Long Island Teen Environmental Activist (LITEA)
http://www.facebook.com/group.
February 7, 2011 Meeting
By Rubab Rehman
U.S Representative Steve Israel and Karen Miller, President of the Huntington Breast Cancer Action Coalition, spoke to teens about environmental hazards and their effects on human health at the February 7th meeting of the Long Island Teen Environmental Activists. The audience was comprised of students from Walt Whitman, Huntington, Syosset, andJohn Glenn High School. The Congressman’s discussion mainly centered in on the relation between the environment and the economy. Although most people would think that increasing the scope of environmentally friendly goods and services would be costly to us, the Congressman struck down this assumption and asserted that such action would actually expand the job market. Mr. Israel also emphasized his past policymaking record for consumer protection, such as enacting legislation to remove arsenic, a known carcinogen, from our poultry supply.
Currently, Mr. Israel’s agenda includes increasing the efforts to find safe and renewable energy sources. He is also collaborating with other members of Congress to work on reducing our dependency on foreign oil. Both he and Karen Miller endorsed the Household Product Labeling Act, which requires manufacturers to disclose all ingredients used in the making of their cleaning products. The event concluded with both guest speakers answering questions from the audience ranging from how cost-effective some of the programs were to how students could take action to promote environmental sustainability.
