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 Tour to Toms River 2005 GreenFaith offered its Toms River Tour in 2005 at the request of the NJ Catholic Coalition for Environmental Justice, which was holding a statewide Catholic environmental conference in nearby Lakewood and wanted to offer the 100+ Catholic participants the chance to learn firsthand about environmental justice. GreenFaith then organized the Tour with local activists in Toms River who had been heavily involved in efforts to get Ciba Geigy, the Toms River Dye Company and others to take responsibility for cleaning up the region’s water supply, into which they had illegally dumped large amounts of toxic chemical for decades, poisoning the community's drinking water, and leading to a nationally-publicized cancer cluster. Citizens groups had formed to fight for a study of the situation and for remedial action. GreenFaith’s Tour introduced participants both to this situation and to the local activists helping to lead the fight in Toms River for Environmental Justice.
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"As a mother of three, member of First
Baptist Church of Nutley and youngest of seven siblings,
I have always lived my life with a belief that 'If it was
going to Be, It is up to Me' and with this I live my life
confronting environmental and social injustices to make communities
and life better for African Americans. My involvement in
the Environmental Justice movement is about establishing
networks and developing the next generation of Urban Environmental
Leaders because neighborhoods and populations are being disproportionately
exposed to multitudes of harmful substances at school, home,
work and community."
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