Association of Irritated Residents, Central Valley Air Quality Coalition, Central California Environmental Justice Network

“People have power when they work together”

After spending ten years abroad working with low-income farmers in East Africa and Jamaica as a volunteer with the Mennonite Central Committee, he returned home to the Valley in 1998 to farm and teach. His decision at the time was that "we should be doing the same thing here that he had been doing overseas—helping people take more control over their lives and environment."

Before he went abroad, he had gone to meetings and written letters to help stop the Buttonwillow toxic waste dump [link], and he decided he wanted to get more involved in similar issues. When he returned to the Valley, he joined the newly formed Advisory Board in Delano. He has been active with it ever since. A few years later he was also appointed to the Executive Board of CRPE.

When the 28,000 cow Borba dairies were proposed in Bakersfield and other dairies were proposed even closer to Tom's home in Shafter, he helped form a group called Save our Shafter to stop one of the proposed dairies and to educate people about the devastating effects large-scale dairies can have on a community's health and environment. CRPE represented the organization in a lawsuit against the county and the Vanderham dairy. Tom is also the president and one of the founders of the Association of Irritated Residents (AIR), an organization dedicated to ensuring that the EPA and state and county agencies fulfill their responsibility of protecting the health and environment in the San Joaquin Valley.

Tom says he has a simple reason for his hard work on air and dairy issues in the valley: "I enjoy it, and it's a good thing to do. I think people should be active in their community one way or another and this is my way." He explains, "I don't mind being the one to make noise. Upsetting the status quo and speaking truth to power can be personally stressful, but the gain of a healthier environment is worth it. And I found, surprisingly, a lot of support among this rural conservative community, including many farmers. It keeps me going."

Currently, Tom is working to help stop a sewage sludge incinerator and a coal burning power plant, both in Kern County. He is also fighting for tighter regulations on factory dairies. The growing awareness of the damage that large dairies inflict on local communities and Central Valley air quality—an awareness that Tom and his organization has helped foster—has led the city of Wasco to be nearly unified in its opposition to any new dairies. At recent legislative hearings on some proposed dairies, a man with strong ties to the dairy industry told Tom that "all these people are here tonight because of what you've been doing these last few years." Looking back on the comment Tom reflected, "I don't know if he meant that good or bad, but I thought it was quite a compliment." But, Tom explained, "I didn't do it alone." Through AIR, the CRPE Advisory Board, and similar organizations, "people have gained their own voice and have given that skill and power to people around them in their community. I've seen it happen first hand, including to myself."