THE CHANGE

AGENT
Adult Education for
Social Justice: News,
Issues, and Ideas

The Change Agent CALL FOR ARTICLES

Theme: Your Neigborhood; Your Health
When people think of “the environment,” they often imagine natural landscapes—forests, oceans, and
mountains. But your home and yard and nearby parks, schools, and businesses, your workplace, the
bus stop on the corner—these are the “environments” that you function in every day. The health of
these environments affects your health. Are there toxins in the air, soil, and water in your neighbor-
hood? What chemicals are in the paint or vinyl on your home, the exhaust from buses and planes, and
the waste from nearby factories? How do these things affect your health or your children’s health?
What is anyone doing about it? The next issue of The Change Agent (in collaboration with TERC’s Statis-
tics for Action) will explore the local environment and will tell your stories of environmental clean-ups
and community efforts to identify and deal with pollution sources. Sample Questions to Consider:
• Have you or your neighbors ever suspected an environmental problem in your neighborhood?
What made you suspect? Did you organize, push for testing, move away?
• Were there local businesses many years ago that left something toxic in the soil? How did you
find out you were at risk?
• If you found out there were toxic chemicals in your community, did you try to alert your neigh-
bors to the problem? How? What happened?
• Do you have health concerns related to your home or work environment? If so, what have you
(or others) done about them?
• Is there a time when you’ve been concerned about an environmental health issue, but the math
or science involved made it hard to understand? Did you give up? Work to understand it? Seek
help from an expert? What skills did you need? How did it feel?
• As a parent, how do you limit your child’s exposure to toxins in the environment?
• What arguments have businesses, cities, residents used to oppose shutting down a polluter, or
to deny a site is dangerous? How did you respond?
• What happens to the garbage from your house and community? How are you affected by near-
by landfills and incinerators? What the government do to minimize toxic problems from trash?
Instead of long and general essays, we would like to see stories that are specific and detailed. Suggested
length is 200-1200 words. All articles must be received by November 8, 2010. Please include in all
articles and emails the contact information for the student and/or the teacher. Final decisions are made
by The Change Agent editorial board. A $50 stipend will be paid to each student whose work is accepted
for publication. Please submit illustrations, cartoons, and graphics on this theme too! Send material
(preferably by email) to: cpeters@worlded.org; Cynthia Peters, World
Education, 44 Farnsworth St., Boston, MA 02210 617-482-9485
The mission of The Change Agent is to provide news, issues, ideas, and other teach-
ing resources that inspire and enable adult educators and learners to make civic par-
ticipation and social justice concerns part of their teaching and learning. It is published
by the New England Literacy Resource Center. www.nelrc.org/changeagent