Contributing Writers: Azad Ali, Tangerine Clarke,
Nelson King, Vinette K. Pryce,
Bert Wilkinson
GENERAL INFORMATION (718) 260-2500
Caribbean L 12 ife, MARCH 19-25, 2021
By Dr. Esther Ngumbi
URBANA, Illinois, March
17 2021 (IPS) – Over a month
ago, the world celebrated the
International Day of Women
and Girls in Science. But
the celebrations ring hollow
when there’s still been no
meaningful progress in the
representation of women in
the research sciences field.
At present, less than 30 percent,
of scientific researchers
worldwide are women,
a percentage that has been
the same for almost a decade.
Despite this lag in
progress, consistently, and
predictably so, from the
United Nations, to professional
societies, to Universities,
there is often the
message shared that “Every
girl can be a scientist”. As
a woman scientist, who is
very lucky to be in science,
because, without luck, and I
mean, nature’s luck, I would
never been a scientist, I
know this statement isn’t
true right now.
The truth is, the way our
society and systems are set
up, few girls, especially girls
like me, from rural communities,
can ever be scientists.
How do we expect
them to be scientists without
the resources and facilities
to allow them to experience
the magic of science?
How do we expect them to
get into science when they
do not have societal role
model scientists that look
like them?
And even if they are lucky
like me, how do we expect
them to succeed, if many
end up in institutions that
are still grappling with low
representation of women in
science? How?
These are the questions
I struggle with every time
I hear the overly optimistic
and unrealistic statements
that are not backed up by
policies to support them.
Moreover, it is also clear
that the ongoing pandemic
has amplified these challenges.
I am an optimist too and
I hope to see – want to see
– equal representation of
women in the sciences. To
get there, though, we must
envision and implement big
changes.
First and foremost, there
is need to avail resources
and all necessary infrastructures
to introduce girls from
all communities, including
marginalized communities,
to science. This
means investing in creating
research labs and community
science centers and science
museums.
These spaces present
excellent spaces for young
and curious students
including girls to interact
with science. In the United
States, there are several science
centers that are doing
a great job. From Maryland
Science Center to Orlando
Science Center to Museum
of Science + industry Chicago.
Alternatively, university
institutions, research
centers and other professional
societies can work
with organizations present
in marginalized communities
to provide the platforms
for girls and women from
marginalized communities
to access science at an early
age.
By Michelle K. Rea, executive
director New York Press
Association/ New York Press
Service
New York State Senator, Todd
Kaminsky and a host of colleagues
have introduced legislation
that shifts the responsibility
and costs of recycling from
municipalities to the producers
of packaging and paper products.
The legislation is called the
Extended Producer Responsibility
Act, and in other countries
around the world, newspapers
have been exempted from these
recycling initiatives. New York
should follow suit.
In Canada, this product-focused
approach is referred to as
product stewardship. And while
each Canadian province has
adopted different stewardship
models, there are strong similarities
in how newspapers are
treated. Their approach is consistent
with how newspapers are
managed in recycling regimes
all over the world. Newspapers
have been treated differently in
recognition of the fact that they
provide a public benefit, that they
can make a significant contribution
to public education on
recycling, and that they are not a
packaged good like other materials
in the recycling stream.
Newspapers perform an
important role in our democracy,
and they are not a consumable
product — there are no contents
and no packaging — the two
are indistinguishable. Treating
newspapers like packaged goods
discriminates unfairly against
newspapers – the packaged goods
industry makes no investment in
contents of their packages, just
the packaging itself.
Further, newspapers have
been good stewards of the environment
for decades. In 1989
New York’s newspaper industry
entered into a voluntary agreement
with the State of New York
to increase their usage of recycled
newsprint to 40% by the
year 2000. Recycling damages
the fiber in newsprint, so a minimum
of 50 percent new fiber
is required to maintain quality.
Newsprint with too little new
fiber tears when the presses are
running and causes the ink to
blot.
Newsprint accounts for less
than 7 percent of solid waste in a
typical community.
Newspapers are environmentally
sound — publisher use the
remains of what other industries
discard, recycled fiber. Newspapers
are compostable (you can
use them in your vegetable garden),
they are re-manufactured
(used to produce home insulation
and packaging materials).
They are reusable, biodegradable,
and the ink is non-toxic — made
from organic materials such as
soy and linseed oil.
In November 2020, the EPA
reported the following recycling
rates:
Plastic – 8.5 percent
Aluminum – 17.2 percent
Rubber/leather – 18.2 percent
Glass – 25 percent
Newspapers – 68.2 percent
Newspapers should be exempted
from this legislation because
they already recycle at a rate far
higher than any other recyclable
product.
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Every girl can’t be a scientist
until we make big changes
Proposed recycling legislation
deals devastating blow to
community newspapers
Globally, women are grossly underrepresented in scientifi
c research and development. mcg.
metrocreativeconnection.com
/schnepsmedia.com
/metrocreativeconnection.com
