Guest Blogger
Shelby Rodriguez
Shelby Rodriguez is a mother, a writer, an advocate for lung health, and a soon-to-be English teacher. She is a graduate from California State University, Sacramento with a Bachelor’s degree in English and is currently pursuing a career in teaching. She completed all of her coursework for a single subject credential in English and a Master’s degree in Education from National University during the year that she became the community organizer for the No More Tar Roofs campaign in her community in Antelope, California. She is currently writing her first script about her year as an activist and is looking forward to student teaching in February of 2010. She is a volunteer at the American Lung Association where she shares her story and helps to raise funds for important lung health programs. She is very excited about being the winner of the Healthy Child Healthy World’s Mom on a Mission Award in October, 2009.In the future she plans to continue working on creating legal restrictions on the use of asphalt roofing tar in residential areas and on or near schools.
Read more at: http://scriptactivist.blogspot.com/ and http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/tarroofs
To Stand up and Reap the Benefits
I was right to desire my anonymity during my campaign, as the method for curbing my efforts came in a letter of retaliation from the property manager at The Arbors a week before Christmas and then a Cease and Desist letter from the lawyers representing the Carmel Partners was to follow a week before the [...]
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My Neighbors
I knew I had a window of opportunity during the winter, in that I could breathe clean air for the first time in months, and could now focus on developing a strategy to keep the roofers from coming back with asphalt for the remaining 100 roofs in the spring of 2009.
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Some early success
Living in this community with constant roofing tar fumes felt like Russian roulette; never knowing which house was next and how far away the source of the fumes would be from our home was a constant source of anxiety for me.
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Becoming an Activist
How does one become an activist? I cannot speak for others, but for me, I became an activist out of pure necessity; to heal my lungs from exposure to hot asphalt roofing tar, and to protect my daughter from the same fate.
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The Beginning of a Campaign
How often do you think about the air you breathe? If you’re like I was, most likely thoughts about air, or air quality, are limited to only really bad air quality days, if at all. Other responsibilities took precedence for me such as taking care of my child, attending graduate school, keeping up on household [...]
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