Organization Spotlight: (FACES) Filipino American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity

Based in San Francisco, California, the Filipino/American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity (FACES) was established nine years ago to work for environmental justice within the United States as well as the Philippines.

Almost a decade in existence, the organization is rooted as a boundless movement that connects concerned people from all walks of life-- from students to professionals, from church to justice to green causes-- to seek justice defending communities victimized by toxic contamination at former U.S. military bases in the Philippines.

In 1994, people began to organize around this issue.  The United States Working Group for Philippine Bases Clean Up (USWG) was formed to support the People's Task Force for Bases Clean Up, a Pilipino non-governmental grassroots organization, and work in solidarity with them. The USWG's main role at the time was to provide scientific support and review documents regarding the contamination problem. They also communicated with both the U.S. and Philippine governments.

These two organizations worked together -- with an ocean between them -- to unearth and clean up the toxic legacy the U.S. government wanted to keep buried. Members saw there was a real need for American citizens to come together and challenge their government to be accountable for their actions, domestically and abroad.

The movement was reinvigorated in 2004 when FACES launched a reassessment of their tasks and clarify their causes. At a 2005 National Conference, the members decided to revamp their organization's mission and decided to "broaden FACES' scope of concerns to address transnational issues of environmental justice that impact Filipino communities in both the United States and the Philippines."

The organization is now doing this by building partnerships through advocacy, education, service and organizing.

Today, some of their projects include:

BASES CLEAN-UP
FACE2FACE
KAMALAYAN
CAREnow! CAMPAIGN

They also recently teamed up with Earth Rights International to show a film called Total Denial.

You can find out more about these projects and the film screening by contacting them on their website.

What makes this organization so unique and wonderful is that, while they do focus on connecting projects in American and the Philippines, their philosophy calls for all humans to recognize their interdependence with one another as well as with the earth's many and varied species. This ideal of taking an active role in preserving this world for the next generation of life is something we can all prescribe to.

Visit the website for FACES to find out how you can get involved, on Earth Day and beyond! http://facessolidarity.org/