gain by dumping costs and externalities onto our communities and future generations it is just the standard operating procedure. It is clear to us that this system is broken. How we change it in time is a question we all must internalize and act on.

Right now, we are acting on this challenge by working to get all food out of the waste stream in Baltimore through the development of local compost infrastructure. This will help us end our city’s decades long reliance on trash burning incineration. It will create good union jobs for local residents. It will reduce climate change causing methane while producing soil healing compost. It is achievable and will make next steps in our Zero Waste transition much easier. But make no mistake it will not happen without ongoing organized and sustained pressure.This is why we created Baltimore Broken Glass as a way to help raise the resources we need for the movement, while doing something we enjoy with our hands and making something beautiful for the world as we confront a broken system.

We believe that failure to address global climate change with the urgent action required at all levels will be the single biggest mistake in human history. Once we identify a concrete solution, we must unify and do what it takes to ensure implementation.

Thank you for your commitment and support to grow the movement in Baltimore and beyond.

Trust and belief are at the base of our work to create development without displacement and zero waste in Baltimore. Trust in one another is required to struggle day after day for a vision for a system that we believe will better serve communities, workers and our planet. As a way to bring us all closer together we want to share stories of who we are and why we do this work. We also invite you to share more about who you are and why this struggle for permanently affordable housing and a zero waste City without incineration matters to you. Reply back to mysbclt@gmail.com with your story!

Carlos Sanchez is a high school student at Benjamin Franklin and is a leader with Free Your Voice and the South Baltimore Community Land Trust. Carlos is taking action now by presenting to dozens of Community Associations across the City on his vision for a just transition to Zero Waste to invite more residents and workers into the effort.

Hi, I am Carlos and I live in the Lakeland community in South Baltimore. I have been living here for my entire life from the day I was born. Lakeland means so much to me for that same reason. Being here for quite some time, I’ve made tons of close friends and have family that lives around here.

I remember after my parents’ work accident they were physically incapable of working. I can remember looking in my parent’s eyes as they looked in mine. I could literally see all the sadness, stress and pain in their eyes. There were tons of envelopes; reminders of how much money they owed and that we could lose our housing. Even with that they still tried their best to make me and my brothers happy. It got to the point where we didn’t even know where our next meal was going to be coming from or if our rent would be paid. My oldest brother worked hard and did his best to make enough income– even still it was hard. I know that we aren’t the only family that has gone through this. There are thousands of families that have to worry about rent being too high on top of their other household expenses.Not only are people in my community facing eviction but we are facing health damages because of pollution. I was born with asthma and I know many friends, cousins, nephews, nieces who still have asthma and it restricts them from doing things they want to do like playing sports or just playing with their families. This is why I joined Free your Voice and work with the South Baltimore Community Land Trust because I want to help make a difference. A difference where no one will have to worry about rent being unaffordable or not having clean air.Free Your Voice is fighting for Clean air, Affordable housing and our human rights! We will create affordable housing that will stay affordable forever. We live in a society that looks down on communities of color and low income. We created the Zero Waste plan so that we can give the communities and the city what it needs: Good jobs, clean air, and clean safe communities. We will actually put the people and the community first!Remember to sign on to our call to action because right now we are working to get all food out of the waste stream in Baltimore through the development of local compost infrastructure. This will help us end our city’s decades long reliance on trash burning incineration. It will create good union jobs for local residents. It will reduce climate change causing methane while producing soil healing compost. It is achievable and will make next steps in our Zero Waste transition much easier. But make no mistake it will not happen without ongoing organized and sustained pressure.Thank you for your commitment and support to grow the movement in Baltimore and beyond.

We just heard from zero waste, health and community leaders on the findings from a new report created through a collaboration between grassroots leaders and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives: A Tale of Five Cities: Plastic Barriers to Zero Waste. You can find the report at https://www.no-burn.org/5cities/.

We now know that in Baltimore less than 3% of plastics are recycled while 96% are burned at the city’s worst air polluter, the BRESCO incinerator and buried at the Quarantine Road Landfill. Residents, business leaders and health professionals launched a call for urgent action in the face of the growing plastic pollution crisis including a ban on burning single use plastics at BRESCO. You can sign on to our call for action here and share with your friends, family and network: https://forms.gle/dggVQbTvLqhaGpa6A

In case you missed it

This morning we heard from an amazing group of people committed to advancing zero waste in Baltimore. Here are a few major takeaways. We will share out video from the event shortly.

Diane Witner, founder of local refill business Echotopia:

“A lack of consumer choices regarding refill isn’t the fault of residents. Policy choices over time have brought us all into this literal disastrous mess – people get it. People understand the deadly origins and consequences of reliance on single use plastic, and of burying or burning trash. Let’s bring back non-plastic REFILL and REUSE containers. The stakes couldn’t be higher. It’s about our shared community health, economic opportunities and well being. Future generations are counting on us. Say it again plastic-free REFILL and REUSE containers.”

Carlos Sanchez, youth leader from Lakeland:

“I as a youth see that using our natural resources to create something for one time use is ridiculous and reckless and I’m asking for you as community, labor, and government officials to see it too. What we are calling for is for you to stand up with us in calling for Baltimore to place a ban on burning all single use plastics at the BRESCO incinerator and make polluters pay . We are saying no to the worst option for dealing with plastic waste while we work to solve the problem at the root by ending single use plastic production.”

Dr. Dan Morhaim, Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility:

“Plastics are made from fossil fuels and usage increases the demand for these non-renewable fuels. When these are burned, residues go into the air just like the exhaust from cars, trucks, and smokestacks. Besides contributing to climate change, this leads to a range of health issues from asthma to heart disease to cancer to developmental disorders in children. Is it any wonder that these diseases are all on the rise?”

Please, take these 3 small steps with us to gear up for what will be required to confront the obstacle of plastic waste to our Zero Waste future in Baltimore:

  1. Read and share these powerful messages and this new report: https://www.no-burn.org/5cities/
  2. Sign on to our call to action: https://forms.gle/dggVQbTvLqhaGpa6A
  3. Share what you have learned and why it matters with your friends, networks and elected officials. Let us know by email at mysbclt@gmail.com

Thank you for your commitment and support to grow the movement in Baltimore and beyond.

With deep appreciation,

The South Baltimore Community Land Trust Team

P.S As always, you can donate and sign up to get involved to support the movement for Zero Waste and Development without Displacement in Baltimore. We need a growing unified movement to follow through on a promise this big. Your passion, skills and energy are valued and needed right now!

Together, we are building Zero Waste and Development without Displacement in Baltimore. Recently, Baltimore City started a food scrap drop off program as a step towards taking organics out of the landfill and incinerator in response to years of community action for Zero Waste policies and programs. We are responding by building on this step and ensuring that we can all play a role in taking it to the next level…Click the digital flier below to get involved in Friday Scrap Fridays!

Baltimore Needs a Compost Facility
We still lack our own compost facility in Baltimore City and so all food scraps we drop off are hauled ~40 miles to PG County to the nearest large scale facility. By maximizing participation in the new City food scrap drop off program along with our work to advance Baltimore’s own community led Zero Waste infrastructure we can create the needed urgency to starve the incinerator while creating good local jobs and directing resources towards building communities rather than displacement through environmental injustice and climate change. Remember, food scraps and organics make up between 30-40% of what is burned and buried in Baltimore!

Please, take these 3 small steps today:

  1. Sign up for Food Scrap Fridays and let us know what roles you can play to help: https://forms.gle/XReNAZETYAqWCpMT8
  2. Share the sign up form with your friends, neighbors and network.
  3. Start collecting your food scraps right now! Drop us a note at mysbclt@gmail.com to let us know you got started!

Thank you for your commitment and support to grow the movement in Baltimore and beyond.

With deep appreciation,

The South Baltimore Community Land Trust Team

P.S As always, you can donate and sign up to get involved to support the movement for Zero Waste and Development without Displacement in Baltimore. We need a growing unified movement to follow through on a promise this big. Your passion, skills and energy are valued and needed right now!

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