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[greenyes] July 14, Global Day of Action Against Waste Incineration
To all fighting waste incinerators and working for Zero Waste in the U.S.:

July 14, 2003 is the Global Day of Action on waste and incineration,
organized by Global Anti Incinerator Alliance (GAIA). At least 191 groups
from 57 countries have conveyed their support and involvement in the Global
Day of Action (GDA) on July 14.

Below is a message from Manny Calonzo of GAIA listing some of the ways that
groups will be participating, from protesting incinerators to doing
community outreach to lobbying government agencies to releasing a new
report.

You are encouraged to use this Global Day of Action (GDA) to draw attention
to your own campaigns in whatever way works best for you. You are welcome to
use the designs and materials for the GDA (materials at:
http://www.noburn.org/actionkit/cmatls03.html) and the sample press release
that will be circulated soon, however you don't need to use these materials
for the GDA.

One possible way of being involved is joining in the release of a new GAIA
report called "Waste Incineration: A Dying Technology." We welcome all
groups interested to join GAIA in this release. You may find that releasing
this report, and the report itself, is a useful tool in your campaigns
against incinerators and for zero waste, however you do not need to release
the report in order to participate in the Day of Action. Please contact me
(mwilson@no.address) if you would like more information about this
report, or would like to release it in your community.

**If you are planning on participating in the Day of Action, please email
Manny at GAIA so he can keep track of all of these tremendous activities!
manny.gaia@no.address **

Thank you!
Monica Wilson, mwilson@no.address


* * * From Manny Calonzo of GAIA (manny.gaia@no.address) * * *

Dear GAIA Members,

It is our pleasure to give you a preview of the many exciting activities
being planned by groups taking part in the second GAIA Global Day of Action
(GDA), which is only three weeks away.  This will give you a good idea of
what others are doing to mark the GDA on 14 July 2003.  It is not a complete
list, but we hope that you will find the information useful and encourage
you all the more to organize fitting activities and events together with
other concerned sectors and communities.

Thank you for your time and participation.

Let us know soon what you plan to carry out for the GDA, so we can put the
information into our website.

Warmest thanks and regards.

Manny C. Calonzo

PREVIEW OF GDA 2003 ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS

PROTEST ACTION
In the Czech Republic, ARNIKA plans to hold protest activities targeting
major incinerators in the country.  In one of the facilities, activists will
put up a marker that says "source of dangerous carcinogenic substances."  In
Minsk, capital of Belarus, the Foundation for the Realization of Ideas will
organize a street action against the construction of a regional incineration
facility.  Pasumai Thaayagam is planning a protest action against the EDL
"waste-to-energy" incinerator project in Chennai, India.  In Nepal, the
Forum for the Protection of Public Interest will hold a demonstration in a
proposed incinerator site in Kathmandu Valley.  Groups belonging to the
Ecological Waste Coalition in the Philippines will hold a protest action at
the Environment Department to ask the government to revoke the environmental
compliance certificate issued for a pyrolysis plant for health care waste.
Yonge Nawe will campaign against health-threatening methods of managing
healthcare waste in clinics and hospitals around Swaziland. In UK, members
of the Sandwich Action Group for the Environment plan to arrange a coach
trip around Kent. They intend to stop at every site threatened with
incineration (five at present), hold a demonstration at every site and hear
speeches from local campaigners in that area and try to draw in the local
media at every location. The last stop will be at the headquarters of the
Kent County Council where activists will present to officials a copy of the
new GAIA report as well as information on Zero Waste and no burn residuals
processing. There will be a demo/photo opportunity
outside the Council's office. The action will finish with a Zero Waste
Picnic.

GLOBAL RELEASE OF THE GAIA REPORT
Our resource book "Waste Incineration: A Dying Technology" will be launched
in several cities worldwide.  Groups will use the Report to educate and
influence policy makers and citizens and support local campaigns.  GAIA
members have translated the report's executive summary in English into
Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Malaysia, English, French, German, Hebrew,
Japanese, Korean, Malayalam, Mandarin, Nepali, Polish, Portuguese, Russian,
Slovenian, Spanish, Tamil, Thai and Turkish.

DATABASE LAUNCH
Health Care Without Harm-Europe plans to launch its database on
non-incineration options for the treatment of health care waste.  Greenpeace
France is preparing to release a database on some 80 existing waste burners
and 10 other pending projects to boost the anti-incineration network.

LOBBY/POLICY ADVOCACY
In Sierra Leone, the local Friends of the Earth will submit a letter to the
President and other officials on the issue of waste prevention and
recycling. The group Non-Incineration Citizens will lodge a protest to the
Ministry of Environment denouncing the government's incineration policy and
its role in the export of this polluting technology to neighboring
countries.  JALAN Sampah - Garbage Network, a newly-formed network of 30
NGOs from Indonesia's 25 cities, will make a statement and recommendation on
the draft solid waste management bill of the Ministry of Environment, which
includes incineration as a disposal method.  Affiliates of IPEN and GAIA
will be in Geneva to monitor and influence the 7th Intergovernmental
Negotiating Committee of the Stockholm Convention on POPs.  Representatives
of Arnika (Czech Rep.), AMSSR (Egypt), MDRGF (France), Thanal (India),
Eco-Accord (Russia) and other groups, as well as toxics campaigners from
various Greenpeace offices, will lobby delegates and press for the people's
agenda.  Pasumai Thayagam will initiate "fax action" on 14 July 2003 to the
Ministry of Environment to ask the Government to accelerate steps towards
the ratification of the Stockholm Convention on POPs (target: 500 faxes from
concerned citizens and legislators).   Mama-86 Kharkov, together with
Coalition of Ukrainian Ecological NGOs "Alter-Eco", will lobby the
parliament to ratify the Convention.

MEDIA WORK
Participating groups will work with the print, broadcast and online media to
get as much publicity as possible for our issues and the GDA. Groups will
send out press releases and opinion pieces using the INC7/GDA/GAIA Report as
media hooks. Groups like the Armenian Women for Health and Healthy
Environment, Greens Movement of Georgia, COHPEDA of Haiti, Pro Public in
Nepal, Bangon Kalikasan and Caritas Manila of the Philippines will utilize
the radio to disseminate information to a wider audience.  ACPO will work
with online environmental news to spread its message. The Environment
Foundation Limited of Sri Lanka and AGENDA of Tanzania will prepare articles
for publication in newspapers.

EDUCATIONAL MEETINGS
DISHA will hold a meeting in Kolkata on the theme "Towards A Zero Waste
Society," together with local authorities.  The Green Front of Iran will
organize a roundtable among various stakeholders on waste management in
Tehran City.  The Macedonian Association of Doctors for the Environment will
convene a workshop on the effects of waste incineration on children's
health.

CAPACITY BUILDING
The Worldwide Fund for Nature in Pakistan is set to launch in Lahore two
important resources during the GDA: 1)  a manual in Urdu on municipal solid
waste management, and 2) a video documentary on indigenous waste recycling
in the city, with special focus on the role of "raddiwala" (waste
collector).  A series of workshops on hospital waste management is also
being planned in major cities throughout Pakistan.   In the Philippines,
Mother Earth will facilitate trainings on ecological waste management for
some 1,098 communities under the government-funded Solid Waste Reduction
Master Plan for Metro Manila for the whole month of July.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH
The Fairest Cape Association (Cape Town, South Africa), in pursuit of its
task of creating public awareness on the consequences of poorly managed
waste, and this includes the dangers associated with incineration, will join
disadvantaged communities in Hyde Park, Tafelsig, Mitchell's Plain, Joe
Slovo and Milnerton in cleaning up their environment.  Other activities
include inauguration of food gardens, greening and tree planting on open
spaces and an educational trip to a waste recovery facility.






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