Sierra Club Florida opens office in Belle Glade

Sierra Club Florida opens office in Belle Glade

Belle Glade- the Sierra Club has opened up an office in Belle Glade.  Sierra Club Belle Glade office is the first environmental non-profit office in the Glades, within the EAA and by the shores of Lake O.  What do they want? They want green sugar harvesting where you take the trash and make cool things out of it.

Sierra Club’s website;

Sugarcane growers burn their fields within the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA)  each year mostly from October to March, but sometimes even through May, to rid the plant of its outer leaves (referred to as “trash”) leaving only the sugar-containing stalk in place. This outdated harvesting practice is done to make the harvesting and processing of sugarcane quicker and easier.

The Stop Sugar Field Burning Campaign is a growing movement of residents within the EAA and surrounding communities working to pressure the sugar industry to become a better neighbor — to stop burning in favor of green harvesting. The campaign is spreading awareness of the green harvesting alternative as both an answer to the public health threat from burning and as a vehicle for economic opportunity as well. Green harvesting allows for the “trash” that is currently burned off the stalk to instead be used as mulch or biomass for energy production, or made into paper, cardboard, bio-plastics, and more.

https://www.facebook.com/cyndilenz/videos/10216253124497206/

https://www.facebook.com/cyndilenz/videos/10216253123337177/

video Steve Messam

Our growing movement consists of three regional teams of volunteer activists who are affected by sugarcane burning in (1) the Glades communities of Western Palm Beach County , (2) Glades County , and (3) Eastern Palm Beach County. They are working within their own communities to pressure the sugar industry to respect the health, welfare, and quality of life of local residents by ending  pre-harvest sugar cane burning and switching to green harvesting.

https://www.facebook.com/cyndilenz/videos/10216252991333877/

Video; Kina Green-Phillips speaking about her sugar burning experience.

Imagine an entirely new business out there.  For all of us that get sick with our toxic cyanobacteria and our worry especially for the kids these people have the same worry. Imagine this ash everywhere going into your lungs and the lungs of your children. This is what we have in common with our friends in the Glades.

For more info contact: patrick.ferguson@sierraclub.org or visit: https://stopsugarburning.org/

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  • Posted 6 years ago

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