'We forget that we're the heroes.' Erin Brockovich inspires in Alliance

ALLIANCE − Erin Brockovich wants you to know Superman isn't coming.

"We're so busy looking for heroes, we forget that we're the heroes," she said.

The environmentalist and author of several books, including "Superman Isn't Coming," was this year's Schooler Lecture speaker Thursday night at the University of Mount Union.

Brockovich, whose intrepid investigative skills resulted in the largest direct-action lawsuit in history at the timei filed against the powerful Pacific Gas & Electric, was depicted in the 2000 Academy Award winning film, "Erin Brockovich" starring Julia Roberts.

"I'm Erin Brockovich. I'm sorry to disappoint you. I'm not Julia Roberts," she said to laughter.

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Brockovich visited East Palestine last year when that village became the center of a toxic train derailment.

"I've spent my life on the ground, in the field, touching, seeing and breathing the devastation to the environment and communities and public health," she said.

Brockovich encouraged the audience of several hundred to use their emotional intelligence and not ignore what she calls the "second brain."

"We are energy. We are all connected somehow through that, and I'm very connected to my environment through that way," she said. "Every single thing I've ever done, starts with an initial, 'I feel it. I sense it. It's there.' You, too, can do the same."

Brockovich said she grew up loving the L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz's book series and the way it teaches children the power of individualism.

"Dorothy is a representation of all of us, women and girls, who are inspired to have a dream," she said.

Erin Brockovich: Heart and courage are needed

The story's main characters, she noted, discovered they always had the courage and skills needed to find their way home.

"What happened to me wasn't because I had some special skill," she said. "It was because of the humanness; because I had the heart and the courage. We may have lost our way, but we are finding ourselves again to forge into a better future."

A native of Lawrence, Kansas, Brockovich's father was a petroleum engineer, and her mother was a journalist and sociology teacher.

"It was a a wonderful place to grow up," she said. "I was the kid that was always running around outside. I loved my environment, I was fascinated with water. The reason I was usually outside was because I didn't like school. I don't do well in school because I'm dyslexic. A lot of times, I was shut down because I was different. And because I was different, I was labeled and shunted over to special classes."

'Growing up in Kansas, it was all about the environment.'

She said she sought solace in the outdoors.

"My environment excited me. I was amazed with it. Each species that exists needs the other. I was fascinated with how it all comes together. To look at our waterways and how they're connected. If you took a satellite picture of our waterways, they look like veins. The movement and energy and flow.

"Growing up in Kansas, it was all about the environment."

Brockovich said three mentors changed her life: her parents, and a psychology teacher who discovered that she was able do well on tests when she took them verbally, changing both her GPA and self-esteem.

"They helped me to find myself," she said. "I can't help the environment if I don't know who I am, because I'm connected to it. I worry that the damage that has been done has disconnected us from the environment and worse, has disconnected us from ourselves."

Brockovich said her mother taught her the value of persistence and "stick-to-it-tive-ness"

"For my entire career of 30-plus years, I have had days when I've had to dig deep and find my stick-to-it-tive-ness," she said.

She credits her father with teaching her about the importance of good infrastructure and how it serves the environment.

'It became a calling'

She noted that she used all that her mentors taught her upon arriving in Hinkley, California, a small desert town where she had accepted a job as a file clerk with the Masry & Vititoe law firm, and soon put her instincts and tools to work.

"The minute I stepped foot on that soil, I could feel it. I could see it. It was omnipresent," she said. "The air was heavy. The trees had a heavy white glue-like substance coming out of them. The cows had tumors. The frogs had two heads. I knew we weren't in Kansas anymore.

"It was taking all the bits of information I learned about the environment, and all my courage. It became a calling, I had to do it. I had people telling me, 'You're not a doctor. You're from the other side of the tracks with ugly shoes and a foul mouth. Why, why should we listen to you?' I said, 'I didn't realize you had to be an expert to see that people were being harmed, that something is killing the wildlife and the trees.'"

Brockovich encouraged the audience to use their leverage, that is the strength of their numbers, to affect positive change because communities coming together, she said, "is where the magic happens."

"This isn't a short game, this is a long game." she said. "You've got to stick to it to get things done. In anything that's important, when you feel like you've failed, get back in the game."

Brockovich, president of Brockovich Research and Consulting, noted that after the movie came out, she was inundated with emails from 126 countries.

"This wasn't just America's problem," she said. "This was the planet's problem."

It led to her creating interactive "Community Healthbooks" where the public can self-report environmental problems in their communities.

"We now had a way to start seeing each other," she said. "I get this (information) all day, every day. This says something to me: What is going on out there?"

Brockovich said although many municipalities struggle with environmental regulations, the environment is not a political issue because it impacts every living creature.

"We can't have conversations where we finger-point," she said. "We can mobilize where we find answers to these issues. Litigation and our judicial system, we're good on that, but it's not the only solution to our problems. We've kicked the can to the next CEO, to the next president. We've kicked and kicked and we are at the end of the line."

Brockovich said her next chapter is helping communities to craft solutions to deal with crises such as East Palestine.

"We have broken down so many barriers where we've lost respect for the environment, and in turn, have lost respect for ourselves," she said. "It's our land, our water, our air, and our lives."

Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com.

On Twitter: @cgoshayREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Erin Brockovich speaks at the University of Mount Union