My name is Evan Reeves. I'm a sophomore and I'm active with Ohio PIRG (Ohio Public Research Group), an organization started in 1974 that works on issues with environmental protection, consumer's rights and political corruption. I'm writing to discuss briefly what the group will be working on this year. Right now we're working on a toxics campaign to improve the public's knowledge of the thousands of chemicals being produced by industries across the nation. Currently, thanks to legislation passed in 1986, we only have a right to know about one percent of the 72,000 toxic chemicals being produced. This means for most of what's going into our air and water, we don't know how much of these chemicals are being produced, where they're being dumped or how they are affecting our health. Many of you have probably already noticed our table outside of Wilder, and hopefully you've signed one of the postcards we have there. The postcards, which we will be sending to President Clinton and to the House of Representatives, urge our political leaders to expand the 1987 Community Right To Know Act to include more types of industries and more forms of pollution.
In addition to the toxics campaign, Ohio-PIRG is also working on three other very important issues. The voter registration and education campaign will focus on two goals: getting everyone on campus registered and voting and campaign finance reform. The tenant's rights campaign will focus on creating a "user's guide" to all the landlords around campus, citing experiences of past tenants so that apartment hunters can know whom they're dealing with to put them on even grounds. Our fourth campaign is on Hunger and Homelessness. This project will include helping out at the Haven shelter, conducting food drives and increasing the general awareness of such local issues on campus.
I'm looking forward to an exciting and effective year, and I encourage you all to get out and get active. Thanks.
Copyright © 1996, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 125, Number 2; September 13, 1996
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