Page 9 - Florida Sentinel 5-21-19

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Safe & Sound Hillsborough Held At Middleton High
Activity was abuzz on Saturday, May 4th on the campus of George S. Middleton Senior High School. Registration, Continental Breakfast and networking began at 9 a. m. for the Safe and Sound ’19 Hillsborough.
Safe Summit ’19 is an annual event for the Violence Prevention Conference. Its purpose is to educate, engage and empower.
The keynote speaker for the day was Nyeeam “King Nahh” Hudson, an International Motivational Speaker, Artist and Author.
The day consisted of featured speakers, workshops, youth activities, and a town hall meeting hosted by the Tampa Bay Area Chapter of the National Coalition of
100 Black Women. (Photographs by Ricky Roberts)
Tia Brown, Principal of Middleton was there to greet the attendees.
Antina Mobley, Assis- tant Public Defender was a participant.
Nyeeam “King Nahh” Hudson gave the keynote address.
Kenneth Albano, Temple Terrace Police
Chief was participants.
Although she had been sworn in a few days before, Mayor Jane Castor added to her agenda for the week to attend the summit.
Roderick Cunningham, Life Coach, and retired Tampa Police Officer, Major Rocky Radcliff as- sisted with the workshops.
Travis Coy and Janae Thomas, As- sistant State Attorneys, were in atten- dance.
Environmentalists dis- cuss the climate crisis
KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) —- One recent afternoon some 40 environmentalists, including, folks from Florida and Labrador, rallied at the new convention centre in Halifax to deliver a message of climate justice to Emera shareholders meeting in- side.
The rally was organized by the Atlantic Chapter of the Sierra Club and Extinction Rebellion Nova Scotia.
Among the demonstrators were some 10 people who had travelled all the way from Tampa, Florida to attend the rally on a cold and drizzly Nova Scotia spring day.
Tampa’s local energy com- pany, TECO Energy is slow to move off fossil fuels. Since TECO is not listening the Floridians de- cided to send a message to Emera, which owns the Tampa company.
“We are here to convince Emera to tell TECO Energy not to use coal, but use solar energy and stop using fossil fuels, either fracked natural gas or coal,” said Joe Robinson, Second Vice President with the local Tampa Chapter of the National Associa-
Group of Protesters
Joe Robinson of Tampa attended the meeting. (Photos by Robert Devet)
Releases of greenhouse gases resulting from these giant reser- voirs have not been studied properly, she added.
“Ever increasing costs of this project from $6,2 billion to $12.7 billion will be laid on future gen- erations of the people of New- foundland and Labrador, utility rates will rise, and Emera is complicit in allowing these is- sues to occur without question- ing the effects of the project beyond the Maritime Link,” Benefiel said.
Meanwhile, Stephen Thomas of the Ecology Action Centre reminded the demon- strators that Emera’s Nova Sco- tia Power continues to rely on fossil fuels, in particular coal, here in Nova Scotia as well.
“Nova Scotia is the most coal-intense grid in Canada. 55% of our electricity comes from the burning of coal, Just last month the Nova Scotia government and Nova Scotia Power proposed to continue burning coal until 2042,” said Thomas.
“That’s way too late, even 2030 may be too late. We are liv- ing in a climate crisis, in the last moments we can take action be- fore it is too late. Here in Nova Scotia that means phasing out coal,” Thomas said.
among the
Hillsborough’s State Attorney Andrew War- ren was a program par- ticipant.
Abria Sanders, a Junior at Wharton High, attended the conference and partici- pated.
Freddie Barton, James Cole, and Sam- mecia Bagley worked with the youth.
Rally At Emera Shareholders Meeting In Halifax Draws Protesters
tion for the Advancement of Col- ored People (NAACP).
“Environmental justice means that minorities and low income people who can’t defend themselves are the most im- pacted when climate change happens,” Robinson said. “When hurricanes destroy com- munities, like they do in Florida, they are the last people to get services restored, and get any funding.”
“TECO doesn’t want to meet with us, so we decided to come here,” said Gonzalo Valdes an organizer with the Florida chap- ter of the Sierra Club.
“TECO plans to keep us 90% reliant on fossil fuels until 2030, which is totally unacceptable,
considering that Tampa is one of the U. S. cities most susceptible to climate change, and rising sea levels. We face future storms much more dramatic than any storm we have ever seen,” Valdes said.
Meanwhile, the way TECO’s operations are structured will sound familiar to Nova Scotians.
“In the state of Florida the energy company is guaranteed an 11.5% rate of return on any project. Yet they are a public utility, it is a monopoly, and they are supposed to find the most cost effective solutions,” said Valdes.
“TECO also owns a company that makes money transporting the gas into Florida. It’s all about
profits for their investors, and we are here to tell them that it can’t all be about investors, it has to be about the communities you serve,” Valdes said.
Grand River keeper Roberta Benefiel, in town for the screening of People of a Feather, spoke about the ex- tensive damage that the Muskrat Falls hydro project has inflicted on residents and Indigenous peoples of Labrador.
“There is nothing to suggest that Muskrat Falls will ever sup- ply “clean” energy. Instead, we witness cultural genocide through the poisoning of local food sources for Inuit and Innu with methyl mercury, a neuro- toxin,” said Benefiel.
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