October 2000 -
Present
Executive Director of the Canary Coalition
January
1997- January 2001
Chairperson of the Tuckaseegee Community Alliance (TCA),
a local chapter of the Western North Carolina Alliance, a
regional grassroots environmental
organization. Under his chairmanship
the following projects were successfully implemented:
1. Creation of the
Jackson County Solid Waste Advisory Board.
2.
Institutionalized a yearly Earth Day celebration in
Jackson County, North Carolina, now known as the Greening
Up the Mountains spring festival in Sylva.
Last year this event was attended by an estimated 5000
people and was co-sponsored by the town of Sylva,
the merchants organization known as Sylva
Partners in Renewal, the Chamber of Commerce, the Travel
and Tourism Bureau, Catch the Spirit of Appalachia, and
numerous other businesses and individuals in the
community.
3. Developed
the Sustainable Business Community (SBC) of the
Tuckaseegee Watershed Region. This is a
network of locally owned businesses that meet specific
criteria outlined by TCA which result in high ethical and
environmental standards and strive to create a more
sustainable economy in the region.
4. Presented a
series of public programs including speakers, slide shows
and videos on environmental topics relevant to the
region. These programs were well attended and were very
effective in getting more people involved in TCA.
reference: Brownie Newman,
Steve Lawrence, Norma Ivy, David Wheeler, other WNCA
members.
January 1999 -
January 2001
Chairperson of the Jackson County Solid Waste
Advisory Board (JCSWAB). Appointed by the
Jackson County Board of Commissioners, JCSWAB holds
regular monthly meetings that are open to the public to
discuss solid waste issues in the county. JCSWAB makes
recommendations to the county regarding ways to improve
service to residents and businesses, reduce the waste
stream, increase the rate of recycling in the
county, and limit the use of
landfilling. JCSWAB acts as a conduit between
the citizens of the county and the commissioners.
JCSWAB was assigned the task of drafting a solid waste
ordinance for the county.
reference: Office of Jay
Denton, Chairman of the Jackson County Board of
Commissioners
November 1986 -
present
CEO of Friedman & Sun Design, Inc.
Friedman & Sun sells and installs solar
energy equipment and does
general plumbing contracting. In 1993
Friedman & Sun opened a retail store in Sylva which
deals in "earth-friendly
alternatives". These products include
solar and wind energy equipment, water purification
systems, energy-efficient and full-spectrum lighting,
biodegradable bulk cleaning products, low and
non-toxic paints and finishes, environmentally safe pest
control methods, non-petroleum based body care
products and more. The business was expanded
with a catalog in 1994 and arrived on the internet in
1996.
reference: http://www.friedman-sun.com
January 1994 - May
1994
Ran for the position of part-time
commissioner in Jackson County in the Democratic
Primary. The campaign helped to focus
attention on the solid waste crisis Jackson County was
about to confront. Largely as a result
of the ideas he brought into the public domain, a new
staffed recycling center system was instituted in the
county and there is a greater awareness in general,
especially among public officials, about solid waste
issues. Although he did not get elected he
gained respect from county officials who used many of his
proposals in forming county policy and was subsequently
appointed Chair of the Solid Waste Advisory Board.
reference: Veronica
Nicolas (former commissioner), Clark Lipkin, others
January 1988 - May
1988
Candidate for Governor of North Carolina in the
Democratic Primary election. The
purpose of this candidacy was to bring to light the issue
of North Carolina's membership in the Southeast Low-Level
Radioactive Waste Compact. There had
been a virtual news blackout of this issue before his
candidacy, although many grassroots activists deserve
much credit for their lobbying efforts.
His low budget candidacy was successful in significantly
raising the profile of the issue and initiating a greater
public debate.
reference: Leni
Sitnick, Lou Zeller, Janet Hoyle, Bill
Holman, public records
November 1988 -
May 1992
Initiated and served as Chair of the North Carolina PAC
to Dump the Compact. This political action committee was
formed to oppose North Carolina's membership in the
Southeast Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact. North
Carolina was chosen to be the "host" state of
this eight-state compact and would have housed the
largest nuclear waste facility in the western hemisphere
had this plan been implemented. Neither the
public nor the vast majority of state legislators were
aware of the scope of this project or of the dangerous
inclusive definition of "low-level radioactive
waste." This facility
was never constructed, due to strong public
opposition, and in the year 1999, after
spending eighty million dollars on research, ground water
testing and other preparatory work, North Carolina
abandoned the project and withdrew from the Southeast
Compact.
reference:
Bill Holman, public records
October 1985 - May
1986
Initiated a petition and coordinated the state-wide
petition drive to hold a referendum in North Carolina to
oppose the location of the nation's east-coast high-level
nuclear waste storage facility, near the
Smoky Mountains, overlapping the Buncombe, Madison and
Haywood county borders. While there is
no legal mechanism for a citizen-initiated referendum in
North Carolina, this petition caught the attention
of key lawmakers and, in a special session of the General
Assembly, they passed the bill which set up the
referendum to be included on the ballot of the 1986
primary election. This was the first such
referendum ever held in North Carolina. 93%
voted against the location of the waste
facility with an unusually high turnout for a primary
election.
reference: Bill and
Ellen Hunter (Hunter & Large Attorneys, Pat and Ralph
Montee, Glenn and Pat Liming, Judge Lacey Thornburg
(then Attorney General), many others.
October 1985 -
July 1986
Initiated and served as Chair of the Citizens
for a Choice on Nuclear
Waste (CCNW). This group in Jackson County
was formed to oppose the Department of Energy's proposal
to locate the nation's east-coast high level nuclear
waste storage facility in western North
Carolina. CCNW was the force behind the
state-wide petition drive that resulted in the referendum
mentioned above. Many other groups were
involved in opposing the DOE's proposal.
There were DOE hearings in Asheville and the entire
community was up in arms. But the state-wide
referendum, which took place after the hearings,
put a loud and clear finishing touch to the resounding
"No!" that the DOE heard from North
Carolinians. In July of 1986 the
DOE not only abandoned its western North Carolina
proposal, but decided to abandon entirely its plan
to have an east-coast high-level nuclear waste storage
facility.
reference:
Veronica Nicolas, Judith Hallock and David Wheeler,
many others.
August 1984 - May
1986
Attended Southwestern Technical College (STC) in Sylva,
North Carolina and achieved an Associate of Applied
Science Degree in Alternative Energy
Technology. Graduated with a 4.0
index.reference: records
Dept. Southwestern Community College (formerly STC) in
Sylva, NC
November 1983 -
June 1984
Worked as a tree planter in Georgia.
September 1979 -
November 1982
Initiated and coordinated the Ecotopian Clean
Energy Collective (ECEC) in the Pacific
Northwest. This organization had members in
Oregon, Washington and northern California.
It included a buying club for alternative energy
equipment to reduce material costs for members. ECEC also
had a work crew that designed and built a geothermally
heated greenhouse at Breitenbush Hotsprings in Oregon.
reference:
Breitenbush Hotsprings Community, PO Box 578, Detroit,
Oregon 97342
January 1980 -May
1980
Portland Oregon coordinator of the petition
drive to put three anti-nuclear power initiatives on the
ballot. Although enough signatures were
gathered for all three measures, two of the
measures were thrown out by the courts on questionable
grounds. The third measure appeared on the
ballot in the November, 1980 election and passed by a 53%
majority. Because of this
referendum, no new nuclear power plants may be
constructed in the state of Oregon unless there exists a
federally licensed, permanent nuclear waste storage
facility and unless the construction of the new plant is
approved by the voters in a referendum. This
was the first successful anti-nuclear referendum in
the United States.
reference:
Portland Oregonian and public records, Lloyd Marbet
(well-known Oregon activist)
October 1978 -
August 1979
Initiated and coordinated the Citizens Anti-Nuclear
Development League (CANDLE) in Oregon. CANDLE
organized the state-wide Sunday Nuclear Boycott of
electricity to protest the continued use of nuclear power
by Portland General Electric who owned the Trojan Nuclear
Power Plant. In addition, CANDLE organized and
completed the Walk for Clean Energy in the summer of
1979. This was a nine week, 400 mile walk
through the most populated areas of
Oregon. Hundreds of people participated
at different times. The purpose of the walk was to
protest the continued operation of the Trojan Nuclear
Power plant, north of Portland and within sight of Mount
St. Helens. CANDLE constructed and displayed
a multifunctional alternative energy exhibit on a flat
bed trailer that followed the walkers around the
state. This walk created news headlines every
day, in the cities and towns that it touched, and
kept the issue at the height of public awareness.
reference:
Diary with news clippings kept during the Walk for Clean
Energy (ask Avram to see this), Oregon newspaper records.
June 1978 - August
1978
Helped to organize and participated in the
"occupation" of the Trojan
Nuclear Power Plant north of Portland Oregon, along with
approximately 300 others. The
occupation took place over a three day period in three
waves. All participants, including
Avram, were arrested, as planned, in a
peaceful and effective display of determination which
propelled nuclear power into the headlines and into the
forum of major topics for public debate in Oregon.
January 1968 -
June 1970
Studied political science at Hunter College in
Bronx, NY.
reference:
Records Dept. Herbert Lehman College (formerly Hunter
College in the Bronx, NY)
Avram Friedman was born in
the Bronx, NY on February 11, 1950
|
