Blame it on Rio

I’m still amazed after all these years the number of times that I seem to be in the right place at the right time. That was the case on June 21st at the UN Conference, Rio+20 in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. I was sitting in the Women’s group office hand-writing some notes for the presentation I would be giving later about mountaintop removal and the Central Appalachian Women’s Tribunal on Climate Justice.  That was the recent event that OVEC helped organize in mid-May.   While sitting there, Rosa Lizarde, the global coordinator for the Feminist Task Force, introduced me to Claire Greensfelder,a lifelong environmental, peace and safe energy activist, educator, political campaigner, and print and radio journalist, who lives and works in California.

What a small world we live in.  When she found out that I was from West Virginia, working on ending mountaintop removal coal mining, she asked me if I knew Mike Roselle.

And of course I do!  His group has done so much to raise public awareness about this extreme and highly destructive type of strip mining.

She went on to compliment Mike and his work with Climate Ground Zero.  Rosa then told her that OVEC had been the primary organizing group on the ground for the Women’s Tribunal, at which point, Claire asked if I knew that the U.S. EPA’s Administrator, Lisa Jackson was speaking the next day at Rio Centro (where the UN plenaries and most of the side events were held for the conference).  She gave me the time and place, and I knew then what my work for Friday, June 22nd would be:  try to find a way to speak with her about mountaintop removal.

The next morning, I made my way to the Marriot Hotel located at Copacabana beach–one of the many designated bus stops for conference attendees.  Organizers of this gargantuan event ran buses to and from Rio Centro throughout the day from June 20-22 for the UN Conference, Rio+20.  People from throughout the world, women, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), farmers, indigenous people, UN delegates and world leaders had been meeting formally since June 20.  An undercurrent of dissatisfaction surfaced in many conversations and circles in which I found myself.  Major concerns seemed to be a lack of political will on the part of developed nations to assist  developing nations with technology transfer and women were upset that the phase “reproductive rights” no longer appeared in the final document.

At any rate, I was on my way to Rio Centro with hopes of having a moment with Administrator Jackson.

When I arrived and while going through security (which was beefed up with so many heads of state in Rio), I spotted Emily Thenhaus, an intern with the Loretto Community UN NGO, on her way to a press briefing with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  Coincidentally, it was in the same room where Administrator Jackson was scheduled to speak a little later.  Getting into these formal meetings can be tricky.  Fact is, had I not met up with Emily and trailed behind her and some other US women, I’m not sure I would have been allowed in the room.  I was stopped at the door. Emily looked over her shoulder, saw me stalled and said, “She’s with our U.S. delegation.”

Magical.  I was allowed to pass through the door.

We made our way back to the pavilion area where first Hillary and then Lisa were scheduled to speak.  The room was already crowded. In the back was a bank of reporters waiting for Secretary Clinton to appear; the walls were lined with people and most of the seats had a sheet of paper with the word “reserved” printed in big, bold, black letters.  I spied a single open seat on the back row and settled in for the wait.

Hillary arrived to a barrage of clicking cameras, gave her speech and left.  (I recorded it, but admittedly was preoccupied wondering about how I might be able to speak with Administrator Jackson).  The room emptied out, but I decided to stay put and assess a strategic seat where I could intercept her.  My goal was to thank her for EPA’s role to help rein in mountaintop removal and especially for appealing the recent DC district court decision on the Spruce mine permit and to hand her the summary proceedings from the Central Appalachian Women’s Climate Justice Tribunal and the recent Chicago Women’s Tribunal (which focused on coal plant emissions).

Event organizers asked Emily and me to move closer to the front, which we gladly did (3rd row on the end).  Ms. Jackson was going to speak about the progress of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, a collaboration that works to decrease short-lived air pollutants like methane, CFCs and black carbon (soot).  To make sure that Jackson would know why I was there to see her, I wore my green “Abolish Mountaintop Removal” t-shirt, the most dressed down I had been for the conference.  Right on time, she arrived; I saw her standing on my left, chatting with what appeared to be some of her staff.  I waited until she was in the front of the room and finished greeting other speakers. Then I saw my opportunity. I turned to Emily and said, “I’m going to go speak to her now.”

Below is a short debrief video that Emily did with me where you can hear how our encounter went: http://lorettoinrio.tumblr.com/post/25659308506/janet-keating-at-the-uns-rio-20-conference-on

And here’s a wonderful photo of Lisa Jackson as she spoke at this event.

I was actually in tears after accomplishing what I set out to do–not sure why, but felt like she spoke from her heart when she said that she appreciated our work and courage.  As I was walking away, she said something like, “I get to go home, but you…”

Admittedly Rio is a bit of a long way to go to get the ear  and attention of the EPA Administrator, but I can’t help but wonder what she was thinking when we spoke–to see someone concerned about mountaintop removal in that room so far from home, wanting to thank her for EPA’s efforts on behalf of the people and the land.  If I were she, I might be inclined to remember that someone representing Central Appalachian women made a big effort  to run into her and maybe in the future she might make a little more effort on behalf of her agency’s efforts to save our mountains.

And here’s a photo of happy me after the event and the brief meet-up with Administrator Jackson:

You can thank Administrator Jackson for appealing the D.C. court decision by emailing her at:   jackson.lisap@epa.gov.