If there is one thing that we all have in common it’s that we each create trash. But do we think about what happens to that trash and the effects it has on our lives and community once the garbage company picks it up and delivers it to a landfill or an incinerator? The old adage “Out of Sight, Out of Mind” applies to many of us, but not to Bianca Lopez, the co-founder and Project Director of Valley Improvement Projects, V.I.P.
On Saturday March 16 at 10 a.m., Lopez will speak to members, prospective members and guests of the American Association of University Women (AAUW), Oakdale-Riverbank-Escalon Branch about the importance of achieving zero solid waste in Stanislaus County.
According to the V.I.P website “in 2012 a group of Modesto community organizers came together under the name of Valley Improvement Projects, or V.I.P., with the mission of improving the quality of life of underrepresented and marginalized residents of California’s Central Valley by promoting social and environmental issues through youth outreach, education, technology, and art.”
What’s needed this environmental justice group says is a zero-waste plan, which encourages more recycling and reuse of waste products rather than sending them to landfills and incinerators.
Bianca Lopez was born in Mexico and came to Los Angeles from Guadalajara with her parents when she was almost three-years-old. She enrolled at Cal Poly Humboldt after high school where she felt drawn to community engagement and building. Feeling that she didn’t need a degree to tell her her worth, she left college, got married and eventually moved here where her husband had grown up. She learned her skills from an area family here, which was active in community building. Members, prospective members and guests are invited to attend this meeting to learn more about what zero-waste is and the plan to achieve it locally. For more information about the meeting and its location, call Judy at (209) 480-0387.
The American Association of University Women (AAUW) advances gender equity for women and girls through research, education, and advocacy. The nonpartisan, nonprofit organization has more than 170,000 members and supporters across the United States, as well as 1,000 local branches and more than 800 college and university members. Learn more at www.aauw.org. Branch information is at http://ore-ca.aauw.net or by emailing the branch at AAUW.ORE@gmail.com. Graduates holding an associates or higher degree from an institution of the AAUW list of qualified institutions and persons holding an honorary degree are eligible for membership in AAUW.
