The North America Team Consists of:
1. The Coordinating Committee
The Coordinating Committee is the leadership & voting body representing the North American grassroots supporters of ICJB. Composed of 5 volunteer members, the Coordinating Committee oversees the actions and projects undertaken by ICJB-NA Working Groups and Volunteers, and make sure the campaign keeps running. Each member coordinates a specific aspect of the campaign.
2. Working Groups
Working group members use their expertise on specific topics to help the campaign grow! Do you have a skill that might be helpful to the campaign? Contact us at icjb DOT us DOT ab AT gmail DOT com
Groups Currently Active:
- Website Working Group
- Community Relations Working Group
We are currently looking for members to join:
- Education Working Group
3. Volunteers Like You!
ICJB-NA relies on the network of dedicated volunteers who start their own local chapters that lead campaigns for justice in Bhopal. Would you like to start an ICJB chapter or hold an ICJB-sponsored event? Find out more here!
If you would like to join the Coordinating Committee or a Working Group, there is a nomination process for positions, which often takes place in the late fall. Positions are held for one year. However, there are frequently openings, often for specific projects. Contact us to find out more.
Coordinating Committee
All members are currently serving a one-year term, ending in 2015.
Rox Carter: Finance & Administration Coordinator
Rox describes herself as an artist, educator, leader and activist. She graduated in 2009 from Brock University with a degree in Drama in Education and Society, and received her Bachelor of Education in 2010. Rox completed a Master of Education in Social and Cultural Contexts of Education in 2013. During her university years, Rox co-founded TAP (Turn Around Projects of the Arts) – a not for profit arts organization. Rox first got involved with the fight for justice in Bhopal when she produced the play Bhopal by Rahul Varma in 2010. Her passion for justice in Bhopal, gave her the inspiration and motivation to create a TAP program in Bhopal. TAP offers gas affected victims free arts and leadership workshops for 3 weeks each December. A confident public speaker, and improviser by night – Rox aims to encourage and inspire YOU through her passion and conviction and belief that you must BE THE CHANGE you wish to see.
Valerie: Fundraising Coordinator
Valerie first heard about the Bhopal gas tragedy on the eve of the 20th anniversary, when she was volunteering as the Corporate Action Network Coordinator for Amnesty International. She helped to organize events and a Seattle City Council resolution commemorating the anniversary. Valerie is inspired by the determination of the survivors to seek justice for all victims of environmental disasters and the cause has never been more relevant. Helping the ICJB raise money is the best way that Valerie can use her to skills to advance the cause. She is the Founder of Aril Consulting, a fundraising consulting business and she has 10 years experience in the non-profit sector. Valerie has a B.A. in International Relations and History from Boston University, a Certificate in Fundraising Management from University of Washington, and is a Certificate student in Sustainable Design/Build at Yestermorrow Design/Build School. She currently lives in Durham, NC and can’t wait to travel back to India again.
Reena Shadaan: Community Relations Coordinator
Reena first got involved with the Bhopal campaign in 2006. In 2010, she carried out her MA research work on Bhopali women’s activism and empowerment in the aftermath of the Bhopal gas disaster. Learning about the struggle from the perspective of women-activists, who have been the sustaining force in this movement, taught Reena a great deal about activism and solidified her commitment to the ongoing struggle for justice in Bhopal.
Working Groups
Wendy Crumrine: Website Coordinator, Website Working Group
Wendy became personally acquainted with the continuing fight for justice of the victims of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy when she spent three months in 2008 as a volunteer at the Sambhavna Trust Clinic. Working closely with the survivors of the tragedy fostered within her a deep respect for their non-violent pursuit of justice, and simultaneously, a profound disquiet concerning the corporate prioritization of profit over human lives that infects the global economy. She sees the fight for justice in Bhopal as the epicenter of an international movement towards corporate accountability and she is honored to take part. She increased her involvement in the campaign by joining the Advisory Board in 2012, and is excited to move her commitment away from Administration & Finance and into Website Coordination. She received her B.A. from Harvard in 2006 where she studied Child Psychology and has been teaching high school math and science ever since.
Matthew Fullerton: Research and Software Developer, Website Working Group
Matt works in Munich, Germany as a researcher and software developer. He’s been involved in the campaign since 2006 whilst living in Boston. From then on he’s worked on web services and sites for the campaign, including the former www.studentsforbhopal.org and smaller projects for email/fax campaign actions.
Renu Pariyadath: Community Outreach Coordinator, Community Relations Working Group
Renu Pariyadath is a doctoral student in Communication Studies at the University of Iowa and studies activist citizenship practices within the Indian diaspora. She is interested in connecting the Bhopal campaign with US-based activist or community organizations that engage in social-, environmental-, reproductive-, or labor- justice. If you would like ICJB-NA to express solidarity with your cause, or vice versa, please write to Renu on icjb.us.ab[at]gmail.com with the subject line: Attention Renu
William Fontenot: Community Outreach Coordinator, Community Relations Working Group
Before retiring in April of 2005 I served as the Community Liaison Officer for the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office for twenty-seven years. My duties were to assist individuals, groups, local officials, other agencies, businesses and others, such as the news media, with environmental problems, issues, or questions. In this capacity I had the pleasure of assisting thousands of individuals and helped to organize more than five hundred groups with a wide variety of problems and issues throughout Louisiana and more than thirty other states in the USA.
I have also been very active with a number of organizations and currently serve on the board of directors of Friends of The Atchafalaya, The Louisiana Audubon Council and Clean Water Fund. For eighteen years I served on the board of directors of Clean Water Action. In past years I have also served on the board of Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN), and the Labor Neighbor Project. I have also served as the executive director of the Louisiana Wildlife Federation and as chairman of the New Orleans Group and the Delta Chapter of the Sierra Club. Since January of 2011 I have been serving as Conservation Chair of the Delta Chapter of the Sierra Club, which covers Louisiana.
Much of my effort over the last forty years has been focused on assisting poor and minority communities, workers and others who were impacted by pollution, bad government or industrial decisions and who felt they had no where else to turn.
Several books which document some of my work are:
- Deeper Shades of Green, by Jim Schwab, a Sierra Club book, 1994.
- Uneasy Alchemy, by Barbara Allen, 2003. This book includes a number of my photographs of individuals and industrial facilities.
- American Environmental Leaders by Anne Becher and Joseph Richey,Grey House Publishing, September 2008.
- McCastle v Rollins Environmental Services, Wikipedia. This was the first successful Environmental Justice effort in the country.
- Save Ourselves: The Environmental Case that Changed Louisiana Oliver A. Houck, Louisiana Law Review, Number 72, Winter 2012.
- Petrochemical America by Richard Misrach and Kate Orff, 2012 is dedicated to me.
- Women Pioneers of the Louisiana Environmental Movement by Peggy Frankland, May 2013
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