Cities Need Clean Air

Cities need clean air, an article by Joe Ellis, The Joplin Globe, Sunday, March 8, 2009, says it all. "When people experience an affront, an indignity or a crime, it’s expected that they will stand up for their personal and civil rights. When a group of people — say a community or an entire city — suffers those same assaults, it’s perfectly acceptable (and expected) that the group has every reason and right to redress the situation. With Renewable Environmental Solutions laying off all but a skeleton crew, and with Changing World Technologies, its parent company, announcing that it will go into Chapter 11 bankruptcy for reorganization, there is hope that a long-standing affront to Carthage residents is on its way to being rectified. It’s time that situation was made right. At this point, no one knows if the emissions from RES have any adverse health effects. Doctors tell us that being unable to comfortably breathe deeply in itself damages the lungs. Someone once said, “A livable city needs breathable air.” That’s a personal and a civil right worth fighting for."