The first Rachel Carson Forum of 2008 on January 18 will feature the documentary “Environmental Justice: The Power of Partnerships.”

The film was produced to educate viewers about EPA's Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Model which helps communities work to solve local environmental and public health problems.

The forum will be held from noon to 1 p.m. in the second floor auditorium of the Rachel Carson State Office Building, Harrisburg.

The film is a documentary about the ReGenesis Environmental Justice Partnership. Regenesis, a local Spartanburg South Carolina non-profit organization, started with a $20,000 grant from the EPA in 1999. Since that time, the partnership has worked with private and public organizations to leverage over $166 million in funding.

ReGenesis has worked with government and industry to cleanup the Arkwright municipal dumpsite, a former fertilizer plant, and six brownfield sites. They also demolished 184 old, substandard public housing units and built more than 500 new, single-family and multi-family units for rental and home ownership.

The Rachel Carson Forum on Future of the Environment is a monthly mid-day speaker/film series that seeks to stimulate discussion of important environmental and sustainable development issues.

DEP’s Office of Policy, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Office of Conservation Science and the Pennsylvania Environmental Resource Consortium organize the series.

For more information, contact Will Delavan by sending email to: wdelavan@state.pa.us or calling 717-772-5643.

1/11/2008