Creative and Critical Studies, Faculty of (Okanagan)
DSpace
UBCO
Hendricks, Stephenie Dilley
Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
University of British Columbia
Despite recommendations in 1999 by the Committee on Environmental Justice Health Sciences Policy Program at the U.S. Institute of Health that provided evidence for the importance of education among medical professionals, policy makers, and the public on environmental justice (EJ) and environmental health (EH) (Medicine viii), the presence of EH and EJ content within general post-secondary curriculum remains exiguous (Carlos Garibay et al. 921). While the U.S. National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences has argued that learning about EH “can facilitate students’ learning in science, math, language, history, and civics,'' (Hursh et al. 2), environmental curricula for mobilizing accessible knowledge about EH and EJ for students regardless of their academic discipline is particularly absent. “Unintended Consequences: An Open Educational Resource About Environmental Health and Environmental Justice,” is an Environmental Humanities project delivering a podcast centered post-secondary curriculum using subjective, qualitative Scholarly Personal Narrative (SPN) methodology for an Open Education Resources (OER) modular EH and EJ curriculum. Since SPN uses stories as data, students learn about EJ and EH through the voices of those with lived experiences in these realms, including about the complexities of EH and EJ identification and definition. Four distinct modules each contain an instructor guide, learning outcomes, key concepts, a podcast, a unique article, and curated materials. Four distinct module themes include: “A Brief and Recent History of Environmental Health,” “Health Professionals on the Front Lines,” “On the Fenceline,” and “What Instead?” (featuring Green Chemistry, alternatives chemicals assessment, just transitions, shareholder, and consumer advocacy and sustainable business). Limitations to this research include significant subjectivity throughout, a relatively small sample size, and the small scope meant as brief introductions to a variety of aspects of these very complex realms. “Unintended Consequences” fills a gap for an urgently needed portal to accessible knowledge about manmade toxic exposures in our environment that is crucial for success for sustaining a healthy world.
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES: AN OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE by Stephenie Dilley Hendricks BA, Dominican University of California 2005 MA, Dominican University of California 2016 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Interdisciplinary Studies) (Sustainability) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) September 2024 CC Stephenie Dilley Hendricks BY-NC-ND 4.0., 2024 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: Unintended Consequences: An Open Educational Resource About Environmental Health and Justice submitted by Stephenie Dilley Hendricks in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Examining Committee: Greg Garrard, Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies Supervisor Susan Murch, Department of Chemistry Supervisory Committee Member Kim Thomas, Senior Advisor Editorial Policy (BBC) Supervisory Committee Member Sumer Seiki, Okanagan School of Education University Examiner Vanessa Andreotti, University of Victoria External Examiner Supervisory Committee Member iii Abstract Despite recommendations in 1999 by the Committee on Environmental Justice Health Sciences Policy Program at the U.S. Institute of Health that provided evidence for the importance of education among medical professionals, policy makers, and the public on environmental justice (EJ) and environmental health (EH) (Medicine viii), the presence of EH and EJ content within general post-secondary curriculum remains exiguous (Carlos Garibay et al. 921). While the U.S. National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences has argued that learning about EH “can facilitate students’ learning in science, math, language, history, and civics,'' (Hursh et al. 2), environmental curricula for mobilizing accessible knowledge about EH and EJ for students regardless of their academic discipline is particularly absent. “Unintended Consequences: An Open Educational Resource About Environmental Health and Environmental Justice,” is an Environmental Humanities project delivering a podcast centered post-secondary curriculum using subjective, qualitative Scholarly Personal Narrative (SPN) methodology for an Open Education Resources (OER) modular EH and EJ curriculum. Since SPN uses stories as data, students learn about EJ and EH through the voices of those with lived experiences in these realms, including about the complexities of EH and EJ identification and definition. Four distinct modules each contain an instructor guide, learning outcomes, key concepts, a podcast, a unique article, and curated materials. Four distinct module themes include: “A Brief and Recent History of Environmental Health,” “Health Professionals on the Front Lines,” “On the Fenceline,” and “What Instead?” (featuring Green Chemistry, alternatives chemicals assessment, just transitions, shareholder, and consumer advocacy and sustainable business). Limitations to this research include significant subjectivity throughout, a relatively small sample size, and the small scope meant as brief introductions to a variety of aspects of these very complex realms. “Unintended Consequences” fills a gap for an urgently needed portal to accessible knowledge about manmade toxic exposures in our environment that is crucial for success for sustaining a healthy world. v Lay Summary “Unintended Consequences: An Open Educational Resource About Environmental Health and Justice,” is a free post-secondary level course with a podcast in each of the four modules focused on introducing students to people working in the areas of environmental health (EH) and environmental justice (EJ). Students learn from listening to the voices of professionals in many different disciplines: medicine, chemistry, biology, social justice, business, finance, labor, and consumer advocacy. In addition to the podcast, each module has an essay written in first person, assignments, curated materials, instructor guides, and a quiz. The modules can be used singly for other courses or together as one course. The information is accessible to non-science and non-health focused students. vi Preface I am the Project Lead for this “Environmental Consequences: An Open Educational Resource About Environmental Health and Environmental Justice.” I designed the project, recruited participants, conducted interviews, wrote the podcast scripts, essays, key concepts, outcomes, assignments, instructor guide and worked with Pathwise Solutions for the design and loading of web content. An ethics review for this environmental humanities podcast centered post-secondary Open Education Resources curriculum was conducted, number H22-00502. Three environmental justice advocates advised on research questions. I used Scholarly Personal Narrative (SPN) methodology, meaning the project lead’s (mine) as well as participants’ own stories served as data, linking to larger themes. This is subjective research. Participants received the first edit draft of the audio podcast which contained their voices for review and suggested revisions. In addition to unique audio recorded with Zoom interviews, I researched and acquired archival footage and either received permission or used content that holds a Creative Commons license. I received funding from the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies Catalyst Collaboration Fund and Jonas Philanthropies. The Green Science Policy Institute provided valuable advice. The Curated Materials have been titled Explorations. The titles of books and other resources in the Explorations sections of Chapters 6-9 are presented in this dissertation as they appear on the web page, differing from the MLA 9th Edition style used throughout the rest of this dissertation. Since each module is designed to be “stand alone,” the opening paragraphs for each essay contain a qualifier identifying the nature of the methodology For each module essay online, you will see text for downloading a PDF and for an audio recording. These will be added once review is completed. The academic writing style for this dissertation is MLA 9th edition. The Otter AI platform was used for audio file transcription. vii The podcasts in Chapters Six through Nine are hyperlinked to the web page that holds them, which also includes the podcast credits. This is a qualitative, subjective, Environmental Humanities Dissertation. For the purposes of the OER modules, we will take it that concerns about environmental health are well founded, and that environmental injustice is real. viii Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………...iii Lay Summary……………………………………………………………………………………...v Preface……………………………………………………………………………………………vi Table of Contents..........................................................................................................................viii List of Tables…………………………………………………………………………………..................xiii Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………………...xiv Dedication……………………………………………………………………………………….xvi Chapter One: Introduction………………………………………………………………………..1 Background….. ...................................................................................................................................... .1 Knowledge Gaps ..................................................................................................................................... 7 Objectives, Scope, and Limitations ...................................................................................................... 7 Overview of Chapters ............................................................................................................................ 8 Chapter Two: OERs and SPN: Key Tools for Engaged Teaching……………………………....13 Open Education Resources (OER) Curriculum ................................................................................ 13 Scholarly Personal Narrative Methodology (SPN) .......................................................................... 15 Managing Data ...................................................................................................................................... 25 Recruiting Participants ......................................................................................................................... 32 Interviews............................................................................................................................................... 34 ix Participant Review (Member Checking) ........................................................................................... 34 Chapter Three: Podcasts Aid Knowledge Retention………………………………………........36 Podcast Elements .................................................................................................................................. 37 Writing Scripts, Script Oversight ....................................................................................................... 37 Editing, Revisions ................................................................................................................................. 38 Chapter Four: Teaching Philosophy and Instructor Guides……………………………………. 39 Teaching Philosophy ............................................................................................................................ 39 Instructor Guides................................................................................................................................... 40 Using “Unintended Consequences” as an Element in Other Courses ........................................... 43 Measuring Student Success ................................................................................................................. 44 Skills for Success Model ..................................................................................................................... 45 Module Elements .................................................................................................................................. 46 Essays and Podcasts ............................................................................................................................. 46 Explorations (Curated Materials) ....................................................................................................... 46 Quizzes ................................................................................................................................................... 47 Web Production..................................................................................................................................... 47 Chapter Five: Complexities Essay……………………………………………………………….49 “Natural” vs Synthetic Chemical Exposures .................................................................................... 50 Toxicology and Epidemiology ............................................................................................................ 52 Chapter Six: A Brief and Recent Environmental Health History..................................................69 x Instructor Guide and Ideas for Individual Learners……………………………………...........69 Learning Outcomes .............................................................................................................................. 71 Assignments (Required) ...................................................................................................................... 72 Podcast ................................................................................................................................................... 72 A Brief and Recent Environmental Health History Essay .............................................................. 72 Assignments and Explorations ............................................................................................................ 94 Quiz......................................................................................................................................................... 96 Chapter Seven: Health Professionals on the Front Lines………………………………………...98 Instructor Guide and Ideas for Individual Learners…………………………………………….98 Learning Outcomes ............................................................................................................................ 100 Key Concepts ...................................................................................................................................... 100 Assignments (Required) .................................................................................................................... 101 Podcast……………………………………………………………………………………….101 Health Professionals on the Front Lines Essay............................................................................... 101 Assignments and Explorations .......................................................................................................... 122 Quiz....................................................................................................................................................... 124 Chapter Eight: On the Fenceline……………………………………………………………......126 Instructor Guide and Ideas for Individual Learners ....................................................................... 126 Learning Outcomes ............................................................................................................................ 129 Key Concepts ...................................................................................................................................... 129 xi Assignments (required) ...................................................................................................................... 130 Podcast ................................................................................................................................................. 130 On the Fenceline Essay...........................................................................................................130 Assignments and Explorations……………………………………………..........................148 Quiz.........................................................................................................................................151 Chapter Nine: What Instead?.......................................................................................................153 Instructor Guide and Ideas for Independent Learners ................................................................... 153 Learning Outcomes ............................................................................................................................ 155 Key Concepts ...................................................................................................................................... 155 Assignments (Required) .................................................................................................................... 158 Podcast ................................................................................................................................................. 158 What Instead? Essay ........................................................................................................................... 158 Assignments and Explorations……………………………………………………………….182 Quiz....................................................................................................................................................... 184 Chapter Ten: Conclusion – Delimitations, Knowledge Mobilized (Dissertation only)…..........186 Contribution to Knowledge and Strengths ...................................................................................... 188 Future Thoughts .................................................................................................................................. 190 Works Cited……………………………………………………………………………………..193 Appendices……………………………………………………………………………………...245 Appendix A. Teaching Philosophy and Module Specific Instructor Guides…………......... 245 xii Course Instructor Guide………………………………………………………………………..245 Teaching Philosophy ................................................................................................................... 245 Instructor Guide for A Brief and Recent Environmental Health History ............................ 246 Instructor Guide for Health Professionals On the Front Lines .............................................. 247 Instructor Guide for On the Fenceline ...................................................................................... 248 Instructor Guide for What Instead? ........................................................................................... 249 Appendix B. Sample Interview Questions ..................................................................................... 251 Appendix C. Podcast Transcripts ..................................................................................................... 252 A Brief and Recent Environmental Health History PodcastTranscript ............................ 252 Health Professionals on the Front Lines Podcast Transcript…………………………….263 On the Fenceline Podcast Transcript…………………………………………………….273 What Instead? Podcast Transcript………………………………………………………..286 Appendix D. Module Specific Podcast Credits……………………………………………...301 xiii List of Tables Table 1. Sandra Steingraber’s Description of Epidemiological Studies: Type of Study, Who, Process, Meet People Studied…………………………………………………………………..55 Table 2. Gordon Walker's Categories of Justice: Types of Justice, Descriptions, Notes………..63 Table 3. Partial List of Organizations Rating Products for Toxic Hazards: Database Name, NGOs/Companies, Product Type, Subscription, Notes………………………………………...178 xiv Acknowledgements When I first met with Greg Garrard at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, I was a “mature” potential Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies Sustainability Theme graduate student with degrees in Humanities. After robust careers producing radio and television, I’d been a communications professional, supporting scientists, health professionals and policy/regulatory advocates working on environmental health and environmental justice issues. After almost a decade of doing that work, I pulled back to teach post-secondary journalism and social justice communications and found a love for helping to guide this student age group. When choosing how I wanted to wake up and face each day pursuing a doctoral degree, I knew that I wanted to, somehow, help let the world know about the virtually unknown heroic men and women working so hard to make a healthier world for all life on the earth. It was Greg who came up with the idea of using a methodology called Scholarly Personal Narrative (where stories are considered data, including my own) for my dissertation. A digital methodology class taught by Miles Thurgood introduced me to the concept of creating a podcast as a way of mobilizing knowledge via SPN research. Eventually, Greg suggested that it made sense to use the SPN methodology for a podcast-centered Open Education Resources (OER) post-secondary curriculum. I want to thank these University of British Columbia, Okanagan (UBCO) professors for helping forge a path to help me understand why I was led there. Susan Murch, Canada Research Chair, Natural Products Chemistry, and acting department head, Professor of Chemistry at UBCO, provided steady and invaluable insights. Early in the process, UBCO’s Kevin Chong worked hard to help me understand SPN writing. Retired BBC senior advisor (and former live television colleague from long ago) Kim Thomas oversaw the podcast scripts and gave excellent production advice, as well as overall pertinent feedback, holding me accountable in general and for ethical considerations in particular. xv Many thanks to the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies Catalyst Collaboration Fund, Jonas Philanthropies, and the Green Science Policy Institute for their support, and to Dan Bashaw, Geraldine Eliot, and Grae King at Pathwise Solutions for believing in this project and adding their creative expertise for manifesting this OER online. Autumn Knowlton assisted me greatly with writing and editing the essays and with the editing of this dissertation. The artistry with the podcasts’ production is thanks to director/editor Kelly Hendricks. My heartfelt gratitude goes out to all the EH and EJ folks who participated in this research, not only for their generosity of spirit and time, but for the momentous work they are doing on behalf of all of us for a healthier future. My steadfast admiration grows for the many who were not included in this project; thank you for your dedication and hard work. I want to acknowledge that most of the work for this project was conducted on the unceded lands of the Autonomous Sinxit. Additional inspiration for the urgency in protecting environmental health and environmental justice came from Autonomous Sinixt matriarch, Marilyn James. Incubating this curriculum, presented to you here, has only been possible through the interdisciplinary approach of the UBC Okanagan IGS Sustainability Theme program. xvi Dedication I am haunted by thoughts of young people coming into this world with ubiquitous toxic exposures. I dedicate this project to those who are inheriting this under-reported reality, which may explain why some may be getting cancer at a younger age, are failing to get pregnant, have learning disabilities, brain tumors, and other afflictions linked to manmade toxic exposures in our modern age. May students of this OER take the knowledge presented (albeit lightly) here and bring fresh thinking and innovations for advancing the future of environmental health and environmental justice protections. 1 Chapter One: Introduction Background Due to the Scholarly Personal Narrative (SPN) methodology I deploy in “Unintended Consequences,” which requires the inclusion of the researcher’s own story (more about SPN in Chapter Two), I am including a brief description of my positionality to assist with giving context for this study. I am a white, cis, mature settler woman born on the stolen lands of the Miwok and Pomo peoples in Northern California. When reflecting upon the question “why this project?” the following facts of my history come to mind as shaping my role: ● My grandfather (of Scottish and Welsh descent) on my mother’s side was a federal judge in Chicago who tried to take down the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. ● My great grandfather on my father’s side (of Scottish and Irish descent) may have been either a participant in or a complicit witness to the massacre of 38 Dakota Sioux warriors in Blue Earth Minnesota in 1862. ● My father (whose mother was German) grew up, in part, living with an Indigenous family in Alaska, which led him to introduce me to his reverence and love for the wonder of our natural environment. ● My mother (also of German descent) shared her devotion for animals, nature, and justice with me; she brought unhoused people home to live with us. She taught me that all people – regardless of color, economic status, or brain chemistry – deserve respect and kindness. ● At age 15, I was assigned to read and review Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring for a new local TV cable show aimed at teens. 2 Though these facts may seem disparate, I believe that the combination of these ancestral aspects and personal experiences prompted my calling to protect both the environment and fight for social justice. This manifested in the radio and television programming I produced, including mainstream TV talk shows that sought to dismantle the apartheid regime in South Africa, revealing the United States’ role in torturing Indigenous people in El Salvador, above-ground nuclear testing in Utah that made so many people sick for generations, and many other under reported or unreported stories. These experiences led me to work with scientists, health professionals, and disproportionately impacted communities of color on environmental health (EH) and environmental justice (EJ) protections as a communications professional. I was suddenly thrust into a world of people grappling with the unintended consequences of manmade toxic chemicals proliferation. Together, we worked to try to identify hazards, make regulatory and policy changes and shifts in consumer markets. As a communications director or coordinator, it was my job to help forge spaces in public discourse so that EH and EJ voices could be heard. After that experience, I then discovered a love for guiding post-secondary students and began a career teaching post-secondary journalism and social justice communications. In this last quadrant of my life, I enrolled in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies Sustainability theme at the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Okanagan. I wanted to ask the question: How can post-secondary students learn about environmental health and environmental justice in an engaging fashion that enables them to feel it is relevant to their lives and such that they feel empowered to join those working on behalf of us all? You are reading the dissertation in which I explain how I answered that question by developing an Open Educational Resource (OER) curriculum. The OER itself is not 3 a dissertation, nor even a single document. It is a website, accessible to any learner with an internet connection, made up of four modules, each of which includes a podcast, an essay, instructor guide, key concepts, learning outcomes, and a set of dedicated learning materials. The History module presents a recent accounting of EH and EJ, centred on the USA, where these terms were first most used. Another module introduces students to health professionals who came to EH/EJ through their work, while another considers “Fenceline” communities experiencing manmade toxic exposures with brief examples in Kenya, the Arctic, Canada, and Texas. Still yet another module looks to the future, asking how scientific, economic, social justice, and public awareness can ensure that new products and technologies can be developed more safely. In the dissertation, the modules are preceded by four chapters that will not be seen by OER users. These chapters explain, in ways relevant to dissertation readers and examiners, how and why the OER takes its present form. This podcast centered OER answers these questions: What is environmental health? What is environmental justice? Who is working on these issues? Why are these social justice issues? What can we do instead of our current situation that has led to ubiquitous manmade toxic exposures? Due in part to the Scholarly Personal Narrative methodology as well as the indelible impressions left upon me working in this realm, this is not a critical dispassionate study. It is unapologetically subjective. The OER intentionally and overtly advocates for EH and EJ protections; it is not a dispassionate critical presentation. This choice, which was central to my doctoral research from the outset, is reflected in the structure, as well as the content, of the OER. The framing chapters therefore explain and justify my pedagogical decisions. 4 Post-Secondary Curriculum in EH/EJ This dissertation does not review the range of publications, across a variety of disciplines from toxicology to literary criticism, on the topics of EH and EJ. Instead, I identify the dearth of pedagogical materials on these topics, which my primary output, the Open Educational Resource curriculum, begins to remedy. The surprising lack of dedicated EH/EJ programs such as described below is both cause and effect of the paucity of engaging, accessible teaching materials. Once the OER is available, I envisage hard-pressed instructors in under-resourced community colleges and other schools using it to engage their students, some of whom may well come from fenceline communities (residents experiencing pollution) themselves. Many of the interviewees for the podcast knew that there was nothing like it in existence, and agreed to participate because they could see how this OER could assist with making a transformative contribution to public knowledge of EH/EJ. Liberal Arts students are likely to have difficulty finding accessible content on EH and EJ that is not science, health, or occupationally focused. Students enrolled in public health and science tracks may encounter some science or health based post-secondary EH course content related to Occupational Health. A rare concentration exists at the University of California, Davis, with their “Environmental Health Sciences Center.” Three Cores of research themes include Exposure, Integrated Health Sciences, and Community Engagement. Each Core interfaces with other disciplines at the university, such as toxicology, atmospheric chemistry, public health, and other science or health focused academic areas (“Home. UC Davis”). The U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has developed educational resources for teaching environmental health, primarily to elementary and secondary students (“Environmental Health Science”). 5 EH and EJ challenges are enmeshed with climate change issues “Environmental Justice,” 2, “Impacts”). University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, has launched the UBC Centre for Climate Justice, where teams working on EH and EJ are conducting research, although no coursework focused on EH or EJ for students is in evidence (“University of British Columbia”). For most post-secondary students, though, access to an undergraduate introductory EH or EJ curriculum within an Environmental Humanities format is uncommon. Since I began this project in 2019, new programs have emerged, especially with graduate curriculum for specialized professions. In 2022, the University of California, San Francisco’s (UCSF) Western States Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit interactive curriculum aimed at health care professionals was made available online (Leonard). The U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry also offers training for pediatric health professionals (“ATSDR”). One notable OER offered by Coursera (a major OER distributor) is a “beginner’s course” from the University of Michigan, “Hazards and Global Public Health,” (Neitzel). This course takes a more global approach and, as with the UCSF course, differs from my OER in that it does not feature podcasts to relay knowledge. Beyond these two surveys, EH/EJ appear as topics in some Liberal Arts discipline-based courses, such as with the University of Wisconsin-River Falls’ instructor Greta Gaard’s English courses on EJ, environmental literature, and green business (“Greta Gaard”). Joni Adamson is an Environmental Humanities English professor at Arizona State University who writes: 6 ... on the centrality of the humanities to the sustainability sciences, environmental Justice, climate fiction and film, Indigenous literatures and scientific literacies, the rights of nature movement, and the food movement. (“Joni Adamson”). Some post-secondary institutions are beginning to include EJ focused health sciences content. Columbia University in New York has an Environmental Health Science Department as part of their Mailmen School of Public Health (“Environmental Health Sciences”), and has various initiatives that include environmental justice, such as the Environmental Justice and Just Cities Network (“Home, Environmental Justice”) and Agents of Change (About “Agents”) that features up and coming environmental justice advocates. Texas Southern University remains a stalwart in providing EJ social justice courses at the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice (“The Bullard Center”). Such courses are limited to students enrolled in the post-secondary institutions and may treat EH/EJ as social movements for background to the important disciplinary knowledge students must learn. With few exceptions most post-secondary content is for in-person courses; little is available online. “Unintended Consequences” addresses this gap, with a podcast-centered post-secondary Open Education Resources post-secondary curriculum Curated materials for the post-secondary curriculum content created by the participants in this project are included in the Explorations section within each module. For example, in the “Health Professionals on the Front Lines” module, an e-textbook developed by the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments is linked and available for free. 7 Knowledge Gaps While environmental humanities course offerings on EH are rare, there are even more knowledge gaps with post-secondary content on EJ than on EH. Carlos Garibay et al., in their article "Program and Institutional Predictors of Environmental Justice Inclusion in U.S. Post-Secondary Environmental and Sustainability Curricula" for Environmental Education Research, report that environmental justice curricula are often “... excluded from higher education sustainability discourses and curriculum” and that when it is included, it tends to be via an economic, business, or statistical frame (6). Amin et al. determined that not only is there a gap in education on ecology in relationship to equity, but that education itself is the key to transforming those engaged with environmental justice challenges (1075). Furthermore, for EJ content to be successfully integrated into curriculum, participatory research is essential, among other things (18). With its participant narrative methodology, “Unintended Consequences” remains a unique post-secondary offering with an Environmental Humanities approach in a podcast-centered Open Education Resources curriculum. Objectives, Scope, and Limitations The purpose of the Open Educational Resource is to make EH/EJ knowledge accessible to a wide range of learners. The purpose of this thesis, which encompasses the OER, is to reflect on the knowledge mobilization that the OER attempts: its necessity, methods and limitations. Thus, while the goal of the OER is educational, this thesis is not centred in the discipline of Education – for one thing, I do not test the success of my method. My work also borders journalism and communication studies, and yet the OER aims to engage learners more deeply than other forms of communication. Whilst the target audience of the OER is described below, the thesis will be of interest to scholars from a wide variety of disciplines who wish to improve 8 access to their instruction. It contributes to a growing field of professional practice and reflection that one might call ‘knowledge mobilization for increased impact’ or ‘public scholarship’. Though participant story numbers may seem low with 20 unique and an additional 7 stories from archival sources, I argue that the value of these specific stories illustrate profound knowledge about EH and EJ protections and significantly mobilize information in an accessible fashion for post-secondary students in an Environmental Humanities frame. The research is limited due to participant size, by the brevity of an introductory approach to complex information, and by its distinctly subjective SPN methodology. Overview of Chapters Throughout Chapters One through Four I describe how the interviews were selected, review the relevant literature on EH/EJ curriculum, OER pedagogy, and justify my use of SPN. Experts in the field of EH/EJ will recognize many of my interviewees as amongst the foremost figures in these movements. My supervisor has described it as a ‘Who’s Who’ of knowledge, experience, and health advocacy, which I have assembled here into an introductory form accessible to undergraduate post-secondary students who may not be on health or science tracks, might be independent learners, and for anyone interested in exploring EH and EJ. The most challenging aspect for me, though, was the writing of the essays using SPN, a process I discuss at length in Chapter Four. There were many factors that contributed to this difficulty. At the start, I didn’t really want my own voice to be in this. The focus for me was creating a venue for the voices of those who are immersed in EH and EJ work. Since using SPN was required, just figuring out what that meant has been a hurdle; SPN is a somewhat new methodology, so it was difficult for faculty members to understand it and assist me in understanding it. It is tough to know how much of my own story to share. At first, I shared too much, then too little. Hopefully what is presented in this dissertation will be “just right.” 9 Chapter Five describes, subjectively and in brief, some basic inherent scientific complexities that make identifying EH and EJ hazards and impacts so difficult. Within the OER, this “Complexities” essay plays the important role of acknowledging scientific, methodological, and philosophical nuances that the OER does not take up in detail. The OER is not a toxicological or epidemiological curriculum, nor is it a sociological treatment of the EH/EJ movements. Rather, it embodies a belief in the validity of emerging science and supports advocacy for increased EH and EJ protections. Having met and known people who are ill, injured, or who have died from health impacts linked to toxic manmade exposures, I found it difficult, therefore, to convey, dispassionately, scholarly criticisms that could potentially be used to discredit EH and EJ claims. Chapters Six through Nine each present a module and its elements. There are four modules in this curriculum. Although each module is meant to function as a “stand alone” module, they can also be used sequentially for a full term. Each module contains an Instructor Guide, Student Outcomes, Key Concepts, Assignments and Explorations (presented as they appear on the website, not in MLA format) with a Podcast, a unique SPN essay, and a quiz. When possible, audio of raw interviews will be in the Assignments and Explorations sections on the OER site. I have not included those lengthy transcripts in this dissertation. However, transcripts of the podcasts are in the Appendices. In Chapter Six, A Brief and Recent Environmental Health History, I introduce students to Rachel Carson and her book, Silent Spring. We hear Carson’s actual voice as she responds to a chemical industry scientist’s disparaging comments in a 1963 CBS news story (“The Silent Spring”). Students then learn about Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival? A Scientific Detective Story, a book former U.S. vice president Al 10 Gore called the “sequel” to Silent Spring. Co-authors Theo Colborn and Pete Myers, along with researcher Carol Kwiatkowski, share their discoveries of endocrine disrupting chemicals, or EDCs. We then hear chemist Arlene Blum talk about her discovery of toxic flame-retardant. chemicals in children’s pajamas in the 1970s. Finally, Lois Gibbs, the housewife who discovered her Love Canal neighborhood had been built on a toxic chemicals site, shares her story. Health Care Professionals on the Front Lines in Chapter Seven features David Carpenter, who is a World Health Organization Lab physician researcher and State University of New York, Albany, professor. Renowned pediatrician Phillip J. Landrigan, who is professor and director of the Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good, and Director of the Global Observatory on Planetary Health at Boston College discusses his ground-breaking work on identifying pollution impacts on children. He is co-founder of the Lancet Commission on pollution and health. National Medical Association Council on Environmental Health co-chair physician Mark Mitchell, who is also emeritus professor of Climate Change, Energy and Environmental Health Equity at George Mason University, addresses disproportionate health impacts experienced by BIPOC communities. The head of Physicians for Social Responsibility-Kenya, Paul Saoke, describes health impacts he sees there from manmade toxic exposures and explains how manmade toxic exposures impact other continents. Joining them are Barbara Sattler, co-founder of Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments and professor emeritus at the University of San Francisco and Raluca Radu, a University of British Columbia, Vancouver, lecturer in nursing and researcher of climate change and environmental health impacts. Joel Moskowitz, University of California, Berkeley Director of the Center for Family and Community Health at the School of Public Health, and Tracey Woodruff, University of California, San Francisco, professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences 11 and the director of the university’s program on Reproductive Health and the Environment round out the module from their academic health research perspectives. Many of the people I wanted to feature in Chapter Eight’s On the Fenceline module were busy supporting rapid advancements in U.S. EJ protection regulations and policies being initiated by the administration of U.S. president Joseph Biden. Other voices I used were otherwise indisposed or had passed away, such as Ron Plain, an Indigenous leader in Sarnia, Ontario. Using archival footage with permission, combined with unique interviews with some, we hear compelling stories from Robert Bullard (also known as the “Father of Environmental Justice”) who is founding Director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University and professor at Texas Southern University; Judy Da Silva with the Grassy Narrows Indigenous community in Ontario, Canada; Tom Goldtooth, founder of the Indigenous Environmental Network; Ada Lockridge, with the Aamjiwnaang First Nation in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada; Pam Miller, biologist and founder of Alaska Community Action on Toxics; Bryan Parras, co-founder of Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (t.e.j.a.s.); the late Ron Plain with the Aamjiwnaang First Nation in Sarnia; Monica Unseld, biologist and founder of Until Justice Data Partners; and Vi Waghiyi, Sivuqaq Yupik, Native Village of Savoonga Tribal Citizen, mother, and grandmother and Environmental Health & Justice program director at Alaska Community Action on toxics. Chapter Nine, What Instead?, contains brief discussions on Green Chemistry, chemical alternatives assessment, biomimicry, sustainable business, shareholder activism, protections for workers and communities, and consumer activism. This features the “Father of Green Chemistry,” Paul Anastas, environmental engineer; co-founder of ChemForward Lauren Heine; Clean Production Action campaigner Beverly Thorpe; Co-founder of the Just Transition 12 Alliance, Jose Bravo; American Sustainable Business Network co-founder David Levine; As You Sow’s shareholder activist CEO Andrew Behar; and author, co-founder of Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, and U.S. Right to Know consumer advocate Stacy Malkan. Chapter Ten provides a general discussion about the findings. 13 Chapter Two: OERs and SPN: Key Tools for Engaged Teaching This chapter addresses OER curriculum and Scholarly Personal Narrative (SPN) methodology and writing as effective tools for mobilizing knowledge about EH and EJ. Measuring students’ success or failures in the course is also considered. Open Education Resources (OER) Curriculum The United Nations Education, Science, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines Open Education Resources (OER) curriculum as ... learning, teaching, and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain or are under copyright that have been released under an open license, that permit no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation, and redistribution by others. (UNESCO) OERs are a process for knowledge mobilization that comes with increased “accessibility and flexibility” (Harrison 126). OERs have been found to be especially inclusive for students who may not have the resources for in-person post-secondary institutions (McBride and Abramovich 1). New Zealand education scholar Bronwyn Hegarty has ascribed eight attributes to OERs: • Participatory technologies. • People, openness, trust. • Innovation and creativity. • Sharing ideas and resources. • Connected community. • Learner generated. • Reflective practice; and • Peer review. 14 (Hegarty 5-10) “Unintended Consequences” is designed with these attributes in mind. It easily fits into a virtual classroom space such as Zoom, with its interactive capacities such as live visual and aural engagement, breakout rooms for smaller discussions, chat for text comments, a white board for real time student collaboration, and more. A virtual OER can bring in distant experts and include geographically dispersed students. Using SPN methodology with podcasts innovates knowledge transfer in a creative fashion. Students can share their ideas and, of great importance, resources. OERs can connect all parties into a community of shared learning. OERs are also effective for self-learners (Wiley et al. 1). While OERS can bring in elements from outside of the academy to students, OER instructors and students may not be able to access some curated materials and subscription library services afforded by those teaching within conventional post-secondary institutions. The podcasts and essays and most of the Explorations (curated materials) in this OER are free. The OER is licensed under the Creative Commons CC by NC-ND: This license enables reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. CC BY-NC-ND includes the following elements BY: credit must be given to the creator. NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted. ND: No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted. “About CC” 15 Due to the current state of EH and EJ curriculum being generally limited to students enrolled in public health or occupational health disciplines at institutions requiring tuition, offering an OER on these topics enables all students to access the information. However, more conventional post-secondary instructors are also looking to utilize OERs to fulfill the content of their classes. Indeed, the University of British Columbia, Okanagan assists with finding OERs for instructors to use to supplement in-person teaching (“Find an Open Online Resource”). In brief, using SPN in a podcast format, “Unintended Consequences” imparts knowledge with the stories of environmental health and environmental justice protection efforts “straight from the horse’s mouth.” Scholarly Personal Narrative Methodology (SPN) SPN methodology is ideal for engaging in research about EH and EJ via a podcast centred pedagogy. Stories are used as data (Nash “Chapter Four” 51). Yet instead of stories being translated into data points, as with autoethnography, stories are presented, for the most part, without being translated into data points. SPN presents “Stories in, Stories Out,” as opposed to autoethnography which can be viewed as “Stories In, Data Out” (Garrard). For this research, excerpts from stories are woven together with the researcher’s voice, tying the excerpts together and to themes. How, one might ask, does SPN differ from Narrative Inquiry? To try and answer that question I took a closer look at the work of Jean Clandinin, an author whose seminal books on Narrative Inquiry include Engaging in Narrative Inquiry, and Robert Nash, who holds equivalent expertise in SPN, as demonstrated in his book, Me-Search and Re-Search: A Guide for Writing Scholarly Personal Narrative Manuscripts. The best answer that I found is Nash’s contention that SPN is a form of Narrative Inquiry (21). One possible difference is that SPN “is a conjoining of personal perspective and scholarly insights” (Nash 1). Narrative Inquiry, per se, does not 16 require researchers to include the research of others. Yet Nash explains that SPN researchers “ground their observations equally in their own personal experiences as well as in the ‘objective’ research of the experts” (14). Nash further contends that Personal Narrative is more focused on “self,” than SPN, which uses Narrative Inquiry along with scholarship of others to investigate themes (16). Regardless of genre, stories have always provided a fundamental way to understand what surrounds us; they are how we participate in sense making (Shukla). Stories are “creative agents that live beyond the moment to inform and disrupt our awareness and perception of the world” (Kelly Adams 5). SPN methodology uses stories to make research accessible for both academic and non-academic audiences. Furthermore, scholars understand that the telling of stories is a “chief means for a moral education” (MacIntyre 121). As such, stories are the heart of SPN writing: [SPN is] a style of public-intellectual writing. based in storytelling and self- disclosure, one that draws from a variety of academic and non-academic references and findings. It allows the writer to communicate to a non-academic audience the excitement of the intellectual life in a way that is accessible and creative, and that realistically reflects the complexities of daily life and personal identity. (Nash “Chapter Four” 39) Indeed, SPN scholar Robert Nash’s reference to non-academic audiences is key here. Nash emphasizes that SPN researchers invite readers into their stories as they draw upon their own lived experiences – their personal identity – and those of their research participants (Nash Me-Search 27). The information is presented in a fashion that is “non-elitist, non-technical, and 17 non-authoritarian” (Nash “Chapter Four” 40). I argue that this can set up conditions for increased relevancy for students. Scholar Sherry Lee Linkon looks to SPN as a methodology for research on working class studies. She explains her view of SPN in the Routledge International Handbook of Working-Class Studies: [SPN] highlights personal stories as tools rather than as the primary focus of a text and avoids identification with any particular method or discipline… Unlike memoir, a scholarly personal narrative is not about one’s own story. It uses individual experience as a source of insight, and in the process, it maps the intersection between identity, social structure, perspective, and politics that makes working-class studies a compelling and important field. (21) Linkon’s observation that SPN is “not about one’s own personal story” is a key factor. Although the researcher’s story is an element in the data, it is not a central point in the delivery of the research. Rather, it serves to provide context and meaning. Post-secondary education scholar Michael J. Stebleton supports the “sense making” pedagogy that SPN provides for those working with graduate students in several disciplines, including medicine, engineering, and education (Stebleton 176-177). Other academics believe that narrative knowledge mobilization is, itself, a form of “cognition” (Boyd 5). SPN, which, as mentioned, can also be described as a form of Narrative Inquiry, uses “personal stories to deliver the message” (Nash “Chapter Four” 51). Within Narrative Inquiry and SPN, storytelling research methods document people and events in the world as the researcher and the participants experience them (Boydston 251, as cited by Clandinin 14), while connecting to larger themes. Clandinin explains that “three aspects of our view of experience – 18 that it is relational, continuous, and social – are fundamental to what we see as Narrative Inquiry” (Engaging in Narrative Inquiry 17). Effective SPN as a form of Narrative Inquiry therefore depends on the researcher’s ability to authentically connect to participants, linking participants’ stories to meta themes. Notably, SPN research is carefully constructed to ensure the ongoing beneficial service of the data to support participants’ work. SPN scholar Scott Slovic explains that SPN can enable a process of viscerally emphasizing the scholar’s sense of situatedness in a living, breathing world, in an ecological reality where there is give and take between the human and the broader realities of the planet. (Slovic 317) Indeed, Slovic recognizes that SPN provides a way to document the relationships between the author, their research participants, and the larger world around them. Because of this dynamic, I agreed to choose SPN as an effective method for documenting those working for environmental health and environmental justice protections, which are relevant to all life. While my own story only has direct, personal connection to EH, my experience with EJ advocates highlights my white privilege and gives me a deeper understanding of environmental racism, strengthening my commitment to work as an anti-racist. SPN delivers authentic data as stories from my participants, hopefully encourages empathy with readers, and supports knowledge mobilization that can contribute to positive change. Because SPN uses stories as data (Clandinin 11), it provides evidence as a response to a research inquiry while potentially enabling the resulting information to be perhaps more 19 understandable to the public than conventional academic research writing styles (Nash “Chapter Four” 39). SPN is used for both quantitative and qualitative studies and in “knowledge translation in health science, education, and other professional disciplines” (Clandinin 12). It is, at once, a qualitative research methodology and a genre of self-aware, accessible writing that is growing more common in the academic disciplines of anthropology, history, sociology, sociolinguistics, and other fields (Riessman 3). As such, SPN can be an ideal venue in which to create room for other voices as well as the researcher’s. There can be stories within a story, and this multi-layered storytelling can be utilized to reach audiences outside of narrow academic demographics. Nash further exhorts the effectiveness of storytelling in this regard: Because nothing is a better theory-to-practice connective than candid, vulnerable stories lived by real, flesh-and-blood human beings who are trying to ‘write their lives as an act of personal witness.’ Nothing. (Nash “Chapter” 44) Moreover, Norman K. Denzin, author of The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research, highlights how the qualitative aspects of methodologies such as SPN serve as a specific examination of a “social world” through exploring one individual’s viewpoint: While the field of qualitative research is defined by constant breaks and ruptures, there is a shifting center to the project: the avowed humanistic and social justice commitment to study the social world from the perspective of the interacting individual. From this principle flows the liberal and radical politics of action that are held by feminist, clinical, ethnic, critical, queer, critical race theory, and cultural studies researchers. While multiple 20 interpretive communities now circulate within the field of qualitative research, they are all united on this single point. (Denzin XVI) Key to effective SPN work is this “humanistic and social justice commitment” constructivist worldview, which aligns with the advocacy intentions of my OER. Furthermore, Denzin’s concept of a “radical politics of action” is central to environmental health and environmental justice protection research. Not surprisingly, therefore, this style of academic reporting has become increasingly popular within marginalized populations, such as those in LGBTQ+ demographics, and those working in social justice efforts (Nash “The Who” 2) to enable otherwise neglected voices to enter into public discourse, helping to illuminate “macro level phenomena” (Riessman 3). One example of this is a study from scholars investigating the experiences of Black women in the academy, where they used SPN to explore: ... Black feminist thought through critically focused, scholarly narratives… To explore unique experiences of Black women who served as non-tenure track faculty members ... (Porter 52) Jennifer Ansley, who teaches LGBTQ+-focused writing courses, directs their students to use SPN to answer the prompt: “What significant institutional forces or power dynamics shape the production of LGBTQ+ archives and how do you understand your role as a contributor to these archives?” They explain that: Authors of scholarly personal narrative make their presence known in their writing in a way that is often discouraged by academic discourse more generally, but that I argue is useful for encouraging critical self-reflection among students and essential to the construction of queer ethos. (Ansley 30) 21 The value of student self-reflection within the course is discussed further in Chapter Three. Clearly SPN requires respect for research participants, as well as rigorous self-awareness. With SPN methodology, researchers use participants’ stories as evidence to support meta themes. The researcher and participants must have an authentic relationship, steeped in trust, to gain valid data. Consultation with participants in community-based research (CBR) research is crucial before finalizing a research proposal (Bastida et al. 17). For this research, I convened a group of potential participants or individuals who are part of the participant communities to help create a process of participant/peer review that, from the participants’ points of view, ensures that what is presented is accurate and that no harm can be reasonably detected or forecast from the conducting of the project. More details on the process are outlined in Chapter Three. In their qualitative methodology for health research, Gilchrists’ and Williams’ description of the relationship between the researcher and participants can apply to the SPN methodology as well. They refer to their participants as “informants.” For this project, we use the term “participants.” I prefer “participants” over “informants” because I believe the former term indicates a collaboration, while the latter, in my mind, objectifies those being interviewed. The informant may start as a respondent, answering questions, and then may become an interpreter, explaining observations, and expanding on questions. Later, he or she may become more of a teacher, asking questions, and, finally, the informant may become a collaborator. (Gilchrist and Williams 75) With this project, I had previous collaborative relationships with participants as we engaged on communications work together. These relationships adapted as I became an SPN researcher. This new evolution of my relationships with participants continues to be dynamic and less hierarchical than with other social science research. Since an effective SPN research 22 project documenting EH and EJ efforts ends up with participants sharing ownership of the outcome, I am excited to share this with them. When I described this project to participants, I received overwhelming support, and I have had repeated requests since the interviews took place to see the OER and to share it with academics, NGOs, and regulatory and legislative influencers. The people at the Planetary Health Alliance based at Harvard, when I requested permission to use an audio excerpt from one of their videos for one of the podcasts, replied with enthusiasm, asking to see it when done for consideration to be distributed throughout their global network of hundreds of NGOs, agencies, companies, and individuals working on climate, health, and pollution (“Planetary”). SPN is Not Autoethnography Autoethnography and SPN are both qualitative forms of research. Autoethnography requires the researcher to reflect internally with respect to the human culture they are studying and provide an analysis of their own positionality (Salmons). The SPN research places the researcher as a participant in the research, including their own story, along with the stories of the participants as collected data relating to larger themes. Heewon Chang, an educational anthropologist and author of Autoethnography As Method, explains in a foreword to one of Nash’s books: Scholarly Personal Narrative (SPN) is an intellectually brilliant cousin of autoethnography. SPN shares with autoethnography the same love for stories, Especially personal stories. Like autoethnography, SPN is good at mixing two seemingly incompatible ingredients – self-reference and sound scholarship – to create a powerful recipe for academic writing. SPN shares with autoethnography the boldness to bring “self-examination” into the realm of scholarship. What SPN 23 has done remarkably well is to integrate scholarly discourse and content (re-search) into the self-narrative (me-search), which even some autoethnography have neglected. (Nash, “Me-Search'” Kindle Location 57) Autoethnography demands the researcher’s analysis of their own experience, while “SPN challenges researchers to apply theoretical concepts to personal and professional experience” (Ng 143). SPN invites a different kind of challenge, perhaps because of the agility it requires of researchers. Why Narrative Research Bothers Some Academics Narrative methods are considered highly questionable in academic contexts where the supposed objectivity of STEM disciplines is still the gold standard (Katz 1045). Anthropologist Ruth Behar points out that “what bothers critics is the insertion of personal stories into what we have been taught to think of as the analysis of impersonal social facts” (Behar 12). Indeed, some academics view text principally for the purpose of deconstructing it (Garrard 509). Others believe that all research can be completely objective and that personal narrative, such as in autoethnography and SPN, cannot possibly provide reliable objective research data (Delamont 58-59). Studies like mine challenge some academics to adopt more flexibility in their way of thinking about data by creating knowledge in a constructivist way (Crabtree et al. 9). Crabtree describes “constructivist inquiry” as “knowledge that helps humans maintain cultural life, symbolic communication, and meaning” (Ibid.), and this applies robustly to SPN, which is an effective methodology for documenting social movements. Indeed, SPN does not purport to be ‘objective’ (Nash “Chapter” 51). Similarly, Crabtree has highlighted the work of social psychologist Kenneth J. Gergen, who posits that all knowledge exists in relationship between human beings and via an individual’s perspective and 24 therefore cannot be truly objective (Crabtree and Miller 9). Relevantly, SPN scholar Robert Nash challenges the notion of ‘objective’ data altogether: There is nothing sacrosanct about ‘data.’ The term does not describe an ‘objective reality,’ as so many social scientists think it does. Every fact, figure, and piece of ‘evidence’ needs to be chosen, processed, interpreted, and evaluated by an observer. And, for SPN writers, there is no such thing as an ‘immaculate data-perception or data-reception.’ Observers and authors make inferences. They draw conclusions. They decide which data are worthy of being collected, stored, and processed. And all of this, whether we like it or not, is determined, at least in part, by the perspectives, value systems, assumptions, biases, beliefs, and emotional predispositions of the author/scholar/researcher. (Nash “Toolbox” 95) I argue that the value of SPN research lies in its inherently subjective nature. “Critical subjectivity,” which is central to SPN, suggests that the researcher’s subjective view is guiding the research (Lather & Smithies 1997, as quoted by Crabtree and Miller 82). To sum up, perhaps great benefits can come from resisting an institutional block against Narrative Inquiry methodologies such as SPN in the academy. Indeed, as Nash points out, great wisdom is lost when we separate the personal from the academic: We in academia have not caught up to the world outside the ivy walls. For most university scholars, writing for a general public smacks of ‘mere journalism.’ Worse, if scholars strive to make their writing comprehensible to an audience beyond the university, then they run the risk 25 of being charged with compromising the intellectual prestige of their disciplines. Moreover, say the critics, personal narrative writing doesn’t win grants. Neither (as critics remind us) does it get faculty renewed contracts, tenure, promotion, or distinguished professorships. There is a supreme irony here: in the pursuit of conventional rewards, many faculty lose the connection to their own personal histories. (Nash “Chapter” 42) As challenging as SPN may be for conventional scholars, this methodology may be able to further their work in ways that conventional academic reporting does not or cannot. Managing Data SPN does not have a specified rubric for managing and analyzing data. SPN researchers are not required to specifically “code and clean” in the same manner as autoethnographers. The narratives are presented as a whole, rather than culled for their specific elements through coding (John Adams, et al. 339). Nevertheless, should the SPN researcher decide to identify and isolate themes within the stories they collect, they can manage the data in a fashion like a grounded theory model, where themes within stories are coded. The researcher might look for common or differing themes among the data included in the transcriptions. With Narrative Inquiry, an SPN researcher might ask her participants (and herself) the same set of questions and the full stories are left intact (John Adams, et al. 339, 341). The purpose is to glean “rich descriptions of the world rather than measurement of specific variables” (Ibid 325). With “Unintended Consequences,” I use a hybrid of these methods. In Appendix B, you will find a sample of initial interview questions asked of each participant. As our conversations occurred, additional questions unique to each participant emerged. Excerpts from recorded interviews are used in the podcasts and referred to in the 26 essays. In some instances, the entire interviews are made available in the Explorations section for each module demonstrating how questions emerged within the interview. SPN’s qualitative research also examines the entire text, with the text “leading the dance” (Crabtree and Miller 138). Indeed, as described by Nash and other scholars, SPN research depicts the “bigger picture” of entire stories. One legitimate delivery of SPN data is to present the stories as told by the participant without challenging them. SPN presents stories as evidence and documentation with their own merit to tell larger stories. In this way, SPN aligns to mobilize knowledge with podcasts. Vulnerability, Self, The World The SPN scholar is obliged to reveal her own vulnerabilities and challenges as part of her research with others. She must accept the position of being one of her own research participants. She must submit to a condition of vulnerability not usually required in conventional academic writing (Nash “Chapter” 44). The researcher, rather than standing apart from her inquiry, becomes a part of it. As narrative inquirers, we become part of participants’ lives and they part of ours. Therefore, our lives, and who we are and are becoming on our and participants’ landscapes are also under study. We are not objective inquirers. We are relational inquirers, attentive to the intersubjective, relational, embedded spaces in which lives are lived out. We do not stand metaphorically outside the inquiry but are part of the phenomenon under study. (Clandinin 24) Becoming one’s own research participant can be daunting. Anthropologist Ruth Behar describes a little about challenges of writing within a personal narrative frame: Loss, mourning, the longing for memory, the desire to enter into the world 27 around you and having no idea how to do it, the fear of observing too coldly or too distractedly or too raggedly, the rage of cowardice, the insight that is always arriving late, as defiant hindsight, a sense of the utter uselessness of writing anything and yet the burning desire to write something, are the stopping places along the way. (3) In this frame, Behar captures the delicate dance of writing a Narrative Inquiry that presents knowledge in a way that demands more than just stating the facts. I encountered this challenge when writing about (EJ). It is nigh on impossible for me to dismiss the suffering I have seen and then to now give validity to academic theory that I see as potentially harmful to those being studied just for the sake of academic theory. This has been an on-going struggle. Nash identifies four necessary aspects of an ideal SPN study: 1) The text identifies “key themes.” 2) Contexts are positioned within the personal stories “in order to exemplify and explicate the points being made.” 3) “Pre-existing research and scholarship” anchor the narrative and the final phase. 4) Presents “universalizable ideas and applications that connect with all readers in some way” (Nash “Chapter” 51). Slovic agrees with Nash on the nature of the connectedness between author and audience: ... [A] narrative mode of expression seeks to approximate (or create the illusion of approximating) physical and cognitive experience, drawing readers and listeners toward a heightened appreciation of their own parallel experiences. (Slovic 317) Slovic then goes on to explain that an SPN author reveals their personal inner process of comprehension. 28 [Narrating] here his own process of discovery, not merely reporting his findings and arguments but actually describing through the story of a discovery in his own state of mind while making the discovery. The reader thus, becomes complicit in the act of learning. Not only is this a valuable rhetorical move on the part of the writer, but it helps the reader to appreciate the human process of making sense of the world. (Slovic 323) Scientists such as Robin Wall Kimmerer and Sandra Steingraber embody this observation by Slovic. In Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, Kimmerer explains why she wanted to write about sweetgrass and Indigenous Knowledge differently than with conventional academic or scientific reporting: There is a barrier of language and meaning between science and traditional knowledge, different ways of knowing, different ways of communicating. I’m not sure I want to force the teachings of grass into the tight uniform of scientific thinking and technical writing that is required of the academy ... To be heard, you must speak the language of the one you want to listen. (158) Furthermore, Kimmerer encountered outright opposition to her scientific reporting that departed from the dominant Euro-centric academic reporting: Getting scientists to consider the validity of Indigenous Knowledge is like swimming upstream in cold, cold water. They’ve been so conditioned to be skeptical of even the hardest of hard data that bending their minds toward theories that are verified without the expected graphs or equations is tough. Couple that with the unblinking assumption that science has cornered the market on truth and there’s not much room for discussion. (160) 29 In this passage, Kimmerer demonstrates her more intimate style of writing: I’m a plant scientist and I want to be clear, but I am also a poet and the world speaks to me in metaphor. When I speak of the gift of berries, I do not mean that Fragaria virginiana has been up all night making a present just for me, strategizing to find exactly what I’d like on a summer morning. So far as we know, that does not happen, but as a scientist I am well aware of how little we do know. The plant has in fact been up all night assembling little packets of sugar and seeds and fragrance and color, because when it does so its evolutionary fitness is increased. When it is successful in enticing an animal such as me to disperse its fruit, its genes for making yumminess are passed on to ensuing generations with a higher frequency than those of the plant whose berries were inferior. The berries made by the plant shape the behaviors of the dispersers and have adaptive consequences. (30) In Sandra Steingraber’s book, Living Downstream: An Ecologist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment, she uses Narrative Inquiry to connect her personal experience as a cancer survivor to the larger themes of environmental health hazards. I’m a cancer survivor. I learned, early on in my life, how to have hope in times of desperation. I am also now a mother. I would like my children to live in a world without carcinogens in the groundwater. I would like them not to fear that a phone ringing on a sunny afternoon is bringing them bad news from a pathology lab. In other words, despair feels like a luxury I cannot afford right now. (Kindle location 194) While Kimmerer and Steingraber interwove their personal observations with their scientific reporting, Catriona Mortimer-Sandilands separates her personal reflection content from 30 scholarly writing using italic font, in a Narrative article musing about her mother’s dementia, and what our relationships with “reality” are, in "Landscape, Memory, and Forgetting: Thinking through (My mother’s) Body and Place" published in the journal Material Feminisms. Here is an excerpt from her personal reflections: She is passive. She is docile. (My mother is neither of these things.) She is not quite aware of the relationship between the “now” and the moments that preceded or are to follow. My father leaves her a note, in his unmistakable handwriting, telling her in large letters that he loves her, that we will be back the following morning, that she shouldn’t worry. Without it, she might panic during the night... (266) Now here is an excerpt from the same article, via her academic reporting: Abram understands that all meaning includes a perceptual dimension and that perception itself is a quality of the relationship between body and world, necessarily a dynamic product of relationship, experience, influence. (268) Inspired by Mortimer-Sandilands differentiation of personal experience from scholarly discourse, I used italic font in my SPN essays to differentiate my own personal experiences from, my content focused on scholarly research and factual events. 31 In sum, SPN offers an enhanced potential for an interactive experience between author and reader, utilizing pathways to thinking about larger themes and their personal relevance. Within this tapestry, the researcher, other participants, and readers can all be relational, rather than set apart. For example, while conducting storytelling as data for documenting the people who are working for EH and EJ protections, one can gain insight via personal experiences woven into overarching themes such as global economics, the science of climate, the politics (and corporate influence) of poverty and overall intersections with environment and justice. The analysis of personal narratives can illuminate ‘individual and collective action and meanings, as well as the processes by which social life and human relationships are made and changed. (Laslett, as cited by Riessman 4) SPN is therefore an effective vehicle for giving readers an experience that offers them a chance to not only feel empathy for participants in the inquiry, but to realize that they, the readers, are also protagonists in these stories. It not only invites learners into the EH/EJ experiences, but also respects the vital role of informally educated community experts. As in autoethnography, SPN authors must state their positionality as participants in the research process. With SPN, however, positionality is more than a statement; it is pervasive throughout the research process and expression of findings. Moreover, as previously noted, vulnerability is a key condition for effective SPN (Nash “Chapter” 44). How much to share and how deeply to go with making public one’s own fears and failings is not proscribed in some kind of SPN rubric. Yet, “[t]he best way to deliver ideas to all people wherever they might live and work is to be honest, personal, empathic, and vulnerable” (Nash “Chapter” 50). A challenge for an SPN author is to be judicious in sharing personal elements that contribute to the 32 understanding of both the overarching themes as well as to the stories from the other voices recorded. I situated my positionality for this dissertation in Chapter One and otherwise have attempted to keep my own voice in this OER at a minimum throughout. However, having worked as a communications support with most of my participants, our shared history of navigating some extreme challenges, much of the time with success, allowed for them, for the most part, to trust this project enough to generously share their knowledge. I am particularly grateful for this because I had shifted into a new career teaching post-secondary journalism and communications before starting this study and therefore had not had contact with many of them for some years. We adapted our connections as teammates from a work context to our common hope to empower post-secondary students with the knowledge to protect environmental health and environmental justice. Because SPN is a genre of scholarly writing, as well as a methodology, searching for SPN styles can be overwhelming with the many different variations across various disciplines. After much trial and error, I decided to weave my own story into the written materials and podcasts sparingly. I aimed to only surface my own voice when it assisted in providing context and comprehension and, as mentioned, borrowed from Mortimer-Sandilands and have set major recollections apart by using italic font. Recruiting Participants My inclusion criteria for participants were inspired by my past personal experiences with those individuals, and lasting inspiration from others whom I did not know personally. Indeed, the impressions they left upon me drove me to enroll in a doctoral program to figure out a way to make their names, stories, and work known. 33 I chose my participants based on the work we had done together, or from those whose work I observed working in these fields. Availability was also a factor. Many individuals and groups are under resourced and working hard, so taking time out for a graduate studies project was not a priority for them. I found that EJ participants perhaps needed more time than I was able to devote to scheduling. This was due in part to a UBC Okanagan policy of not contacting participants prior to the completion of a Behavioral Research Ethics Board (BREB) certification process that took almost a full year. I wondered, also, if for some BIPOC folks in EJ communities, there is a fatigue with white researchers doing their graduate work “on” them. This can be felt as a form of “academic voyeurism,” where participants may benefit less from the project than the graduate students. Indeed, scholars Murray-Lichtman and Elkassam note that: Academic voyeurism is the act of extraction, interpretation, and non-performativity Taken up by the … academy in the form of violent cultural voyeurism performed through institutionalized practices. (Murray-Lichtman and Elkassam181) This exploitation was something that I am doing my best to avoid. To the contrary, I strive to present the people doing this work as leaders and visionaries who are tackling extremely complicated problems on behalf of all life on earth. It was due in part to this dynamic that when I did not receive a response after reaching out to potential EJ participants, that I sought out high quality audio from other public speaking they had done, and then asked for permission to use it, so that they wouldn’t have to repeat what they had already said beautifully in in a previous expression. 34 Interviews Three experts in the field of EJ agreed to review my project and advise on my interview questions but declined to be named for this dissertation. They gave me important feedback that guided my process. Two of these individuals were hired into the U.S. Biden administration during this project and felt it important to keep a low profile. The third is an attorney who experiences industry attacks and wanted to prevent added attention. I also suspect that they also would want to make sure that they could see the finished project before lending their names to it. After this project has been finalized and approved, I will share it with them to see if they would then feel comfortable with my acknowledging their assistance within the OER “About” content. Since this research openly embraces subjectivity (see Chapter Two), I designed the interview questions to provide informative yet personal (for the participant) and compelling elements for podcasts. There is an example in Appendix B. The questions provided a framework for deeper conversations, with opportunities for additional questions not in the original set. Participants received the draft questions in a Google Document link at least two weeks before the recorded Zoom call. The questions were unique for each participant, yet had some commonality, including asking them to state their name and titles, asking what led them to work in these fields, what their successes and challenges were, and what they wanted to say to students learning about their work. Participant Review (Member Checking) As mentioned, the “Unintended Consequences” qualitative research design was reviewed before commencing research by members of the environmental justice community. Per UBCO Community Based Research guidelines, research participants and other peers reviewed the SPN Podcasts and/or their transcriptions for critical analysis before being submitted within the final thesis (Crabtree and Miller 171). After the interview and editing, each of the twenty participants 35 generating original podcast content received a draft of the podcast audio file and transcript with the explicit invitation to offer revisions. Among those participants, four requested minor changes and one requested a “do over” to record a new interview. Overall, participants’ responses were overwhelmingly positive. When I used voices from archival footage, I approached the individuals or, if deceased, representatives, who helped make the footage public and asked for permission to use the original recordings by those who held the rights. 36 Chapter Three: Podcasts Aid Knowledge Retention While working as a teaching assistant for UBC Okanagan Anthropology instructor Dr. Lindsay Harris, I became aware firsthand of the propensity for current post-secondary students to retain knowledge more easily as auditory learners. The Covid pandemic had disrupted students’ learning environments (Blaskovits 3). I learned that most were experiencing great stress in balancing their studies with other responsibilities such as caring for sick relatives, working, or becoming sick themselves. Dr. Harris directed me to record the readings. Once we deployed this process, students were much more inclined to listen to the recordings and appeared to retain the information more effectively than by reading the assignments. In this way, we were able to impart information through a process that adapted to the conditions of the students’ lives. Thus, we had stumbled upon something that many others had already discovered: some students engage with knowledge best as auditory learners (Kayalar and Kayalar 51). Podcasts are one of the most popular formats in which young adults receive auditory information, in part due to the capacity to listen to them on mobile devices (Sims “Chapter 8”). Other researchers have become aware of the effectiveness of podcasts as learning retention tools (Kim and Jin 60). Furthermore, podcasts enable the “democratization” of knowledge (Quintana 3) because they are accessible to anyone with a laptop or smart phone. Finally, and perhaps most poignantly for this project, podcasts enable students to hear the actual voices of the participants. For example, using archival footage in the “Brief and Recent History” module, students across decades hear the voice of Rachel Carson as she responds to a chemical industry scientist berating her for her views on man and nature on CBS in 1962 (McMullen). Students can take in Carson’s emotion, tone, and complex information in ways not possible through reading text. 37 Having produced radio and television for many years, when I learned in my UBC Okanagan Digital Methodology course that podcasts are an effective means of presenting research, I instantly realized how effective a podcast centred research format could be. Podcasts have been found to be valid learning tools across several disciplines, including teaching health professionals (Palva et al. 62). Podcasting has been shown to be particularly useful for imparting complex information to students (Palenque 6). Furthermore, Danish scholars Rene Holmes Andersen and Susanne Dau believe that there is a link between podcast learning and an increase in student reflection (Anderson and Dau 6). Podcast Elements In addition to the recorded interviews, my editor and I collected sounds of birds, planes, archival TV and radio footage, crowd sounds and other “ambient” Creative Commons audio. We included a large array of what we call “music punctuation,” which could be a few notes on a piano, guitar, bass, drum, flute, or other instrument to frame a soundbite and help with the pacing of the information, often giving listeners a beat to take in what was being said. I composed these music bits using Garageband, inspired by the very popular Radioland podcast format. Writing Scripts, Script Oversight After the interviews were recorded, I used Otter AI (artificial intelligence) to transcribe the files. Writing the scripts began with pulling sound bites (actuality) from each interview, then writing voice overs to knit them together. Doctoral committee member Kim Thomas, a former television colleague and recently retired senior advisor with the BBC, reviewed the scripts, especially for any indication that what was said could harm participants or others. Kim made astute and important suggestions for revisions, which I followed. 38 Editing, Revisions Each podcast script and audio files (including the “ambient” audio such as sound effects and music) were given to Kelly Hendricks to edit. As mentioned, once we had a draft edited podcast, I sent it out to participants for review, or member checking, to make sure participants were comfortable with the podcast. See Participant Review for details. For purposes of this dissertation, I have included the Otter AI transcripts of the podcasts in Appendix C and provided links to the audio in the respective OER module chapters. 39 Chapter Four: Teaching Philosophy and Instructor Guides Teaching Philosophy Instructors receive a guide for the overall course in addition to a guide for each module. The Course Instructor Guide reflects my teaching philosophy from having taught my own post-secondary courses as well as from having been on innovative teaching teams at UBC Okanagan. In particular, the adaptation of in person course learning to the virtual classroom enabled me to deploy my live radio and live television production skills to help produce an engaging online classroom experience. This ended up being a three-pronged approach: Encouraging students to feel ownership of their learning, assisting them to find relevancy in the content and, ideally, to support them with feeling empowered by the learning. To the issue of ownership, Siegel Foundation scholar Amanda Danks explains: Learning Ownership is the process by which learners dynamically participate in the learning process in such a way that they understand the context, purpose, and application of content learned ... Once a learner feels ownership over their educational processes, they are empowered to customize each learning experience to serve both their immediate and future educational goals. (Danks 2) Danks further asserts that when students feel ownership of content, it can support self-regulation. Students’ adept at self-regulation tend to do better in online courses, and, eventually, the workplace (Ibid 5-6). 40 Student self-relevance to course content enhances student engagement (Andersen and Dau 129-130) In addition to encouraging student ownership of what they are learning through assignment choice, requiring student reflection also supports ownership. Student self-reflection assignments help them identify their relation within the topic. Education scholar David Denton asserts that student self-reflection “represents the human capacity for higher-level thinking and our ability to assign meaning to our experiences” (Delamont 849). Finally, I have also suggested peer review as an effective tool for information retention. Students often receive feedback more clearly from peers than from others. Indeed, peer review: ... requires students to analyse, review, clarify and sometimes correct each other’s work. This can help to clarify and reinforce the reviewers’ knowledge and understanding of the area and encourages the development of advanced critical thinking and higher-order cognitive skills. (J. Pearce, 4). Instructor Guides With the Course Instructor Guide I encourage assignments and activities that involve student initiative, such as peer teaching/learning, group projects, reflection, and students reporting back to the class from their own investigations of topics they choose. I also suggest critical thinking assignments for students to explore other ways of looking at the subjects. These concepts are repeated in the module specific Instructor Guides, tailored to reflect the content of each module. This style of pedagogy requires the students to self-assess and self-grade on their knowledge retention and critical thinking. With the Instructor Guides I stressed activities and a format with peer learning, self-examination for critical thinking, and ways to make the content 41 relevant for students. For virtual teaching, I have included the online book Liberating Structures, a compilation of interactive engagement activities developed initially for people working in non-governmental organizations (NGOs) doing advocacy work (McCandless and Lipmanowicz), but that are easily adaptable for online academic learning. For the “Brief and Recent History” Guide, I advise instructors to help students learn history from the last sixty years or so to understand the context of where we are today. I also suggest that instructors’ direct students to critical thinking exercises, such as researching the benefits from the chemicals production post World War II. In “Health Professionals on the Front Lines” I suggest resources for students specifically in health tracks as well for students in other disciplines. Environmental Justice With “On the Fenceline,” I encourage instructors to gain some kind of grounding in social justice, anti-racism, or critical race theory if they are not already versed in these subjects. This is particularly important now with what some perceive as a backlash against teaching critical race issues in post-secondary settings (Liou and Alvara, 78). I believe that a deeper understanding of environmental racism is central to EJ understanding, particularly for instructors of European descent, such as myself. While I address this issue very briefly in my SPN essay for the Fenceline module, I would like to elaborate a little more within this thesis. The reason for my brevity in the OER is that I am attempting to encourage anti-racism practices with instructors while understanding that racism can be so deeply rooted, including within academic institutions, that confronting it more directly might impede the deployment of the OER by instructors. That said, I firmly believe that with the advent of the George Floyd murder, there has been an 42 awakening emergence among white academics to the influence of white privilege, racial and cultural factors in power imbalances, and the need to engage in the messy work of antiracism, when teaching (Bates and Ng 2). Indeed, Dr. Kimberley Bates of the Ted Rogers School of Management at Toronto Metropolitan University in Toronto, Canada, reports: “I have also seen how bias reproduces itself to the detriment of the institution. I have come to recognize many ways that my Whiteness has opened doors that are not always opened to racialized and minority colleagues” (Ibid.). Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer encountered this as an academic and scientist when applying Indigenous Knowledge to her scientific knowledge of European origin (See Chapter Two). Kimmerer’s experience is a powerful example of the epistemological exclusion in academia I reference in the On the Fenceline essay. Even with what might be called progress with racial equity, such as the election of Barack Obama as the first U.S. President of African descent, there has been a backlash; “a broad, collective movement in opposition to progressive reform and civil rights for people of color and immigrants” (Haltinner 1). For example, in 2021, when Nickelodeon (the children's television network) aired a TV Special on Earth Day highlighting environmental justice concerns within communities that are disproportionately impacted by pollution, conservatives became angry and called it “liberal propaganda” (Spencer). Also in 2021, Texas governor Greg Abbott signed a bill that bans the teaching of critical race theory in kindergarten through 12th grade (“Texas ‘Critical Race’”). Among specifics in the Texas legislation is banning the seminal work of the New York Times that resulted in a book, The 1619 Project, which details the beginning of slavery in the U.S. and, among other things, the generational wealth resulting in white economic dominance that exists today as a result of it (Hannah-Jones et al. 10). The attacks on science and on those working to provide accurate portrayals of history provides an increasingly challenging 43 background for instructors. This might be why I had so much trouble lending validity to the assertions of Robert Walker, a geographer who wrote a 2012 textbook on environmental justice, Environmental Justice: Concepts, Evidence and Politics (Routledge). Aside from very little evidence in the book of Walker’s engagement with BIPOC EJ academics, grassroots leaders, and other experts, his argument that environmental justice protection violations are “claims, rather than truths” (Walker 24) angered me deeply. Whilst I understand Walker’s point, I fear from my own personal experiences that statements like this in published works can become ammunition for polluters and their representatives who work to discredit EJ concerns and avoid accountability for environmental hazards impacting BIPOC communities amidst political influence for deregulation of environmental protections (Outka et al. 103). The “What Instead?” module is perhaps the densest module covering so many topics in a limited fashion, ranging from Green Chemistry to consumer advocacy. I reassure instructors in each module that it is OK to say: “I Don’t Know,” and suggest they consider themselves as being in a process of learning alongside their students. It is more likely to be most true in this module with the variety of complex topics covered. Detailed Instructor Guides can be found in Appendix A. Using “Unintended Consequences” as an Element in Other Courses Each “Unintended Consequences” module is “stand alone,” meaning they can be used singly in other courses. For example, the “Brief and Recent History” module works in history and social study classes. It can also be used for Earth Day curriculum in science, political science, communications, and policy courses. The “Health Care Professionals on the Front Lines” module supports medical, nursing, public health, community health, impacted 44 communities, or other courses. “On the Fenceline” fits with public health, ethnic studies, social justice, sociology, and citizen science classes. “What Instead?” works well in chemistry, environmental engineering, sustainable business, finance, labor, and consumer advocacy content. When used together as a sequence, they can provide a full term of content crossing through multiple disciplines. With such broad no-cost knowledge mobilization, OERs are, arguably, one of the most democratic forms of education, “bridging the gap between the academy and society” (Ritella 83). Measuring Student Success Measurement of student success with the course depends on how the course is being used. If the student is an independent learner (outside of a post-secondary institution), student success will be self-measured and self-determined. If the OER itself is the sole vehicle for measuring student success, the quizzes in each module can provide an evaluation of key concepts. If the modules are being used within an existing course or otherwise within a post-secondary institution, it remains up to the instructor to determine measurement of student success for their course. For my own determination of student success in a post-secondary institutional setting, the level of student engagement in class, the degree of commitment to taking initiatives, the rigor with which they tackle their assignments, and general enthusiasm, are rubrics I use for measuring student success. When I have received end of course evaluations along the lines of “When the class first started, I was dreading it, but I have learned so much and am glad I took it; this was a great course!” I consider this a satisfying student success because it indicates that the knowledge they gained may remain with them, perhaps even becoming even a small reference for how the navigate their world. 45 Skills for Success Model Some “Unintended Consequences” elements reflect similar strategies in the Q: Skills for Success model developed by several educators, including UBC Okanagan scholar Scott Roy Douglas, for teaching English in the inaugural 2011 book, Q: Skills for Success (Q:) from Oxford University Press. Oxford University Press then created a franchise with a subsequent series of books, an online Teacher’s Club, and Q3E, an online venue that provides elements to support educators. The elements in this OER are similar but also differ from the Q: model. They include: • Learning outcomes are clearly stated only at the beginning of this OER’s modules not repeated at the end as in the Skills model. • Critical thinking activity is not a complete unit, as with the Q: concept, but is, as with more recent editions of Q, interspersed throughout each module within assignments. In alignment with the Q: strategies, this OER aims to encourages students to “...analyze, synthesize, apply knowledge, and develop an individual voice around a topic.” • “Thought-provoking unit questions” in this OER are presented in the form of a quiz at the end of each module, directing students to key concepts. • Q:’s “Reading and listening texts explore a range of academic subjects from biology to finance” directly applies to the variety of topics touched upon within this OER. • “Unintended Consequences” focuses in on EH and EJ themes specifically, whereas Q: centers on writing skills and associated abilities such as critical thinking. (Q: Skills for Success) 46 Q does not feature podcasts or SPN essays. Module Elements Essays and Podcasts Each module essay and podcast are, for the most part, original content and required assignments. I aimed to tie together the podcast, assignments, and Explorations (Curated Materials) along with some SPN content. Each essay is posted in html format on the website and available as a PDF download and as an audio recording. These will not be available until this dissertation has been finalized. Key Concepts Having been a communications professional in EH and EJ, this entailed working with reporters, academic researchers, and others who came to me for assistance in understanding complex information. I believe I have come to know specific elements in EH and EJ knowledge that are pertinent to understanding these realms. Therefore, the key concepts in each module reflect this experience, alongside theories and thoughts emphasized by participants. Explorations (Curated Materials) Each module contains Assignment and Explorations pages with required assignments, lists of books, articles, videos, podcasts, and other resources for students and instructors to explore. These are mostly Creative Commons (free) content, in keeping with OER principles. In some cases, I advise instructors to consider asking their school or local libraries to purchase expensive textbooks, as in the case the “What Instead?” module and Environmental Engineering and Sustainable Design, by Striebig et al. that features participant Dr. Lauren Heine as one of the authors. In the future, I may also seek additional funding that could pay for open access to relevant publications. 47 I curated the materials based on several factors: connections to participants, efficacy in presenting complex information in ways accessible to students, and ability to increase understanding of information presented in the podcasts and essays. Quizzes The quizzes are not designed to punitively measure the students’ knowledge retention, but rather to assist them in discerning key concepts. While certainly not the first to do so, I discovered while teaching that students often use quizzes to identify the most important readings for classes (Ahmadi 134, Bognár, et al. 237), and worked with Geraldine Eliot from the Pathwise web team, who also teaches at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, to construct the web presence of quizzes to serve that purpose. Web Production I created my own password protected WordPress site for posting the Invitation to Participate. This included the UBCO Consent forms, which I sent via DocuSign. I also loaded the draft podcasts for review on this site. Upon receiving funding from the Peter Wall Institute Catalyst Collaboration Fund and Jonas Philanthropies, I was able to hire Pathwise Solutions to do the web design and production for this OER. They set me up with a Content Management System (CMS), which means I can access and conduct content loading and revisions myself using a WordPress platform. Pathwise created the design and loaded much of the content. Pathwise has experience in many previous e-learning projects, so they provided valuable expertise and assistance. I provided the text, the podcasts, the Creative Commons images, images I had taken myself, or images that were provided to me by participants. I asked each participant about images before using them and about half responded that they were fine with what I had chosen; the other half supplied different images. 48 While I had managed CMS websites myself in the past, there was a bit of a learning curve assisted by Grae King from Pathwise who gave me tutorials on how to manage the site. 49 Chapter Five: Complexities Essay (Dissertation note: This essay is a required assignment within each OER module.) What I subjectively present in this OER is based on my own personal experience with environmental health (EH) and environmental justice (EJ) protection efforts, using the Scholarly Personal Narrative (SPN) methodology which presents stories as data. I argue that key issues in EH and EJ protection work are enveloped within deep complexities, including fundamental scientific uncertainty, ubiquity of manmade toxic chemicals, and new scientific, technological, and sociological discoveries and shifts emerging around manmade toxic pollution research even as I write this. These OER modules explain and advocate for environmental health and environmental justice protections. They are not intended as critical assessments. We’ll first look at the concept that there is no difference between “natural” chemicals and manmade chemicals. Then we’ll address the disciplines of toxicology and epidemiology, which attempt to attain exact identification of how chemicals trigger health impacts. Next, we consider briefly a foundational scientific view that the very nature of science is uncertainty. Finally, I’ll share how uncertainty has been weaponized by corporations making synthetic chemicals to deny emerging science linking health impacts to their products. Each one of these have been the subject of many other dissertations. For the purposes of this OER, I aim to present the concepts as best as I am able within this introductory, subjective, Environmental Humanities nature of this curriculum. Some believe that EH/EJ is a social movement that is driven both by scientific evidence and community health protections advocacy (Davies Kindle Location 312). This essay presents examples of both elements but cannot go into detail about either of them. Rather we take a very 50 brief look at some of the scientific, methodological, and political complexities in “proving” hazards to environmental health and environmental justice protections. “Natural” vs Synthetic Chemical Exposures Everything on earth and in space is made of what we can call “chemicals.” (“Chemistry Is Everywhere”). As such, anything we might consider benign can be toxic when used inappropriately. We are exposed to “good” chemicals all the time, both “natural” and manmade, with no known health impacts. Examples include food, clothing, and even water – comprised of chemicals all. Indeed, everyday foods contain thousands of biochemicals, some of them known toxins produced by plants to defend themselves (Ames “Dietary Pesticides” 7778). As with manmade toxic chemicals, most naturally occurring chemicals have not been tested for toxicity (Ibid.). Some natural toxins, as with some synthetic chemicals, bioaccumulate (Dolan et al. 2317). “The Compendium of WHO (World Health Organization) and UN (United Nations) guidance on health and the environment” explains: Many of the chemicals’ people use and are exposed to are harmless or even beneficial; others pose a threat and are hazardous to people’s health and the environment. Levels of exposure and resulting health impacts are determined by social as well as biological factors. Men, women, and children are exposed to different kinds and levels of chemicals and are exposed with different frequency. In addition, men, women and children vary in their physiological susceptibility to health effects from exposure to hazardous chemicals. Guidance on Chemicals and Health 51 Thus, there are many factors to consider when zeroing in on exactly how a manmade toxic chemical can trigger harmful human health or environmental harm. In 1996, William Baarschers, argued that the toxicity of chemicals is the same, whether they are natural or manmade, in his book Eco Facts and Eco Fiction (Baarschers 5). This concept goes along with the theory that “dose makes the poison,” meaning that most substances in small doses are harmless (Ibid 66). There is evidence that humans have adapted over long periods of time to “natural” toxic chemicals such as arsenic (Schlebusch, et al. 1545). However, many manmade chemicals are created when “natural” chemicals are intentionally extracted and released into the environment, most often at greater amounts than what would be present “naturally.” (Naidu et al. 1). Sans adequate testing for impacts on human health and the environment, the introduction of upwards of 350,000 synthetic chemicals since World War II, means that there has been little time for human adaptation (Hurt, “Don’t Count on Evolution”). More than 140,000 chemicals have been synthesized by humans that did not exist before, so they were never “natural” (Naidu et al. 2.). The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety explains some key factors for assessing hazards from manmade toxic chemicals: • Route of entry into the body • Amount or dose entering the body • Toxicity of the chemical • Removal from the body • Biological variation (“What Makes Chemicals Poisonous?”) 52 In addition to the above listed factors, genetics and other health conditions can contribute to toxic exposures being able to trigger health impacts (Kharrazian 20); I will address this further in this essay. However, it is important to note that emerging science demonstrates links between the production of these synthetic chemicals and their subsequent introduction into the public sphere with simultaneous rising rates of illness (Naidu 2, Hajam 86, Fuller et al. 544). Still, there are challenges to “proving” that manmade toxic substances are making people sick. Toxicology and Epidemiology In addition to physicians, nurses, and health researchers who see human health impacts reportedly triggered from manmade toxins, toxicologists and epidemiologists are among the key scientists at the forefront of examining hazards to EH and EJ protections. According to the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences: Toxicology is a field of science that helps us understand the harmful effects that chemicals, substances, or situation, can have on people, animals, and the environment. Some refer to toxicology as the ‘Science of Safety’ because as a field it has evolved from a science focused on studying poisons and adverse effects of chemical exposures, to a science devoted to studying safety. (“Toxicology”) Among many scientific challenges for toxicologists and biologists includes the fact that there is reportedly no “control” group of human beings who have not been exposed or who do not have manmade synthetic chemicals in their bodies (Naidu et al. 2). Since there can be hundreds of man-made chemicals in our bodies, it is difficult to identify one specific manmade chemical that is triggering health impacts or determine how multiple chemicals together can trigger illness (Johnston et al. 49). 53 What are other challenges that are specific to toxicologists? With scientific investigations, conventional notions can be disproved. As previously addressed, the “Dose Makes the Poison” theory basically says that anything is harmful if you are exposed to enough of it. Therefore, small amounts of toxic manmade chemicals shouldn’t be a cause for concern. A man often referred to as the “Father of Toxicology,” a 16th century physician named Paracelsus, wrote (translated from German): “What is there that is not poison? All things are poison, and nothing is without poison. Solely the dose determines that a thing is not a poison” (Grandjean 1260). The “dose makes the poison” theory originated in the 1500s, as biologist Sandra Steingraber points out in her book, Living Downstream: An Ecologist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment (171). Modern science has shown that even small amounts of some endocrine disrupting chemicals can trigger harm, for example, to a developing fetus (SD, Vandenburg,” 378). Steingraber suggests that a more apt description might be “Timing makes the poison” (Steingraber 178). Thus, some hormone altering substances can impact human health in tiny amounts, depending on when the person is exposed. Since the timing of exposure is an important factor in investigating health impacts, this can be a problem when toxicologists may not know when a person has been exposed because the health impacted person themselves may not know. Toxicologists conventionally have worked with a concept called the highest maximum dose (HMD), which is when lab animals are dosed with a substance until health impacts are seen (Lewis Smith 281). Some will argue that the effects seen in lab animals do not correlate with impacts on human biology (Ibid.). Yet those who do experiments on lab animals point out that lab mice, for example, are often bred to mimic human biology (Bryda 207-208). This is how 54 many pharmaceutical medicines are tested that are standard today, such as antibiotics. Some argue that the safety margin determined when testing lab animals is too large and does not accurately correlate to human biology (Lewis Smith 281.). Another process that toxicologists use to investigate chemical hazard is referred to as the Ames Test. Arlene Blum explains this in the “A Brief and Recent History” podcast. Bruce Ames, a researcher at University of California, Berkeley, and mentor of Blum, discovered that if he exposed bacteria to a substance that created a change in the bacteria’s DNA, this indicated that the substance was carcinogenic (Vijay 1). Thus, toxicologists might consider a substance’s impact on genes to determine carcinogenic hazard. Ames himself later came to believe that fear of ‘synthetic’ chemicals was exaggerated (Ames, B.N., and L. S. Gold. "Environmental Pollution”). I’ll touch more on genetics a little later in this essay. Epidemiology The Government of Canada has this definition of epidemiology: Epidemiology is the study of the frequency, pattern, causes and risk factors of health problems in a specific population. We use epidemiology to address health problems in neighbourhoods, schools, cities, provinces, countries, and around the world. (“Field Epidemiologists”) Epidemiologists who research the impacts on human health from toxic chemicals look for precise assessments, including pinpointing the exact nature of exposure, determining the vulnerabilities of the impacted populations (age, other underlying conditions, etc.), and being precise about the actual health effects (Braun and Gray 1). Epidemiologists tend to examine trends in large populations, which means that smaller groups might not be measured in a way that accurately shows the extent of hazard. Steingraber explains that conventions used by epidemiologists to measure cancer rates, for example, rely on 55 statistics looking at numbers of cases per 100,000, process called Ecological Study (Steingraber 74). Steingraber makes an interesting point, especially to those with personal experience with exposure health impacts: epidemiologists studying people for illness may never meet the people they are studying (72). In this scientific discipline, the people being studied are mere statistics, no more. Epidemiology, therefore, is one path within the spectrum of scientific investigation that, due to necessity when studying large numbers of people, distances scientists from the people they study. However, a recent investigation of epidemiological practices resulted in a paper called, “’We adjusted for race’: now what? A systematic review of utilization and reporting of race” in the American Journal of Epidemiology and Epidemiology, 2020–2021. The authors argue that “poor practices” and structural problems in epidemiological methods can produce results that can perpetuate health disparities (Swilley-Martinez, et al. 21). This is an example of the complexities facing epidemiologists who work at figuring out what exposures occur and how they might trigger health impacts. See Table 1 for Steingraber’s list of different kinds of epidemiological studies. Table 1. Sandra Steingraber’s Description of Epidemiological Studies (p. 72) Type of Study Who Process Meet People Being Studied? Ecological Study Two or more groups of diseased population Statistics are used to determine frequency No Case Studies One diseased group compared to a larger group Point of comparison is exposure to disease causing agents Maybe 56 Type of Study Who Process Meet People Being Studied? Cohort Studies People are classified as exposed or not exposed People are followed until disease or death occurs Unlikely As Steingraber points out, although smaller sample groups do not meet the standard epidemiological framework for defining incidences of cancer, when there are claims of cancer clusters in small groups, epidemiologists and public health officials tend to discount citizen requests for an investigation (Steingraber 74). Verifiable Studies One of the challenges with EH/EJ protection work is the standard scientific evaluation of verifiable information, which asks if the study can be replicated with the same or similar results or from the assumption that there are reliable universal truths (“Replicability” 1). In the cases of humans exposed to manmade toxic chemicals in their environment, it is unethical to intentionally dose people with these substances to “replicate the study” (Resnik and Portier 2). Instead of intentionally dosing humans with hazardous substances, computational modeling has come on the scene to compute effects (Rabinowitz 573) by what we would call “artificial intelligence” (AI) in today’s parlance. This uses data and AI to ascertain hazard. While this information is sometimes made public in the interests of transparency, the fact remains that often data used is supplied solely by the manufacturers of the toxic substance, if they make the information available at all. So, while technology for processing information for evaluating toxic impacts is advancing, there are still potential vulnerabilities with the reliability of the data (McPartland et al. 025003-9). 57 Who Is Keeping Track? Many people believe that their governments are keeping track of manmade toxic hazards in the environment. And this might be true in some places to some extent. What recourse does the public have when experiencing toxic exposures? In Canada, the Minister of Health can direct testing for toxic manmade exposures that might be linked to health hazards from consumer products (“Consolidated Federal Laws”). For environmental exposures, the Environment and Climate Change Canada Ministry has contacts listed by province for what they call pollution emergencies, such as a pipeline spill (“Emergency Contact”). The European Union has various reporting systems geared toward emission events that impact two or more countries, along with World Health Organization (WHO) collaboration (Orford, et al 17). It is less clear with most governance authorities about how to gain assistance with ongoing pollution in a community, however the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has an online reporting webpage that could be used for an ongoing exposure issue (Report Environmental Violations). If a government agency is slow to respond or refuses to do so, communities often do not have the power or resources to manifest studies to provide evidence to gain some change (Steingraber 73). The incidences of illness may be too low to be statistically significant, so they may be dismissed (Ibid 60). Genetics and “lifestyle” have been conventionally given more weight when it comes to investigation of illness, than exposures to toxic substances. “Lifestyle” generally refers to behaviors that individuals engage in that can hurt their health, such as smoking, alcohol and drug use, overeating, and other factors (Anand 2098, L. Hernandez 17). Some of these factors have substantial effects on, for example, incidences of cancer (Farhud 1443). However, Lee et al. suggest that attributing health impacts from toxic exposures as being “lifestyle” caused is a 58 “responsibilization” that puts the onus on the individual who is suffering from the health impacts related to environmental toxic exposures rather than on the polluting source; “meaning the decentralization of responsibility” (A. Lee et al. 3). The U.S. Institute of Medicine Committee argues that consideration of genes, behavior, and environment together gives the best picture of disease causes (Hernandez and Menendez 23). Epigenetics is the study of how behavior and environmental impacts react with genes (Dupont 341). Researchers are finding intergenerational toxic chemical exposures linked to health impacts. For example, Barbara Cohn with the Institute of Public Health, discovered that granddaughters of women exposed to DDT are more likely to develop obesity, reproductive problems and, subsequently, breast cancer, than granddaughters of women who were not exposed to DDT (Cohn “Abstract IA11”). New methodologies can reveal startling mechanisms of disease causation. Uncertainty Before the proliferation of manmade toxic chemicals from post-World War II petrochemical industries, Robert Merton, a sociologist of science, argued in 1942 that four “Norms” of behavior regulate how science is done: universalism, communism, disinterestedness, and organized scepticism (Anderson 367). Thus, some academics argue that scientific knowledge should ideally and universally be considered true no matter what the cultural frame, race, or nationality of the scientist, that it should be “shared in common, subject to acknowledgement of the discoverer, and it should not reflect a scientist’s material or other interests” (Greg Garrard). Since Merton’s argument, some scientists have concluded that his “Norms” do not represent science (Anderson 371). There is not enough capacity in this essay to do a deep dive on Merton and the varied responses to his theories. However, since all scientific investigation has inherent 59 doubt, and can change with new discoveries, the question might be: How does “universalism” for scientific “truths” apply? For example, there was a time when white scientists declared people of African descent to have smaller brains than people of European descent (“Scientific Racism”), which we now, obviously, know not to be true; the scientific views have changed. Perhaps Merton’s “organized scepticism” may be the answer to the quandary with his “universalism” norm, providing a frame of systemic questioning that is intrinsic to science. Dr. Susan Kegley, a chemist and scientist working on pesticide issues, explained the nuances of communicating science, including the notion that doubt is fundamental to science. “There are always exceptions in scientific research. Never use the word ‘cause’ in connection to manmade toxic chemicals and suspected exposures because there is inherent doubt in everything, especially science” (Susan Kegley) Liv Grjebine, a scholar of history and science at Harvard, lays out the arguments for why doubt is so important in a field where researchers strive to “prove” hypotheses. In an online Scientific American essay, Grjebine explains: the paradox is that science, when properly functioning, questions accepted facts and yields both new knowledge and new questions – not certainty. (Grjebine) Grjebine goes on to assert that the answers to scientific investigations are temporal and are often “overturned” later. Scientists, therefore, work under conditions of nuanced results that can change. They rarely announce their discoveries as being definitive. Even when studies are shown to be verifiable, interpreting the data or results can be fraught. In terms of scientific studies on chemicals, though, sometimes the companies that make toxic substances will try to use the data to undermine the research (National Research Council 40). 60 Exploiting Uncertainty Environmental health scientists often experience attacks when they discover links form manmade toxic chemicals to illness (Huete et al. “Attacks on Environmental Scientists”). Environmental health scientists identifying links to health problems from manmade chemical exposures have come under attacks from the companies making the chemicals and their trade groups and the politicians they fund. For example, Koch Industries make styrene and benzene. When the U.S. National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) issued their biannual “Report on Carcinogens” (ROC), scientists there had taken more than eight years to identify the carcinogenic effects from these two chemicals (Report on Carcinogens). A Koch Industries funded Congressional legislator, Denny Rehberg (“Rep. Denny Rehberg”), proposed legislation to defund the ROC (Scranton, Sheppard). Health advocates pushed back and the effort to defund ROC was dropped. EH advocates were not alone in witnessing attempts to discredit scientists working on EH and EJ protections; some in government also had to work to defend emerging science. David Michaels, an epidemiologist, and professor at the George Washington University School of Public Health, was formerly U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and U.S. Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environment, Safety and Health. In Doubt Is Their Product, he details the weaponization of scientific doubt, and how the exploitation of doubt enables corporations to delay and sometimes defer mitigation of hazards while toxic exposures that pose hazards to the public continue. Michaels starts by detailing how the “doubt” strategy developed within the tobacco industry, to dispel the notion that smoking cigarettes is linked to lung cancer. Burson Marstellar, the public relations firm that assisted with creating the “doubt” strategy with the tobacco industry, then went on to use the same tactics with the chemical industry (Michaels 56). 61 Industry funded groups like the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) (“ACSH: Forefront of Science or Front Group?,” “American Council on Science and Health,” Kroll and Schulman, Lifting the Veil of Secrecy) deployed pundits with little actual scientific credentials to discount emerging science. One of their commentators, a former television producer and marketing expert, promoted the term “chemophobia” to dispel the importance of evidence linking toxic chemicals to health impacts, claiming that those concerned about EH protections, rather than wanting to stop hazardous manmade toxic exposures, instead hold a deliberate motive to frighten the public (Entine). The term quickly was adopted by chemical industry scientists and communications professionals. The ACSH regularly published articles attempting to discredit the science on bisphenol A, or BPA, a synthetic sex hormone found in plastics and can linings (“Bisphenol A.”). The public believed the emerging scientific evidence featured in the news stories and shifted their buying habits to the point where manufacturers were forced to change their production practices to produce “BPA Free” products. While this reduced exposure bisphenol A, it remains unclear if the chemicals substituted for BPA in plastics are safer (Moon 46). Even so, many consumers switched to stainless steel or glass containers. Overall, the public was less exposed to an endocrine disrupting manmade chemical in consumer products. When laws or regulations fail to curb exposures, grassroots efforts to raise awareness among consumer groups, such as the BPA efforts, are called “market campaigns” (“Market Actions”). Sometimes, opposition to environmental health protection advocates may not be what it purports to be. For example, a group called “Citizens for Fire Safety” claimed to be a grassroots alliance of burn victims and parents until it was revealed by a Chicago Tribune series to be a 62 front group made up of chemical corporations that make the flame-retardant chemicals (Callahan et al.). In addition to funding groups such as ACSH to promote doubt in the public about emerging science on environmental health hazards (Ruskin), the chemical industry also influenced policy, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (“Bad Chemistry”). For example, during work to reform the U.S. Toxic Substance Control Act in 2016, chemical industry proposals were suggested that codify prison time and fines for physicians, nurses, and health care providers working with communities impacted by toxic exposures if they revealed information received from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) deemed “proprietary” or Confidential Business Information (CBI) (Access to Toxic Substances Control Act). CBI protects companies’ specialized knowledge for making their products and protects their status in the marketplace. Health care providers attempting to treat communities exposed to toxics are put in potentially vulnerable positions that discourage identifying hazards from toxic exposures and preventing those exposed know about what they were exposed to. Still, today, health care providers disclosing CBI received from EPA face imprisonment or fines for sharing that information with communities suffering from exposure (Access to Toxics Substance Control Act”). Environmental Justice Defining toxicity can be perplexing under any circumstances, but perhaps more so when examining disproportionately impacted communities of color (Johnston 54). Social scientist Nerea Calvillo describes toxicity as being situated in “a contested technopolitical category” (Calvillo 374). For example, when discussing environmental justice, claims and evidence play a crucial role in shaping and supporting arguments (Walker 60). Some in academia assert that claims are driven by activist movements (Capek 8, Walker 63). Determining the nature, severity, 63 and validity of toxic exposures has been particularly contested around the concept of environmental justice (Corburn 457). Lancaster University geographer Gordon Walker set out to tackle the issues involved with defining environmental justice in his 2012 book, Environmental Justice: Concepts, Evidence and Politics (Routledge). He asserts that previous investigations of environmental justice concepts lack a critical examination of evidence (Walker 60). In his text, he has chosen two concepts with which to examine environmental justice: “claim making” and “framing” (30-31). Walker asserts that environmental justice, rather than being a fact, is based on “claims rather than truths” (24). He maintains that: Instances can also be observed of strident claims of injustice which do not then provide much in the way of evidence to back them up, and of accounts of inequality which do not provide an explanation of underlying processes of production and causation. (62) One challenging aspect to EJ, Walker suggests, is that there cannot be a universal definition for environmental justice because the concept of justice itself is varied (37). He argues that evidence for justice or injustice cannot be objective because “knowledge is socially produced [and] promotes a healthy skepticism about evidence and proof” (63). Walker has categorized three frames for justice – distributive, procedural, and recognition – which I explain below. Table 2. Gordon Walker's Categories of Justice (p. 27) Type of Justice Description Notes Distributive Sharing of goods and bads Community shares responsibility for pollution 64 Type of Justice Description Notes Procedural How decisions are made, who has influence Closed decision making creates conflict. Defining groups is problematic Recognition Who is given respect, who is valued Hard to identify An example of different meanings of distributive justice in fenceline communities (resident living near polluting facilities) might include some communities’ members working at a petrochemical plant (a benefit), while also experiencing health impacts from toxic exposures (a detriment). Arlie Russell Hochschild describes a similar scenario in Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right (The New Press). She interviews the white mayor of Westlake, Louisiana, where the largest petrochemical refinery in the U.S. (built by South African owned Sasol) has overtaken the town with a huge industrial plant, forcing residents to move so their land can be used for the enormous three-square mile “cracker” to refine oil and gas. Hochschild reports that the mayor is exuberant at the thought of the billions of dollars of investment the company is putting into building the plant (Hochschild 85). A neighboring historic Black community, Mossville, was completely razed, often with much less compensation, for the construction of the same plant. Walker presciently (he wrote his book well before the Sasol takeover of Westlake and Mossville) contends that when it comes to vulnerability, not everyone is impacted in the same way. To this end, he maintains that the concept of “need” is also varied (Walker 68). 65 In his discussion, Walker points out that a “polluter pays” concept of distributive justice can be problematic. He gives the example of people driving cars that generate pollution, implying that car drivers are responsible for the illnesses linked to those emissions in the communities where the cars are being driven (Ibid 69). Another example might be how just about everyone, including harmed communities, derive benefits from plastics, yet refineries making chemicals for plastic are hurting communities; what could be viewed as a vicious cycle. With procedural justice, Walker cites previous academic research indicating “exclusive and closed decision-making processes generate conflict” (Walker 70). While we might automatically think of government authorities (regulators, legislators, the judiciary) as holding power in procedural justice, Walker points out that private corporations, NGOs, and other “third party” groups are also part of the equation, contributing to the obfuscation of information (Ibid.). He asserts that defining concepts such as “community participation” and “future generations” are “problematic” (Ibid.). Walker cites Lake’s observation that one factor ignored in evaluating procedural justice is “local community control not only of the distribution of environmental problems but also of their production” (Walker 72). While this point may suggest community authority to choose which hazards and benefits they prefer, another view is that this assigns responsibility for toxic exposures to those experiencing them, what Amanda Lee et al. call “responsibilizing,” as previously addressed. Finally, Walker addresses recognition, or misrecognition, as factors in environmental injustice. The sense in which recognition is cultural and politically deeply embedded means that the specific and dimensions of recognition that are distinct to environmental justice claim-making can be, according to Walker, hard to identify (Ibid 70). An example of recognition is government validation that emissions from a polluting facility are a factor with health impacts in 66 a community. During this project, the U.S. Biden administration has shifted federal policy towards validating – and recognizing - community claims (“Environmental Justice in Your Community”). Walker’s vigorous examination of environmental justice highlights key points of critical thinking about EJ. He concludes his book by cautioning that concepts of environmental justice are varied, dynamic, and prone to change (Walker 264). Codifying EH and EJ Under the Biden administration, the definition and validity of environmental justice has become increasingly codified in the U.S., such as with the 2021 creation of the U.S. White House Advisory Environmental Justice Council, with EJ departments in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice (“White House,” “Environmental Justice in Your Community,” “Office of Environmental Justice”). Government agencies have been set to research and advise on EH regulations and policy, such as the U.S. government funded National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (“NIEHS”). The Canadian government holds the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health (National Collaborating Centre). The European Union address EH within its EU Environment Agency (“Environmental Health Impacts”). While, as mentioned, systems for reporting on-going non-work-related exposures are unclear, agencies collect evidence and work to alert public health officials and the public about environmental exposure threat events. There are other authoritative bodies that employ environmental health researchers worldwide, including the World Health Organization (“Environmental Health”). They keep track of advancements to assess toxic exposure hazards. As previously mentioned, computational modeling is one strategy being used by companies to evaluate a chemical. This is supported by 67 groups like PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) who oppose testing toxic substances on lab animals (“In Vitro Methods and More”). The issues from ubiquitous manmade toxic chemical exposure have been found to be so concerning that NGOs have emerged, such as the Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI), ChemForward, Clean Production Action, and Healthy Building Network, among others. They have created platforms with databases containing information on what are called “alternatives assessments” of chemicals or hazard ratings of products. The databases demonstrate a spectrum of toxicity so manufacturers can choose safer substances with which to make their products. Companies such as Hewlett Packard, Apple, Google, Staples, and others use these platforms to make decisions to procure safer elements for manufacturing (Beverly Thorpe). Conclusion Determining health hazards linked to manmade toxic substances is complicated. There are challenges with the definitions of “natural” versus manmade toxic chemicals, very nature of the inherent doubt within scientific investigations, timing of exposures and how they are studied, multiple factors such as genetics and behaviors, power imbalances, and efforts by some in industry to interfere with regulating or legislating protections from EH and EJ hazards. I argue that the very complexity of the issues makes the average person’s eyes glaze over. Who has time to keep track of all the moving parts within these realms? You will hear the answers to this last question from the people you meet in this OER, where we present stories from a diverse array of experts and advocates who are working for EH/EJ protections. The Scholarly Personal Narrative methodology you find here is not unbiased. Personal experiences and lessons learned are presented to stimulate discussion and elicit responses. Chilean scholars whose discipline is Complexity itself have argued that “...society is a complex system that evolves and progressively corrects itself” (Bustamante Ubilla and Arenas- 68 Torres 2). If we can believe this theory, and, based on the successes hard won by the participants you’ll hear in these podcasts (who, I argue, are part of society), I really do believe “... that society progressively corrects itself.” We can see that even with significant complexities surrounding the identification of hazards from manmade toxic chemical exposures, scientific investigations, alongside an array of efforts from advocates to protect EH and EJ, are shifting all of us toward a healthier world. 69 Chapter Six: The Brief and Recent Environmental Health History Module Instructor and Individual Learner Guides Learning Outcomes Key Concepts Assignments (Required) Explorations (Curated Materials) Quiz Instructor Guide So little history from the past 60 years or so is taught these days in schools that some of the information in this module may me brand new to students and even to some instructors. It is so important to understand the context of where we are today by knowing what has happened to bring us to where we now are. My advice is to take your time and to also give the students plenty of time to explore some of the themes for this module that have relevance for them and have them report back to the class. Remember, History is happening now, too. You might consider assignments singly or in groups such as: • Explore how chemicals were brought over from Europe after World War II to understand the foundations for the chemical and plastics industries. – both for our benefits: cars, unblemished food grown year-round, plastic enabling products not easily available before and for threats to human health and the environment. • Identify women in science during Rachel Carson’s time and investigate their experiences. • Have students locate communities near them with similar situations to Lois Gibbs’ “Love Canal.” • Research what EDCs are and how we are exposed to them now. • For advanced students, have them research and report on the ties between the history of ubiquitous toxic chemical exposures, resource extraction, and the global economy. 70 • Have students note reflections on what they are learning via written or audio/video diaries. Check out the Explorations on the assignment pages. There are several films that supply additional historic context, such as Silkwood, Erin Brockovich, Michael Clayton, and Dark Waters. Most of all, remember it is OK to say, “I don’t know,” and to actively learn alongside your students. An Environmental Humanities treatment of these subjects is just beginning to emerge. In this light, consider supporting artistic responses and reflections on what students learn, with creative response such as poetry, prose, visual and audio art, and other forms that enable students to engage and process the information and share their expressions with others. Self-Guided Learners • Consider setting up a Reflection Journal. You can use notes or voice recording app, a notebook, a document (e.g., Google docs), or whatever your preferred method. • Self-select an item from Explorations; for example, one chapter from Silent Spring and summarize the key ideas from the selected source in your Reflection Journal. • See if you can locate any of the books mentioned under Explorations at your local library to prevent prohibitive textbook costs. • Throughout this learning journey, know that “I don’t know” is a perfectly acceptable answer. 71 Learning Outcomes By the end of this module students should be able to demonstrate an understanding of what environmental health means, how environmental health concerns came about, and be thinking about environmental health’s relevance to themselves. Key Concepts The Ames Test - Test developed using bacteria to determine if a substance is mutagenic (disrupts DNA or genetic codes) and therefore carcinogenic (can trigger cancer). “Microbial Mutagenicity Assay: Ames Test” by Vijay Urvashi et al. DDT - Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is an organochlorine pesticide used broadly in the 1950s and early 1960s to kill mosquitoes carrying malaria and typhus. It was the first manmade toxic chemical discovered to be toxic to the environment and human health. Its harmful effects on birds were the subject of Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring. It is an endocrine-disrupting chemical, linked to breast cancer in daughters and granddaughters of women exposed in childhood. United Nations Environment Program Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) - Chemicals that interfere with the endocrine systems, impacting hormonal systems such as thyroid, immune systems, neurological and reproductive systems, even at low doses. U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Environmental Health - The concepts that manmade toxics can harm the environment and human health. World Health Organization Love Canal - A contaminated Niagara Falls neighbourhood in New York state where people became sick. Resident Lois Gibbs organized her neighbours to evacuate the area. The harm was so great that the U.S. government created the Superfund policy to tax corporations to clean up their toxic hazards. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 72 Precautionary Principle - A concept coined at the Wingspread Conference that says that if there is a reasonable risk of harm from something, it should not be allowed in the public sphere. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Rachel Carson and Silent Spring - A biologist and writer and her book that contributed greatly to the launch of recent (last fifty years) environmentalism. Inspired the creation of the U.S. EPA and other government regulatory agencies worldwide. RachelCarson.org Superfund - U.S. EPA policy that states that polluters must pay for their toxic exposures. Inspired by the Love Canal tragedy. United States Environmental Protection Agency Wingspread Statement – First-ever declaration of concern about manmade toxic chemicals from an array of scientists; created at the Wingspread Conference hosted by Theo Colborn and Pete Myers. Science and Environmental Health Network Assignments (Required) Podcast Transcript on page 63 In this podcast we hear the voices of Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, pediatrician Phillip Landrigan, biologists Theo Colborn and Pete Myers, researcher Carol Kwiatkowski, chemist Arlene Blum, and environmental health advocate Lois Gibbs of the famed “Love Canal” story. Podcast Credits. Essays (Required) (Dissertation note: The Complexities essay is hyperlinked to the web page) Complexities “A Brief and Recent Environmental Health History” “A Brief and Recent Environmental Health History” Essay PDF download Audio recording Note: These stories are by no means comprehensive, but rather reflect the author’s experiences, as well as her memories of those whose work has made significant advances in environmental 73 health and environmental justice protections. This Environmental Humanities course uses a Scholarly Personal Narrative (SPN) subjective methodology, meaning stories are used as data. With SPN, stories are anchored to larger themes and other scholarly research. The stories here are about some individuals who I have worked with or whose work I have known who have discovered emerging science and knowledge about environmental health. Check out the “About” tab for more details on how I got involved in the realm of environmental health and environmental justice, and the reasons I have dedicated my professional life to this area. In the meantime, let’s talk about some context that may make environmental health and environmental justice personal for you, too. It’s About You Have you ever found yourself feeling unwell after being exposed to something in your environment? Maybe you get a headache or nausea that you cannot explain otherwise. Or you’re overcome with sleepiness, lethargy, and generally not feeling well. You may be one of 261 million people worldwide who suffer from asthma or other respiratory distress. You could be one of two billion people globally who struggle with obesity or thyroid problems. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 200 million people have thyroid disease which can interfere with ovulation; an estimated 140 million people are challenged by infertility. WHO reports that worldwide, 244 million newborns die each year from birth defects (“World Health”). Zeidan et al. say that one out of every one hundred people have neurological divergence including autism and learning disabilities – that’s about 80 million people (778). Still others say that cancer among people under fifty could be a global epidemic (Ugai et al. 656). Almost all discussions about the rise in these conditions typically look at genetics and “lifestyle choices,” such as smoking or other harmful behaviours, as being the root causes (Anand 2098). However, there are scientists and health researchers who are identifying another factor that is growing day by day. 74 Increasingly, evidence for links to these potential health impacts points to the rise in ubiquitous toxic chemical and radiation exposures in our environment from under-regulated or non-regulated toxic sources (Birnbaum 323). For example, an examination of cord blood from infants revealed more than 230 toxic man-made chemicals in newborns (Body Burden). This is a story about a growing phenomenon of invisible – but detrimental – harm. In this module, you’ll meet a few of the dedicated people who have uncovered facts and discovered science that identify links to illness from toxic exposures, along with others who work hard to stop the harm. They research; they document; they discover; they raise awareness. Often, and unsurprisingly, they face tremendous opposition from the industries that are creating these toxic exposures. These advocates identify how toxic exposures are impacting us, and they work on finding out ways to protect us all. We call this work the realm of “environmental health.” How Did It Get This Way? Early Pioneers Working to Protect Environmental Health “Rachel Carson? Who is she?” I anxiously ask my 10th grade Speech class teacher this question after learning I’d been chosen to host a new cable TV show about the environment aimed at teenagers. The local Ecology Center was producing the program, and they wanted a student to review Silent Spring, a book that had come out about 6 years before containing Carson’s research on birds dying after aerial spraying of a pesticide called DDT. I’ve never heard of Carson or DDT. As I prepare for the TV show, I must figure out how to make sure the dark panty line of my pantyhose won’t show when I sit down on the set in my dress. We aren’t allowed to wear pants to our public school, let alone while being on a TV show. Many decades since that moment of hearing Rachel Caron’s name for the first time, I have learned about her and so much more. It may not make the high school history books, but it is important to know that man-made toxic chemicals began to be produced at a higher rate after World War Two when chemical weapons were adapted for the pesticide market (Daniel 75 Kindle Location 52). Epidemics such as typhus and malaria were met with a deluge of pesticide spraying. Some point to a notable typhus epidemic that occurred in Italy during the end of the war, when almost two thousand cases were reported in Naples and other areas (Wheeler 128) that made the organochlorine pesticide DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) popular. The typhus was being transmitted by lice when many people crowded into air raid shelters (Wheeler 121). The U.S. responded with DDT in powder form to dust the population. The toxic powder reportedly ended the epidemic after about three weeks (Bouwman et al. 241). Back in the U.S., DDT was sprayed overhead from airplanes and in the streets from trucks (Ibid. 246). The focus was singular: wipe out insects. Few people considered that what kills insects might also harm humans and other life forms. Caught up in the post war enthusiasm for new chemicals, DDT proliferated. After an aerial spraying of DDT in the U.S. in the late 1950s to combat Dutch Elm disease, millions of birds began to die, yet few people questioned DDT’s safety (“DDT and Birds”). The Impact of Rachel Carson Amid this enthusiasm for modern chemicals, one of the few people who came forward to challenge the use of toxic manmade chemicals, which were untested for impacts on the health of humans or other life forms, was Rachel Carson. Responding to requests that she investigate the bird deaths after that aerial spraying of DDT in the late 1950s, Carson documented, for the first time, hazards from manmade toxic chemical pesticides. Filled with scientific evidence that has been substantiated in modern times (Epstein & Briggs 10180, Nagendra 1489, Yang 10026) demonstrating harm, Carson’s 1962 book, Silent Spring (Harper Collins), rocked the post-war industrial chemical world. No one had ever before written about toxic chemical hazards in a style accessible to non-science audiences. The public paid attention. 76 Initial responses to Silent Spring from some entomologists and chemical industry executives were disbelief and anger that Carson would condemn pesticides as dangerous to human health and the environment. Not surprisingly, some of her loudest critics at the time were working with the government and the chemical industry to develop pesticides for mass usage (Hecht 149, Lear 28). Silent Spring rattled people in various corners of the pesticide industry. Economic entomologists, who concentrated solely on pest control, were outraged (Lear 29). There was much more focus at the time on eradicating insects, supported by ample resources from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and trifling attention given to impacts upon ecological systems (Lear, ibid.). Silent Spring challenged the very core of this paradigm. Early adversaries argued against Carson by touting the benefits of pesticides (Hecht 151). Some argued that the agricultural industry had become dependent on pesticides, and that American progress would not – could not – continue without them (Mart Pesticides 67). Some opposition to Silent Spring discounted the work based on Carson’s gender; Carson was accused of being an “emotional alarmist” (ibid.) who overstated the science (Mart “Rhetoric” 34). In 1963, an industry scientist disparaged her work in a “CBS Reports” documentary. Carson’s response was laser sharp: Industry scientist: ‘Carson maintains that the balance of nature is a major force in the survival of man. Whereas, the modern chemist, the modern biologist, the modern scientist, believes that man is steadily controlling nature.’ Rachel Carson: ‘Now, to these people, apparently the balance of nature was something that was repealed as soon as man came on the scene. Well, you might just as well assume that you could repeal the law of gravity. The balance of nature is built of a series of interrelationships between living things and between living things and their environment. 77 You can’t just step in with some brute force and change one thing without changing that many others. Now, this doesn’t mean of course, that we must never interfere, that we must not attempt to tilt that balance of nature in our favor. But unless we do bring these chemicals under better control, we are certainly headed for disaster.’ (McMullen) I love watching Rachel Carson respond in her calm, measured tone, to the arrogant jibes from the industry scientist. Keep in mind, in 1963, women wearing pants was frowned upon. “Women’s lib” was derided. Misogyny ran deeply within the fabric of society, including the field of science (Conefrey 170). Yet here was a female scientist standing up to an industry she presciently saw as putting products in the public sphere without adequate testing for their impacts on human health and the environment. I am grateful to CBS for allowing me to use the audio in the companion podcast in this module so that you can hear the actual voices of the industry scientist and Carson. As you listen, remember the historic 1963 era in which this conversation took place. Despite efforts to discredit the book, Silent Spring made history in other ways. Carson’s work influenced the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, created on December 2, 1970 (“Origins of EPA”). Six months later, Canada created Environment Canada (“Chemical Substances.”). Many other countries followed suit. The policy impacts from Carson’s work reached around the world. The 1990s and EDCs In the 1990s, another scientist documenting harm from manmade toxic chemicals made startling discoveries. Theo Colburn noticed disturbances in the fish and wildlife populations in the Great Lakes. Through her book Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival: A Scientific Detective Story (Penguin Random House), Theo Colburn and her co-authors drew attention to endocrine disrupting chemicals or EDCs. Endocrine systems govern our hormones and metabolism, and when they are disrupted, health impacts include 78 obesity, failure to reproduce, cancer and other problems (Colborn et al. 62). Theo worked with a biologist named Pete Myers, who you can hear in the podcast for this module. In 1996, they teamed up with Boston Globe reporter Diane Dumanoski to write Our Stolen Future. In the Foreword to Colburn’s book, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore declared it the sequel to Silent Spring (Colburn 2). As with Carson’s findings, few were considering this problem when Colburn was writing about it. Because she pulled together ground-breaking research on pesticides and other chemicals and their impacts on our endocrine systems, Theo Colborn may have been the closest successor to Rachel Carson (Colborn et al. vii). You can hear Theo describe her concerns posthumously from a recording she left behind when you listen to the podcast for this module. The emotion in her voice is profound and deep. Dr. Colborn was not a woman prone to tears, yet when she made this “time capsule,” you can hear the anguish she is feeling as she nears the end of her life and sees what lies ahead for future generations. 2013 “Hi Carol, what’s up?” Theo Colborn’s colleague, Carol Kwiatowski, had emailed me asking for me to call her as soon as was convenient. As a communications director for a large collaborative of NGO’s (non-governmental organizations) working on environmental health issues, I often received requests for communications assistance – but this call turned out to be a first for me. “We need help writing Theo’s obituary.” My heart sank. “Did she pass?” I was so choked up; I’d almost whispered the question. I knew Theo had been ill, but she was so full of life, so strong and determined. I’ll be honest: Theo’s frustration with the lethargy in government and with the public to install protections for environmental 79 health had made her grumpy, even, some might say, cantankerous. It seemed that the enormity of her sheer frustration guaranteed that she would live forever. Emotion welled up inside of me. “Oh no,” Carol said gently,” she just wants to be prepared and wants to be in control about exactly what is said about her after she’s gone.” I realized I’d been holding my breath, as I am prone to do when receiving shocking news. Exhaling with a tenuous relief, I realized that this shouldn’t have been a surprise at all. “I see. Well, I think it would be good to enlist a great writer, which I am not. How about Lizzie Grossman?” Elizabeth Grossman was a stalwart in the Society of Environmental Journalists and an excellent writer. Lizzie and Theo tussle over the project and eventually Theo prevails. You can read the result here. Little did we know that Lizzie herself would pass away three years after Dr. Colborn in 2017 from the very same disease they both sought to lessen through environmental health protections – cancer. In 1991, Theo Colborn and Pete Myers convened about two dozen scientists to share their work. Few of these participants were aware of the work of the others. The Wingspread Statement emerged from this gathering. It is an historic public declaration from scientists and health researchers addressing their concerns about toxic impacts on endocrine systems. In 1998, Theo and Pete held another conference based on the Precautionary Principle. The Precautionary Principle states four pillars for preventing harm from environmental exposures: ● Taking preventive action in the face of uncertainty. ● Shifting the burden of proof to the proponents of an activity. ● Exploring a wide range of alternatives to possibly harmful actions. 80 ● Increasing public participation in decision making. (Kriebel et al. 471) Regarding the first pillar – taking preventative action – this refers to an “ask” that is shared among environmental health advocates: test products for impacts to human health and the environment before putting them into the marketplace (Tickner 6). The second pilar – shifting burden of proof to proponents of an activity – means that the responsibility for due diligence, as much as possible, that the substance or product is safe, is on the entity making that substance. For new activities the emphasis will be on shifting the burden of proof to proponents of a potentially harmful activity. Proponents should not only demonstrate that the activity will not be harmful, but also that they have considered a wide range of alternatives, including forgoing the questionable activity. (Tickner 7) Indeed, much of the basis of “Precautionary,” or European Union and Canadian polices are grounded in the Precautionary (“Principle,” “3.CEPW,”). “Wherever there are efforts to regulate toxic chemicals and keep them out of the marketplace, the Precautionary Principle is meant to inspire the heart of protective regulations” (Steele 1). Of course, one could look at this pilar as shifting the cost of hazard from the public (for illness and injury) to the corporation that makes the substance, which may, in turn, could raise prices on their products. Yet modern methods of testing that reduces those costs are emerging (Price 725). More than ten years after Our Stolen Future was published, and well after the Wingspread Statement was declared, Theo started her own non-governmental organization (NGO) called The Endocrine Disruption Exchange at the age of 76. Together with researcher Carol Kwiatkowski, they created the only database of its kind, Critical Windows of Development, 81 which contains every published peer-reviewed study (lab animal and human) on chemical exposure health impacts in utero, from conception to birth (Colborn and Kwiatkowski). Fetuses’ developing systems are the most vulnerable to chemical exposures (Landrigan, Philip J. et al. "Children's Health” 259). You’ll find a link to this database in the Explorations section of this module. Carol Kwiatowski can be heard in the companion podcast talking about Rachel Carson’s impacts on raising environmental health awareness. Dr. Colborn passed away in 2014, and as of this writing Carol Kwiatkowski is working with Arlene Blum, who is also featured in the podcast for this module. As for Pete Myers, he has co-founded a new company called SUDOC working to make safer chemicals. After our interview, I was treated to images from his other passion: photographing shore birds. The exquisite detail Pete captures while depicting these busy birds demonstrates his profound love for beauty in nature. It seemed to me that Pete’s immersion in the lives of shorebirds must inspire his work to protect all life from toxic exposures. You can see some of those images here. Pete Myers tells stories about Theo Colborn in the podcast for this module. Children’s Pajamas and Furniture Foam About twenty years before Theo Colborn’s discoveries, a young graduate student at Stanford was making discoveries of her own. Arlene Blum is a chemist and, at the time, was a prolific mountain climber. In a demonstration of her capacity for determination, when she was refused entry on a climbing team with men, she formed her own women’s mountain climbing team. They became the first American climbing team to scale the Annapurna Mountain in the Himalayas, chronicled in Annapurna: A Woman’s Place (Penguin Random House). Dr. Blum first discovered harmful manmade toxics in children’s pajamas that were imbued with flame-retardant chemicals. Her findings came about using a test developed by her 82 Supervising Professor, Bruce Ames (Arlene Blum). The “Ames’ Test” is a breakthrough test for carcinogens. It determines if exposure to a substance can change a genetic structure or DNA. At the time, Blum’s revelation prompted U.S. government regulatory agencies to request that manufacturers of children’s pajamas remove the chemicals (Brozan, 1977). Dr. Blum explains the Ames test for determining if a substance is carcinogenic or not in this module’s podcast. After her big discovery, Dr. Blum took somewhat of a break from her career in chemistry to raise her daughter. Twenty years later, she returned to her research and found out, to her horror, that the same chemicals banned from children’s pajamas in the 1970s were part of all sorts of furniture foam – including infant car seats, couches, and other items made with foam – due to a California state regulation, TB 117.The regulation was promoted into effect by the chemicals companies that make toxic flame retardants (Standen). More people smoked cigarettes at that time resulting in more fire related mortalities. In the U.S. in 1977, there were 5,865 deaths reported in home fires (“Fire-Related”). Because California is such a large market, companies making products with foam in furniture and other products automatically used the toxic flame-retardant chemicals in the foam for their products to, theoretically, meet the regulation requirements to prevent fires. Yet when researcher Babrauskas et al. and others examined the way fire ignition hazard was calculated, they discovered that a fire safety benefit had in fact not been established for chemically treated foam used in furniture. Simply put, the foam with the toxic flame-retardant chemicals burned almost as fast as foam without the toxic flame retardants (271). Most deaths and injury from fires occur due to smoke and soot inhalation (Gupta 56), thus flame-retardant chemicals make the smoke and soot more toxic (Shaw 261). This has become a concern for firefighters who experience higher rates of cancer and other illnesses. I had the pleasure to meet 83 Tony Stefani who founded the San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation and joined the fight to halt the use of the toxic flame-retardant chemicals. Since embarking on this graduate studies project, the University of Victoria in collaboration with the International Federation of Firefighters, has issued a recent body of work, “Raising the Alarm,” asking for better protections from toxic flame-retardants in Canada (Secord). Over time, foam breaks down and the chemicals manifest in dust. People and pets breathe in the persistent toxic flame-retardant chemicals from the dust, which can enter the blood stream. An Oakland Tribune Investigation discovered the flame-retardant chemicals from a family’s furniture in their baby and the bodies of the rest of the family (Fischer et al. 1581). Exposure to these flame-retardant chemicals is linked to infertility, neurological impacts, and even cancer (“Flame Retardants”). The halting of toxic flame-retardant chemicals in furniture foam became a huge campaign with different groups nationwide, such as the Center for Environmental Health, Clean and Healthy New York, the Ecology Center (in Ann Arbor, Michigan), Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Physicians for Social Responsibility: Los Angeles, and many others. See the Chicago Tribune “Playing with Fire” series (Callahan et al.) in the Explorations section of this module for details about why the toxic flame retardants were de facto required in foam for furniture in California. 2012 Arlene Blum has engaged the stellar investigative “Watchdog” journalist team at the Chicago Tribune, comprised of Patricia “Trish” Callahan, Sam Roe, and Michael Hawthorne. As a former journalist myself, I often work with journalists to help find elements for their stories. I’ve previously connected with Sam to assist with a lead in a lipstick story when I worked for the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics a year or so before. I have never worked with Trish or Michael. 84 “They need a ‘smoking gun’ of some sort, evidence that ’Citizens for Fire Safety’ is really a front for the chemical industry,” Dr. Blum explains. “Can you help find the ‘smoking gun’ to prove ‘Citizens’ is an industry front group?” I was honoured to be asked to assist this investigative journalist team – one of the best in the entire country. “Citizens” purports to be a group of burn victims and community members begging for toxic flame-retardant chemicals to continue to be used in foam for furniture and other products. Searching the California Secretary of State lobby database, I find the “smoking gun.” In the database, documentation tying the chemical companies that make the toxic flame-retardant chemicals to the purported “Citizens” group is in plain sight. It’s reportedly been created by an account executive at the Burson Marsteller public relations firm, a company U.S. journalist Rachel Maddow once called “evil on speed dial” for all the reportedly nefarious clients they represented (Maddow). I email Dr. Blum a screen shot of showing that “Citizens” was in fact a creation from the public relations firm for corporations that make the toxic flame-retardant chemicals. The Chicago Trib team ran with the evidence that “Citizens” was an industry front group and uncovered even more. It turns out that a spokesperson for the group, a physician working out of Seattle, reportedly repeated an oft-repeated lie about a baby who had gotten burned because of a candle near his crib that, ostensibly, had no flame-retardant chemicals in it. This story was told by chemical company lobbyists to government officials as evidence to support regulations to force the use of toxic flame-retardant chemicals in baby furniture, regular furniture, and other products with foam. The Trib team was able to document that there was no baby, no candle and no crib. Their series, “Playing with Fire,” was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. The series was front and center in a 2013 HBO feature documentary, Toxic Hot Seat. Demonstrating the 85 importance of journalism for environmental health, the Trib investigation triggered hearings and legislative actions to better regulate toxic flame-retardant chemicals in many states and in the U.S. federal government (“Policies”). Dr. Blum now leads environmental researchers to understand the hazards of some of the most concerning chemicals. Check out her “Six Classes of Chemicals” reports on the Green Science Policy Institute website, found in the Explorations section of this module. Dr. Blum’s skills with communications and creating relationships with reporters are far above those that I’ve experienced with the average chemist. When working with her, I often felt lucky to just follow up on the inroads she made with important decision makers at the New York Times, CNN, and other large audience media venues to get stories that many folks would read, including those in positions to make policies and regulations to protect environmental health. Ultimately, the work of environmental health advocates and journalists helped to create change in the California regulation. As of 2018, toxic flame-retardant chemicals are no longer required in foam for furniture in California, and thus for the rest of the world. At the same time, there had been less fire related mortality. Arlene Blum and many others working worldwide succeeded in demonstrating to regulators that the forcing of persistent, harmful toxic flame-retardant chemicals into furniture foam posed more hazards to human health and the environment than lower the risk of fire. This reduced risk is due to less use of candles, less use of cigarettes along with the use of reduced fire risk cigarettes (designed to slow burning the filter), and an increase in other fire safe technologies (Kegler 4, Ghassempour 12, “Fire Standard”). While I did not work directly with him, I had the honour to meet Andrew McGuire, who supported Dr. Blum’s efforts to ban toxic flame retardants. Burned in a fire as a child, he founded the Safe Cigarettes Campaign in 1977, forcing the cigarette industry to make “fire safe” 86 cigarettes (Hemenway 40). which are designed to slow the burning when not being smoked (“Fire Standard”). Sometimes when I meet EH or EJ advocates, and this happened when I met Andrew, my imagination easily conjures images of ancient warriors. In Andrew’s case, he inspired a vision of a Celtic hero taking on the Romans. We were lucky to have him with us on the toxic fire-retardant campaign. Dr. Blum has not stopped working to rid the world of what she sees, as a chemist herself, as unnecessary dangerous manmade toxic chemicals. I witnessed her sounding the early alarm on PFAS and PFOS chemicals, which have now made the nightly news and are being restricted by U.S., Canadian, and European Union regulatory authorities (“Our Current Understanding,” “Draft State,” “Next Steps”). Lois Gibbs and Love Canal In the 1970s while Dr. Blum was a young grad student focused on toxics in baby pajamas, another young woman in Niagara Falls, New York, was discovering a shocking toxic situation of her own that also threatened children. She lived in a neighborhood called “Love Canal,” named for a man named William T. Love who wanted to connect the upper and lower Niagara rivers in the late 1800’s with a canal (“Love”). While there have been many neighborhoods that have suffered from toxic contamination, it was the work of Lois Gibbs and her neighbors who made “Love Canal” globally synonymous with toxic disaster (McFadden, Robert). Lois and other Love Canal residents discovered that tens of thousands of chemicals had been dumped under their children’s school and throughout the land where their homes had been built. They would not accept government or corporate denial, and eventually the government was forced to evacuate 400 families. Hear Lois talk about this in the companion podcast for this module. Thanks to Lois and her colleagues, a new policy was created on December 1, 1980, called the “Superfund.” The U.S. EPA website explains: “The severity of the site’s 87 contamination led to the creation of federal legislation to manage the disposal of hazardous wastes throughout the country” (Love Canal). One aspect of this policy was the creation of a tax on polluters that would go into a Superfund. This was the one of the early codifications of the “polluter pays principle” into U.S. policy (Khan 634). Wielding Corporate Power A few years after the Superfund was created, in 1983, I produced a TV talk show at the CBS station in San Francisco with a beleaguered director of the U.S. EPA, Anne Gorsuch Burford. The appointment of Burford, nicknamed The Ice Queen (Romano and Trescott), demonstrated how strong the influence of the polluting corporations – including the fossil fuel industry – is on the U.S. government: these polluting corporations likely had something to do with President Ronald Reagan placing a person as head of the EPA who would weaken regulations for polluters. The Washington Post reports about Burford: Her short, tumultuous tenure [at the EPA] was marked by sharp budget cuts, rifts with career EPA employees, a steep decline in cases filed against polluters and a scandal over the mismanagement of the Superfund cleanup program that ultimately led to her resignation in 1983. (Dennis and Mooney.) 1983 “Is she here yet?” My executive producer makes her fifth trip into the Green Room that morning. The live television studio audience is seated, talking with each other in low tones. The hosts of the show come from the makeup room, getting ready to go out to the set. My face is pressed up against the window looking down on Battery Street. It is a dark and rainy San Francisco winter day, and the window glass is cold on my flushed skin. 88 “We’d better get a rerun ready,” sighs the director as he makes a rare appearance in the Green Room. Then, I see them. Three huge black SUVs pull up on the street four stories below, with guys in suits leaping out and opening the door of the middle car. It is less than five minutes to live air with our seven million viewers. Secret Service men exit the SUVs. “She’s here!” I bark at an intern, “Tell Eliot to let her through and bring her up in the elevator, pronto! Ross McGowan and Ann Fraser, the show hosts, stare anxiously at me. They prefer shows on diets, sex, and celebrities, not having to host a live TV program with a U.S. presidential cabinet member who could go to federal prison directly after the show. “What should we do?” implores Ann. After conferring with our executive producer, we tell them; “OK then, let’s do a short first segment, with you setting up the latest news with Congress happening right now, just as we planned this morning. We’ve got the copy on the prompter. Read the intro. Then, we’ll go to break and seat her, and you can start the interview in segment two.” I had briefed them on the latest news earlier that morning, which only seems to heighten their anxiety. Burford is in contempt of Congress, in part, for refusing to testify against President Reagan, and there could be a federal warrant for her arrest. My executive producer is holding open the Green Room door. Our beloved makeup man, David Clark, is standing by with a powder puff and his portable bag so he can follow Burford on set and touch her up before air. Bypassing the Green Room, the embattled EPA director demands to be ushered right into the studio. The show's theme music is playing, one hundred people in the audience are clapping, we are live, and Anne Gorusch Burford is standing right next to me in a light blue woven skirt and jacket that match her icy eyes. David comes to pat powder on her, and she shoos him away. He 89 rolls his eyes out of view from her. Her short dark hair looks lacquered into place. Whispering, I turn to her and say, “Thank you for coming Mrs. Burford,” I muster, “This must be a tough day for you, and I appreciate you being here.” “You have no idea,” she snaps at me, clearly irritated on many levels. During the break, we seat her on the set; she snaps at the sound man affixing the mic to her lapel. After Burford lays out a few obviously planned talking points, co-host Ann Fraser interrupts her and asks (just as I had written the question the night before): “You have been a steadfast, loyal defender of President Reagan, and now, it seems, he has ‘fed you to the wolves.’ How does that feel?” Burford’s brusque momentum stops. She looks at Ann Fraser with tears streaming down her face. As a reporter later recounts: “The Ice Queen melted.” I feel sorry for her, but I’m pretty sure those tears aren’t for Lois Gibbs, who we’d also had on the show previously. Nor was Burford likely crying because of all the many people harmed by toxic corporate pollution in their communities. The Superfund policy survived Anne Gorsuch Burford, Ronald Reagan, and many other corporate influenced people in positions of government power. It is a testament to government officials who have integrity, and to people working on environmental health and environmental justice (EJ) (more on EJ in the “Health Professionals on the Frontlines” and “On the Fenceline” modules), that U.S. laws and regulations to hold corporations accountable for toxic hazards seem to be getting stronger. It is important to point out here that in parliamentarian systems, such as Canada and the European Union, the civil servants handling regulatory affairs are unlikely to be tied to the 90 political party in power. Whereas in the United States, where I am from, it has been my experience that whatever political party is in office can put pressure on civil servants in regulatory positions. This was abruptly brought to my attention when George W. Bush was President of the United States. 2006 “I need you to get a New York Times article about something!” implores one of the staff scientists at PANNA [Pesticide Action Network North America where I am Communications Director] as he bursts through the doorway to my office. “You’re not going to believe this!” He has just been on a phone call. “There was a meeting with chemical industry lobbyists and one of Bush’s EPA appointees. I don’t know if any of them were actually scientists. They are trying to draw up a human testing rule that allows them to intentionally test pesticides on pregnant women, infants, incarcerated men, and women and, get this, ORPHANS!” Shocked, I ask him: “I don’t understand. What do they mean by ‘test’?” “When you test a person with a substance, you dose them until they exhibit an acute effect, like a skin rash, headache, or nausea. I’m betting with this effort by industry that there is no provision for monitoring long-term health effects such as learning disabilities or neurological illnesses that are linked to organophosphate pesticides, which we’re guessing might be what they want to use, since EPA has been putting restrictions on them for consumer products. We don’t know exactly what pesticides they want to use.” My colleague was understandably astounded, as was I. I call my contact at the New York Times. He tells me that it is unlikely that they will do the story. “How can you say that?!” I raise my voice. “Don’t you understand 91 what will happen if this rule becomes codified?! Babies - people - will get sick! And they might end up getting some kind of neurological illness years later and not know it was this testing that caused it! “The Times already has multiple lawsuits against it from the Bush administration,” he explains. “We can’t afford to incur any more.” “Trust me, this story is worth incurring a lawsuit. We have memos from the meeting and eyewitnesses! You’ve GOT to do something!” I don’t often metaphorically reach through the phone lines and grab an editor by the lapels, but if there was ever a time to do it, this was the time. I HAD to make them do their job. People’s lives were at stake. “I’ll need to speak with one of the EPA scientists who was in the meeting.” The editor has a reporter call me, Michael Janofsky. It turns out that he’s been covering human testing issues for a couple of years. I beg him to refrain from revealing the scientist’s identity. “You know that if you reveal their name, they’ll lose their jobs. Can’t you speak with them anonymously?” “That would really put us in a bad situation for a lawsuit, we just don’t do that.” “Well, you won’t be as vulnerable as the babies, pregnant moms and incarcerated men and women may become victims of deliberate poisoning!” I know that I am over the line now, but I don't care. “Let me see what I can do,” he sighs heavily and hangs up. Chemist and EPA scientists’ union representative Bill Hirzy comes forward to speak with Janofsky. Jeff Ruch from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility is also interviewed. The story hits. U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer works to block the rule. 92 (Janofsky, “Limits,” “Unions”). It turns out to be the last story Michael Janofsky writes for the New York Times. We found out later that at the time of the proposed human testing rule, the U.S. EPA in fact did want to test organophosphate pesticides (Resnik, David B. 814). Organophosphates, or OPs, were developed as chemical weapons by German scientists during World War II (Everts). When the U.S. brought the German scientists back after the war, they helped adapt the chemical weapons for widespread domestic use in the U.S. The pesticides parathion and malathion were among the first to be made from the neurologically damaging OPs, and, more recently, the now widely used chlorpyrifos hit the marketplace (Adeyinka and Pierre 3). It was an ingredient in over-the-counter insecticides, including, according to then New York Times science reporter Andrew Revkin, “... some Raid sprays, Hartz yard and kennel flea spray, and Black Flag liquid roach and ant killer” (Revkin). Earlier in 2006, the same year this human testing rule was proposed, research at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University revealed that children exposed to chlorpyrifos in consumer products had lower IQs and delayed development (Lovasi et al. 66, Rauh et al. “Impact” e1856). In the Mailman study, researchers also observed that low-income children of color incidentally exposed to consumer products containing chlorpyrifos in utero (when their mothers were pregnant with them) were five times more likely to experience “delays, attention problems, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder problems, and pervasive developmental disorder problems” (Ibid. 1845). In a similar timeframe, the U.S. EPA had been conducting a study with low-income infants called the Children’s Environmental Research study, or CHEERS. Unlike the Mailman study, there were questions about how CHEERS was conducted, including accusations of 93 intentional dosing (not simply observational study), and “incentives that amounted to coercion” of participants (Resnik and Wing 414). I want to note here that the Mailman study identified links to health impacts from the pesticide exposures that happened incidentally in the household, not from intentional dosing of children. The question remains: Why were representatives from the chemical companies trying to dictate a rule to the U.S. EPA that would basically legalize intentional dosing of children with pesticides? A 1970 report from the U.S. National Research Council argued that intentional human dosing will assist with “... improving the scientific basis for implementing legislation and human health or environmental benefits” (National Research 4). After a couple of years, EPA regulations were enacted to forbid toxicity studies on pregnant women, infants, children, and incarcerated men and women (“Protections”). Still, I find great irony in the logic that intentionally dosing infants and other vulnerable human beings is justified to determine health effects, presumably to protect the public health. When we think of actions like these as incomprehensible, we can look back at somewhat recent history and see that human testing in vulnerable populations has precedents, notably the Tuskegee experiments on African Americans in the U.S. (Torgerson), and the experiments of Joseph Mengele on Jewish people in Germany during the Holocaust (Weindling 5). The fact that this proposed rule was blocked by EPA scientists who stood to lose their jobs and even their careers is a powerful example of the courage modern scientists must have working in the realm of environmental health protections. A Continuing Story This module presents some of the key players in the history of environmental health protection, but many more people have contributed to this fight. The stories are far from over. The work is to protect all of life, including our own species, our health and well-being, are 94 always worth fighting for. It’s not easy, and few wade into the struggle, yet knowing that these men and women are championing a healthy world for everyone gives me hope. Please look through the Explorations for this and the other modules to learn about others who have been working on our behalf. If you have not seen them already, check out the films Dark Waters, Erin Brockovich, Michael Clayton, and Silkwood, to meet some other relatively unsung heroes and sheroes. The success of these films was made possible due to the drama provided by litigation avenues taken by the protagonists, a recourse taken more commonly used in the U.S. than in Canada or the European Union. There are many more stories that could be told about the history of environmental health, we only have enough time or space here to scratch the surface. Perhaps you can discover stories on your own that illustrate the courage and determination of those working to protect environmental health and environmental justice. Assignments and Explorations (Dissertation note: See also previous Assignments -Required section. These elements are listed as they appear on the website, not within standard academic writing format) Self-select one chapter of each from: Long Version Interviews (Dissertation note: to be hyperlinked to audio files on website) Arlene Blum Lois Gibbs Carol Kwiatkowski Pete Meyers Books 95 Carson, Rachel L. Silent Spring. Mifflin, 1962. Colborn, Theo, et al. Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival? A Scientific Detective Story. Dutton, 1999. Gibbs, Lois, and Murray Levine. Love Canal: My Story. State University of New York Press, 1982. Self-select two of the elements listed below: Articles “Playing with Fire” Chicago Tribune series on toxic flame retardants. Videos Dark Waters (rent or buy), film about Dupont polluting farms. Erin Brockovich (rent or buy), film about a woman who defended a polluted community. The Goldman Prize video ““Lois Gibbs”” “The Love Canal Disaster: Toxic Waste in the Neighborhood” | Retro Report | The New York Times The Male Predicament - Theo Colborn Silkwood film about Karen Silkwood, whistleblower at a nuclear plant that leaked radiation. “Toxic Hot Seat” - HBO documentary about the Chicago Tribune series on toxic flame retardants. (ROCO Films charges $50 for a one-time screening.) Other Podcasts “Toxic Avengers with Daniel Rosenberg”- long-time environmental health stalwart Daniel Rosenberg interviews environmental health and environmental justice advocates Websites Alliance for Toxic Free Fire Safety 96 Center for Health, Environment and Justice (Lois Gibbs) Coming Clean Critical Windows of Development (Theo Colborn, Carol Kwiatkowski) Environmental Health News (Pete Myers) Green Science Policy Institute (Arlene Blum, Carol Kwiatkowski) Planetary Health Alliance education materials Science Communication Network (Pete Myers) Six Classes of Harmful Chemicals SUDOC (Pete Myers) The Endocrine Disruption Exchange (Theo Colborn, Carol Kwiatkowski) Wingspread Conference on the Precautionary Principle Quiz 1. Rachel Carson and her book Silent Spring are often thought to have sparked the modern environmental movements. True or False 2. DDT is a supplement used in baby formula to prevent malaria. True or False 3. DDT is an organochlorine pesticide used as a spray to kill malaria carrying mosquitos. However, insects soon become resistant. DDT is an endocrine-disrupting chemical linked to breast cancer, deformed genitals, and other health issues. True or False 4. Endocrine Disruption means (check all that apply): A. Thyroid function can become impaired. B. TV commercials interrupting movies. C. Supply chain issues. D. Threat of reproductive problems. E. Immune system function can become impaired. 97 5. Love Canal is: (Fill in the blank) ______________________________________________ 6. The Wingspread Statement was the first time that: A. There was a study about a group of birds that learned to fly. B. A group of different researchers got together to announce their concerns about hazards from manmade toxic chemicals. C. The term “Precautionary Principle” was coined. D. None of the Above 98 Chapter Seven: Health Professionals on the Front Lines Instructor Guide Learning Outcomes Key Concepts Assignments (Required) Assignments and Explorations (Curated Materials) Quiz Instructor Guide and Ideas for Individual Learners This module is an introduction to a large and complex series of environmental health topics. This is not an in-depth primer on the medical aspects of environmental health, nor is it a deep dive into the science of environmental health exposures. The object of this module is to give students a glimpse into the work of various professionals working on environmental health and environmental justice protection issues. There are some medical post-secondary schools and classes that are beginning to offer courses on environmental health and environmental justice, but this OER may be one of the first efforts to provide an Environmental Humanities approach to the topics. Individual Learners may take suggestions offered here and adapt them to their knowledge interests. There are many resources listed in the Explorations section of the model, such as the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments' E-Textbook for nurses. More and more resources are emerging along with the peer reviewed science, so having students choose a health-related aspect that resonates with them and research it for a presentation to share with the class would be an effective way for all the students to learn. 99 Healthcare Without Harm advises hospital settings on how to reduce toxic hazards in a medical setting. Students could present to the rest of the students on this NGO's various programs. Some of the ideas below will work well for group projects as well as for individuals. Have students share their work with the rest of the class. • If your students are interested in public health, occupational health, or epidemiology, have them identify a location. If they are in the U.S., they can go to the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) database and look at reported emissions in that location. They can then look for public health information for that location to see if there are incidences of health impacts linked to the substances in the TRI reporting. In Canada, they can look for toxics in the National Pollutant Release Inventory and then search for health impacts linked to the pollutants in a location. • Puzzling out toxic exposures in health can be a good critical thinking process. Consider assigning students Pro/Con topics posing questions about the variety of factors that can be implicated in illness and injury in addition to toxic exposures, such as genetics and harmful behaviours. • For another critical thinking exercise, ask students to try to assess costs associated with health impacts from toxic exposures. Then compare this with costs involved with halting the exposures, what might be lost from health protective measures, such as reduced production of plastic, higher costs for car and truck fuels, other things we'd either no longer be able to have or that would become so expensive that few could afford them. Check out the Assignment and Explorations pages for more ideas. 100 Most of all, remember it is OK to say, "I don't know," and to actively learn alongside your students. Environmental Humanities treatment of these subjects is just beginning to emerge. In this light, consider artistic expressions and reflections from what students learn, with creative response such as poetry, prose, visual and audio art, and other forms that enable students to engage and process the information. Learning Outcomes By the end of this module, students will begin to understand EH and EJ concerns from physicians, nurses, and health researchers about health impacts linked to man-made toxic exposures. Key Concepts (Dissertation note: Spacing for Key Concepts text in Dissertation is as it is represented on the website, single spaced) Asthma - Difficulty breathing, linked to manmade pollution in the air, commonly occurring in contaminated communities. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Biomonitoring - The process of measuring for chemicals in the body. This can be done by testing urine, blood, or hair. Commonweal Biomonitoring Center. Bisphenol A (BPA) - A synthetic sex hormone used in plastics and can linings that’s linked to obesity, other forms of endocrine system disruption, and increases aggression in cancer. U.S. Institute of Environmental Health Services. Critical Windows of Development - The period of human development between conception and birth when human beings are the most vulnerable to chemical exposure. See the “Websites” section for a database on environmental health impacts identified by peer reviewed studies curated by Theo Colborn and Carol Kwiatkowski. The Endocrine Disruption Exchange. Environmental Justice - The concept that all people deserve clean air, clean water, clean earth, and a healthy environment. Robert Bullard. Grasshopper Effect - Persistent chemicals travel north toward the Arctic on wind and water. They land in places along the way, and when they do, they leave their “footprint,” and capacity for exposure. United Nations Environment Program. Low Dose Effects - The phenomenon that low dose exposures can trigger health impacts, sometimes later in life. Breast Cancer Prevention Partners. 101 Non-ionizing radiation - Radiofrequency waves from wireless devices, linked to weakening the blood brain barrier, enabling toxic chemicals to enter the brain more easily. Also linked to neurological, reproductive, and eugenic impacts. Carcinogenic. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. PCBs - Polychlorinated biphenyls. Persistent chemicals linked to the immune system, reproductive system, nervous system, and endocrine system impacts. Banned in the 1970s, yet still ubiquitous. U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. POPs chemicals - Persistent Organic Pollutants that last a long time and travel north on wind and rain, leaving a "footprint" as they pass through. United Nations Environment Program. Assignments (Required) Podcast Transcript is on page 74. Podcast Credits Students meet a variety of health professionals working on environmental health and environmental justice protections, including Dr. David Carpenter, Dr. Phil Landrigan, Dr. Paul Saoke, Dr. Barb Sattler, Matt Damon, CDC Report Narrator, Participants in Hurricane Katrina Tribunal, Dr. Tracey Woodruff, Raluca Radu, Dr. Mark Mitchell, Dr. Joel Moskowitz, and Dr. Robert Bullard. Health care and health researchers discuss their experiences encountering people with impacted health from manmade toxic chemical exposures. Essays (Required) Complexities “Health Professionals on the Front Lines” Health Professionals on the Front Lines Essay by Stephenie Hendricks Download Essay Audio Version This module is part of an Environmental Humanities curriculum. Its research uses a Scholarly Personal Narrative (SPN) methodology, meaning stories are used as data, including the researcher’s own story. With SPN, research is subjective, and stories are anchored to larger themes and other scholarly research. The stories here are about some of those who have discovered and held emerging science and knowledge about environmental health. Ughhh, Such a Downer! 102 When faced with the fact that manmade invisible manmade toxic exposures might be contributing to rising rates of illnesses among the global population, some people shut down, put their fingers in their ears, scrunch their eyes closed, and say “NANANANANA! I don’t want to hear about it!” Others just flat out deny the science. And still others say, “Well, the world is going to end anyway, I don’t want to change my lifestyle; I want freedom!” Still others haven’t a clue about environmental health. Why? Part of the reason is sheer ignorance. Many people buy and sell things without thinking about the unintended consequences of hazards from harmful elements such as BPA, PFAS chemicals, lead, and other exposures, that are not required to be labeled or have not been tested for impacts on human health and the environment (Muir et al. 9120). Others become overwhelmed by the enormity of the problems and just shut down. And then there are other people: environmental health defenders. You are about to hear about the work they engage in, which is not for the faint of heart. Here, we focus on stories from a few physicians, nurses, and health researchers I have had the honour to work with over the years, or whose work I’ve come to know. As you will discover in this essay and podcast, health professionals working on environmental health and environmental justice face enormous challenges. They are the ones witnessing and identifying associations between toxic exposures and suffering, and they are trying to educate others about these issues. They are “first responders” to this huge conundrum, especially in communities close to polluting areas that experience the most illnesses. However, you do not have to live near a chemical plant or landfill to have your health or the health of your family members impacted, because some chemical culprits lurk in consumer products while other persistent chemicals can travel long distances on wind, water, and dust, leaving behind contaminants with the “Grasshopper Effect” that is described in the podcast for this module. In short, we all are vulnerable to health impacts from 103 manmade toxic chemical exposures; some of us more than others. In this essay, I share personal experiences as well as scholarly and scientific research as a companion to the podcast for this module. Impacts from Toxic Exposures 1997 “Mrs. Hendricks, Sarah has Hashimoto’s Disease.” I turn my focus from our pediatrician to my eight-year-old daughter, whose eyes are round with concern. I ask, “What does that mean?” while maintaining eye contact with Sarah. She is so sensitive and aware. I don’t want her to be afraid. “It means that her thyroid gland is impaired, and she will need to start taking medication for it right now, and probably for the rest of her life.” I move to the examining table and put my arms around her as she leans in, looking up at me. “It explains her fatigue and her recent growth spurt. That often happens with this condition – a sort of dysregulation of growth hormones.” The doctor scribbles out a prescription. “Overall, it’s not the end of the world. She’ll be fine.” He smiles reassuringly at her, and she relaxes a little. Privately, I’d been worried that Sarah’s fatigue and not feeling well was something worse – possibly leukemia. I’ve produced TV talk shows with families suffering with this disease that often strikes children. An occupational hazard from producing TV talk shows is being hyper suspicious of any symptoms that my family or I have that echo those discussed on a show that I produce. I allow relief and gratitude to shove my anxiety aside as we leave the doctor’s office. Still, something nags at me. What caused this? Was this something I inadvertently did to my daughter? 104 Thyroid disease joins rising rates of asthma, obesity, diabetes, neurological problems like autism, learning disabilities, Parkinson’s Disease, and still yet more health impacts linked to ubiquitous manmade chemical exposures (Di Renzo et.al 219, Lavezzi and Ramos-Lavina 5764). Rates of cancers in children and young adults are also increasing. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society reports that “Leukemia is the second leading cause of cancer deaths (after cancers of the brain and other nervous tissue) among children and adolescents younger than 20 years (“Childhood,” Siegel 1, Ugai 656), and often thought to be linked to environmental exposures (Carlos-Wallace, et al. 1, Hernandez and Menendez 10). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) report that leukemia in U.S. children has gone up 35% in the last 40 years (“Children’s Environmental”). Statistics Canada reports that new cancer cases per year among all ages has gone from 117,975 in 1991 to 211,435 in 2017, the most recent year reported (Number of New Cases). Why are these rates of illness rising? Some say that cancer diagnosis rates are improving, resulting in more diagnosis (Drake). Another potential explanation is the fact that as the illness rates rise, so have the number of more than 300,000 new unregulated or under manmade toxic chemicals linked to many of these illnesses introduced into the marketplace in the last 60 years without adequate scientific review for impacts on human health and the environment (Krimsky 4, Schapiro). That’s why physicians, nurses, and health researchers who document evidence of harm linked to manmade toxic chemicals are so important. Researchers examining umbilical cord blood have demonstrated that babies are born “pre-polluted,” with hundreds of manmade toxic chemicals in their bodies (Morello-Frosch et al. 12466). This followed an Environmental Working group study of infant cord blood that found more than 230 chemicals in a newborn's 105 blood (Body Burden). There is no ‘control’ group of babies born without chemicals in their bodies with which to compare. With hundreds of manmade toxic chemicals in our bodies, it is exceptionally challenging to know which ones are causing harm and how much harm occurs due to the combination of all those chemicals (Silins and Hogberg 630). Add to that the attacks from industry and their ‘downstream’ users on researchers who are documenting harm, and you have tremendous challenges in diagnosing illnesses linked to toxic exposures (Michaels 35, Oreskes and Conway 151). Read more about how difficult it is for toxicologists and epidemiologists to “prove” that manmade toxic chemicals cause illness in the “Complexities” essay in this module. Even when we can directly make connections between exposure and illness, it can take years for the complete health impacts to become known (Boekelheide et al. 1353). This may have happened with my daughter Sarah when her thyroid became impaired. I look back and realize that I may have unwittingly dosed my daughter with a synthetic sex hormone, bisphenol A (BPA), when she was a baby. I had no idea that BPA – an endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) - lurked in the can linings of the baby formula and plastic baby bottles we used. I may have unknowingly contributed to my daughter’s thyroid becoming impaired later in life with exposure when she was at a vulnerable age. When the thyroid gland stops working properly, it can trigger illness, including obesity, impaired neurodevelopment in utero, failure to carry pregnancy to full term, autoimmune disease, and more (Serrano-Nascimento and Nunes 1). Discoveries are emerging as environmental health researchers identify even more illnesses linked to thyroid dysfunction (Calsolaro 1). In the United States, thyroid cancer has “spiked” among women (Reynolds) and has risen “by almost 6 times in Canadian women and 5 times in men” during a 43-year study (Topstad and Dickenson E62). 106 Once I started working with health researchers investigating the impacts of BPA, clues to my daughter’s thyroid problem, as well as insights on the rise in thyroid diseases, came to light with many peer-reviewed studies (E. Pearce and Braverman 802) providing evidence for the hazard. Years after the discovery of Sarah’s thyroid disease, environmental health advocate Bobbi Chase Wilding from Clean and Healthy New York said something on a conference call that helped ease the guilt I felt: Why do we mothers have to be responsible for knowing the science and the chemistry of the foods we buy from the stores? How is it that the responsibility for protecting our children’s health from invisible and unlabeled toxic chemicals falls on us? Why do we have to feel guilty? (Bobbi Chase Wilding) Why, indeed? This is a wicked question aloft in a sea of broader issues. The Role of Frontline Workers in Combating Environmental Toxins While some governments such as Canada, the European Union, and the U.S. have a process for assessing toxic exposures for workers that enable health care professionals to fill out forms to document exposures, (“Environmental Illness,” “Dangerous Substances,” Toxic Industrial Chemicals), for everyone else - nurses, physicians, and health researchers – their main recourse for reporting what they see as suspected health impacts from environmental exposures are local public health departments that are, themselves, often “insufficient” to assist afflicted communities (Vandenberg, “Addressing,” 122). Yet health professionals are often the first to become aware of and pursue knowledge about illnesses and injuries arising from nonwork related toxic exposures; some are keen observers of the relationship between their patients and their patients’ environments. Spurred on by what they see on the front lines of their work, they often launch into investigations of these problems and seek solutions of their own. 107 Because children are most vulnerable to toxic exposures (Hauptman and Woolf e466), pediatricians are often among the first medical professionals to recognize health impacts from environmental exposures. One of the leading pioneers in pediatric environmental health, Dr. Philip Landrigan, has devoted his career to raising awareness among other physicians and health researchers. A public health physician and epidemiologist, Dr. Landrigan is director of the Global Public Health Program and Global Observatory on Planetary Health at Boston College, where he uses “the tools of epidemiology to elucidate connections between toxic chemicals and human health” (“Landrigan,” Biology Department). His early research revealed the toxicity of lead for children “even at very low levels” (Ibid). This prompted the removal of lead from paint and gasoline around the U.S., reducing lead levels in the average U.S. citizen (and perhaps many others in the world) by 90% (Ibid). His work documenting harm to children from pesticides played a part in reforming U.S. pesticide policy. I saw the power of Dr. Landrigan’s efforts firsthand working with staffers with either U.S. federal or state legislators who considered Dr. Landrigan’s studies to inform policy. While in his position as co-chair of the Lancet Commission on Pollution & Health (between 2015 and 2017), he gathered a worldwide team of experts who identified pollution as the cause of more than 9 million deaths annually; they labeled pollution “an existential threat to planetary health” (Landrigan, “Environmental Pollution”). The Lancet is the world’s oldest peer-reviewed medical journal. In 2017, their Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health report declared: “Pollution endangers planetary health, destroys eco-systems, and is intimately linked to global climate change” (Landrigan et al. “The Lancet Commission” 462). The esteemed scientists and physicians on this Commission identified ubiquitous global toxic chemical exposures such as lead, mercury, chromium, DDT and more as 108 culprits that have “repeatedly been responsible for episodes of disease, death, and environmental degradation” (Ibid.). Few physicians understand this more deeply than Dr. Paul Saoke of Physicians for Social Responsibility – Kenya. I first came to know of Dr. Saoke when I was asked to help produce a U.S. Congressional briefing to try and convince legislators to not allow U.S. tax dollars to fund a scheme to spray DDT in several countries in Africa. The story of this experience can be heard in the “DDT in Africa” podcast in the Explorations section of this module. Later, I was able to meet him in person and we’ve stayed in touch ever since. He was very gracious with his time for this project. Dr. Saoke explained to me how toxic exposures from plastic waste is such a ubiquitous hazard in his country. Plastic is so bountiful in Kenya that some people use it as fuel for cooking, exposing them to carcinogens. The poverty is so severe that it is challenging to dissuade people from burning it. Dr. Saoke explained the outcomes of this practice: You can see this direct correlation between the environmental origins of cancer, especially as it relates to the release of dangerous chemicals into the environment, and the cancer incidence in a third world country like Kenya. So, what we’re dealing with here is multifaceted. We are dealing with the issue of educating the public so that they get involved in safe environmental practices, so that we reduce the cancer incidences. And then we’re also involved in trying to manage the cancer incidences with cost resources. (Paul Saoke) Dr. Saoke has worked tirelessly on policies about chemicals that travel long distances, called Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). POPs last a long time, drifting north from where they are applied (Hung 1577). POPs are not well-known, and yet policy work on POPs is meaningful for all life on earth due to their mobility. No one is immune. And most all of us are 109 complicit in the creation and use of these and other man-made toxic hazards. They originate from somewhere. In the “On the Fenceline” module, we hear from Yupik elder Vi Waghiyi and biologist Pam Miller about how Indigenous communities in the Arctic are experiencing sickness, suspected of being triggered from POPs chemicals applied in the Global South in addition to exposures from long buried military waste. This is corroborated by other researchers (Cordier et al. 10). Health care professionals on the ground where the pollution originates work to stop it while attending to their sick patients. However, economic, and political influences hinder regulations on chemicals. When Dr. Mark Mitchell was Director of the Hartford, Connecticut Department of Public Health, political pressures leaned toward removing regulations, not increasing them, for public safety. In the podcast, you can hear him describe the increasing awareness among Black physicians about the links between their patients’ illnesses and environmental exposures. Even so, Dr. Mitchell, whose responsibilities included the health of all residents of Hartford, expressed his frustration about the influence of politics on what should have been a basic scientific and health-centric identification of environmental exposures that were making people sick from a landfill. Dr. Mitchell is now Emeritus Professor of Climate Change, Energy, & Environmental Health Equity at George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change Communications. He chairs the National Medical Association’s Council on Environmental Health and Climate Change (The National Medical Association was founded in 1898 in response to the American Medical Association denying Black physicians’ entry and boasts more than 50,000 members today). In this work he created a mnemonic (a way to remember something) to help health 110 providers determine if their patients might be experiencing health impacts from climate change. It is called HEATWAVE: Heat effects; Exacerbation of pre-existing heart and lung conditions; Asthma; Traumatic injury caused by climate-related severe weather; Water- and food-borne illnesses; Allergies; Vector-borne diseases, such as West Nile and Zika; Vector-borne diseases, and Emotional and mental health impacts from experiences like loss of property or life due to climate-related disaster. (“Testimony”) Dr. Mitchell’s mnemonic is being adopted by health researchers working on climate and health all over the world. This is an example of the nature of EH professionals: they innovate, share their work, and help make big changes that support protections for all of us. 111 In Boston, Dr. Sean Palfrey at Massachusetts General Hospital also saw impacts from environmental exposures with his patients. In his observations, lead was the culprit, and it was hurting children. Lead is a neurotoxin associated with learning disabilities, lower IQs, and other neurological problems that are seemingly on the rise (Aschner 142). I contacted Dr. Palfrey to ask for a comment for a news release for the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics about the discovery of lead in certain types of red lipsticks (Reuman). Pregnant women who wear this kind of lipstick (most often the brighter red shades), are unwittingly dosing their fetus with lead during vulnerable stages of development for the fetus’ brain and nervous system. Dr. Palfrey stays on top of research about health impacts from lead exposure, so he is a great resource for reporters. He did not hesitate when I asked him to be the expert for our news release and generously gave his time to speak with the reporters who I was able to interest in the story. The 2007 report on lead in lipstick by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics may have sparked a similar study by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2009 (Hepp et al. 405). We contacted reporters when the new FDA study came out (which reported higher levels of lead in lipstick than our 2007 tests). Amanda Gardner, a reporter with coveted news content provider Healthday, took us up on our suggestion to contact Dr. Palfrey as a physician expert. This is the quote he gave her: If you put this on your mouth every day, or little kids’ mouths or when you’re pregnant, is this small amount of lead building up in a way that would affect infants, fetuses, and young children significantly over time? ... it could, so why do it? (Gardner) Dr. Palfrey went so far as to assert that there is no safe level of lead. Considering recent revelations of lead contamination from aging water pipes found in Flint, Michigan, Jackson, Mississippi, and many other communities, the presence of lead is a tragic reality that has put the 112 cognitive capacities of many generations in harm’s way. In a report to the City of Boston years ago, Dr. Palfrey implored local officials: • Educate every parent, every landlord, every realtor that lead is still a problem and know risks, signs, and symptoms. • Screen, routinely, at 9 mos, 18 mos, and yearly till 6 years of age if child remains with elevated levels or at risk. • Screen immigrants up to 10 years of age who come from rural areas and/or developing countries where gas is still leaded, children and adults work and play around lead. • Insist that any housing unit a parent rents or buys be deleaded. • Advocate that all other places children are (day cares, schools, shelters, churches) be deleaded (some funds available, but we cannot require this to happen). • If we are not insistent, this problem will not be solved. (Palfrey) One might ask: Did the petrochemical industry know that their products, primarily gasoline and paint, contained lead, a substance that lowers IQs in children and impairs neurological systems? According to Kat Eschner, writing for the Smithsonian, the answer is yes (Eschner). With this historically callous corporate view toward public health, it perhaps should not have been surprising when the chemical industry attempted to create a rule within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that would codify intentionally dosing pregnant women, infants, incarcerated men and women and “orphaned” children with pesticides (Sargent). Lobbyists from Dow Chemical and Bayer wrote these points in a note during a meeting with a politically appointed EPA official and staff scientists. Learn more about this in the “Brief and Recent Environmental Health History” essay. 113 Many health professionals are understandably invested in figuring out how to prevent illness in the first place by helping to create regulations and laws to protect the public. One such organization is the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments (ANHE). Their e-textbook, Environmental Health in Nursing, Second Edition, is an Open Source (free) textbook that supports nurses to understand the environmental health hazards and their links to health impacts. (See Explorations). Dr. Barbara Sattler is a co-founder of ANHE. When I asked her what led her to working in this field, she responded that she wanted to figure out how to keep people from getting sick in the first place: “We can keep repairing people, we can keep repairing our environment, or we can prevent them from being damaged to begin with” (Sattler). She first started seeing workers who were sick from mysterious exposures, and this started a lifelong dedication to working for the “Right to Know” policy that workers, consumers, and residents of a community – everyone – has a right to know what is in their environment and the products they use, and how their health might be impacted. Unfortunately, many companies do not label their products with lists of the harmful chemicals in them. One of Dr. Sattler’s foci has been environmental hazards that threaten nurses specifically. She is working with a non-profit organization to poll 1,500 nurses about the impacts on their health from working in environments where they are exposed to toxic chemicals and radiation. They found that nurses have very high rates of asthma, and researchers believe that this may be triggered when nurses must clean counter surfaces repeatedly. Her investigation found that janitors have high rates of asthma, too, posing the question: Are cleaning products triggering asthma in janitors and nurses? (Barbara Sattler) Dr. Sattler’s team also looked at nurses’ exposure to pharmaceuticals. Nurses often must crush or split pills for patients. This results in particulate from the pharmaceutical going into the 114 air and leading to potential inhalation or dermal absorption, so this is another environmental health hazard that Dr. Sattler, and her team are researching. Like Dr. Mark Mitchell and many other health care professionals, Dr. Sattler believes that the health of her patients is enmeshed with the health of the planet, climate change, and extreme weather events, along with basic factors, such as food safety and security. With so much work, I asked Dr. Sattler what keeps her going when the work to prevent harm seems so daunting. You can hear what she says about that and more in the podcast for this module. Other health professionals continue to work directly on documenting manmade toxic exposures in communities. Dr. David Carpenter is based out of State University New York, Albany, where he runs a World Health Organization (WHO) lab. His team has been studying health impacts from polychlorinated biphenyls, better known as PCBs. Though banned years ago, they are persistent, and are linked to a variety of present-day illnesses, including neurological harm, infertility, hormonal disruption, and cancer (“Polychlorinated”). Dr. Carpenter shared with me how he came to understand the threat they posed. In the podcast for this module, Dr. Carpenter relays a story about people who are sick from the PCBs. I think about the myriad rising rates of illness linked to PCB exposures. Obesity, for one, is an epidemic. I think to myself, is this because of PCBs? Dr. Carpenter shared more information about these chemicals: PCBs are a group of chemicals that are 209 different PCBs, and they don’t have all the same properties … and they don’t have all the same health effects. So, a lot of my work, for the last 30 or 40 years, has been trying to understand what PCBs do to health. I started out focused on the nervous system. Most of my 115 work more recently has been on the chronic diseases of older age, of cancer, of heart disease, and diabetes. And these chemicals, because they, they cause induction of many different genes, they alter the risk for so many different diseases, it’s hard to understand, [how] one group of chemicals can change your IQ and your attention span, increase your risk of diabetes, increase your risk of high blood pressure, alter your sex hormones, alter your thyroid gland. And they do this because they change the expression of many genes that are important for just about every biological function. … for a number of years, we studied lead poisoning, and its effect on the brain. And then it became clear that PCBs also reduced IQ. (David Carpenter) Dr. Carpenter has been working with the Yupik Indigenous people of St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. 2013 “The permafrost is melting,” biologist and health researcher Pam Miller explains, as we eat lunch at a nearby restaurant there in Anchorage. “Even though St. Lawrence Island, being in the Bering Sea, is technically in the Arctic, the drums containing the toxics that the military buried in frozen ground decades ago are corroding and leaching.” Pam founded Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) and has hired me to come up and brainstorm communications strategy to support their policy work. “And so, the incidences of cancer, failure to carry fetuses to term, birth defects and more health impacts are rising even more than they already were on St. Lawrence Island.” Nothing like the queasiness of discussing toxic health impacts while scarfing a sandwich; an occupational hazard of working on environmental health and environmental justice issues. 116 “Plus, the POPs chemicals are drifting up, right? So, the people on St. Lawrence Island also have tough cumulative exposure levels in their traditional foods,” I add, thinking about salmon, seals, and whales – traditional foods for the Yupik - contaminated with the POPs chemicals. Pam nods. Her eyes tell me what I already know: The health impacts from all these manmade toxics have triggered tremendous suffering for the Yupik, demonstrating a terrible legacy of disregard for Native peoples and their land that Pam – and I – as white settlers, both feel an obligation to try and help remedy somehow. Pam has devoted her life to trying to use her scientific knowledge to help stop the health impacts harm and gain justice. Returning to ACAT, I go into Pam’s office to grab my laptop. I’m due for a meeting with Vi Waghiyi, a Yupik elder from St. Lawrence Island. I look and it’s not there. I think, “Maybe I’m so tired I forgot where I put it,” and start looking around her office to see if I had plugged it in somewhere else. Pam walks in. “What are you looking for?” “My laptop. I left it charging right there on the shelf.” I point to where I’d last seen it. Pam and I search her office and the entire place. Panic wells up inside of me, pooling in my throat. I work remotely so ALL my work is on that computer, my entire livelihood. (No “Cloud” per se back then). After questioning staffers, we determine that a stranger has been in the building and must have stolen it. Trying to not cry, I am speaking with a police officer on the phone, when one of Pam’s staffers tells me Vi is waiting for me in the conference room. Grabbing pen and a notepad, I make my way to the conference room, steeped in despair, and greatly distracted. Vi is standing there, waiting. Wiping tears, I apologize for being late. 117 “I am sorry your laptop was stolen,” she says gently. “But we are having babies being born without brains on St. Lawrence Island and we need help.” The enormity of what Vi says halts my emotional downward spiral of self-pity over my stolen laptop. As if struck by lightning, I am suddenly grounded. Sitting down as if pushed, I realize that the loss of my laptop means nothing, absolutely nothing, to me now. The only thing that matters is trying to figure out how to support Vi’s work. I tell this story to demonstrate the importance of Pam Miller’s, Vi Waghiyi’s and Dr. Carpenter’s work for the people of St Lawrence Island and the rest of the world. A biologist, Indigenous elder, and physician are each conducting important scientific health research. Other health professionals work within medical schools studying links to illness from chemical exposures. Dr. Tracey Woodruff is the Director for the Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment at the University of California, San Francisco. In our conversation, she emphasized the conundrum that there are so many manmade toxic chemicals in our bodies that we don’t know what the impacts are in a cumulative manner. She also mentioned other factors such as stress and poverty that can figure in triggering illness combined with the “body burden” of multiple toxic chemicals: “We know that people have dozens and dozens of these chemicals inside their body … that’s what cumulative exposure is in the narrow sense related to chemicals” (Tracey Woodruff). Dr. Woodruff and her team have been instrumental in documenting reproductive health impacts from toxic exposures (Woodruff, et al., “A Science-based”). Their studies call for increased protections to be included in policy. When you stop and think about it, it makes perfect sense for hospitals to look inwardly to see if they are inadvertently deploying practices that affect people who work there as well harm patients. For example, environmental health advocates at Kaiser Permanente (KP) realized that 118 the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) tubing and drip bags they were using might be leaching dioxin into their patients (Gerwig 2). Dioxin is one of the most carcinogenic substances yet discovered (Kurwadkar 90), and it can trigger cancer and other serious illnesses. Kathy Gerwig was Vice President of Employee Safety, Health, and Wellness and the Environmental Stewardship Officer at KP when she realized the hazards from PVC products. As a result, Kaiser ordered their drip bag suppliers to make drip bags and tubing out of something less toxic, or they would not buy the bags. The suppliers innovated and came up with less toxic drip bags and tubing, and KP subsequently banned those made with PVC (Gerwig 2). You can find a link for the seminal book Kathy wrote for hospitals, Greening Health Care, How Hospitals Can Heal the Planet (Oxford University Press), in the book section of this module’s Explorations. The innovations made by Kaiser seem to remain somewhat siloed. When I have the rare cause to be in other hospitals, I look at their PVC drip bags and tubing. I wonder about the likelihood of the bags being PVC leaching dioxin into patients and I also think about having toxic flame retardants in their curtains and furniture. Another invisible exposure hazard is ubiquitous non-ionizing radiation from all the wireless technology (more on this from Joel Moskowitz in the podcast for this module) they use. I marvel at hospitals’ blind eye for how they might contribute to illnesses and injuries among staff and patients. I am always tempted to suggest to hospital workers that they connect with Health Care Without Harm (HCWH), the group that supported Kathy Gerwig and others on raising awareness in hospitals and health care settings. HCHW assists hospitals with identifying exposure hazards and figuring out how to replace them with safer substitutions. The link for this group can be found in the Explorations section for this module. 119 While the folks mentioned so far are focused on exposures from manmade toxic chemicals, others are working on a relatively more recent manmade hazardous exposure: non-ionizing radiation from wireless technology. At the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Joel Moskowitz is the Director of the Center for Family and Community Health at the School of Public Health. Early in his career he was concerned about illness from tobacco, alcohol, and harmful drug use. Today, he has compiled every peer-reviewed study on the impacts from non-ionizing radiation. Dr. Moskowitz believes that toxic chemical exposures are made worse by non-ionizing radiation, and that emerging science is documenting health impacts. He is not alone in this concern. Dr. Martha Herbert, a neuroscientist at Harvard, is researching the connection between wireless radiation and autism (Herbert). Silicon Valley surgeon Dr. Cindy Russell started a group called Physicians for Safe Technology, which has listed all peer reviewed health impact studies on their website (Russell). University of California San Diego researcher Dr. Beatrice Golomb has identified links between non-ionizing radiation and the “unexplained” debilitating illnesses at the American Embassies in Cuba and China (Golomb 2882-2883). Hundreds of other health professionals worldwide signed a letter asking for protection from wireless technology hazards, called the EMF Scientists Appeal; it was sent to key agencies in the United Nations in 2015 (EMFScientists). In September of 2023, while working on this research, government science authorities in France banned the IPhone 12 for having dangerously high radiation levels (Rigby and Coulter). Why are so many physicians and scientists concerned? One issue that has emerged is that nonionizing radiation weakens the blood brain barrier, making it easier for manmade toxic chemicals already in our bodies to access the brain (Salford et al. 881). Dr. Moskowitz explains: [nonionizing radiation] interacts with other chemical toxins, these exposures, 120 increasing our risks to adverse health, harm from these other chemical exposures. For example, even very low intensity exposure to radiofrequency radiation can open the blood brain barrier. So, if you have low levels of chemical toxins in your circulatory system, they can now penetrate your brain and cause brain tumors. (Joel Moskowitz) Dr. Moskowitz has been collecting and analyzing hundreds of peer reviewed papers on health impacts from nonionizing radiation. He reports that researchers ... found significant evidence [of] reproductive health effects … in both the male and female, to sperm, harm to the fetus, increase miscarriage rates, variety of cancers including, besides brain cancer, cancer of the thyroid and salivary gland, [and] breast cancer … we’re faced with a global challenge. (Joel Moskowitz) Each participant in this project echoed Dr, Moskowitz’ declaration that manmade toxic exposures present global challenges. Whether in Kenya, Canada, the U.S., the U.K., or elsewhere, another issue I hear from health professionals who are not already involved with environmental health is that they feel so overburdened attempting to treat patients within their respective broken medical systems that taking on additional work to understand health hazards from toxic exposures proves overwhelming. There have also been efforts by the polluters to discourage health care providers from making their discoveries public. For example, when I was working on the reform of the U.S. Toxics Substances Control Act, on one conference call, I heard an industry lobbyist proposal making it illegal for health care providers treating communities for toxic exposures to make public information about the chemical if the information was obtained from the U.S. EPA. This law was meant to protect proprietary information about the offending chemical, also known as 121 Confidential Business Information (CBI). The penalty mentioned on the call was to be $10,000 and up to five years in jail. Currently the penalty for anyone disclosing chemical CBI is up to one year in jail and an unnamed fine (Access). Learn more about this in the “What Instead?” module. Elements within the disciplines of toxicology and epidemiology that comprise the major conundrum for health care professionals can be found in the “Complexities” essay. Key among these is identifying what a person has been exposed to and how, and the timing of when they were exposed to it. How can health professionals treat a patient who may be experiencing health impacts from toxic exposure if they can’t identify which toxic is triggering the illness or injury? Or if there is a concoction of multiple exposures triggering illness? What if the exposures happened in utero and now the adult patient is exhibiting symptoms from that exposure? Even more existential: what if a woman’s grandmother was exposed and this is a factor in the granddaughter’s obesity, reproductive system disturbance, and subsequent risk for breast cancer? This was demonstrated in research from the Public Health Institute and has been supported by additional studies (Cirello et al.1485). Knowing about which exposures and when they occur is important. For example, in the case of my daughter and her thyroid disease, she knows that she must be disciplined in taking her medication and that she must be conscious of eating too much of estrogenic foods such as soy. Years later, my older daughter, Becky, discovered that her thyroid had also become impaired. She is on lifelong medication as well and is cautious about potential BPA exposure. Disturbingly, emerging studies tell us that patients with existing cancer would do well to try and stay away from BPA because it is linked to triggering cancer and making existing cancer more aggressive and (Gao 1). Another shared condition among health care professionals who grapple with environmental health hazards is that it is very tough work. When interviewing participants, I can 122 feel the emotion and empathy for the suffering of the people they study and treat. This is a heavy load to bear and deepens my admiration for the work they do. They deserve all the government and public support we can muster. Assignments and Explorations (Curated Materials) (Dissertation note: See also Assignment – Required. These elements are listed as they appear on the website, not within standard academic writing format) Self-select one chapter of choice each from any two sources below. Long Version Interviews (Dissertation note: to be hyperlinked to audio files on website) David Carpenter Mark Mitchell Joel Moskowitz Raluca Radu Paul Saoke Barbara Sattler Tracey Woodruff Books A New War on Cancer: The Unlikely Heroes Revolutionizing Prevention, by Kristina Marusic. Island Press. Children and Environmental Toxins: What Everyone Needs to Know, by Phil Landrigan. Google E- Book. Environmental Health in Nursing, 2nd Edition (Free E-Book), by Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments. Greening Health Care, by Kathy Gerwig. Oxford University Press. “Pediatric Environmental Health Interactive Curriculum.” by Victoria Leonard. Western States PEHSU, Western States PEHSU, 10 Aug. 2022. Raising Healthy Children in a Toxic World: 101 Smart Solutions for Every Family, by Phil Landrigan, MD. Low cost used copies available at ’Abe’s Books. 123 Textbook of Children's Environmental Health 1st Edition, edited by Phil Landrigan and Ruth A. Etzel. Oxford University Press. Available at lower cost as a Google E-Book Self-select two from the various elements listed below: Articles “Effects of lead, cadmium, and selenium exposures and fish consumptions on cognitive function in older adults,” David Carpenter et al. ISEE Conference Abstract 2022. “Environmental Pollution, Health, and Development: A Lancet –Global Alliance on Health and Pollution–Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Commission.” Landrigan, Philip J., Richard Fuller, and Richard Horton. The Lancet (British Edition), vol. 386, no. 10002, 2015, pp. 1429-1431. “Exposure to Multiple Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances In Relation To Thyroid Function Among Adolescents and Young Adults from NHANES 2011-2012,” Carpenter et al., ISEE Conference Abstract, “Exposure to PFAS in two Alaska Native Communities,” David Carpenter et al. ISEE Conference Abstract, 2022. “The Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health,” Landrigan, Philip J, et al. The Lanced, Elsevier, 19 Oct. 2017 https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736%2817%2932345-0. Books Electromagnetic Fields of Wireless Communications: Biological and Health Effects, edited by Dimitris J. Panagopoulos, Routledge Press. Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment, by Sandra Steingraber Videos Collaborative on Health and Environment (CHE) CHE Café: “What’s Next in Environmental Health?” “Phil Landrigan at the Sun Valley Institute” “Living Downstream,” with biologist Sandra Steingraber Other Podcasts “DDT in Africa.” Made by Stephenie and Kelly Hendricks from a recording that aired on Pacifica Radio Network in 2007. “Toxic Avengers with Daniel Rosenberg: 124 Other Resources K-12 Environmental Health Curriculum from the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition Wireless Education - Safe Schools, Healthy Workplaces –– low-cost training on how to use wireless technology safely by CeCe Doucette. Websites Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University Commonweal Biomonitoring Resource Center Electromagnetic Radiation Safety (Joel Moskowitz) Environmental Defence Canada Environmental Working Group - Body Burden, Pollution in Newborns (cord blood study) Healthcare without Harm Institute for Health and Environment, State University of New York, Albany (David Carpenter) National Medical Association Pesticide Educational Resources Collaborative (PERC) Physicians for Safe Technology Physicians for Social Responsibility - Los Angeles Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society Global Public Health Program and Global Observatory on Planetary Health - Boston College, University of San Francisco EARTH Center U.S. Centers for Disease Control “Report on Environmental Chemical Exposure” World Health Organization (WHO) site on environmental health Quiz 1. A study of cord blood from newborn babies revealed that: A. It is possible to identify an introvert or an extrovert from birth 125 B. The umbilical cord is actually meant to remain attached through three years of age. C. More than 200 manmade chemicals are in their blood. True D. None of the above. 2. Health researchers believe that human beings are most vulnerable to health impacts from toxic manmade chemical exposures (check all that apply): A. From 70-80 years of age B. From 20-30 years of age C. From conception to birth True D. From birth to 18 years of age True 3. Persistent Organic Pollutant chemicals: A. Drift north on wind and water B. Leave “footprints” with the grasshopper effect C. Are linked to a variety of health impacts D. All of the above True 4. EDCs are: A. Educational Diversity Criteria B. Environmental Determinants of Culture C. Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals True D. All of the above 5. Commonly documented health impacts from toxic chemical exposures include: A. Carcinogenicity B. Reproductive problems C. Neurological issues D. All of the above True 6. The complexities of identifying health impacts from toxic chemical exposures include: A. There are so many chemicals in our environment it is very difficult to isolate which chemical is having which impact. B. No government authority is measuring health impacts from multiple chemical exposures C. There are other factors that influence health impacts such as genetics and lifestyle choices such as smoking, using drugs, etc. D. All of the above True 7. Short Essay Reflect on your response to learning about environmental health from these health professionals in the podcast. 250 words. (not graded). 126 Chapter Eight: On the Fenceline Module Instructor Guide Individual Learners Learning Outcomes Key Concepts Assignments (Required) Fenceline Assignments and Explorations (Curated Materials) Quiz Instructor Guide Environmental Health (EH) and Environmental Justice (EJ) are rarely taught in post-secondary institutions; this OER may be one of the first efforts to provide an Environmental Humanities approach to the topics. I point this out because I want to underscore that you are pioneering ways to teach these subjects. For this module in particular, being grounded in anti-racism, and social justice foundational concepts are helpful backgrounds. If you are working through a post-secondary institution with a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, you might contact them for additional support. Otherwise, you know your students best, and so it is my hope that you will take the elements presented here and, alongside your students, grow the knowledge even more. As mentioned in the Course Guide, students are often able to learn best from peers, when the topic brings relevance to them personally, and when knowledge helps them feel empowered. As I write this, advancements in the realm of EJ in the United States are growing by leaps and bounds. In Canada, since the federal government and the province from whence I am writing this, British Columbia, have pledged to support the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), EJ efforts spearheaded by Indigenous leaders are challenging current unsustainable environmental practices into focus. 127 Some of the ideas below will work well for group projects as well as for individuals. Generally, have students share their work with the rest of the class. • If your students are interested in public health, occupational health, or epidemiology, have them identify a location to examine. If they are in the U.S., they can go to the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) database and look at reported emissions in that location. They can then look for public health information for that location to see if there are incidences of health impacts linked to the substances in the TRI reporting. In Canada, they can look for toxics in the National Pollutant Release Inventory and then search for health impacts linked to the pollutants in a location. Have them identify the demographics of the location to see if some groups are disproportionately impacted than others. • Puzzling out toxic exposures in health can be a good critical thinking process. Consider assigning students Pro/Con exercises posing questions about the veracity of factors that can be implicated to toxic exposures, and factor in other issues such as genetics and harmful behaviours. • For another critical thinking exercise, ask students to try to assess costs associated with health impacts from toxic exposures Then compare this with costs involved with halting the exposures, what might be lost from health protective measures, such as reduced production of plastic, higher costs for car and truck fuels, other things we'd either no longer be able to have or that would become so expensive that few could afford them. • If students live in an impacted community, have them explain the benefits of their family living there, such as jobs, access to schools, etc. and have them compare those elements to the hazards. 128 • Have students look at historic patterns where there are contaminated communities, for example, why petrochemical plants were placed in Indigenous and historic Black and Latino communities. • If students are interested in disproportionate exposures from consumer products, have them check out personal care products marketed to BIPOC people. Black Women for Wellness, the "Study: Women of Color Exposed to More Toxic Chemicals in Personal Care Products," in Explorations are good resources and have students look for new studies. • Most of all, remember it is OK to say, "I don't know," and to actively learn alongside your students. An Environmental Humanities treatment of these subjects is just beginning to emerge. In this light, consider supporting artistic expressions and reflections from what students learn, with creative response such as poetry, prose, visual and audio art, and other forms that enable students to engage and process the information and share their expressions with others Individual Learners • Consider setting up a Reflection Journal. You can use notes or voice recording app, a notebook, a document (e.g., Google docs), or whatever your preferred method. • See if you can locate any of the books mentioned under Assignments and Explorations at your local library to prevent prohibitive textbook costs. • Self-select an item from Explorations; for example, one chapter from Dumping in Dixie and summarize the key ideas from the selected source in your Reflection Journal. . 129 Learning Outcomes Students shall see connections between social injustice, environmental degradation, and disproportionate links to illness and injury from synthetic toxic exposures. They will gain better context for the various groups working on environmental justice protections. Key Concepts Bhopal, India Catastrophe: December 2nd - 4th, 1984, the Union Carbide/Dow chemical plant in Bhopal, India exploded, killing tens of thousands of people instantly and leaving hundreds of thousands with lasting illnesses (The Bhopal Medical Appeal). Bioaccumulation: When manmade persistent toxic chemicals in air and water are taken in by fish and animals and then ingested by people, they accumulate in their bodies (Justice Laws Canada). Cancer Alley: The coastal area from Texas through Louisiana with more than 100 chemical plants located in predominantly African American, Indigenous, or Latino communities (University of Texas). Chemical Valley: The area around Sarnia, Ontario, where petrochemical plant emissions are linked to detrimental health impacts among Indigenous communities living next to them (McGill University). Disinfectant By Products (DBPs): Chemicals that form when chlorine is used for disinfecting drinking water to prevent disease. The chlorine reacts with decaying organic matter, like leaves or vegetation, from lakes and rivers to form DBPs. Two of the most common types of DBPs found in chlorinated drinking water are trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) (Indigenous Services Canada). 130 Environmental Justice: Environmental justice embraces the principle that all people and communities have a right to equal protection and equal enforcement of environmental laws and regulations (Robert Bullard). Fenceline Communities: People living next to toxic emitting facilities such as petrochemical plants, landfills, and manufacturing companies (Tulane Environmental Law Journal). National Pollutant Release Inventory: Environment and Climate Change Canada’s database for toxic emissions reporting. Persistent Organic Pollutant (POPs) Chemicals: Manmade toxic chemicals that last a long time and travel north on wind and water, contaminating Indigenous communities in the Arctic (Government Canada). Sacrifice Zones: Areas where companies and government authorities ignore harm to communities near toxic emission facilities (Ryan Juskas). Toxic Release Inventory (TRI): U.S. EPA database repository for corporations reporting toxic emissions. Assignments (required) Podcast Transcript on page 84 Students learn about what “fenceline” and “environmental justice” mean and hear stories from Dr. Robert Bullard, Judy DaSilva, Ada Lockridge, Pam Miller, Bryan Parras, Ron Plain, Dr. Paul Saoke, Vi Waghiyi and Diane Wilson. Essays “Complexities” “On the Fenceline” On the Fenceline Essay By Stephenie Hendricks 131 Welcome to an Environmental Humanities Curriculum that presents stories from those with lived experiences within realms of environmental health (EH) and environmental justice (EJ). The subjective research methodology deployed is Scholarly Personal Narrative (SPN), which uses stories as data (including my own), anchoring to larger themes and other scholarly research. While far from comprehensive, this is my student-centred introduction to the relatively unknown work of those who dedicate their lives to making a healthier world for all of us. After working in robust journalism careers, I found myself providing communications support for people dedicated to protecting our environmental health. I began as a Communications Director with an NGO working on pesticide issues and went on to coordinate communications for a collaborative with more than 200 NGOs working on various aspects of EH and EJ. I found EH and EJ to be inextricably linked (Crump). Clean air, clean water, clean land, food, personal care products –– essentially everything we used to take for granted as safe –– may now harbor invisible man-made toxic threats. Please read the “Complexities” essay for a discussion of the nuances around these issues. People working in these realms, whose stories you are about to hear, engage in a type of work that is not for the faint of heart. It takes courage, perseverance, and dedication to the greater good. Here, we focus on stories from community members, scientists, health care professionals, and social justice advocates with whom I have worked with over the years, or whose work I’ve come to know. I’m in ongoing collaborations with some participants in my project. In this essay, we’ll touch on the recent history of EJ as a movement and then hear about some specific communities impacted by manmade toxic chemical exposures in Kenya, the Arctic, Canada, and the U.S. with advocates whose voices are heard in the companion podcast for this module. I’ll also briefly address the parallels with work on social justice and EJ 132 protections. I deliver this to you as a white, cis “mature” woman in hopes that students will explore the many issues presented here more deeply, offering your own positionality and experiences for a greater overall understanding for everyone. A Brief Environmental Justice and Fenceline History Most people working within the realities of EJ advocacy point to events that began in 1978 in Warren County, North Carolina, as being an historic catalyst for the modern EJ movements. That’s when men working for a white owned waste hauling company dumped polychlorinated biphenyls (otherwise known as PCBs), in a contaminated liquid, spread along the roadsides in a predominantly Black community to avoid high toxic waste disposal charges. The residents objected, and eventually the state’s response was to build an official landfill for depositing the toxic waste there (Vasudevan 19). Concerned with water contamination and economic harm to local farmers, the community organized and fought back. Eileen McGurty, with John Hopkins University, explains: Residents in Warren County, supported by civil rights leaders with authority and power on the national stage, questioned the spatial and social distribution of environmental risks as well as the procedural inequities that perpetuated these risks. When these ideas moved into the public discourse, they resonated deeply with many poor people of color across the country, who were confronted with various forms of environmental risk. The environmental justice movement embodies these concerns, questioning the equitable distribution of environmental costs and benefits, the role of the environmental establishment in creating inequities in environmental risk, asserting the need to ameliorate environmental problems in concert with the alleviation of poverty and oppression, and the potential for eliminating sources of contamination at the point of production as a means of 133 achieving these ends. (McGurty 4) The advocacy and resistance to polluters born from Warren County gave inspiration to disproportionately impacted communities elsewhere. You can hear Robert Bullard, often called the “Father of Environmental Justice” (“Biography”), discuss Warren County, a definition of environmental justice, and more in the podcast for this module. He goes into more detail in the “Broken Ground” podcast from the Southern Environmental Law Center in the Explorations section of this module. Social Justice and Environmental Justice It is no accident that the rise in EJ advocacy runs parallel with social justice shifts. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump defines the relationship between social justice and environmental justice. Social justice aims to ensure fair treatment of individuals and groups. The concept of social justice is that every group or individual receives a fair share of social and economic benefits, as well as environmental benefits. As such, environmental justice is an integral part of social justice. In social justice, advantages, as well as disadvantages, should be distributed evenly across all members of society, regardless of their race or background. There can be environmental advantages as well as disadvantages. Advantages include access to green spaces, clean water and air, and others. Disadvantages can be hazards from waste or industrial facilities, air, or noise pollution from traffic, as well as other detrimental environmental hazards. (Crump) To Crump’s points, I witnessed first-hand collusion between the chemical industry and the U.S. government that resulted in social injustice. While on conference calls addressing reforms for the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the U.S. regulatory statutes for chemicals, the chemical 134 industry lobbyists consistently resisted the terms “vulnerable populations” to be included for prioritization of racialized communities disproportionately impacted by polluting industries. “Vulnerable populations” are described as low income, children, elderly, and some who often are also fenceline communities (of color) (Vulnerable Groups and Toxic Exposures). To me, to discount vulnerable populations as a priority for regulatory protection and resources was a severe injustice and ubiquitous around the globe. For example, Fernández‐Llamazares et al. looked at more than 300 case studies documenting health impacts among Indigenous people worldwide from pollution, including among Inuit, Cree, Ojibwe, Dene, Mohawk, and Métis in Canada and found disproportionate polluting across the board (Fernández‐Llamazares et al. 326). While the localized hazards described by Crump impact BIPOC communities disproportionately, they may also include manmade toxic chemicals that last a long time. This quality, which scientists call “persistence,” means these toxins can travel from where they are originally applied, leaving “footprints” along the way, which can impact all life (“Grasshopper Effect Serves Pollutants”). We’ll address this in more detail later. One such toxin is also one of the most well-known, DDT. Learn more about how the links between DDT and massive die-offs of songbirds prompted a seminal environmental health book, Silent Spring, in the “Brief and Recent History of Environmental Health” module. While withdrawn for use in the EU, the U.S. and Canada, chemical companies continue to expose developing nations to DDT (Sarkar et al. 14). Africa Dr. Paul Saoke, head of Physicians for Social Responsibility - Kenya, an East African nation, is frustrated that chemical corporations and other industries are free to pollute on his continent, virtually with impunity. I met Paul when he and other health advocates in Africa approached Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA) for assistance. I was 135 Communications Director with PANNA and was asked to go to Washington, DC to help with a Congressional briefing to support the efforts of Dr. Saoke, representing other physicians and scientists from various countries in Africa, to halt a plan by a major agrochemical corporation to use U.S. taxpayer funds to spray DDT. The official justification was to “stop malaria.” However, research was showing that the malaria carrying mosquitoes rapidly became resistant to DDT (Coleman et al. V). We couldn’t prove it, but folks in the various countries targeted told us that they suspected that the corporation pushing this campaign wanted to spray DDT as part of a strategy that would open EU markets for their GMO crops growing in Africa. At the time, the EU had a ban on GMO foods imported from African nations (Martin 366). There was also a ban on foods produced in African areas where DDT is sprayed (Cocks). Even before the start of spraying, the U.S. was asking the EU to lift bans on foods grown in areas where DDT is sprayed (McKay). At the time, the company pushing for the DDT use in Africa was conducting GMO trials in several African countries (Dzirutwe “Africa Takes”). If a ban on agricultural products from African countries where DDT was sprayed is reversed, could lifting the ban on GMO foods be an easier lift? These were questions we could never answer. Other than that, it was puzzling why they wanted to bring DDT back and normalize it when the health impacts were so widely known. If you want to hear the story of the victory blocking U.S. funding for DDT spraying with Dr. Saoke and the environmental justice advocates who rallied behind him, check out the short podcast, “DDT in Africa” in the Explorations section of this module. While funding from the U.S. government was blocked after EJ advocates rallied, the corporation sprayed DDT anyway. Dr. Saoke relays what happened: We have seen a lot of studies that indicate that male reproductive health 136 problems have their origins in their exposure to DDT …. We are seeing precocious puberty, we are seeing feminized males, we are seeing testicular dysgenesis, we are seeing all manners of androgenic problems, problems that are related to male reproductive health problems. And that is by no means an easy thing to deal with. Because in African society, we are dealing with a very restrictive environment where information does not flow freely. So, people end up, especially males, end up suffering in silence. And a lot of these things catch up with them, for example, if you don't treat undescended testicles, if you don’t undergo or testicular surgery, then you’re likely to get prostate cancer by the age of 30, or testicular cancer. (Paul Saoke) You can hear more from Dr. Saoke in the podcast for this module, as well as in the “Health Professionals on the Front Lines” module. Dr. Saoke works to reduce both DDT and other chemical exposures in disproportionately impacted marginalized communities throughout the world. DDT is one of many Persistent Organic Pollutants, otherwise known as POPs, that last a long time, and which global weather patterns tend to carry northwards from where they are made and applied (Wong et al. 2). Indigenous communities in the Arctic receive disproportionate exposures, even though they are not living in the places where the chemicals are made or applied (Ibid). The Arctic 2009 The room at the National Council of Churches on Capitol Hill is packed. U.S.EPA officials and staffers, participants in our NGO collaborative, and others are seated to watch traditional dance and song from the Indigenous Yupik people from St. Lawrence Island, located 137 in the Arctic on the Bering Sea. Led by elders, the drumming is strong and echoes throughout the building. The women wear traditional, colorful dresses, dancing. When they are done, they offer a prayer that their mission can be achieved: to halt the toxic manmade chemical contamination of their island that is linked to so much illness and suffering in their communities. “Ummmm, this is good,” remarks an EPA staffer, in his suit and tie, as he scarfs down smoked salmon on crackers. The Yupik had brought it with them in coolers. Other Capitol Hill staffers around him nod in agreement, their mouths full. “It was so nice of them to bring this to the presentation, a real ‘native’ touch,” comments another. I wince at his patronizing tone. “You may be aware,” begins Vi Waghiyi, a Yupik elder, “that Persistent Organic Pollutant chemicals drift north on wind and water. The Arctic is a sink for toxics applied in the Global South.” Vi has her PowerPoint up and is showing maps of chemical travels. “We depend on our traditional foods for survival. A gallon of milk can cost $25, a turkey as much as $125 on St. Lawrence Island. So, we need to get our protein from sources such as salmon. The toxic chemicals bioaccumulate in the food chain, and so our salmon, the same salmon you are eating now, are full of persistent chemicals linked to the illnesses we are seeing on St. Lawrence Island.” I watch as the government officials slowly realize what Vi is saying. Some spit out their salmon right away, some try to discreetly deposit it in napkin, others look stunned, wondering what they have just swallowed. If many in the audience had been lightly watching the quaint Indigenous festivities, their attention now is deeply focused on Vi. Vi Waghiyi and members of her community traveled to Washington to gain policy for cleaning up the toxics the military have left buried behind, and for strengthening regulations on 138 manmade toxic chemicals applied so far away from St. Lawrence Island yet drifting to them and impacting their lives all the same. Liver cancer, reproductive problems, different types of other cancers and heart disease plague the Yupik of St Lawrence Island (Carpenter and Miller 1). The barrels of chemicals buried by the U.S. military on the island decades ago, have corroded, leaking dangerous toxics into the surrounding environment (Jordan-Ward 2). On my visit to Anchorage, Alaska, to meet with Viola Waghiyi, she informed me that babies were being born on St. Lawrence Island without brains. Check out Vi Waghiyi’s UC Davis talk in the Explorations section of this module to see and hear her tell the stories in her own voice. Vi is also featured in the podcast for this module. The longer research interview with Vi is also posted in the Explorations page. North America In this module’s podcast, former Director of Public Health for the city of Hartford, Connecticut, Dr. Mark Mitchell, shares his discoveries of inequities in toxic exposures. He describes this in the podcast for module as well as in the “Health Professionals on the Front Lines” podcast. Dr. Mitchell’s observations provide evidence that BIPOC communities are disproportionately impacted by man-made toxic exposures. Due to this dynamic, it came as no surprise to Dr. Mitchell that when he started to speak with other Black physicians about environmental health hazards, they were much more receptive to the concepts of environmental exposures being linked to illnesses. Visiting communities nationwide removed doubt in Dr. Mitchell’s mind of the connections between the exposures and the illnesses (Mark Mitchell). In between those in the U.S. and St. Lawrence Island, in Canada, the Asabiinyashkosiwagong Nitam-Anishinaabeg or Grassy Narrows First Nation near Dryden, Ontario, and Aamjiwnaang First Nation in Sarnia, Ontario, also understand the seemingly never-ending struggles with health impacts from manmade toxic exposures. While I did not work 139 directly with them, when I learned of their stories, I realized their importance and wanted to include them in this project. The Aamjiwnaang people live next to petrochemical plants. The late Aamjiwnaang community advocate Ron Plain described the conditions in Sarnia, a fenceline community next to petrochemical plants in the “Green Interview” with Silver David Leo along with his colleague Ada Lockridge. Hear excerpts in the podcast for this essay. Ron Plain explained a common response from polluting industries: that ‘‘lifestyle” causes people to be sick, not toxic exposures. Dr. Mark Mitchell was told that “eating barbecue” was the reason given to one community he visited for their illnesses that also happen to be linked to toxic exposures (Mark Mitchell). While carcinogens and other toxins can lurk in barbeque (Smith, Leo “Grilling”), “Lifestyle” is often the polluting industry’s explanation for illness in the communities in which they release toxins (Scott 320). See the “Complexities” essay for more on the discussion of “lifestyle.” Those working to make their communities healthier question emphasis on this point of view (Singer 151). More than 1,600 kilometers north of Sarnia, another Indigenous community became contaminated with a strong neurotoxin that is still showing health impacts after more than sixty years. Starting in 1962, for eight years, more than 10 tons of waste contaminated with methylmercury was put into the English-Wabigoon Rivers by the Dryden Chemical Company in Ontario, Canada. The Asabiinyashkosiwagong or Nitam-Anishinaabeg, also known as the Grassy Narrows First Nation’s community, is downriver from where the neurotoxin was discarded (Rothenberg 071301-1). The Public Service Alliance of Canada produced a film called The Story of Grassy Narrows with residents talking about their illnesses. In excerpts from the film, we hear Judy Da Silva, telling her story of being poisoned by mercury. She is the mother of five children 140 who are also impacted by the contaminated water (Cameron). A link to the entire film can be found in the Explorations section of this module. A team of biologists led by a University of Quebec scientist, Donna Mergler, wrote a report linking Grassy Narrows mercury exposure to intergenerational effects on children’s mental health, including suicide (Mergler et al. 077001-8). Mergler’s research on mercury exposure is part of an emerging body of scientific investigation looking at mental health impacts from neurotoxins. Previous studies have identified links between lead, which used to be added to gasoline, pesticides used on food crops, and children’s mental health problems such as autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit disorder, and more (Rauh and Margolis “Research Review” 775-776). In addition to the neurotoxic impacts, many BIPOC individuals bear the stress from racism, or what geographer Robert Walker defines might define as lack of recognition (Walker 171). Being economically marginalized and other pressures add to health issues (Paradies et al. 26). This is something impressed upon me by one of the most effective EJ advocates I’ve known, Cecil Corbin-Mark from WEACT for Environmental Justice in New York, who was among the first to explain to me how the pollution related illnesses worsen from stressors such as racism. Cecil (pronounced Sess-al) convinced participants in our EH collaborative to hold meetings in Harlem. He arranged our lodging, and I was honoured to have been placed with one of Harlem’s historians, who filled my room mates and me in on knowledge about this amazing community. Wherever we went, it seemed as though Cecil had prepped restaurateurs, state officials, and others based in Harlem of our presence. Witnessing how well-loved Cecil was there deepened my understanding of the importance between community relationships and well-being, especially for people experiencing daily stresses from racism. Cecil was on my list of participants for this 141 project, but, sadly, passed away suddenly before I was cleared to do interviews. I can’t help but wonder if the stress of racism and doing EJ work contributed to his untimely passing. You can hear University of California, San Francisco, environmental health researcher Dr. Tracy Woodruff from the University of California, San Francisco, further address stress as being an additional factor along with pollution exposure for health impacts in the “Health Care Professionals on the Front Lines” podcast in this curriculum. Making Progress, Making Change Despite the complexities of identifying toxic exposures, EJ protection advocates have managed to build strong coalitions and are achieving rapid policy changes. One way of accomplishing this is by being able to collect and analyze data. Dr. Monica Unseld, founder of Until Justice Data Partners, assists communities with knowing how to do this. She says that many fenceline communities don’t feel they can question the pollution, nor the company- reported data information because the company and government officials’ line is that the polluting facility provides jobs (Monica Unseld). In Louisville, Kentucky, she’s known firsthand of children needing to be on respirators at home because their neighborhood air is so contaminated. When she sits on advisory panels or attends hearings, she challenges the company/government messaging and argues that harming communities is expensive for society. Through Dr. Unseld’s work, communities are learning how to provide their own evidence for protective policy and regulatory change. Listen to the podcast for this module to hear Dr. Unseld describe the importance of community centered data collection and analysis (Monica Unseld). Other environmental justice-focused scientists are making great strides. University of California, Berkeley, biochemist Tyrone Hayes has been elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (“Tyrone B. Hayes Elected”). Dr. Hayes is renowned in EH circles for his research that demonstrated that a commonly used herbicide, atrazine, could alter the hormones of 142 amphibians. His discoveries led to attacks from the company that makes the herbicide after hiring him to study the biologic impacts of their product. When Dr. Hayes found endocrine disruption effects, the company that makes the chemical attempted to have Dr. Hayes fired from his position where his lab was based at the University of California, Berkeley. Undaunted, Dr. Hayes returned to his lab there and replicated his findings. Read about Dr. Hayes’ tremendous scientific victory in the New Yorker Magazine article, “A Valuable Reputation,” in the Explorations section of this module. 2005 “Senator Obama would like to see Dr. Hayes right now in his office.” Barak Obama’s staffer wears a well-tailored suit, holding a clipboard to her chest. “The Senator doesn’t have much time.” She is addressing her comments to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s staffer, also sporting a nice suit with a similar determined look on her face. “The Speaker was scheduled first, the Senator will have to wait for Dr. Hayes,” parries the Pelosi staffer. Dr. Tyrone Hayes, and I are seated in the waiting area of Speaker Pelosi’s office along with a couple of others from that morning’s EH/EJBriefing, watching this volley between the two staffers as though it was a tennis game. That’s when it hits me: I am with a rock star scientist, and I am instantly ashamed. When I had first seen Dr. Hayes in his outfit. I had my doubts earlier in the day as how he would be received by the Congressional crowd. As we began our Congressional briefing on why the U.S. should not fund a major chemical corporation to spray DDT in various countries in Africa, I never doubted his scientific knowledge or ability to translate the science so that “civilians” could understand. I know that he is exceptional in both of those points. As a former mainstream TV talk show producer, I’m keenly aware of appearances and how important they are to any audience. Strangers in New 143 York City dictated what our San Francisco based co-hosts could wear on TV. Dr. Hayes arrived that morning with very long dreadlocks, capped by a top hat. He was sporting a tuxedo and a cape. The look was what we call “steam punk” now. To say the least, this was highly unusual garb for a Congressional Briefing. I feared his clothing would harm his credibility. Man, was I wrong. Here, two of the most powerful legislators on Capitol Hill are battling over who gets to spend time with him. I realize how lucky I am to just be sitting next to him. Hear Dr. Hayes explain DDT in the “DDT in Africa” recording of the Congressional Briefing in the Explorations for this module. Thanks to the work of Dr. Hayes and many others, protections from manmade toxic exposures in EJ policy have grown. In 2023, for the very first time, a U.S. White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council was created consisting of many members of the Environmental Justice and Health Alliance (EJHA), a group I worked with fairly closely for a few years. As I write this, there have been a rapid number of advancements in U.S. policy for EJ protections, thanks to the determination and hard work of so many. In the U.S., many fenceline environmental struggles play out in courtrooms. One notable legal victory was born after twenty years of Texas shrimper Diane Wilson’s relentless determination. Her advocacy began when she discovered that her county had the highest pollution levels reported in the U.S. Toxic Release Inventory (Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Program), a federal government database for voluntary emissions reporting from corporations (Wilson 36). She noticed that these toxic releases coincided with diminishing shrimp populations and a declining fishing industry. More disturbing were the cancers and other illnesses among her fellow fishermen (Ibid 183). I first encountered Diane when I was a producer at the Pacifica Radio flagship station, KPFA, long before my work in EH or EJ communications. 2002 144 “Diane Wilson has chained herself high atop this big chemical tower!” yells Jackson Allers, a reporter from KPFT in Houston who I’d asked to cover the event. Jackson’s voice is live on KPFA radio in Berkeley, on one of the programs I produce, Caroline Casey’s “Visionary Activist” show. “Jackson, describe the scene. Are police there?” Caroline’s husky voice coaxes his story. “Caroline, there are a lot of workers here from the company and they are yelling support for Diane Wilson. Oh, yes, I see company security, now, and, oh, here they are, Texas state troopers, this is getting ...” “Jackson? Jackson? Are you there?” Caroline looks at me, I signal to the radio board operator to go to music while I try to redial Jackson. We never do reach him. He’s been arrested and taken to jail. I still feel bad about asking Jackson Allers to cover the story of Diane Wilson chaining herself to a huge chemical tank to protest the pollution in her community from the company that owned the tank and having him end up in jail. Yet this illustrates another issue in fenceline protection advocacy: Getting the story out is not easy. Diane prevailed, not only to get the story of her own community told, but she also created relationships with survivors of the worst toxic chemical disaster in history, the explosion of a pesticide plant (the same company polluting Diane’s community) in Bhopal, India, in 1984 that killed 30,000 people right away, and exposed more than 500,000 more to toxic chemicals linked to severe health impacts (McCord 2). Check out the link to “Union Carbide Disaster in Bhopal India” Flashback by NBC News for sobering reporting of this disaster in the Explorations section of this module. Diane went on a hunger strike to call attention to this catastrophe still waiting for justice (“Life is Not a Spectator Sport”). You’ll also hear more about Diane’s story in the 145 podcast for this module. Her book An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters, and the Fight for Seadrift, Texas (Chelsea Green), is a compelling accounting of her struggle. You can find a link to it in the Explorations section. The encouraging news is that, since I began this project, Diane won a fifty-million-dollar judgment against one of the corporations that is polluting her community. She uses those funds to continue to clean up toxic exposures (“Diane Wilson”). Challenges to EJ Please read the “Complexities” essay for a brief examination of some of the challenges with defining environmental justice and hazards. There are many. For now, my subjectivity is focused on assuming EJ concerns are factual and real. I’ve not commenced any critical investigation of environmental justice. For one thing, I do not believe it is my place, as a white person, to declare that I have authority to define EJ. I have been certified by the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, Behavioral Research Ethics Board. Within this year long process, I pledged that my project would not harm my participants. From my experience, I believe that polluting entities can weaponize academic “critical examination” of EJ and that this could further harm already harmed populations by be used to block regulatory, legislative, and judicial efforts, using academic publications. As mentioned, at the time that I am working on this module, there are great strides being made in the policy world in the U.S. with fenceline and EJ protection advocates. It is thrilling to see people I’ve worked with or whose work I had supported finally gain positions of decision making and the recognition they so deeply deserve. This overshadowed my disappointment with not being able to connect directly with some of them since they were now engaged significantly in making regulatory and policy changes, and too busy to participate in this project. 146 Another issue that occurs to me is one that arises when white academics research BIPOC issues. While the white researcher may gain a degree and potential career advancements from the work, many communities being researched are asked to spend time on this academic effort, often with little in return after the researcher has left to finish their studies. This is defined as “academic voyeurism” (Murray-Lichtman and Elkassam 181), which is a form of exploitation. In part because I didn’t want to do this, in some cases, I looked for Creative Commons recordings or asked for permission to use existing recordings of advocates who had basically already said the things I felt were important to be heard in my podcast. I was lucky to gain permission to use many of the voices I knew would be very difficult to schedule. It is my deepest hope that this OER meant will serve to support the work of those you hear in this module. One cannot study EJ and fenceline issues without also acknowledging racism. The coinciding shifts taking place after George Floyd’s murder have accelerated debates concerning racism in academia (Bates and Ng 1). For example, there is an emerging consensus that white academics are no longer entitled to define experiences of BIPOC people (Hassan 26), and I am no exception. Rather, it is time for white academics to listen to BIPOC folks and, if anything, help create a space for BIPOC’s own definitions of their own experiences to be heard and become part of the public discourse on policy. It is called epistemic exclusion when white academics value only their worldview and definitions and exclude from consideration the variety of BIPOC worldviews (Settles et al. 494-495). There is still a lot of work to be done in this regard. My own experience as a white woman is that I will always be learning. Writing about EJ for this project, primarily for the “Complexities” essay, has been so difficult in part due to the years I have spent working to help create space for BIPOC voices to be heard. Whilst it may not be obvious, I fear that some of the academic arguments considered 147 “critical thinking” around EJ might be used to cast doubt on the credibility of people who are already suffering, under resourced, and oppressed, in legislative, regulatory, and judicial scenarios that favor polluting corporations. Scientific doubt has already been weaponized, time and again. Never Ending I wish there was time and space to list more of those working on EJ and fenceline issues here, but due to the limitations of this project and the sheer number of advocates, I’m afraid it is impossible to tell thew stories of all who are working towards environmental justice. While EJ advocates work hard to strengthen social justice, science, health practices, and policy toward successes with environmental justice protections, those aren’t the only strategies used by environmental justice advocates. I would be remiss if I didn’t direct you to “My Toxic Reality,” a rap song by Environmental Justice Advisory Chairman for the Port Arthur, Texas, NAACP chapter, Hilton Kelley. Hilton left a successful career as a stuntman in Hollywood to return to his hometown to fight, and win, battles against the pollution from the petrochemical industry. Hear the song in the podcast for this module and watch Hilton’s victorious story in the Goldman Fund videos in the Explorations section. Despite the “doubt” strategies (see the “Complexities article”), systemic racism, being on the front lines of polluting industries, and so many who are ill and even dying in the process of their fights, environmental justice advocates prevail. As we can see, they are working hard not just for their own communities, but also to make yours and my world healthier, too. 148 On the Fenceline Assignments and Explorations Self-select one chapter of choice each from: Long Version Interviews (Dissertation note: to be hyperlinked to audio files on website) Pam Miller Mark Mitchell Monica Unseld Vi Waghiyi Books Animal’s People, by Indra Sinha, Simon and Schuster. A fictionalized, yet compelling story inspired by the Bhopal disaster. An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters, and the Fight for Seadrift, Texas, by Diane Wilson. A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and Its Assault on the American Mind, Harriet Washington. Little Brown. Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class and Environmental Quality by Robert Bullard, Taylor and Francis (for a full list of Dr. Bullard’s books, click here). Environmental Justice in a Moment of Danger, Judy Sze. University of California Press. Environmental Justice in the Anthropocene, edited by Stacia Ryder et al. Routledge. Self-select two of the various elements listed below: Articles “A Valuable Reputation,” New Yorker Magazine, about biochemist Tyrone Hayes “Ecological Unequal Exchange: Quantifying Emissions of Toxic Chemicals Embodied in the Global Trade of Chemicals, Products, and Waste.” Tong, Kate, et al. Environmental Research Letters, vol. 17, no. 4, 1 Apr. 2022, p. 044054. Reports “Return to Chemical Valley 2019,” by ecojustice “Toxic Waste and Race” Commission for Racial Justice 149 “Toxic Waste and Race at Twenty: Why Race Still Matters After All These Years,” by Robert Bullard “Who’s in Danger?” Environmental Health and Justice Alliance Videos “A Brief History of Environmental Justice” ProPublica “A Look at Cancer Alley from the Front Lines.” NowThis Earth “Confessions of an Environmental Racist,” with Dr. Troy Abel. “Environmental Justice in Ecological Research and Education.” ESA Water Cooler Chat, The Ecological Society of America, 11 Dec. 2020. “Environmental Racism and Justice in Canada,” EcoPolitics Podcast Episode 4. “Environmental Racism on Native Land,” Native Voices TV, with the late Garvard Good Plume. “Hilton Kelley: 2011 Goldman Prize winner,” USA, Goldman Fund. Jemez Principles, for organizing groups. Mossville Environmental Action Now, Dorothy Felix. Environmental Health and Justice Alliance. Mossville: When Great Trees Fall, a film about the destruction of an historic African American community by the petrochemical industry in Louisiana. “My Toxic Reality,” rap song by Hilton Kelley from Port Arthur, Texas. Poisoned Lives: Secrets of the Chemical Industry, ENDEVR Documentary about testing chemicals on prison inmates) Sacrifice Zones: Communities in the Path of Industrial Pollution, by ProPublica “Sharon Lavigne, 2021 Goldman Environmental Prize Winner for the United States”, the Goldman Fund “The Climate Crisis Report in Focus,” with Tom Goldtooth from the Indigenous Environmental Network and Michele Roberts from the Environmental Health and Justice Alliance by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute. The Story of Grassy Narrows, PSAC-AFPC. “Voices of Grassy Narrows,” Judy Da Silva PSAC-AFPC What It’s Like to Live in Cancer Alley,” NowThis 150 Other Podcasts “Agents of Change,” Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Environmental Health News collaboration presenting voices of those working on environmental justice. “Broken Ground” with Robert Bullard from the Southern Environmental Law Center. “DDT in Africa” Made by Stephenie and Kelly Hendricks from a recording that aired on Pacifica Radio Network in 2007. “Toxic Avengers with Daniel Rosenberg” –– Long-time environmental health stalwart Daniel Rosenberg interviews environmental health and environmental justice advocates Websites Alaska Community Action on Toxics Bullard Center for Climate Justice (Texas) Center for Health, Environment and Justice (Lois Gibbs) Coalition to Prevent Chemical Disasters Community In Power and Development Association (CIDA) (Port Arthur, Texas) Deep South Center for Environmental Justice Diane Wilson (Seadrift, Texas) Environmental Justice and Health Alliance Free Grassy Narrows (Grassy Narrows, Ontario) Just Transition Alliance Los Jardines Institute (Albuquerque, New Mexico) Planetary Health Alliance Education Materials Southern Environmental Law Center t.e.j.a.s. (texas environmental justice advocacy services) (Houston, Texas) Until Justice Data Partners (Louisville, Kentucky) WEACT for Environmental Justice (Harlem) Zinn Education Project: Teach About Toxins and Organizing for Environmental Justice 151 Quiz 1. “Fenceline” means: A. A certain type of fencing to use in rural areas. B. That which is near a pollution g facility like a petrochemical plant, recycling facility, or toxic incinerator. True C. Jousting with swords while keeping in a straight line. D. None of the above. 2. Environmental Justice means: A. Only BIPOC people should have a clean environment. B. Nothing, the concept means nothing. C. All people deserve a clean and healthy environment. True D. A judge who only decided environmental cases. 3. The Arctic is a toxic sink for Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) chemicals that drift North on wind and water from where they are applied. True or False True 4. The modern environmental justice movement was thought to have started: A. With the Three Mile Island explosion B. By Harriet Tubman before the Civil War. C. In 1982 when residents of Warren County North Carolina rebelled against a toxic dump in their community. True 5. On December 2-3, 2004, in Bhopal, India: A. There was a global concert featuring Bono and Celine Deon. B. The first ever fashion show with recycled fabrics happened. C. Tens of thousands of people died from a pesticide cloud from a Union Carbide chemical explosion, leaving many thousands more with chronic illness and injury. True 6. Match Chemical Valley - Area around Sarnia, Ontario with residents impacted by toxic chem plant emissions. Cancer Alley - Region from Texas along the Gulf Coast to Louisiana with hundreds of petrochemical plants and high rates of cancer. Arctic sink - Where toxic chemicals drift north on wind and water. 7. Short essay - Reflect on Tom Goldtooth’s comments in the podcast. (Not graded). 152 153 Chapter Nine: What Instead? Module Instructor Guide and Ideas for Independent Learners Learning Outcomes Key Concepts Assignments (Required) Assignments and Explorations (Curated Materials) Quiz In this module, we meet people who are identifying and designing safer chemicals and products, those who are figuring out how to achieve needed functions in a different way, and advocates helping to transform corporate practices, encourage sustainable business, and empower the public to create a healthier environment with less toxic exposures. Instructor Guide and Ideas for Independent Learners ● Textbooks can often be cost prohibitive for students; consider seeing if your local library will purchase some of the books you’d like to use for this module (and overall learning program). ● Begin by polling the group to gain engagement right away and ask how sustainable business concepts relate to them or others. Reassure them that not knowing is perfectly acceptable. ● Prior to class, have each person self-select an item from Explorations; for example, one chapter from Paul Anastas and John Wagner’s Green Chemistry and prepare to report on it to others. ● Go around the group and share ideas or elements that stood out for them (using Padlet, white board, or verbally) from the podcast, essay, or other materials. ● Have each person say something about some aspect of this module; examples include asking if they understand what ESG is. 154 ● Have students look through the databases for products they use and have them identify which ones of most and least hazardous and have them share what they found with the class. ● Use breakout groups (virtual or in person) and have each person in the group describe one of the key concepts. Then, have a representative from each group present the findings in 5 minutes or less. ● For critical thinking exercises, have students consider looking at a product that has toxic properties and research costs for switching to a safer alternative or even if a safer alternative exists, or if the costs would impact investors’ returns. ● Have students reflect on thew term “cost” in various contexts – financial, health, societal. ● Remember to reassure the group that there are no “right” or “wrong” “right” or “wrong” answers. Individual Learners ● See if you can locate any of the books mentioned under Assignments and Explorations at your local library or request that your library stock them to prevent prohibitive textbook costs. ● Using notes or voice recording apps, a notebook, a document (e.g., Google docs), or whatever your preferred method, set up a Reflection Journal. ● Self-select an item from Explorations, for example, a chapter from Elizabeth Grossman’s Chasing Molecules –– and summarize the key ideas in a Reflection Journal. ● Look through the databases for products you use and identify which ones of most and least hazardous. 155 Learning Outcomes By the end of this module, students will begin to understand the concepts of Green Chemistry, Alternatives Assessment, Biomimicry, Sustainable Business, and Shareholder and Consumer Advocacy. Key Concepts Acute Hazards: Will there be an immediate effect from a toxic exposure, for example, a skin rash, burning eyes, coughing, etc.? Government of Canada Alternatives Assessment: Alternatives assessment answers the question of which chemical is more sustainable (Alternatives Assessment Frameworks: Research Needs for the Informed Substitution of Hazardous Chemicals by Molly Jacobs et al.) Bioaccumulation: 1) The accumulation of pollutants in living organisms by direct absorption or through food chains. 2) Accumulation by an organism of materials that are not an essential component or nutrient of that organism. Usually, it refers to the accumulation of metals, but it can apply to bioaccumulation of persistent synthetic substances such as organochlorine compounds. The process of bioaccumulation can be employed usefully as a purification process to remove toxic heavy metals from wastewater and contaminated land (United Nations Law and Environment Assistance Program). Biomimicry: “1. Nature as model. Biomimicry is a new science that studies nature’s models and then imitates or takes inspiration from these designs and processes to solve human problems, e.g., a solar cell inspired by a leaf. 2. Nature as measure. Biomimicry uses an ecological standard to judge the ‘rightness’ of our innovations. After 3.8 billion years of evolution, nature has 156 learned: What works. What is appropriate. What lasts. 3. Nature as mentor. Biomimicry is a new way of viewing and valuing nature. It introduces an era based not on what we can extract from the natural world, but on what we can learn from it.” ( Biomimicry, by Janine M. Beynus, HarperCollins). ChemForward: NGO that enables companies to share costs of chemicals assessments and access to chemicals databases. Chemforward website. Chronic Hazards: Will toxic exposure take time to produce long-term effects, such as developing cancer, reproductive, or neurological problems? Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Confidential Business Information (CBI): A classification that companies can claim for proprietary (secret) information about their products, enabling them to withhold information from the public. U.S. EPA. Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG): ESG investing is a way of investing in companies based on their commitment to one or more ESG factors. It is often also called sustainable investing, socially responsible investing, and impact investing (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission). Green Chemistry: “Green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substance” (Center for Green Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Yale University). Green Screen for Safer Chemicals: Chemical hazard assessment tool with Clean Production Action. 157 Hazard Assessment: Hazard Assessment answers the question of which chemical is less hazardous (American Chemical Society). Just Transition: As we move away from fossil fuel production, how can we have a just transition for workers and communities where these chemicals are made? How can we make sure regrettable substitutions aren’t chosen that might continue toxic exposures to workers, communities, and the environment (Just Transition Alliance). Lethal Dose 50 (LD50): LD50 is the amount of a material, given all at once, which causes the death of 50 percent (one half) of a group of test animals. The LD50 is one way to measure the short-term poisoning potential (acute toxicity) of a material (Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety). Regrettable Substitutions: Chemicals used to replace toxic chemicals that also have hazardous impacts. Avoiding Regrettable Substitutions: Green Toxicology for Sustainable Chemistry, by Maartens et al. Right to Know: A concept that the public has a right to know what is in products on the marketplace. Information Commissioner of Canada. Risk Assessment: Risk Assessment answers whether something is safe enough to use for the particular application (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents). Shareholder Activism: A spectrum of activities conducted by shareholders to create change in a corporation (Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance). 158 Sustainable Business: Refers to doing business without negatively impacting the environment, community, or society as a whole (Harvard Business School). Assignments (Required) Podcast Transcript on page 98. Podcast Credits Students hear stories from Paul Anastas, Andy Behar, Jose Bravo, Lauren Heine, David Levine, Stacy Malkan, and Beverly Thorpe. Green Chemistry, chemicals alternatives assessment, Just Transitions, sustainable business, shareholder and consumer advocacy, and biomimicry are briefly addressed. Essays Complexities What Instead? “What Instead?” Essay Stephenie Hendricks This is a subjective, Environmental Humanities post-secondary curriculum about Environmental Health (EH) and Environmental Justice (EJ) presenting research using a Scholarly Personal Narrative (SPN) methodology, meaning the stories are used as data. These stories (including my own) are from some of those who discover and hold the emerging science and knowledge about hazards to environmental health and environmental justice, who are innovating the solutions toward making a healthier world. With SPN, the research is subjective; stories are anchored to larger themes and other scholarly research. In this module we ask, what do we use instead of making and using manmade harmful toxic chemicals? This is a companion to the What Instead? podcast and Explorations. Check out the Instructor’s Guide and Ideas for Independent Learners for more ways to share knowledge. 159 The Problem There are more than 350,000 manmade toxic chemicals in the marketplace that have not been adequately tested for impacts on human health and the environment (L. Cohen and Jefferies 1, Judson et al. 685). A study of newborns’ cord blood revealed more than 230 toxic man-made chemicals (Body Burden). Obesity, diabetes, breast cancer, learning disabilities, brain tumors, and other health impacts linked to manmade chemical exposures are on the rise and preventable (The Public Health Impact of Chemicals 4). More about the health problems in the “Brief and Recent History,” “Health Care Professionals on the Front Lines,” and “On the Fenceline” modules in this curriculum. In “On the Fenceline” we see how BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) folks are disproportionately impacted, making this an environmental justice issue. There are many approaches to this question. In What Instead? we meet people who are identifying and designing safer chemicals and products, those who are figuring out how to achieve chemical functions in a different way, and those helping communities, consumers, workers, business, and financial systems to do things in new ways that lead to everyone becoming safer from toxic exposures. The Good News Manmade toxic chemicals that are linked to health and environmental hazards serve important functions; they are used to make cars, in construction, consumer goods, electronics, and plastics (“Chemistry in America,” Zuin et al. 1594). How can we continue to enjoy the luxuries we’ve grown accustomed to without making ourselves and other life forms sick? As awareness grows about the huge and complex issues of manmade toxic exposures, there have 160 been significant efforts toward increasing legislation and regulations for making safer chemicals. Canada (Canada, Health, “Chemical Substances”) the European Union (“Chemicals Strategy”), the United States (“Safer Chemical Ingredient List”), and other countries are implementing programs that look for and assess safer chemicals that can be alternatives to hazardous manmade toxic chemicals Legislative and regulatory pushes are being used to spur company innovation (Slunge 4-5). The marketplace is central to mitigating hazards from toxic chemicals. As of this writing, the annual market for sustainable businesses and technology as valued by Fortune Magazine is expected to grow to $61.92 billion/year by 2030 (Negron). The American Sustainable Business Network (ASBN) boasts more than 240,000 businesses focused on providing safer and more sustainable goods and services (“The Legacy”). ASBN co-founder David Levine shares more about this in the podcast for this module. David and his colleagues have been instrumental in gaining access to policymakers for more protective environmental health laws and regulations. Before there was the ASBN, there was the American Sustainable Business Council, or ASBC. 2008 “Hi! What’s up?” I am always excited when an Associated Press reporter calls me. Usually, I am the one badgering them. “Well, I was wondering if your group has any principles for chemical regulation reform for President elect Obama.” “Er, ah, well,” I stammer. My mind races through all the many meetings and conversations I’ve recently had with the many individuals from the more than 200 groups in the collaborative where I am communications director. Nothing. 161 “Well, I think so, let me check on this and get back to you,” I fib. “OK, don’t take too long.” I dial the two coordinators of the collaborative. “Hi, do we have any Principles for Chemical Regulation Reform for president elect Obama? An AP reporter is asking me for some.” “Ah, no we don’t,” responds one of the co-directors, “Go ahead and write some up.” After we hang up, I think, OK, we can do this. I make a list of key scientists, policy wonks, environmental justice advocates and others in the collaborative. I draft a document with “Principles” repeating back as many points as I can remember hearing from the many meetings I’ve attended. Then the crazy vetting process begins with dozens of participants in the collaborative from different professions – scientists, physicians, nurses, advocates, businesspeople – each with a different focus on the issue. Keeping track of versions is a nightmare as Word documents zing back and forth. Some involved don’t agree with each other and I try and work out a solution for wording that works for everyone. This is hard! Finally, in a few days’ time, it is done. We draft it in the form of a letter. David Levine, representing what was known then as the American Sustainable Business Council, uses it along with his contacts and influence to gain a meeting with Obama’s transition team. This is a first! This story illustrates how a lot of people from many different disciplines can work together to make change. Thanks to the efforts of all those people, they helped pave a way for environmental health advocates to have seats at the table for reforming the U.S. Toxics Substances Control Act (TSCA). And it happened because making us all safer from toxic exposures is good for business. It was also a promotable news pitch. 162 Later, I was lucky enough to co-host an internet radio show with Richard Eidlen, from the ASBC. Every week we interviewed ASBC participants doing remarkable things. For example, the owner of a bookstore cafe in Washington, DC, paid a living wage to his workers, gave them ample vacation time and sick leave, and nurtured them as a team providing an important space for the community to gather and have significant discussions. If you are ever in Washington, DC, check out Busboys and Poets, it is an exciting place to grab a meal and meet new people doing interesting things. Our radio guests provided safer goods or services; they innovated; they treated their workers well and were involved in helping their communities; and they were making money. That was a fun show. What happens when regulatory and legislative reform takes too long and polluting companies aren’t reined in by official rules? In our economic system, shareholders have a lot of power. Shareholders within larger companies are realizing that toxic exposure presents liability threats for their investments (“Shareholder Advocacy”). A relatively new field of financial advising called ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) has evolved that helps investors put the money into companies focused on sustainable practices (“Kiplinger’s Ranks”). Harvard Law School reports that there is widespread support for ESG in Europe (T. Smith, “Attacks on ESG”), while in the U.S. some politicians, reportedly linked to polluting companies such as oil and gas corporations, are attempting to make ESG financial advising illegal (Tellez). NGOs like As You Sow pioneered ESG and work on shareholder actions to hold companies accountable to reduce health and environment hazards. As You Sow’s CEO Andy Behar and ASBN founder David Levine discuss how companies who are doing the right thing are attracting investors in the podcast for this module. Andy and his colleagues have coaxed big corporations into making 163 changes. For example, I supported their work on identifying cadmium and lead in chocolate by helping to garner media attention. It is taking years, but the big chocolate producers are finally working to make the changes necessary to make safer chocolate. It’s no easy feat; the cadmium and lead get into the cocoa beans via contamination from toxic incinerators placed in developing countries where the cocoa is grown (Toxic Chocolate). This shows that pollution from afar can make its way into products we love. Making Safer Chemicals Making fewer toxic chemicals itself can be big business. The Green Chemistry industry is valued at more than $100 billion a year (Bernick). While I was attending a conference at UC Berkeley put on by chemist Arlene Blum, founder of the Green Science Policy Institute, I, who had never taken a chemistry course, was fascinated as one of the one of the participant scientists showed us the molecular structure of a carcinogenic toxic chemical, and then showed us the structure of a human cell and talked about how toxic molecules can disrupt human cell walls and trigger cancer and other health impacts (Narayanan et al. S1103). Safer molecules do not cause as much disruption, and don’t necessarily have reduced function. Andrew Jordan et al. examined some of the most used solvents, which are notoriously toxic, and demonstrated that safer solutions exist, and in fact can be “just as good or better than the status quo” (Jordan, et al. 6782). Some examples of innovations with Green Chemistry include creating safer chemicals for use in cleaning products, in making microchips, pharmaceutical products, biodegradable plastics and more (“Examples of Green Chemistry”). Chemists, chemical engineers, and others are stepping up to find safer molecular structures within chemical formulations. 164 The late environmental health journalist Lizzie Grossman described Green Chemistry best in her book Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry (UBC Press): “What successful Green Chemistry promises is the prevention of chemical pollution by designing materials that are inherently environmentally benign” (76-77). Lizzie introduces us to John Warner, considered by many to be one of the founders of the Green Chemistry concept (Grossman Kindle Location 85). He co-founded the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, where he assists the private sector with Green Chemistry innovations. He Collaborated with Paul Anastas, considered by many to be the “Father of Green Chemistry.” Anastas is now Professor of Epidemiology (“Paul Anastas”) and the Teresa and H. John Heinz III Professor in the Practice of Chemistry for the Environment and Chemical & Environmental Engineering at Yale. Together, Warner and Anastas wrote what many believe to be the first foundational book on Green Chemistry, Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice, published in 2000. In this seminal text, they identified “12 Principles of Green Chemistry:” Prevention: It is better to prevent waste than to treat or clean up waste after it has been created. Atom Economy: Synthetic methods should be designed to maximize the incorporation of all materials used in the process into the final product. Less Hazardous Chemical Syntheses: Wherever practicable, synthetic methods should be designed to use and generate substances that possess little or no toxicity to human health and the environment. Designing Safer Chemicals: Chemical products should be designed to affect their desired function while minimizing their toxicity. 165 Safer Solvents and Auxiliaries: The use of auxiliary substances (e.g., solvents, separation agents, etc.) should be unnecessary wherever possible and innocuous when used. Design for Energy Efficiency: Energy requirements of chemical processes should be recognized for their environmental and economic impacts and should be minimized. If possible, synthetic methods should be conducted at ambient temperature and pressure. Use of Renewable Feedstocks: A raw material or feedstock should be renewable rather than depleting whenever technically and economically practicable. Reduce Derivatives: Unnecessary derivatization (use of blocking groups, protection/ deprotection, temporary modification of physical/chemical processes) should be minimized or avoided, if possible, because such steps require additional reagents and can generate waste. Catalysis: Catalytic reagents (as selective as possible) are superior to stoichiometric reagents. Design for Degradation: Chemical products should be designed so that at the end of their function they break down into innocuous degradation products and do not persist in the environment. Real-time Analysis for Pollution Prevention: Analytical methodologies need to be further developed to allow for real-time, in-process monitoring and control prior to the formation of hazardous substances. Inherently Safer Chemistry for Accident Prevention: Substances and the form 166 of a substance used in a chemical process should be chosen to minimize the potential for chemical accidents, including releases, explosions, and fires. (“12 Principles”) In their paper “Green Chemistry as Social Movement,” Woodhouse and Breyman give this interesting comparison of conventional chemistry and Green Chemistry: Conventional Chemistry • Start with a petroleum-based feedstock; dissolve it; add a reagent. • React the compounds to produce intermediate chemicals. • Put these through a long series of additional reactions to yield megaton quantities of potentially dangerous final products. • Release these into ecosystems and human environments without knowledge of long-term effects, without going through gradual scale-up to learn from experience. • Create millions of tons of hazardous wastes as by-products. In contrast, Green Chemistry would do the following: • Design each new molecule to accelerate both excretion from living organisms and biodegradation in ecosystems. • Create the chemical from a carbohydrate (sugar/starch/cellulose) or oleic (oily/fatty) feedstock. • Rely on a catalyst, often biological, in a small-scale process that uses no solvents or benign ones and requires only a few steps, creating little or no 167 hazardous waste as by-products. • Yield(ing) small quantities of the new chemical for exhaustive toxicology and other testing, • Follow up with a very gradual scale-up and learning by doing. (201) Woodhouse and Breyman may have stated too broadly that conventional chemistry uses only fossil fuel-based feedstock; sugars and other kinds of plant-based materials are used as well (“Chemical Feedstocks”). Hear excerpts from a compelling lecture by Paul Anastas on shifting from conventional chemistry to Green Chemistry, “Green Chemistry: The Future,” made to the Purdue Engineering department in this module’s podcast. The German Chemistry Council developed a similar paradigm to Green Chemistry they call Sustainable Chemistry, which identifies beneficial qualities that include: • Avoiding the use of persistent, bio-accumulative, toxic, and otherwise, hazardous materials. • Using renewable resources and decreasing consumption of non-renewable \ resources. • Minimizing negative environmental impacts of chemical processing and manufacturing. • Providing technologies that are economically competitive for and advantageous to industry. (Zuin et al. 1596) 168 Green Chemistry entails not only changing the molecular structures of chemicals, but also engaging applied science and technology in determining practical applications. Since Warner’s and Anastas’ work in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Joel Tickner at the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, has helped develop an estimable research hub that includes the Sustainable Chemistry Catalyst, an independent research and strategy initiative. The Catalyst aims to: Understand barriers and opportunities to commercialization, identifies model solutions and strategies, develops methods to evaluate safer alternatives, and builds a community of expertise to support the transition to safer, more sustainable chemistries and technologies. (“Green Chemistry”) While at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, Dr. Tickner also founded the Green Chemistry and Commerce Council (GC3), comprised of 120 companies (“Introduction”). Global interconnections are “adding momentum” to mainstreaming Green Chemistry (Zuin et al. 1599). For companies to make or for consumers to buy safer products, there must be a way of identifying the hazards. More and more NGOs are creating evaluation tools and databases where consumers and businesses can look up products and determine a hazard rating to choose a safer alternative. This is often called alternatives assessment. This way, consumers and manufacturers can make an informed choice. Several of the main repositories for information are listed in the table below. You can hear Lauren Heine talk about the Green Screen and Chemforward platforms conducting alternatives assessments in the podcast for this module. How do governments handle information for the public? The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) relies on what are known as Material Safety Datasheets 169 (MSDS) submitted by companies. Some find MSDS lacking in important information (Bernstein 35). The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety has a similar process system, called a Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) that uses Safety Data Sheets (SDS) (“WHMIS Program”). With each of these systems, the focus is on occupational exposures to single substances. See Table 3 for a partial list with other databases. Confidential Business Information and Right to Know Some chemical companies and manufacturers do not want to reveal information about their products, claiming what is known as Confidential Business Information (CBI) (McFadden 406). This claim assumes that how the products are made and what they are made of is proprietary and that disclosing the information will harm their business (Ibid. 412). However, this claim blocks the public’s right to know what is in products, what might contaminate the environments where they are made and what hazards might remain where the products are disposed. Thus, CBI is in direct conflict with a growing movement aimed at transparency for the public being able to know what substances are in products called Right to Know (Bergeson 65). One of the most determined groups working on Right to Know, labeling, and raising awareness throughout the public, is a group called U.S. Right to Know (USRTK). Their work, along with others, raised awareness about a weed killer called glyphosate, linked to neurological problems and cancer (IARC). Due in part to the research of USRTK, a school groundskeeper won the first ever lawsuit ($290 million) against the makers of the Roundup product that contained glyphosate; he asserted that his cancer came from repeated use of the herbicide. There are some formulations of Roundup that do not contain glyphosate, but the groundskeeper’s formation did contain glyphosate. There have been multiple claims from people who say that 170 their non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma resulted from their use of Roundup (Novotny 10). When Bayer (yes, the same company that makes children’s aspirin) bought the company that made Roundup, Bayer also inherited $20 billion in other lawsuits from people who believed they became ill from the product (Cohen, Patricia). You can hear Stacy Malkan, co-founder of USRTK, talk more about this in the podcast for this module. I worked with Stacy at Campaign for Safe Cosmetics when they discovered a preservative that turned into formaldehyde in Johnson & Johnson’s baby shampoo. 2011 Flashback. It’s 1990 and my one-year-old daughter is crying. “But it’s ‘No More Tears’” shampoo” I say, “It shouldn’t be hurting your eyes!” She keeps crying and rubbing her eyes. Decades later, now I know. There was formaldehyde in that baby shampoo. “Damn!” I say on the conference call with members of Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. I’ve just gotten the news of their testing of the iconic baby shampoo. “What?” Stacy Malkan responds. “Oh, nothing. I just realized that years ago I was exasperated with my daughter for complaining about me using this shampoo, that it was stinging her eyes, and even at one year old, she was right!” Later, “Oh Goody!” the Associated Press reporter says over the phone. I’ve called her to see if she will do a story on the baby shampoo testing. “I’ve been covering this company for years, and, believe me, I might be shocked, but, truly, I am not surprised.” This is my first encounter with the company’s behind the scenes information, like what’s in its products, so I am a bit taken aback by this response from a reporter whose job it is to cover their every move. She 171 is enthusiastic about reporting our test results. At first the company denies it, then they announce they are making a safer product line, while still keeping the original offending shampoo in the marketplace. More stories hit. Some countries take the product out of the marketplace entirely. I hear on another conference call later that their stocks tumble that year. We were able to alert the public about the baby shampoo and sales were impacted. It ultimately drove them to reformulate the product. Stacy also worked with Black Women for Wellness and other groups when it was discovered that the same company that allowed formaldehyde in its baby shampoo was selling baby talcum powder with asbestos in it. Studies demonstrated a link between the use of this baby powder, marketed to women of color for personal hygiene, and ovarian cancer (Cramer et al. 345). We hear from EH/EJ advocates that when the U.S. and Canada restricted the baby powder, the company focused on selling it to women in Africa and South Asia. How can consumers know if the personal care products they use are safe? Environmental Working Group’s Skin-Deep is a database that assigns a hazard rating for personal care products, including shampoo and talcum powder, so customers can choose safer products. Being the Change Several scientists involved in a company called SUDOC are currently making more sustainable and less toxic cleaning products. Co-founded by biologist Pete Myers (see “A Brief and Recent History” module for more on Myers’ early EH history involvement in identifying endocrine disrupting chemicals), the brain trust in this company reads like a Who’s Who of scientists working on the front lines of safer chemicals and products. See the SUDOC website in 172 the Explorations section of this module to read more about these extraordinary scientists. Each one of them has impressive stories of courage when discovering health impacts from toxic chemicals and then moving forward with innovations for working on safer substitutions (“Advisors”). Scientists need support for their research to change regulations and policies that allow harmful manmade chemicals in the workplace. For example, a broad coalition of groups worked to raise awareness on bisphenol A (BPA), which was largely led by the research of Dr. Fred vom Saal and others identified as an endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) (Vandenberg, “Hormones,” 382). I worked with a collaborative team to help get the emerging science on BPA into the public sphere and, eventually, BPA was removed from baby bottles, most water bottles, and some can linings. “BPA-Free” is now a promotable marketing label as companies innovate. It takes a tremendous amount of pressure to gain public notice, a market shift (when the public refuses to buy the offending product) and then public support to restrict a chemical. Read more about the BPA campaign in the “Health Professionals on the Front Lines” essay. Worker and Community Safety Consumers are winning in marketplace campaigns and through court cases to rid the public sphere of manmade toxic exposures. But what about workers? When we transition from making harmful products, how can we be sure that the new substitutions and the way they are made are safer for those doing the actual work of making them? This is the focus of a group called the Just Transition Alliance. Founder Jose Bravo works with communities, companies, and policy makers in the U.S., while Ananda Lee Tan is based in Vancouver, British Columbia. 173 Bravo, along with worker advocates Pam Tau Lee and William Campbell explained the recent evolution of the phrase “Just Transition” in a GreenBiz article: Throughout the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s, just transition evolved through dialogue between communities of color and labor organizers on the frontlines of extractive industries threatening community and worker health, our ecological life-support systems, and Indigenous land defense. Where Black, brown, Indigenous, migrant, and poor White communities were fighting polluting energy, petrochemical and waste corporations, industrial workers, and their unions were often pitted against our communities by corporations using the false binary debate of jobs versus environment (Lee, et al.). For more about communities impacted by petrochemical plants, check out the “On the Fenceline” module. How can communities know how to organize and insist on protections for their workers and residents? It was Jose Bravo who told me about a framework called the Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing. The Just Transition Alliance came up with their own Just Transition Principles: Workers, community residents, and Indigenous Peoples around the world have a fundamental human right to clean air, water, land, and food in their workplaces, homes, and environment. There is no contradiction between simultaneously creating sustainable development, having a healthy economy, and maintaining a clean and safe environment. 174 Liberalization of environmental, health and labor laws and corporate globalization – know no borders. Therefore, solutions call for local, regional, national, and global solidarity. The development of fair economic, trade, health and safety and environmental policies must include both the frontline workers and fence-line communities most affected by pollution, ecological damage, and economic restructuring. The costs of achieving sustainable development, a healthy economy and clean environment should not be borne by current or future victims of environmental and economic injustices and unfair free trade policies. Workers and community residents have the right to challenge any entity that commits economic and/or environmental injustices. These entities include governments, the military, corporations, international bodies, and mechanisms for securing corporate accountability. (“Just Transition”) Jose Bravo shares more about this important aspect of sustainability in the podcast for this module. When designing a sustainable future, with a “What Instead” scenario with environmental health and environmental justice protections, successful companies, and protective governments, I believe that the designers, if they are prudent and want to be profitable and, well, sustainable, might consider the Just Transition Principles to help insure healthy workers and healthy communities. 175 Don’t Ignore Mother Nature Another exciting avenue for making safer products lies in what is called Biomimicry. Biologist Janine Benyus had been researching and writing about how flora and fauna adapt for survival without destroying their habitats. Through this work she learned that one strategy for reducing toxic exposures might be to mimic functions that occur in nature. While others have been studying this concept, this is her definition of biomimicry: 1. Nature as model. Biomimicry is a new science that studies nature’s models. and then imitates or takes inspiration from these designs and processes to solve human problems (e.g., a solar cell inspired by a leaf). 2. Nature as measure. Biomimicry uses an ecological standard to judge the “rightness” of our innovations. After 3.8 billion years of evolution, nature has learned: What works. What is appropriate. What lasts. 4. Nature as mentor. Biomimicry is a new way of viewing and valuing nature. It introduces an era based not on what we can extract from the natural world, but on what we can learn from it. (Benyus Kindle 45) Here are excerpts from Janine’s four steps for paying attention to Nature for figuring out less toxic functions and a more sustainable future that helps to ensure survival for all living things - including us: Four Steps to a Biometric Future Quieting: Immerse ourselves in nature. Listening: Interview the flora and fauna of our own planet. I say “interview” because it is not enough to simply name the species on Earth (though this 176 is a monumental task, and nowhere near complete). We must also get to know these species as best we can and discover their talents and survival tips, their role in the great web of things. Echoing: Encourage biologists and engineers to collaborate, using nature as model and measure. The only way to ensure that nature’s designs will be considered is to put biologists and engineers on the same working teams. … we must put what is good for life first, and trust that it will also be good for us. The new questions should be “Will it fit in?” “Will it last?” and “Is there a precedent for this in nature?” If so, the answers to the following questions will be yes: Does it run on sunlight? Does it use only the energy it needs? Does it fit form to function? Does it recycle everything? Does it reward cooperation? Does it bank on diversity? Does it utilize local expertise? Does it curb excess from within? Does it tap the power of limits? Is it beautiful? Assuming our bio-inspired innovation passes those tests, our next design decision will have to do with scale. Since scale is one of the main things that separates our technologies from nature’s, it is important to consider what is appropriate, that is, what is receptive to and acceptive of our habitat. Stewarding: Preserve life’s diversity and genius. … Restraint is not a popular notion in a society addicted to “growing” the economy, but it is one of the most powerful practices we can adopt at this point in history. Native peoples’ response to this abiding mystery was to set aside sacred sites – a valley that would not be hunted, 177 a stream that would not be fished, a grove of trees that would never be cut. These spiritual sites turned out to be lasting conservation legacies. In some parts of the world, they are the only examples of a certain kind of habitat that are left. (Biomimicry 287-295) The full text of these steps can be found in Chapter Eight of Janine’s book, Biomimicry. Hear more about Biomimicry from Janine Beynus in the podcast for this module. The Carnegie Museum of Natural history explains many examples of applied Biomimicry, including how hairy toes on geckos led to ways to “close wounds without stitches;” how burrs sticking to dog hair inspired the idea for Velcro; and why we have cozy down jackets and sleeping bags, thanks to mimicking down feathers from geese; and other nature inspired functions (“Biomimicry is Real World Inspiration”) Bottom Line For those interested in creating safer chemicals, less toxic products, and/or a profitable sustainable business, there are ample organizations, companies, and government regulatory and policy avenues from which to gain knowledge and support. Some are listed in the Explorations section of this module. If we look back on history, there were those who recognized that having clean water could avert disease and save money, so entire industries evolved to create systems for providing cleaner water. Scientists prevailed to get lead removed from paint and fuel, and to get most of the public to stop smoking cigarettes. Other businesses emerged from these shifts toward protecting environmental health. Now, with the growing awareness and urgency of social justice enmeshed with the environment, we see that it is crucial to consider workers’ and communities’ well-being 178 along with consumers as we transition from toxic practices. When there is degradation of the environment, there are “economic and social consequences” (Nagla 39). When companies strive to do the right thing, the consequences can be quite beneficial. A worldwide study of more than 80,000 private companies and a further 20,000 listed companies, reported that the majority believe that they are benefitting from sustainable business practices (“More Sustainable”). The National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market, otherwise known as NASDAQ, recently published an article by sustainable businessman, George Negron, who has a compelling argument for investing in less toxic product production. Among other reasons, he cites: The non-toxic product market has shown remarkable growth in recent years, with the green cleaning category alone expected to reach nearly $400B by 2027, and this upward trend is continuing to rise. As more consumers shift towards healthier and environmentally conscious choices, companies specializing in non-toxic products are experiencing increased sales and profitability. In addition, existing brands have continued to innovate to capitalize on this consumer demand by launching sustainable products. By investing in this growing sector, you position yourself to capitalize on this market expansion, potentially yielding substantial financial returns. (Negron) With so many scientists, health and environment advocates, and businesses creating so much momentum, the “What Instead?” phenomena of shifting to less toxic chemicals and products may well be headed to becoming the “New Normal.” For those of us interested in 179 exploring new ways to do things that make our world - and our lives - healthier, we just might want to view our paths, in a hopeful fashion, as “What’s Next?” Table 3. Partial List of Organizations Rating Products for Toxic Hazards Database Name NGO/ Company Product Type Subscription Notes ChemForward ChemForward Chemicals Fees for chemical evaluations Science based, collaborates with industry, findings can be shared by companies ChemSec ChemSec Business Group Chemicals Evaluates chemicals used in manufacturing Various evaluations for regulatory and manufacturing, EU based Consumer Product Information Database DeLima Associates Various consumer products Reports on consumer products Info based on voluntary company MSDS reporting. Formerly managed by US National Institutes of Health Green Screen Clean Production Action Chemicals Rates chemical hazards for use in manufacturing Also has a certification for medical devices MadeSafe Non-Toxic Certified Consumer Products Reports on consumer products Certification for products, top scientists evaluating 180 Database Name NGO/ Company Product Type Subscription Notes Non-Toxic Black Beauty Database Campaign for Safe Cosmetics Personal Care Products Reports on consumer products Tests Downloadable PDF PesticideInfo Pesticide Action Network North America Pesticides Reports on hazards of pesticides Aggregated info from government sources, also has assessment of potential pesticide contamination on fruits and vegetables PHAROS Healthy Building Network Building Materials Gives hazard rating to materials used in building For contractors, architects. Products of Concern Campaign for Safe Cosmetics Personal Care Products Reports on consumer products Compilations from various reports. Testing. Safer Choice U.S. EPA Various consumer products Reports on consumer products Relies on voluntary company reporting MSDS/ Safer Products U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission Various Consumer products Reports on consumer products Info based on voluntary company MSDS reporting 181 Database Name NGO/ Company Product Type Subscription Notes Skin Deep Environmental Working Group Personal Care Products Hazard rating on consumer products Also has drinking water ratings and other assessments Sudoc Sudoc Makes safer cleansing products Designs safer chemicals Has top chemists working on making safer products 182 Assignments and Explorations Self-select one chapter of choice each from: Long Version Interviews (Dissertation note: these names are hyperlinked to audio files on the website. Andy Behar Jose Bravo Lauren Heine David Levine Stacy Malkan Books Biomimicry Resource Handbook: A Seed Bank of Best Practices. Biomimicry Institute. 2014 Chasing Molecules Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry, by Elizabeth Grossman. Island Press/Center for Resource Economics, 2009. Environmental Engineering and Sustainable Design, by Striebig et al. Cenage 2023. Dr. Lauren Heine is one of the authors. Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice by Paul T. Anastas and John Charles Warner. Oxford University Press, 2000. Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry. by Stacy Malkan. New Society Publishers. 2017. Sustainable Business: Managing the Challenges of the 21st Century. Springer international Publishing, 2023. Open Access. Self-Select two of the various elements listed below: Articles “Advances in Green Chemistry and Engineering,” compilation, Springer Nature, 2022. “Advancing Sustainable Chemistry Requires a Systems Approach to Research,” by Adelina Voutchkova-Kostal, Director, and Edmond Lam, Assistant Director, American Chemical Society Office of Sustainability 183 “Education in Green Chemistry and in Sustainable Chemistry: Perspectives towards Sustainability.” by Vânia G. Zuin et al. Green Chemistry, Royal Society of Chemistry, 22 Jan. 2021, Green Chemistry Journal, Royal Society of Chemistry “"Green Chemistry as Social Movement?" by Edward J. Woodhouse and Steve Breyman. Science, Technology, & Human Values, vol. 30, no. 2, 2005, pp. 199-222. Reports Biz NGO for Safer Chemicals and Sustainable Materials Publications ChemForward program documentation Clean Production Action series of reports and publications “Transforming the Chemical Industry” by Beverly Thorpe Videos American Sustainable Business Network Archived Videos Other Podcasts “Toxic Avengers with Daniel Rosenberg” Websites American Chemical Society academic programs in Green Chemistry American Sustainable Business Network As You Sow Biomimicry Principles Biz-NGO Group Campaign for Safe Cosmetics Center for Green Chemistry and Green Technology at Yale Center for Sustainable Production - University of Massachusetts at Lowell ChemForward ChemSec Tools Clean Production Action 184 ecoRise - Biomimicry and Science design challenge, curriculum for secondary students Environmental Working Group - Skin Deep Database (Personal care products) Green Commerce and Chemistry Council Green Science Policy Institute Healthy Building Network Healthy Building Network - Pharos database for safer chemicals used in construction Just Transition Alliance Pesticide Info Database SUDOC Sustainable Chemistry Catalyst - independent research and strategy initiative, based at the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production at the University of Massachusetts Right to Know Quiz 1. Green Chemistry is: A. Chemistry using only chemicals that are the color green. B. Chemistry for beginners. C. The practice of creating new chemicals that do not harm human health or the environment. True D. None of the above. 2. Alternatives Assessment A. Review indie music and rate it for listeners. B. Are lifestyle choices to rebel against the status quo. C. Are a process of identifying hazards of chemicals so manufacturers can make safer products. True 3. Biomimicry A. Are the calls of animals that mimic, such as parrots, mina birds, and chimpanzees. B. Is stealing someone else’s biography and pretending to be them. C. Studying how nature handles certain functions, and then looking to see how to copy that to make safer products. True 4. Sustainable Businesses A. Make and sell only things that sustain the livelihood of the business owner. 185 B. Are businesses that only survive in socialist regimes. C. Are conducted by businesspeople who want to make safer products and provide healthier services for their customers. True 5. Shareholder Activism A. Is when protestors live together, hugging all the time and sharing everything. B. Puts pressure on companies in which they hold shares to make safer products and conduct safer practices for communities and consumers. True C. Is a platform that enables you to buy stock when activated. 6. Essay (for student reflection only): Think about what you learned in the podcast and essay about Right to Know and/or about lawsuits against polluters (250 words) 186 Chapter Ten: Conclusion – Delimitations, Knowledge Mobilized (Dissertation only) While contemplating the ending for this dissertation, I must note that there are two reflection streams here. One presents observations about the work described in this dissertation, and the other is my consideration of the OER specifically. I shall first address the former. I did not set out to create an unusual, innovative, or genre disrupting pedogeological format. This dissertation and the work in it are not focused on the academic discipline of Education. While some theory has been referenced, the concepts explained in this thesis, for the most part, like parts of the OER, are untested and arose from my own practical experience with post-secondary students in the classroom. I suppose that my years of puzzling out how to grow audiences for their engagement on specific topics within environmental protection and social justice through radio and television programming led me to navigate growing audiences for the work of EH and EJ advocates. This same impetus provided inspiration to strategize the challenge of getting post-secondary students – often disaffected due to an increasingly dystopian reality for their future – to engage in knowledge and make it their own. I guess you could say that my foundational intention is to empower post-secondary students with the knowledge they need and the guidance they seek to discover their roles in transforming their worlds. In other words, with little to no background in the academic discipline of education, I ended up fashioning an educational process, almost, one might say, by accident. I set out with the objective of raising up the voices of EH/EJ scientists and activists I’d worked with. With the OER, I refined my sense of who needed to hear from, and about, them – namely students – along with my understanding of how that might be done. I had never heard of SPN when I started, and I had no idea that I could create podcasts as part of a doctoral thesis. Even if the audience and the means are not what I first imagined, I am confident that the OER fulfils my original intention. 187 Nevertheless, as a contribution to knowledge mobilization research and practice, the process has raised unanswered questions. Issues to Explore There are many aspects of this interdisciplinary project that deserve further investigation. First, regarding the validity of its pedagogy, the curriculum design of a podcast-centered OER for post-secondary education using SPN methodology and writing has never, to my knowledge, been tested, so measurements of efficacy, knowledge retention and more need to be examined. This could range from basic field-testing feedback to more extensive pedagogical research across a range of institutions. Given that the OER is intended as an introductory recourse for tertiary-level students taking a variety of courses, it would be valuable to know how learners from different disciplines respond to the material. A further set of questions arises from the interdisciplinary nature of this OER. Would Chemistry instructors find it a useful resource to help students understand the social and political context for their studies, or would they consider it too lacking in technical detail? If the OER it taken as just one instance of knowledge mobilization research, can its methodology be generalized to other topics? What do instructors make of the OER’s attempts to engage learners in this complex issue? Do they use it exactly as is, or do they customize it for their own context? Finally, this OER explicitly advocates for environmental health and justice in ways that could alienate conservative learners, who have been taught to see these as ideological movements. Whilst the thesis makes explicit mention of Critical Race Theory (CRT), the OER is only implicitly formed by it. Still, use of the OER could risk legal challenge in American states where CRT is banned. Further research could investigate how activist pedagogy collides with 188 cultural and political polarization and explore ways to ameliorate the antagonism – whilst understanding that this would require willingness on the part of unreceptive learners, too. Contribution to Knowledge, Strengths and Limitations “Unintended Consequences” is, to date, the first podcast-centered, post-secondary Environmental Humanities curriculum using SPN methodology and writing to mobilize knowledge about environmental health and environmental justice. The accessibility of this Environmental Humanities OER format enables students in any discipline to have democratic access to information typically available only to those studying or working in health and science fields. Furthermore, the stand-alone modules can be used singly as elements to support in class learning across a variety of disciplines. This does not pretend to be an objective research project. Indeed, having worked within the realms of environmental health and environmental justice, I argue that some academic critical examination, considered conventionally to be a necessity, can be harmful to impacted EJ communities. When that process challenges the validity of work and veracity of the impacted communities, the cost could be very high. What academics may see as a run of the mill critical examination, others may understand as weaponized information that can be used to thwart empowerment. Indeed, public academic critique is used in court and by regulatory officials and with industry communications professionals. In their book, Failed Promises: Evaluating the Federal Government's Response to Environmental Justice, scholars Elizabeth Gross and Paul Stretesky discuss how academic literature influences regulatory decisions with the U.S. EPA (134). In 2012, several academics from universities that received funding from at least one agrochemical corporation, appeared in a public relations news release to oppose a California ballot measure that would require labeling of foods that contained genetically modified organism (GMO) elements made from chemically intensive GMO production process, negating emerging 189 science linking health impacts (Fairbanks, Lipton). Reed et al., in their article "The Disinformation Playbook: How Industry Manipulates the Science-Policy process—and how to Restore Scientific Integrity,” argue that manipulating the science “… enables corporate actors to undermine health-protective public policy, instead bending science to fit political ideologies at the expense of public health” (623). Environmental Health researcher Keren has revealed that scientists working on environmental health are bullied and intimidated (Keren et al.). I personally witnessed scientists I worked with have their research and subsequent studies sidelined, inexplicably, by journals with academic reviewers who had ties to industry. As with Keren’s research, when I asked my participants who had experienced attacks if I could report on them for this project, they asked that I not name them out of fear of attracting such harmful attention again. Many scientists working on these issues have changed their views on “objectivity.” As one U.S. Environmental Protection Agency scientist who was also a union representative for his fellow scientists once said to me: “Once you grasp the enormity of the [environmental health hazard] problem, the concept of ‘objective’ flies out the window. To not take a stand to stop people from being harmed would be criminal.” In addition to this being avowedly subjective research, it remains starkly incomplete. There are plenty more potential participants that should be included as additional content in Environmental Humanities curriculum on EH and EJ. Indeed, I originally imagined creating 14 podcasts to try to encompass it all. Numerous people were not included of this project whose work is equally important: journalists, farmworker advocates, regenerative agriculture folks, epidemiologists, toxicologists, chemists, biologists, health researchers, attorneys, legislators, regulatory and policy wonks, corporate executives, campaigners, funders, and so many more. 190 Future Thoughts SPN methodology dictates that we consider the value of using stories as data and identify larger themes that are divergent and common among participants. Once distinctly apart, environmental health and environmental justice work are merging more than I witnessed before. When I first worked full time in this world, in 2005, most people working in NGOs dominated by white culture felt that “environmental justice” was a distant, separate issue. White advocates might have reached out to BIPOC advocates after all the key decisions had been made regarding funding, prioritizing campaigns, and policy engagement, if at all. Tom Goldtooth addresses this briefly in the “On the Fenceline” podcast. Though there is still far to go, every single advocate I interviewed mentioned EJ within the context that it is inextricably entwined with EH. Regardless of scholarly academic questioning of empirical evidence and definitions of justice, there is a common recognition now that BIPOC communities bear the disproportionate impact from toxic exposures. Within the white participant group, each one spoke, unprompted, of a commitment to environmental justice protections that I had not heard almost twenty years ago. More and more BIPOC individuals have attained decision making positions in NGOs and government to determine policy and regulations on environmental justice protections. Several of the people I’d previously worked with and had on my list for this research were enlisted for President Biden’s U.S. White House Commission on Environmental Justice, recruited for positions with the National Academies of Science, and drafted into decision making positions on government policies for climate change and environmental protection. Their lack of bandwidth to participate in this project was disappointing, but their elevated roles in protecting all of us from toxic hazards supports great hope that things will –– must –– get better. EJ advocates have been forging paths for the climate justice movements, as evidenced in the “Health Care Professionals on the Front Lines” module by Dr. Mark Mitchell’s 191 HEATWAVE mnemonic that helps health care providers identify health impacts from climate change. While the emerging science paints a dire picture of toxic hazards - knowing that there is a good chance that every living being on earth has manmade toxic chemicals within (Cribb 34), each participant demonstrated an unwavering belief in hopes that their work will help to improve the health of us all. Participants tend to see things in very different ways than those in the “status quo.” It is overwhelmingly clear that each of these participants feels a calling to work hard within the confines of confounding challenges to tackle what seems like a global, somewhat abstract, problem, but, as with climate change, has manifested in real health impacts within hard core reality: people are getting sick, finding it difficult to conceive, and are increasingly struggling with learning disabilities. These and many other health impacts link to and coincide with extraordinary amounts of untested manmade toxic chemicals and nonionizing radiation in our environment and in our bodies. Yet with inherent uncertainty in scientific practice, systems used in epidemiology and toxicology that do not adequately address the problems, and the vulnerability of politics to lobbying, especially in the USA, there is little incentive for the polluters to stop polluting, nor to stop attacking the emerging science demonstrating harm from their products. Undaunted, participants presented here are working in science, health, business, financial oversight, labor justice, and consumer empowerment to transform our current toxic threats. Each participant expressed enthusiasm for openings for students within new career paths emerging to grapple with environmental health and environmental justice hazards. Students can look forward to new opportunities in Green Chemistry and chemical engineering; sustainable 192 business and financial markets development; policy and regulatory work; health research; education; labor and consumer empowerment; legal efforts to insure justice, and more. There was more than one occasion when my podcast editor, Kelly Hendricks, and I would pause to take in the enormity of the work these participants are doing, and how important it is for young adults to understand what is happening with environmental exposures. The realizations brought tears to our eyes. These sudden eagle eye views would then be inevitably followed with our shared sense of puzzlement that, in our experience, most people, including many students in post-secondary institutions, may not have any idea about any of this. I hope that this is just one of the first of many resources to help students understand the need for environmental health and environmental justice protections and, perhaps, come to an awareness as they discover their roles in this world. 193 Works Cited “3. 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Zhang, Yin-Feng, et al. “Bisphenol A Alternatives Bisphenol S and Bisphenol F Interfere with Thyroid Hormone Signaling Pathway in Vitro and in Vivo.” Environmental Pollution vol. 237, pp. 1072-1079. June 2018. Zuin, Vânia G., et al. "Education in Green Chemistry and in Sustainable Chemistry: Perspectives Towards Sustainability." Green Chemistry: An International Journal and Green Chemistry Resource: GC, vol. 23, no. 4, 2021, pp. 1594. 245 Appendices Appendix A. Teaching Philosophy and Module Specific Instructor Guides Course Instructor Guide Teaching Philosophy Environmental Health and Environmental Justice are complex topics encompassing a variety of disciplines. Adding to the enormity of this is the reality that these can be dystopian subjects adding to our sense of eco-grief and despair for the future. The challenge, therefore, is to identify ways in which students can become empowered with this curriculum. When deciding on how you are going to teach this, you might consider asking yourself how the students can best learn. It has been my experience that students learn best from peers, when they feel something is relevant to their own lives, and if what they are learning gives them a sense of empowerment. Help them identify elements that are relevant to them personally. If you are teaching this course online, there are the additional challenges with students having grown up with a steady diet of screen time that entertains and fits short attention spans. Here is a sample online class format that I have experienced as having worked well with students: • I require cameras on unless they ask permission to not do so. • If it is an early morning class, I like to start with music that relates to the lesson's topic. I try to choose music that is light and easy on the spirit for an early morning class. • While the music is playing, take a Poll for the students. You can ask them how they are feeling generally or how they felt about the assignments or some other thing, such as an upcoming report that is due, or impending school break. If you have Canvas, you can use the white board. Padlet is another online tool that works well, but you have to have students all log onto it. Or you can just have students post in Chat if you are using Zoom. This gets them engaged with the class right away. • You can also pose a "Jeopardy" like question at the start that students can answer at the end of class that relates to the content. It's tough to do something that they can't answer with ChatGPT, but you can get creative and maybe offer a few points on their grade for correct answers. • Regarding CHatGPT: I believe that Pandora's box is opened and there is not going back. You can, however, insist on citations and documentation, which most students will find exhausting. If they write using ChatGPT or other AI and are not transparent about it and do not provide sources, I would count that as a serious plagiarism violation. I think it is important to spell out the AI policy at the start of the term. • After the beginning of class, you might go right away into a student presentation, and then put everyone in break out rooms to discuss, with a representative from each group 246 reporting back to the larger group. Students tend to prefer specific instructions and they seem to love the breakout rooms. You might consider making these "camera optional," while keeping the larger classroom "camera on." Give them plenty of time to visit and to address the questions asked. • Do Q & A for the last ten minutes of class for students to gain clarity on assignments. • End class by recapping the next assignments and due dates. As to making papers and exams, you might consider using peer review (with a rubric) as an effective process for knowledge transfer. If students know that other students will be evaluating their work, they often have additional impetus to "up their game." Remember, you are pioneering education on environmental health and environmental justice being taught in an environmental Humanities Format. It is OK to say, "I Don't Know." You can follow that up with asking the student to go find out the answer themselves and report back to you and the class. You are learning alongside your students. I have aimed to give you elements to work with in the best way that you deem important. It is my greatest hope instructors take this OER and fashion it into something even better for our helping our students navigate their futures! Instructor Guide for A Brief and Recent Environmental Health History So little history from the past 60 years or so is taught in schools that some of the information in this module may me brand new to students and even to some instructors. It is so important to understand the context of where we are today by knowing what has happened to bring us to where we now are. My advice is to take your time and to also give the students plenty of time to explore some of the themes for this module that have relevance for them and report back to the class. Remember, History is happening now, too. You might consider assignments singly or in groups such as: • Explore how chemicals were brought over from Europe after World War II to understand the foundations for the chemical and plastics industries. - both for our benefits: cars, unblemished food grown year-round, plastic enabling products not easily available before and for threats to human health and the environment. • Identify women in science during Rachel Carson's time and investigate their experiences. • Have students locate communities near them with similar situations to Lois Gibbs' "Love Canal." • Research what EDCs are and how we are exposed to them now. • For advanced students, have them research and report on the ties between the history of ubiquitous toxic chemical exposures, resource extraction, and the global economy. • Encourage critical thinking about the benefits of the hazardous chemicals developed since World War II, such as reducing insect born disease, the invention of plastic and other materials. • Have students note reflections on what they are learning via written or audio/video diaries. 247 Check out the Explorations on the assignment pages. There are several films that supply additional historic context, such as Silkwood, Erin Brockovich, Michael Clayton, and Dark Waters. The U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has developed resources for teachers, particularly for K-12, however there are many valuable offerings, including assistance with getting speakers to your class. Environmental Health Sciences Education. Most of all, remember it is OK to say, “I don’t know,” and to actively learn alongside your students. An Environmental Humanities treatment of these subjects is just beginning to emerge. In this light, consider supporting artistic responses and reflections on what students learn, with creative response such as poetry, prose, visual and audio art, and other forms that enable students to engage and process the information and share their expressions with others. Instructor Guide for Health Professionals On the Front Lines Some medical post-secondary schools and classes are beginning to offer courses on environmental health and environmental justice, but this OER may be one of the first efforts to provide an Environmental Humanities approach to the topics. If your students are in the health sciences, there are many resources listed in the Explorations section of the model, such as the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments' E-Textbook for nurses. More and more resources are emerging along with the peer reviewed science, so having students choose a health-related aspect that resonates with them and research it for a presentation to share with the class would be an effective way for all the students to learn. Healthcare Without Harm advises hospital settings on how to reduce toxic hazards in a medical setting. Students could present to the rest of the students on this NGO's various programs. Some of the ideas below will work well for group projects as well as for individuals. Have students share their work with the rest of the class. • If your students are interested in public health, occupational health, or epidemiology, have them identify a location. If they are in the U.S., they can go to the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) database and look at reported emissions in that location. They can then look for public health information for that location to see if there are incidences of health impacts linked to the substances in the TRI reporting. In Canada, they can look for toxics in the National Pollutant Release Inventory and then search for health impacts linked to the pollutants in a location. • Puzzling out toxic exposures in health can be a good critical thinking process. Consider assigning students Pro/Con topics posing questions about the variety of factors that can be implicated in illness and injury in addition to toxic exposures, such as genetics and harmful behaviours. 248 • For another critical thinking exercise, ask students to try to assess costs associated with health impacts from toxic exposures. Then compare this with costs involved with halting the exposures, what might be lost from health protective measures, such as reduced production of plastic, higher costs for car and truck fuels, other things we'd either no longer be able to have or that would become so expensive that few could afford them. Check out the additional Explorations, and assignment pages. Most of all, remember it is OK to say, “I don’t know,” and to actively learn alongside your students. An Environmental Humanities treatment of these subjects is just beginning to emerge. In this light, consider artistic expressions and reflections from what students learn, with creative response such as poetry, prose, visual and audio art, and other forms that enable students to engage and process the information and share their expressions with others. Instructor Guide for On the Fenceline Environmental Health (EH) and Environmental Justice (EJ) are rarely taught in post-secondary institutions; this OER may be one of the first efforts to provide an Environmental Humanities approach to the topics. I point this out because I want to underscore that you are pioneering ways to teach these subjects. For this module in particular, being grounded in critical race theory, anti-racism, and social justice are helpful backgrounds. If you are working through a post-secondary institution with a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, you might contact them for additional support. Otherwise, you know your students best, and so it is my hope that you will take the elements presented here and grow the knowledge even more. As mentioned in the Course Guide, students learn best from peers, when the topic brings relevance to them personally, and when the knowledge helps them to feel empowered. As I write this, advancements in. the realm of EJ in the United States are growing by leaps and bounds. In Canada, since the federal government and the province from whence I am writing this, British Columbia, have pledged to support the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), EJ efforts spearheaded by Indigenous leaders are bringing the harsh unsustainability of a fossil fuel economy into focus. Some of the ideas below will work well for group projects as well as for individuals. Have students share their work with the rest of the class. • If your students are interested in public health, occupational health, or epidemiology, have them identify a location. If they are in the U.S., they can go to the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) database and look at reported emissions in that location. They can then look for public health information for that location to see if there are incidences of health impacts linked to the substances in the TRI reporting. In Canada, they can look for toxics in the National Pollutant Release Inventory and then search for health impacts linked to the pollutants in a location. Have them identify the demographics of the location to see if some groups are disproportionately impacted than others. • Puzzling out toxic exposures in health can be a good critical thinking process. Consider assigning students Pro/Con topics posing questions about the variety of factors that can 249 be implicated in illness and injury in addition to toxic exposures, such as genetics and harmful behaviours. • For another critical thinking exercise, ask students to try to assess costs associated with health impacts from toxic exposures. Then compare this with costs involved with halting the exposures, what might be lost from health protective measures, such as reduced production of plastic, higher costs for car and truck fuels, other things we'd either no longer be able to have or that would become so expensive that few could afford them. • If students live in an impacted community, have them explain the benefits of their family living there, such as jobs, access to schools, etc. and have them compare those elements to the hazards. • Have students look at historic patterns where there are contaminated communities, for example, why petrochemical plants were placed in Indigenous and historic Black and Latino communities. • If students are interested in disproportionate exposures from consumer products, have them check out personal care products marketed to BIPOC people. Black Women for Wellness, the "Study: Women of Color Exposed to More Toxic Chemicals in Personal Care Products," in Explorations are good resources and have students look for new studies, Check out the additional Explorations, and assignment pages. Most of all, remember it is OK to say, "I don't know," and to actively learn alongside your students. An Environmental Humanities treatment of these subjects is just beginning to emerge. In this light, consider artistic expressions and reflections from what students learn, with creative response such as poetry, prose, visual and audio art, and other forms that enable students to engage and process the information and share their expressions with others. Instructor Guide for What Instead? The information in this module is fairly dense. I believe it is best to give students ample time to find an element in this module that resonates for them, and then tasting them to do as deep a dive as possible to share with the rest of the class in a final project. Some ideas might be: • Researching some specific Green Chemistry innovations where new chemicals were invented to replace more hazardous chemicals. • Asking someone from the Healthy Building Network, Clean Production Action, or Environmental Working Group to be live speakers via Zoom in the class to demonstrate their databases. • Come up with a product with hazardous components and figure out a plan to make that product with safer substitutions. • For a critical thinking discourse, have students think of everyday items they use and consider how they were made - what were their impacts on the workers and communities where they are made? To the consumer? For communities where the product ends up when no longer functioning? 250 • Have students answer this question: Is it realistic to think things could be made differently or that society can stop using them? Check out the Explorations on the assignment pages, have students pick one or more to then use as inspiration for presentations for the rest of the class. Most of all, remember it is OK to say, "I don't know," and to actively learn alongside your students. An Environmental Humanities treatment of these subjects is just beginning to emerge. In this light, consider supporting artistic responses and reflections on what students learn, with creative response such as poetry, prose, visual and audio art, and other forms that enable students to engage and process the information and share their expressions with others 251 Appendix B. Sample Interview Questions Questions for Monica Unseld March 27, 2023, 5pm ESTEST/2pm PSTPST 1. Please tell us your name and title(s) 2. What led you to get involved with environmental health and environmental justice? 3. Tell us about your organization and what you do. 4. What do you believe have been among your biggest challenges? 5. What have been among your best victories? 6. What do you have to say to young adults (18-22) about working in environmental health and environmental justice? 252 Appendix C. Podcast Transcripts A Brief and Recent Environmental Health History Podcast from Otter AI Transcript SUMMARY KEYWORDS chemicals, toxic chemicals, working, environmental health, health, flame retardants, Lois, years, chemical industry, scientists, environment, world, colburn, discovered, 1000s, DDT, children, endocrine disruption, Gibbs, endocrine SPEAKERS Arlene Blum, Rachel Carson, Theo Colborn, Lois Gibbs, William Hedeman (EPA), Stephenie Hendricks, , Industry scientist, Carol Kwiatkowski, Andrew McGuire, Pete Meyers Bill Moyers, News anchor, Dan Rather. Stephenie Hendricks 00:03 Imagine 1000s of birds fall dead out of the sky. And you were one of the only people who could help solve the tragedy. What if you moved into your dream home, only to discover there was something there that was invisible that was hurting your child. families all around you in their homes were hurting as well. Or you noticed that fish were dying in your beloved lakes, and that there was a huge unknown battle going on for the health of all life on Earth. Sounds like the plots of horror films, right? Yet we're talking about real life here. What would you do? We'll find out how a few significant yet not widely known people responded to these true live scenarios. The stories you're about to hear are about courageous people I've encountered one way or the other who are dedicated to making our world a healthier place for us all. After careers in radio and television. I worked assisting environmental, health and environmental justice advocates with communications. These are their stories, along with my own. This is “Unintended Consequences, a Brief and Recent History of the environmental health movement.” I'm Stephenie Hendricks. So, the birds falling out of the sky. No, it wasn't Alfred Hitchcock's film “The Birds”. And it wasn't just birds. 59 species of animals either died or got sick after widespread pesticide aerial spraying campaigns by the chemical companies and the US government in the late 1950s are a more powerful insecticide was imperative. The chemical industry adapted chemicals such as organophosphates, which were developed during World War Two for warfare, but they adapted them for domestic use to read the agricultural industry of pests. News Announcer 02:13 Because we're fighting a total war, our forces must be marshaled against every enemy, unseen, as well as seen in every place all the time. First synthesized by a German chemist in 1874. DDT had not been recognized as an insecticide until 1939, when a Swiss chemical firm began to use it against moths and flatlines. It arrived unheralded, but inherent was the power to curb epidemics. Stephenie Hendricks 02:45 And DDT did kill mosquitoes that carry typhus, malaria and other insect borne diseases. However, they're relatively quick resistance that the insects developed to DDT made it much more difficult to kill them with other insecticides. The chemical killed other things as well. When birds died by the 1000s, in the late 1950s, biologist and writer Rachel Carson responded to 253 requests to look into the suspected impacts from DDT. Millions of acres had been aerial sprayed. In 1962, Carson delivered her disturbing findings in a book called Silent Spring. She demonstrated that DDT was linked to injury, failure to reproduce and even death and songbird populations. The chemical industry had never before been so challenged. The idea that chemicals could be harmful had never been discussed in public discourse, until Silent Spring came out. Immediately the chemical industry sought to discredit Carson's work. Industry scientist 03:50 Miss Carson maintains that the balance of nature is a major force in the survival of man. Whereas, the modern chemist, the modern biologist, the modern scientist, believes that man is steadily controlling nature. Rachel Carson 04:11 Now, to these people, apparently the balance of nature was something that was repealed as soon as man came on the scene, when you might just as well assume that you could repeal the law of gravity. The balance of nature is built of a series of interrelationships between living things and between living things in their environment. You can't just step in with some brute force and change one thing without changing with many others. We must not attempt to tilt that balance of nature in our favor. Unless we do bring these chemicals under better control, we are certainly headed for disaster. Stephenie Hendricks 04:58 Rachel Carson's scientific observations have withstood the test of time. Many scientists, scholars and environmental health advocates point to a Silent Spring as a catalyst for the present-day environmental health movement. Carol Kwiatowsky 05:13 Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring I think was the first-time people woke up to the idea that there were chemicals in the environment that were really doing serious harm to wildlife and the environment in general and that we were creating all this pollution, and it was harmful, and we needed to do something about it. I'm Carol Kwiatkowski. I am currently a senior associate with the Green Science Policy Institute. I also have an Adjunct Assistant Professor position at North Carolina State University. And prior to this, I spent about a dozen years as the executive director of a non-profit called the Endocrine Disruption Exchange. Stephenie Hendricks 05:58 Carol Kwiatkowski worked with a woman often thought of as being the Environmental Health visionary successor to Rachel Carson. Her name was Theo Colburn. Theo, Colburn discovered that toxic chemicals were disrupting endocrine systems, that's hormonal systems, and fish, birds, and people. Here is Theo Colborn, describing what she discovered about endocrine disruption. Theo Colborn 06:26 Although some manufacturers want you to believe that the chemicals and products, they produce are safe, there is a growing body of health literature that suggests otherwise. Let's go back to the early 1940s. At the end of World War Two, when DDT and a long list of other chlorinated 254 pesticides were put on the market by huge chemical companies converting to peace time products. Each year, more and more cheap chemicals derived from the by-products of processing crude oil and natural gas entered the market. So, these fossil fuel derived plastics became the choice for construction material, phasing out the use of steel in building materials, turning up in planes, automobiles, high impact sporting equipment, and in home building materials, packaging, and practically every consumer product on the market. They are used as fire retardants, lubricants, detergents, and cosmetics, toiletries, toys, and clothing. We live in a plastic world. And I couldn't endocrine disrupters have been called stealth chemicals because they fly below the government's toxicological tests to protect human health, and below the radar of most doctors in their clinical practice. At extremely low concentrations, they cause no visible health and impairment at the time of exposure, but instead cause effects that are not expressed until years later. But if exposure takes place before birth, they can cause irreversible lifetime disorders. We now face a pandemic of disorders in the northern hemisphere, there is sufficient evidence from human and laboratory animal studies to suggest that these disorders could in part, be the result of prenatal exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals. Before the 1950s, these were rare disorders. But since the 1970s, all of these disorders began to increase. Think about this diabetes increased by 90%, between 1998 and 2008. And it is predicted that one in three Americans and one in two minorities born from now on will develop diabetes in their lifetime. For both diabetes and autism, the rate of incidence keeps increasing each year, with no sign of tapering off. We are now moving into the fourth generation of individuals exposed to endocrine disrupting chemicals in the womb. The statistics tell us that something is wrong with the human condition that males are targeted, that time is getting short. What we need immediately is a crash program in research. It must be the most important research program in the 21st century and funded accordingly. Let's face it, the womb environment must be cleaned up if we are going to have enough fully functioning individuals with the cognition, steadfastness, leadership ability and courage to place human health above the bottom line, and take back government, from corporations. Stephenie Hendricks 10:14 Theo Colborn wrote about these endocrine disrupting chemicals along with Boston Globe reporter Diane Dumanoski and university professor and scientist John Peterson Meyers. They wrote a book christened by politician Al Gore as the sequel to Silent Spring and it was called Our Stolen Future: Are we threatening our fertility, intelligence, and survival? A scientific detective story. Pete Meyers 10:42 I'll never forget, sitting around my kitchen table we one month would be in my house one month would be a Diane's more than one would be in DC at Theo’s. Sitting around my kitchen table hearing, listen to Diane and Theo go at it brilliantly. Both brilliant woman and my wife was in the background. We were looking at each other realizing what a privilege it is to be working with such brilliant and fierce women. I'm Pete Myers. I am currently the board chair and chief scientist of Environmental Health Sciences. And I could see that the world was going to hell in a handbasket, and I wanted to use my brains for something important. And so, I left a tender position went to where I saw the need the greatest and I began to specialize in endocrine disruption, and actually created that term endocrine disruption. We published Our Stolen Future. It was a best seller publicly translated into 15 languages it explored in essence the core of it was 255 looking at how exposure in the womb to contaminants that behave like hormones, alter development, and then lead subsequently to diseases later in life. Stephenie Hendricks 12:05 Working with Pete Myers, Theo Colburn read every paper she could find about the effects of manmade toxic chemicals on birds, fish, other animals, and humans. She realized that many people were working on the issue, but not working together. So, in 1991, Theo Colburn and Pete Meyers organized the first ever conference of scientists and health researchers in different fields focused on finding out about endocrine disruption. Most of the scientists didn't even know about the efforts of the other scientists. Pete Meyers 12:38 We brought together I think, 21 people to a meeting at the Wingspread Conference Center in Racine, Wisconsin, most of them didn't know each other didn't have a clue, other than through Theo is why they were being brought there. And so, we spent two and a half days listening to all the various pieces of this puzzle that Theo had recognized. Stephenie Hendricks 12:59 Out of this conference came the Wingspread Statement. It was the first ever declaration of concern from scientists and health researchers about health impacts from ubiquitous manmade toxic chemicals. In 1998, Pete and Theo convened another conference at the Wingspread Center in Wisconsin. This time focused on an important concept, the precautionary principle. In this second Wingspread statement they wrote: Announcer 13:30 When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause-and-effect relationships are not fully established scientifically. In other words, it's better to be safe than sorry. Stephenie Hendricks 13:44 About 20 years before the scientists at the Wingspread conference wrote their concerns about endocrine disruption. There were people living in the 1970s in a Niagara Falls in New York neighborhood. Lois Gibbs 13:55 I moved in there with my husband and my one-year-old child and Stephenie Hendricks 13:59 their children and other family members were getting second. Dan Rather 14:03 Carter declared a state of emergency today in the Love Canal area of New York's Niagara Falls where toxic chemicals were discovered oozing from the ground. Lois Gibbs 14:12 256 I was sort of a regular housewife buying the American dream in 1978. I moved into this lovely home Niagara Falls Stephenie Hendricks 14:19 Lois Gibbs was in her 20s when she moved into her dream neighborhood, the Love Canal area of Niagara Falls. Years later when she won the prestigious Goldman prize. This tribute to Lois describes what happened in her community. Goldman announcer 14:35 One of the mothers whose young family lived here was Lois Marie Gibbs. She began to sense something was wrong. her two children had been ill from birth. The oldest began to have seizures when he started school. Many of her neighbors were sick. Some had chemical ooze in their backyards. Kids played with fire rocks. When the rocks were thrown to the ground they exploded and fly Lois Gibbs 15:02 My name is Lois Marie Gibbs. And my position now is a strategic adviser to the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, which works nationwide with essentially community groups who are fighting against some health threat related to pollution. Stephenie Hendricks 15:22 Once Lois and her neighbors started asking around, it turned out that every family in the neighborhood was experiencing some kind of struggle with health problems. Lois Gibbs 15:34 All of a sudden now at Love Canal, they're seeing women who are unable to carry baby’s full term. They're seeing children with birth defects and similar birth defects even though there's no genetics connected to these families, right. And so, I think this Luck now really raised the flag to say, well, wait a minute, low level chemicals in your everyday environment where men, women, and children, but especially pregnant women, are expose causes damage more often than not. And I think that was just huge. It really opened the door to the whole environmental house movement that happened from there forward. Stephenie Hendricks 16:17 Lois and her neighbors organized and discovered that there were 10s of 1000s of chemicals under their children's school and under their homes. It took years, but eventually Gibbs and her neighbors were able to secure government support to evacuate more than 400 families from the Love Canal neighborhood. Because of their efforts, the United States Environmental Protection Agency or EPA, which by the way, was sparked by Rachel Carson's work, created a new division because of Love Canal. It's commonly referred to as the Superfund. This was to create a process for polluters to clean up the mess they left behind in communities. Here is William Hedeman, from a 1983 EPA film, when he was director of EPA office of emergency and remedial response. He's explaining the Superfund, William Hedeman (EPA) 17:11 257 Superfund was enacted into law at the end of 1980. In the last days of that Congress, it was in response to the problems that we had in Love Canal, and other sites that began to come to the attention of the American people in the latter part of the 1970s when there was a recognition that there was really no federal law that could deal with the problems of abandoned hazardous waste sites. And in addition, very few state laws that had that capability. 17:44 So, Congress enacted a law to protect the public health and welfare. It created a $1.6 billion Trust Fund to deal with the problems of abandoned hazardous waste sites. 87% of the money in the trust fund comes from attacks on the chemical and petrochemical industries. The rest comes from general revenues. Stephenie Hendricks 18:06 While Lois Gibbs was fighting against toxic pollution in the Love Canal neighborhood of Niagara Falls in the 1970s, a young scientist at Stanford was discovering a toxic chemical in children's pajamas. Andrew McGuire 18:20 I don't want my children sleeping and I don't want other people's children sleeping it bathed in a chemical that's going to cause cancer. Scientists fear trust may cause cancer 1000s of cases among children. Arlene Blum 18:31 Arlene Blum, and I'm the executive director and founder of the Green Science Policy Institute. Stephenie Hendricks 18:38 Arlene was a young scientist at Stanford when she got the idea to test children's pajamas for harmful chemicals. Arlene Blum 18:45 The suggestion came from Bruce Ames, who had developed something called the Ames test to see if a chemical was a mutagen. If it changed DNA, it was likely to be a carcinogen. He found a correspondence between things to change DNA and things cause cancer, which makes sense. And so, he brought it to my attention. He, he was concerned. This was shortly after the poisoning of Michigan, if you remember that where they mixed brominated flame retardant with animal food, and 10s of millions of animals were had to be killed. But meanwhile, people in Michigan ate drank milk. The only reason they figured it out this person who did it was the first dairy farmers to lose his prize heard was somebody who had a master's in chemical engineering and had worked at Dow. And he was he figured out what it was, or it might have never gotten figured out. Well, it was and then once he figured out what it was, they realized that it was toxic, and they had to kill all these animals. But meanwhile, a whole generation of Michigan people had eaten probably rats from these animals. And they still find neurological and reproductive impact, maybe in the second third generation knew about that. And he said, you know, the chemical in the kid's pajamas, it's five or 10% of the weight of the pajamas, I think it gets into the kids. It's in the same family as these polybrominated back panels that poisoned Michigan. Let's look into this, or this study that happened at the same time was a cancer study that was done at the 258 National Cancer Institute. And so right around the time, we discovered it was a mutagen. And show that it ended up in kids here. And the National Cancer Institute came out with a study that was considered mutagenic. The breakdown products that we found in urine were smaller molecules that already work carcinogenic and in fact, I do remember taking a plane ride, where I had copied a bunch of papers about the chemicals we found in the urine. And I remember I was on the plane reading these papers, and I was like, oh my God, these chemicals are all carcinogens. And they're these kids here and this is terrible. News anchor 21:05 The government ruled today that no more children's sleepwear containing a chemical called Tris may be made or sold. Stephenie Hendricks 21:13 But the discovery of the brominated chemicals and chlorinated Tris that Arlene found in children's pajamas caused both the government and the children's clothing industry to remove the chemicals. Yet 30 years later, Arlene was shocked to see the chlorinated Tris pop up again, this time and furniture foam, including infant car seats, pillows, couches, and more. Arlene Blum 21:38 In2006, my daughter started college and I wanted to go back and make a contribution to the world, and I really didn't know what I was going to do. But I decided to look into what was happening with flame retardants and discovered the very same tourists that we had helped remove from children's sleep where was now in furniture in high amounts. Stephenie Hendricks 21:57 Not only that, but the chemical industry had successfully lobbied to have a California regulation making it mandatory that toxic flame retardants be used in the manufacture of furniture such a large market this regulation became a de facto regulation for all furniture made in the world. RR Narrator 22:16 And scientists discovered for years flame retardants had been leaching out of products and into the environment, building up in rivers, polar bears, house dust, and even human breast milk. Stephenie Hendricks 22:33 Toxicologist Linda Birnbaum, former head of the US National Institute of Environmental Health Science, explains the health concerns. 22:42 Some of the effects that we're seeing are effects on the developing nervous system. We're seeing effects on the developing reproductive system in a population of children that have been exposed to the flame retardants, those children have lower IQ, more difficulty in learning. Stephenie Hendricks 23:02 It was a long struggle. It took many years, and there were many individuals and organizations working hard. Yet, on January 22, 2018, many environmental health advocates including Arlene Blum got the California regulation to force toxic flame retardants in furniture changed. Furniture made from that date forward into the future, is now safer from toxic chemical exposures. 259 Bill Moyers 23:31 In this special investigation, we will reveal the secrets that a powerful industry has kept hidden for almost 50 years. Stephenie Hendricks 23:40 In 2001, Bill Moyers documentary trade secrets about toxic contamination, launched what may have been the largest effort aligning those working on environmental health issues to date, we Bill Moyers 23:53 are everywhere in our daily life, often where we least expect them. The Stephenie Hendricks 23:57 The “Trade Secrets” website describes the film as a two-hour special report on how chemical companies have collaborated to keep from American workers and the American public. The full truth about the impact of chemicals on health and safety. Moyers was one of the first journalists to look into what he called the chemical revolution of the past 50 years, when 1000s of manmade chemicals that were untested or inadequately tested for their effect on the public health and the environment were allowed in the public sphere. Trade secrets use documents that at the time had never before been published. Advocates organized house parties to watch it. The group soon came up with a document called the Louisville charter. In this document the need for stronger regulations for chemicals was laid out, including demands for protections for the most vulnerable populations that are disproportionately impacted such as children, the elderly, health impacted people and communities of color are eventually the people who came together for the Louisville charter formed an organization of hundreds of groups working on environmental health and environmental justice through policy and market campaigns. Today, it's a formal organization called coming clean. But what about the pioneers we did focus on in this podcast what happened next for them? Rachel Carson passed away in 1964 from breast cancer. Ironically, many modern peer reviewed studies now support evidence that ubiquitous toxic chemicals in our environment are linked to breast cancer. Theo Colburn passed away in 2014, fighting to the very end to rid our environment from endocrine disrupting chemicals. She and Carol Kwiatkowski created a database of all known peer reviewed studies that demonstrate health impacts linked to exposures from toxic chemicals from conception to birth. It's called “Critical Windows of Development.” And it can be found at Endocrine Disruption.org. Theo left a message for us with a recording she calls the time capsule. Theo Colborn 26:10 With what I know today about the extensive misuse of chemistry on a global scale. I cannot conjure up good dreams for the future. I have only bad dreams. Yet I want the world to be cleaner and to be kinder to each child that is born. But I also realized that in the process of dehumanizing mankind with manmade chemicals. We are also producing individuals who will never understand the need to protect what is natural to protect our life support systems. Individuals who will never see the beauty and the mystery and the birth of a new baby or the bursting forth of foliage in a food crop in the springtime. Despite these dire thoughts. More and more, though, I see parents who are concerned about their health and the health of their children. And women especially are trying desperately to find out what is safe and what will not harm the 260 babies they are carrying in their wombs and their children already there in their homes. But what do we do in the meantime until the change takes place. There is also hope that deep within everyone, there is something bigger and stronger than we are aware of at this time. That cannot be suppressed by manmade chemicals. Something that will prompt some very exceptional leadership to step forward with the courage to turn off corporate control of the government and the world and take back for society what it needs to thrive. Stephenie Hendricks 27:49 Carroll Kwiatkowski continues to work on environmental health protection research. And at the time that this podcast was produced she's working with Arlene Blum at the Green Science Policy Institute Carol Kwiatowsky 28:00 For some people they come to this field of environmental health to right a wrong to address a personal injustice like polluted water in your hometown and for other people that maybe you know compassion for other species wildlife or even your pets who suffer the same maladies as we do you know, they're experiencing the same pollution the same contaminated environments. Or maybe you've lost family members. And for me personally, my heart just breaks for all the people who are living with the chronic health conditions that are endocrine related and that humans have created in this span’s obesity, diabetes, infertility, ADHD, autoimmune disorders, you know, the list goes on and on. These are all in part caused by environmental pollution. Aside from that, though, what motivates me is that I really love the work I do. Stephenie Hendricks 28:55 Frustrated with the usual replacement of harmful chemicals with even more harmful chemicals. Arlene Blum turned her attention to getting rid of six entire classes of chemicals, including PFOS, they're dubbed forever chemicals, and are now becoming better known in government agencies and companies and they are trying to get them out of the environment and out of the marketplace. Arlene Blum 29:18 Environmental Health, unfortunately, is not yet the recognition or the support that it deserves. And I think these toxic chemicals can do us in just as much as climate and plastics can and it's in a way easier to solve because the chemical industry is problem and it's because they want to keep selling these profitable old petrochemicals. But if the petrochemicals get banned if PFOS gets banned, then they're their chemicals that are alternatives and they still make a buck it's not as convenient is to keep selling the old toxic ones without a Really, people don't have to change how they live, they don't really lose jobs, the chemical industry doesn't suffer, they just have to change. And we can all be healthier. So, the fact, you know, I do take some pride in contributing to the fact that furniture across the US Canada does not contain toxic flame retardants. And carpets do not contain pieces, which means every home healthier, and every kid and every pet. in homes where people are wealthy enough to have new carpeting and new furniture, there is an environmental justice aspect, sadly enough that people with old furniture and carpeting are still getting the bad stuff, but people who can afford it get the good stuff, and eventually everybody well, so unbelievable opportunity, you know, I did start doing this, it's been a little more than 15 years and to believe, you know, in 15 years, to be able to do something that helps every home 261 healthier, and probably everybody. So, I feel really, you know, blessed, and honored to have had that opportunity. And I think environmental health is a field where people can have these opportunities. I got an honorary doctorate at the University of San Francisco. And I thought, what should I tell these young people and I decided to talk about Tikkun Olum, you know what that stands for. So, to kind of learn is Hebrew for healing the world. And I think you have a case of it. And always, I've just always wanted to put the pieces together and heal the world and make it better. Stephenie Hendricks 31:44 Pete Meyers has created a company called Sudoc, he has hired some of the best scientists in environmental health. And they're working to create new products to help break down toxic chemicals, and also to make new chemicals that can achieve the same function as toxic chemicals without the health and environmental hazards. This is called green chemistry. Pete Meyers 32:06 And we've done things that, frankly, have not been done before. The first thing is, we have assembled a world class team of scientists to help us test what we are making to ensure that the solutions we're creating for today don't become tomorrow's problems. That's vital to us. So, I've got four of the leading scientists in endocrine disruption, running detailed testing of the products that we were putting into the marketplace. I didn't get in this business to get rich. But to be able to help clean the world up of bad stuff, that is truly exciting. Stephenie Hendricks 32:54 Lois Gibbs founded the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, or CHEJ. And they continue to help community members to stop chemical pollution in their neighborhoods. And Lois Gibbs 33:04 we've worked with over 10,000 communities across the United States and some in other countries, but mostly across the United States. And we, you know, one of our fun things was there was a union carbide who was trying to build a plant in Houston, and we stop them, how do we stop on the local people went to City Hall every single day and made noise. And they just said, it'd be cheaper for them to move. So where are they? They go, they went to somewhere on the in St. Louis. And then we heard their wound there. When we chased them out of there, then they went to California, we chased them out of there. I mean, those kinds of things. And then finally, they just gave up and they said, no, we’ll just we'll just expand one of our existing facilities. So, you know, that was that's, again, about prevention. It's like we don't need another plant, we don't need more pollution. All of the communities that we're working with, or for the most part, low income, communities of color, or, or working class, or working class in today's world is really about working poor, even though that's what they consider themselves. And so, these are communities that are really being sacrificed and don't think we can just look at our electeds and other people who are making decisions, that corporations are really the core of all of it. And then the flip side is our elected will never do anything because they're funded by the Corporation, which is why the corporations also are so important. I mean, some of them will stick their neck out. But we have seen time and time again, those who stick their neck out, don't get re-elected. They throw all the money in their opponent's campaign or somebody who's in the same party but is running against them. Right. And so, you know, if we don't get corporations 262 out of politics, the answer is no, they can't. They can't. I mean, it's almost like the environmental groups and the grassroots groups, they have two different goals. So very different goals. Corporations need to make money because that is how our country operates. They will make money doing good things if we force them to, but they will not if we don't force them to. And politicians need money for their campaign, and they can't run a campaign, the only ones that are running now or it's because millionaires, right? So, if you want to get elected, you're going to have to take some corporate money if you're not a bazillionaire. And so, you know, that's the poll, they're, they're focused on getting elected, these guys are focused on making a profit and Wall Street, and in the middle lies most of the rest of us. And that's not always a pleasant place to be. Stephenie Hendricks 35:38 This is Lois Gibbs’ message to students. Lois Gibbs 35:42 Come work with the real people to create real change. This is what we're about, you know, you're not going to get lots of lots of money, but you'll get a living, you'll have benefits, but you'll create real change not only for yourself before the generations after you, as opposed to being part of the problem, which you might get stuck doing, you don't know. And so, this and there's nothing better than environmental justice, environmental health injustice. Stephenie Hendricks 36:08 Thanks to Rachel Carson, the United States Environmental Protection Agency was created, and that sparked similar agencies and governments all over the world as well as within the United Nations. Lois Gibbs and her neighbors’ efforts were the reason that the US EPA created the Superfund. And with that the notion and regulations that polluters need to pay to clean up their toxic messes. Feel Colburn and Carol quick how C's work triggered new research on toxic chemical impacts on our endocrine systems. Pete Myers was part of that too, and he has gone on to create the Environmental Health News Service. They provide environmental health content for other news venues. Pete also co-founded environmental justice fellowships for young people. It's called agents of change. And he does that with health researcher Ami Zota. And of course, Pete co-founded the company Sudoc focused on using green chemistry to make safer chemicals. Arlene Blum continues to research through the green Science Policy Institute and consults for many government agencies and companies. She advises them on how to reduce toxic chemical hazards. There are many, many other people throughout the history of the environmental health movement who have worked very hard to make our world a safer place. These are just a few of the folks who are pioneering ways for us to become aware of and work to protect ourselves, all of us and all life on the planet from ubiquitous, manmade toxic chemicals. Announcer 37:42 This has been Unintended Consequences, a Brief and Recent History of Environmental Health. Kelly Hendricks is the editor. Stephenie Hendricks 37:48 funded in part by the Peter wall Institute Catalyst Collaboration Fund and Jonas philanthropies Special thanks to the Green Science Policy Institute. Special thanks to Carol Kwiatowski, Pete 263 Meyers, Arlene Blum, and Lois Gibbs. Archival footage was used in this podcast, and we'd like to thank the CBS network the endocrine disruption exchange, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Goldman fund. Bill Moyers Reports, the Purpose Prize, the Retro Report, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Announcer 38:24 This has been a doctoral research project for the University of British Columbia Interdisciplinary Studies Program, the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, Sustainability Theme. Dr. Greg Gerhard, Principal Investigator.. Stephenie Hendricks 38:37 I'm Stephenie Hendricks, thanks for listening. Health Professionals on the Front Lines Podcast from Otter AI Podcast Transcript SUMMARY KEYWORDS pcbs, environmental justice, toxic exposures, work, exposure, chemicals, environmental health, health, Mitchell, nurses, communities, cancer, carpenter, contaminated, eat, people, policy, woodruff, explains, researchers SPEAKERS Robert Bullard, David Carpenter, Matt Damon, Stephenie Hendricks, Phil Landrigan, Mark Mitchell, Joel Moskowitz, Participants in Hurricane Katrina Tribunal, Raluca Radu, Paul Saoke, Barb Sattler, Tracey Woodruff. Barb Sattler 00:00 I have to share with you I have a four-month-old granddaughter, I was at her birth, I cut the cord and when I cut that cord, I knew what she had circulating in her blood. Phil Landrigan 00:18 I am a pediatrician, and I always am compelled to point out that children are exquisitely sensitive to pollution. CDC Report Narrator 00:26 Most women in this country are contaminated with a number of toxic solvents, fire retardant chemicals, PCBs, and pesticides like DDT. Barb Sattler 00:38 Environmental Working Group studied umbilical cord blood, the fact that a newborn has pesticides, solvents, heavy metals in their body. Phil Landrigan 00:51 Children are more heavily exposed because pound for pound, they eat more food, they drink more water, they breathe more air, so they take more pollutants into their bodies. All the organ systems in a baby are growing so fast. And that development is so tightly choreographed, even 264 tiny doses that would bounce off you or me if they get into a baby at the wrong moment during what have come to be known as Windows vulnerability during early development can have profound effects on the on the health of the baby. Paul Saoke 01:28 We have seen a lot of studies that actually indicate that male reproductive health problems have their origins in their exposure to DDT. We are seeing undescended testicles. We are seeing precocious puberty; we are seeing all manners of male reproductive health problems. Stephenie Hendricks 01:55 These are all health care professionals on the front lines, working to figure out how to protect us all from invisible manmade environmental toxic exposures. You'll hear more from them and others in this podcast ”Unintended Consequences, Health Professionals on the Front Lines,” I'm Stephenie Hendricks. How can we know we are sick from invisible toxic exposures? And why do people say this is an environmental justice issue? In academia, we call questions like this wicked, meaning there are no easy answers. That's all the more reason why I believe that people working to identify hazards from manmade toxic exposures are heroic and profoundly admirable. They face tremendous challenges, and yet their work benefits all life on the planet. David Carpenter 02:57 Since I'm a physician, I tend to focus on human health. Stephenie Hendricks 03:00 Dr. David Carpenter is with the State University of New York at Albany and has studied impacted communities who suffer from environmental health hazards. I asked him to define the terms environmental health. David Carpenter 03:13 My definition with regard to human health is a consideration of human diseases that are caused by an exposure to environmental contaminants, whether that be chemicals, bad drinking water, bad air, radiation of its various sources. If you go looking for David Carpenter, David Carpenter 03:34 I'm David Carpenter. Stephenie Hendricks And he isn't in his WHOlWorld Health Organization lab. David Carpenter 03:40 I'm a Professor of Environmental Health Sciences.. Stephenie Hendricks 03:43 You'll likely find him working in Indigenous communities or with other marginalized people. David Carpenter 03:48 I'm Director of the Institute for Health and the Environment with the World Health Organization. 265 Stephenie Hendricks 03:55 He's been studying the Indigenous Mohawk community in New York.. David Carpenter 03:58 The contaminants there were primarily polychlorinated biphenyls, PCBs.. Stephenie Hendricks 04:04 … assessing verifying and identifying contaminants that trigger illnesses in places where there are toxic exposures. David Carpenter 04:12 PCBs were used as hydraulic fluids in three aluminum foundries operated by General Motors, Alcoa, and Reynolds Metals just adjacent to the Mohawk reservation. When these PCBs had leaked, the foundries just wash them down the drain. They contaminated the water contaminated the fish contaminated the air in the soil. And the Mohawks are traditionally a fishing population. And the result was they became very exposed to PCBs. I think at the beginning I didn't realize how dangerous these chemicals are. There's a school in Washington State, Sky Valley Education Center that use PCBs in a variety of construction materials, and window caulking in ballasts in the old fluorescent lights that should have been replaced years ago. And the teachers and the students that have worked in that school are sick. They're sick because of damage of PCBs on their brain function. You know, this is such a problem, because PCBs was manufactured until the late 1970s. But every one of us, on the face of the planet have PCBs in our bodies. They're persistent, they don't go away. If you eat a contaminated fish last night, you'll have half of those PCBs in your body 10 years from now, or not. PCBs are actually a group of chemicals that are 209 different PCBs, and they don't have all the same properties. So, a lot of my work for the last 3040 years, has been trying to understand what PCBs do to health. Mark Mitchell 06:08 I would pull different audiences that I would speak to and ask them about the symptoms that they were having. Stephenie Hendricks 06:16 Like David Carpenter, Dr. Mark Mitchell works with communities who suffer from higher rates of health problems from toxic exposures. Mark Mitchell 06:24 And in every community, there was a disproportionate amount of reported health conditions that you would expect if people were being poisoned by the exposures coming out of the stacks from the industries that are closest to them, or if they were drinking or eating fish that are contaminated from the polluted water. I found this every place that I went. And when they had the opportunity to test the water, the fish the blood of the individuals, they would find these chemicals. I was fully convinced that this is a major cause of disability and health diseases. When I went back to these communities, a year later, two years later, many of the people who I'd met would have died in that period of time. So, I'm Dr. Mark Mitchell, MD, MPH co-chair of the Council on Environmental Health for the National Medical Association, founder and director, 266 Climate and Health Equity fellowship program out of George Mason University. I'm an associate professor of Climate Change Energy and Environmental Health Equity at George Mason, where I work with the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health. Stephenie Hendricks 07:54 Dr. Mitchell holds many other titles, including as co-chair of the Connecticut Equity and Environmental Justice Advisory Council. He started his career in civil service at one point as the public health director for the city of Hartford, Connecticut. You may not have heard of the National Medical Association that he mentioned. But when Black physicians were not allowed in the American Medical Association, the National Medical Association was formed in 1895. Today, it includes more than 50,000 members. Mark Mitchell 08:29 I started getting myself in front of unsuspecting Doc's and talking to them about environment. Stephenie Hendricks 08:36 And it was no surprise to Dr. Mitchell that Black physicians were more apt to understand the connections between toxic environmental exposures and the health problems they see in their patients. Mark Mitchell 08:47 It was really interesting to see Oh, their faces would click. Oh, yeah, I'm seeing that. Yes, I'm seeing more asthma. In my patients. Yes, I'm seeing more allergies. Yes, I'm having to give more and more anti-allergy medication to children at younger and younger ages. Stephenie Hendricks 09:11 Emerging science is demonstrating links from extreme weather events, which then increase toxic exposures. That's all linked to depression and impacts on mental health. Dr. Mark Mitchell explains, after Mark Mitchell 09:25 Hurricane Katrina, we saw a lot of molds. We saw people who had depression. Hurricane Katrina Tribunal participant 09:33 I can't give you hard numbers because I did not bring that with me. Stephenie Hendricks This is testimony from the international tribunal on hurricanes Katrina and Rita Participant in Hurricane Katrina Tribunal 09:43 Post Katrina. I can tell you in the adjacent parish, which is St. Bernard, almost every day there was a suicide or suicide attempt. Stephenie Hendricks 09:53 267 With all of Dr. Mitchell's formal education participation in professional organizations, there is one credential told that Dr. Mitchell has for this work that is what he calls an occupational hazard. Mark Mitchell 10:05 I got asthma at a fire at our sewage sludge incinerator in the 1990s. Stephenie Hendricks 10:14 The toxic waste or sludge had come from the predominantly white community surrounding the predominantly Black and Latino communities in Hartford. In scenarios repeated all over the world, manmade toxic wastes are shipped to communities of color and burned without regard to the health of the people who are living where the incinerators to burn them are situated. I Mark Mitchell 10:37 I am the first person in my family to have asthma. I am the first person in my family to have coronary artery disease. Stephenie Hendricks 10:46 When environmental health hazards disproportionately impact low-income communities of color, residents working to make their communities healthier call their work environmental justice. Robert Bullard 10:56 Well, environmental justice embraces the principle that all communities all people are entitled to equal protection of our environmental laws, housing laws, transportation laws, civil rights laws, human rights laws and health laws and regulations. Stephenie Hendricks 11:11 The “Father “of environmental justice, Dr. Robert Bullard, explains the definition of environmental justice on the broken ground podcast from the southern Environmental Law Center. Environmental Justice, Robert Bullard 11:23 Basically, it is the treatment of all communities and all peoples equal and not somehow given less weight. Because the community happens to be poor or happens to be physically located on the wrong side of the tracks or the wrong complexion for protection. Stephenie Hendricks 11:43 It seems as if environmental health physicians, nurses and health researchers find it impossible to separate environmental health and environmental justice concerns when it comes to their own dedication to the work. Tracey Woodruff 11:54 I was really interested in public health and the idea about looking at populations and how we can intervene and improve the health of everybody at the same time with certain types of systemic changes. My name is Tracy Woodruff. I am a professor at the University of California, San Francisco. I'm the director of the program on reproductive health and the environment, and the 268 environmental research and translation for health or earth center. When I was doing my postdoc, somebody was giving a talk about health inequities and talked about infant mortality and the differences between Black and white infant mortality which still today, Black infants are more likely to die in the first year of life than white events. And that has been true for decades. And I just was so struck by Oh, I have this knowledge about environmental exposures, and we have these really stark health inequities and what's the role of the environment in in this in these health inequities? People are more sick, you know, there's more diabetes, there's more obesity, there's more cognitive disorders, whether it's at the end of Parkinson's, Alzheimer's or neurodevelopmental disorders, autism, ADHD, I mean, it's, it'd be one thing if we were like making all these things and it'd be like, No, everyone's just healthy. So it doesn't matter. But that's not true. We know these chemicals can influence these health effects, and we're seeing them go up and we have more chemicals. So, it's really important area of in terms of you want to improve health and health equity is, to me a very important area of investment of time and research and activity. Phil Landrigan 13:46 In the infants it causes sudden infant death syndrome, and in us, it causes a whole lot of chronic diseases. Pollution is responsible for 29% of cardiac disease and stroke is responsible for 11% of deaths from chronic lung disease. 16% of deaths due to lung cancer, the World Health Organization has declared that urban air pollution is a proven cause of lung cancer. So, it's a it's a big deal. Stephenie Hendricks 14:15 Dr. Carpenter agrees as to almost all scientists and health researchers. David Carpenter 14:20 The fetus is by far the most vulnerable. And there is some evidence that very early life exposure to these neurotoxins have lifelong detriments on cognitive function. So that's why it's so tragic. When before a child is born, if they're exposed to dangerous chemicals to their mother's body, they are vulnerable. Now it's interesting. If you look at how long these chemicals stay in the body, for example, with methyl mercury, the duration in the body is about 90 days. So, if a woman wants to get pregnant and stopped eating fish contaminated with methyl mercury. She could safely get pregnant about three months after she stopped eating contaminated fish. As I said, with PCBs, the half-life is about 10 years. So, you can't immediately make a change in the exposure of your child choosing to eat fish that don't contain high levels of PCBs. And of course, the public doesn't understand any of this. You go to the supermarket, there's not a big sign that says methyl mercury free PCB free. Stephenie Hendricks 15:40 While health researchers like doctors Landrigan, Mitchell, Carpenter and Woodruff are documenting existing and emerging illnesses. Other health researchers are aiming at ways to prevent exposure in the first place. Barb Sattler 15:55 I'm a nurse, I'm a public health person, and we can keep repairing people. We can keep repairing our environment, or we can prevent them from being damaged. To begin with. I'm Barbara 269 Sattler. I'm a registered nurse. I have a Doctorate in Public Health. And I am currently a professor emeritus at the University of San Francisco. I'm also a founding member and board member of Nurses for Healthy Environments. And I live in California, where we convened on a new sort of state specific branch that's called the California Nurses for Environmental Health and Justice. If you were to look at our curriculum as a pie chart, only the tiniest sliver of our curriculum is spent on how do we prevent disease? How do we keep people healthy? The rest of the pie chart is how do we take care of them when they're sick? And that means clean water, clean air less fires, addressing from a disaster preparedness perspective, being prepared for what we know is Chi. So, I think aspirationally what I see nurses doing is being more involved in systemic changes that will help us keep people healthy. How do we have healthy food healthy food system? And how do we help nurses to help their patients make healthy choices in what they eat, that in turn will affect our agricultural system? Stephenie Hendricks 17:39 For Canadian nurse Raluca Radu, the environmental health impacts from climate change are her priority. Raluca Radu 17:46 I remember that our nursing instructors would talk about environmental pollutants and toxins but never kind of related to a warming climate. My name is Raluca Radu. I am a registered nurse with a Master of Science in Nursing. I've just stepped away from teaching momentarily from the University of British Columbia to work as a climate change educator with Doctors Without Borders. News Announcer We begin tonight with breaking news falling multiple new wildfires. Raluca Radu We really are hearing on the news all the time about how you know the wildfire smoke that you're seeing especially the residual ones that have an impact on your health and your well-being and actually being outside you will experience like whether it was shortness of breath or for me it was headaches and very like kind of stinging eyes I started really thinking about like, you know, how is public health being affected? So I identified that there was no policy paper position statement on climate change and health and volunteered to author one I remember how particularly fascinated I was by this like policy level that nurses were not necessarily a part of and how I was looking at climate and health through that policy lens that required and kind of equity approach like you really had to use the critical thinking that every nurse is already kind of trained up with to dissect experiences of like health and wellness amidst like a warming climate and apply a policy lens to that. Stephenie Hendricks 19:20 Chemical exposures are particularly pervasive on the African continent. Doctor Paul Saoke with Physicians for Social Responsibility, Kenya explains how a lack of awareness of hazards from chemicals is causing an increase in illness. For example, some people are burning plastic for fuel to cook, and this releases dioxins and furans harmful chemicals into their homes. 270 Paul Saoke 19:47 When it rains and the wood is wet, they actually resort to burning plastics in order to cook food. When you look at the issue of dioxins and furans, which are a product of for the chlorinated substances, you realize that down in the third world countries, a lot of people don't know that they are actually cancer-causing agents. And it's not by accident that cancer. Cancer rates have now overtaken HIV AIDS in terms of incidence. And the problem is so huge that each and every county we have 47 counties in Kenya, each and every county is now struggling to put up a cancer unit. And you can see this a direct correlation between the environmental origins of cancer, especially as it relates to the release of dangerous chemicals into the environment, and also the cancer incidence in a third world country like Kenya. We are dealing with the issue of educating the public so that they get involved in safe environmental practices, so that we reduce the cancer incidences. And then we are also involved in trying to manage the cancer incidences with cost resources. Stephenie Hendricks 21:20 12,765 kilometers or almost 1,000 miles to the north and west of Dr. Saoke on an island in the Bering Sea, there are other people suffering cancer and other health impacts from toxic exposures. Dr. David Carpenter explains. David Carpenter 21:39 What we've been working with the Yupik on St. Lawrence Island, this is an island off the coast of Nome. It's 40 miles from the Russian coast. It's, what about 30 miles below the Arctic Circle. So, it's a cold place, the people practice a traditional lifestyle, which is to say their primary source of food is marine mammals, they eat some fish, but not so much. It's too cold, you can't grow anything. People will collect some wild plants in the brief summer, which they call greens. Now, when we started working there, no, this is probably 10-15 years ago. The issue was, are these people exposed to PCBs? What we found is that the PCB concentration in the Yupiks was about the same as it was with the Mohawks and about the same was in Anniston, Alabama, about 20 times higher than the background US population. The next project was trying to figure out where the PCBs came from. So, we analyzed their traditional foods. And of course, what we found is sky high levels in the fat of the marine mammals. Now, it's actually a little surprise that even the whales had high levels of PCBs, because these are baleen whales that eat low on the food chain, but they live a long time. And so, they also had very high levels. I was there once when the Yupiks were harvesting a whale. And it was very interesting because they cut out big sort of cubic foot blocks of fat and skin and then push the meat out into the ocean for scavengers. So, their tradition is to eat the fat in the skin, not the meat. The meat, of course, has very low levels of contaminants, the fat and skin have very high levels. So that left us with this dilemma. You know, what do you do you tell the people not to eat the fat and skin and eat the meat instead. More recently, we've been looking at the perfluorinated compounds brominated flame retardants, you name it and there is greater exposure in Yupiks than in the lower 48. And that's of course a tragedy because there there's no industry their ultimate tragedy of people with little political clout who are highly contaminated because of what we've done to the whole world. Stephenie Hendricks 24:30 271 When persistent chemicals drift north from where they are applied, this is called the grasshopper effect. Here's film star Matt Damon explaining this in a documentary called Future Conditional from Screenscope. Matt Damon 24:44 In a phenomenon scientists called the grasshopper effect, toxic pollutants released 1000s of miles to the south, evaporate in the warm climate. Then ride the winds until they reach the cold air of the Arctic, where they eventually fall. to the earth. It doesn't take long for the caribou to feed upon the tainted moss and shrubs of the tundra. And in the sea fish feed upon toxic plankton, which are then eaten by seals and polar bears. Stephenie Hendricks 25:21 Here's Dr. Paul Saoke explaining the path of harm from these persistent chemicals. Paul Saoke 25:27 The chemical industry can actually walk in and walk out do anything the way they want; it will rip their profits without caring about the human lives without even caring about the consequences of their activities. And that is not by accident, that is by design. That is by design, because all the industries, all the dirty chemical industries that have been burned in the West, and now down here in the south. The sad reality is that all those activities, their actions, their levels of pollutions, that pollution that is being experienced here, actually is finding its way in the West because of the trans boundary transport of chemicals. And these things migrate towards the polar the polar regions. And in the process of migration, they're actually leaving their footprints in each and every region they pass through on their way to the polar regions. Stephenie Hendricks 26:35 Okay, now we've seen the scope of ubiquitous chemical contamination. However, there's another invisible exposure that creates health impacts that can in fact, make it easier for the toxic chemicals to trigger health impacts. Joel Moskowitz 26:50 It interacts with other chemical toxins, these exposures. People are concerned about the cell towers, but they forget about the primary exposure they're getting as from their personal devices that are wireless. Stephenie Hendricks 27:05 One of the leading health researchers on this is Dr. Joel Moskowitz. Joel Moskowitz 27:10 For the past14 years, my focus has shifted to look at the effects of non-ionizing radiation, particularly wireless radiation or radiofrequency radiation, cell phones, smartphones, tablets, wireless tablets, and laptops. In the effort to make the internet available 24/7 Wave adopted universally technology which the evidence the research base shows for many, many decades is very harmful to us and to other species. For example, even very low intensity exposure to radiofrequency radiation can open the blood brain barrier. So, if you have low levels of chemical toxins in your circulatory system, they can now penetrate your brain and cause brain tumors. The 272 effects on fertility arm to sperm harm to the fetus, increase miscarriage rates, variety of cancers, including besides brain cancer, cancer, the thyroid, the salivary gland, breast cancer, these are likely to increase over time as we increase our exposure. Stephenie Hendricks 28:16 Researchers advise those who do feel health effects to take measures like turning off their routers at night when they sleep or using speaker phones on their cell phones. So, there's distance between the phone and their brain, particularly for children suffering from neurological issues. With so much research needing to be done, regulations and policies that need to be put in place, there are plenty of ways we can work for Environmental Health and Environmental Justice protections. Barb Sattler 28:45 This work is a labor of love. It's a labor of justice. It’s really important. Stephenie Hendricks 28:52 Barbara Sattler describes the reality of working in these fields. Barb Sattler 28:57 And it's one foot forward two steps back always, always always and you need constant vigilance, you win something the next day the industry's either taken it to court or found a loophole around it. It just takes constant vigilance. It's not like we can, you know box up our air pollution. The air is common space. It's common territory. There are a lot more of us in working in coalition, it's meaningful. Stephenie Hendricks 29:26 Here's Dr. Mark Mitchell's insight on working on environmental health and environmental justice. Mark Mitchell 29:31 I'm thrilled that this new generation has the opportunity to contribute and to see the policies put forward and contribute to the research to move swiftly to a zero emissions future that makes the world much better reduces climate change but can also reduce the health disparities at the same time. The jobs are needed the jobs are coming. We need brilliant young people. Tracey Woodruff 30:01 I personally value being able to work in an area where I feel like it makes a difference in people's lives. Stephenie Hendricks 30:09 Dr. Tracy Woodruff loves her work, and finds it both challenging and rewarding, Tracey Woodruff 30:14 Whether it's about the 1000s of chemicals that we don't have information on or using chemicals as a way to, to understand the trajectory of disease. And if you want your science to be meaningful, that is, this is a really great field. You can also fulfill a social justice mission by 273 standing up for people over profit. The industry corporations are actively work to, you know, to keep things just the status quo, even myself, it's like, that's just not right. This is definitely the field for you. Stephenie Hendricks 30:53 You've just heard from a few of the physicians, nurses and health researchers leading the way to protect our environmental health and fight for environmental justice. Are there health care professionals in your community working to make your world safer? If so, why don't you find out more about them and their work? And if not, why not consider diving in yourself? This has been Unintended Consequences - Health Professionals on the Front Lines. Kelly Hendricks is editor and director, Kim Thomas advisor. Special thanks to Dr. David Carpenter, Dr. Phil Landrigan, Dr. Mark Mitchell, Raluca. Radu, Dr. Paul Saoke, Dr. Barbara Sattler, Dr. Joel Moskowitz, and Dr. Tracy Woodruff, funded in part by the Peter Wall Institute Catalyst Collaboration Fund and Jonas philanthropies. Special thanks to the Green Science Policy Institute. Archival footage was used in this podcast, and we'd like to thank the Christiansen global team with the Sun Valley Institute, public resource dot org, US Centers for Disease Control, and the Southern Environmental Law Center Broken Ground podcast series. This has been a doctoral research project for the University of British Columbia Okanagan Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies program at the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies Sustainability Theme. Dr. Greg Gerhard is the principal investigator. I'm Stephenie Hendricks. Thanks for listening, On the Fenceline Podcast from Otter AI Transcript SUMMARY KEYWORDS community, chemicals, toxics, environmental justice, people, Diane, landfill, arctic, Bhopal, incinerators, built, dump, Bullard, called, live, pollution, Texas, shrimp, cancer, issue SPEAKERS Robert Bullard, Judy Da Silva, Tom Goldtooth, Stephenie Hendricks, Hilton Kelley, Ada Lockridge, Pam Miller, Mark Mitchell, Bryan Parras, Ron Plain, Monica Unseld, Paul Saoke, Vi Waghiyi, Diane Wilson. . Hilton Kelley 00:00 I see your smoke rising in the air to three in the morning when you think on Wednesday.. Stephenie Hendricks 00:09 You're listening to Hilton Kelley. Hilton Kelley 00:12 In the middle of the night my child starts to sneeze. In the still of the night, the other starts to wheeze.. Stephenie Hendricks 00:17 274 He left a successful career as a stuntman in Hollywood to return to his hometown and Port Arthur, Texas to fight for environmental justice, Robert Bullard 00:26 People are saying, “No, we have a right to live in a clean and healthy environment.” Stephenie Hendricks 00:32 These folks are part of a growing movement of people who are refusing to accept pollution in their communities. Hilton Kelley 00:39 I live in the back end of town, and I should just be quiet and not make a sound. Robert Bullard 00:43 And no community should become the dumping ground is not just not fair. Hilton Kelley 00:48 My toxic reality. Mark Mitchell 00:57 I define environmental justice as the effects of environment on low-income people and people of color, including Indigenous populations. Robert Bullard 01:08 Environmental Justice, basically, is the treatment of all communities and all peoples equal and not somehow given less weight. Because the community happens to be poor or happens to be physically located on the wrong side of the tracks, or the wrong complexion for protection. Mark Mitchell 01:27 I define environmental justice groups as groups addressing environmental justice and are led by the people who are most affected. Stephenie Hendricks 01:43 That was physician Mark Mitchell. And before that, you heard Robert Bullard, who many refer to as the “Father” of environmental justice. We'll learn more from them and others working to protect predominantly racialized and low-income communities from toxic exposures that are making them sick. This is “Unintended Consequences, On the Fenceline. I'm Stephenie Hendricks. In order for us to have our cars, our cell phones and most of our modern things. There are hidden tragic prices paid disproportionately by people living in communities where these things are made or disposed of. You can travel the world, and wherever you see toxic chemical plants, landfills, or toxic waste incinerators, you will likely find low-income communities and communities of color. According to an Environmental Justice and Health Alliance report called “Who is in Danger,” more than 134 million Americans live in what are called danger or sacrifice zones next to chemical facilities. In Canada, the numbers themselves may be lower, but the conditions are the same 1000s of people, many of them Indigenous families live near toxic facilities. In other instances, communities are poisoned by toxics left behind by military 275 installations or polluting corporations. The people living in these places are sick and often do not have the resources to leave and, in many cases, don't want to forsake their homelands. environmental racism has been going on for millennia. But the modern environmental justice movements are generally thought of to have been sparked in 1982 in North Carolina. Robert Bullard 03:44 The environmental justice movement is as a movement is relatively new. Stephenie Hendricks 03:49 Dr. Robert Buller is founding member of the Bullard center for environmental and climate justice and distinguished professor of urban planning and environmental policy at Texas Southern University.. Robert Bullard 04:00 Although there were lots of isolated struggles that occurred in this country prior to 1982. For example, that's usually the case given for the birth of the movement in Warren County, North Carolina. News Clip 04:12 We will not allow Warren County to become a dump site. Robert Bullard 04:17 There were lots of struggles around pesticides and farm workers around communities that are struggling against highways being built through their communities and with petrochemical plants, etc. But it was not until Warren County where that PCB landfill that toxic waste landfill was placed in the middle of this predominantly Black County. And residents in that community said no, we started to get people from all over the country, led by Reverend Ben Chavis to protest that landfill. Over 500 People went to jail over the siting of that landfill. So, it became not just an environmental issue. It became a civil rights issue. You Human rights issue, people from all over the country, African Americans and Latinos and Native Americans, Asian Pacific Islanders, to stop start to think about this whole idea of everybody has a right to live in an environment that is free from pollution at that particular moment in history in 1982, where this shot heard around the world of environmental racism, and this black community being dumped on being targeted, and people saying, No, we have a right to live in a clean and healthy environment. That's when the whole idea of environmental justice as a national movement, came into effect. Tom Goldtooth 05:48 We started to build alliances with the Black and People of Color to confront environmental racism in America. Stephenie Hendricks 05:57 Not long after events in Warren County, Indigenous Environmental Justice Advocate Tom Goldtooth, co-founded the Indigenous Environmental Network or IEN. Tom Goldtooth 06:09 276 Massive disparities in the burden of environmental degradation and pollution are facing our communities. Stephenie Hendricks 06:18 Here he is in a Grist presentation called “Climate Solutions from the Frontlines of Environmental Justice.” Tom Goldtooth 06:26 IEN and these other Black and People of Color environmental justice networks and a lot of the other environmental justice organizations had to constantly push the white national environmental organizations to bring more color into their boards and staffing. Many of the white leadership within the green groups, the non-governmental organizations, the conservation groups, the environmental organization, they were starting to ignore environmental racism as the main problem to address and downplayed it and said, Well, it's a class issue, not necessarily a race issue. So there already were some lines being drawn within the environmental movement and later in the climate movement. That race wasn't a really a big issue that needed to be addressed. News announcer 07:24 Pretty darn dramatic. Stephenie Hendricks Meanwhile…… News announcer Fire in all of these plumes of… Stephenie Hendricks Like many racialized communities, landfills in Hartford, Connecticut, catch fire and spread toxic exposures. Mark Mitchell 07:35 In Connecticut, we burn more of our trash than any other state. Stephenie Hendricks 07:39 This caught the attention of physician Mark Mitchell. Mark Mitchell 07:42 In almost every town had their own town dump. Stephenie Hendricks 07:47 Dr. Mitchell is now an associate professor of Climate Change Energy and Environmental Health Equity at George Mason University. He's a leader on environmental health and climate change health impacts for the National Medical Association. Mark Mitchell 08:00 277 Years went by and as the products that they were putting in the dump, got more toxic, the dumps would leak into the well water and contaminate the well water. Stephenie Hendricks 08:14 Dr. Mitchell recounted to me his experience when he was the public health director in Hartford, Connecticut. Mark Mitchell 08:20 So, the state moved to close most of the town dumps and to consolidate waste into trash incinerators and into regional dumps. That would take the assets leftover after they burn the trash. They went through a process of determining which towns would be the towns that were received the trash incinerator, they went through a three-step process and each step, largest incinerators were put into town with the highest percentage of People of Color, and the town's the second highest percentage of people of color Hartford and Bridgeport. We also found out that the trash incinerator is the largest source of mercury and dioxin, which is the most toxic substance don't just science, ADHD, learning disabilities, depression, all of these conditions are higher in Black and Latino populations and in low-income populations. Stephenie Hendricks 09:24 Another kind of dumping is harming Indigenous communities on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. The US military buried toxic waste there in the 1950s and 1960s. They thought it would stay buried in the permafrost of the Arctic Island, which also happens to be the home to the Yupik people. With climate change, the permafrost is melting, the toxics are contaminating the land and water. At the same time, chemicals that last a long time called persistent organic pollutants or POPs chemicals are drifting North to the Arctic from where they are applied. Since they don't break down for many years, the POPs chemicals bioaccumulate in the animals and fish that are the traditional foods for the Yupik people. Vi Waghiyi 10:18 And we've collected over 300 samples of everything that we eat. My name is Vi Waghiyi, daughter of the late John and Della Waghiyi. My grandfather was Waghiyi from Pomoc Island Clang, Aramaic clan, mining your grandmother was the Wild leek clan, I’m a civil khaki big (Note: Otter AI has not been able to accurately translate Vi’s Yupik language dialect to text) grandmother, environmental health and justice program director with Alaska Community Action on toxics request of our leadership they wanted us to look at our traditional foods, it was quite alarming that we found the high levels of PCBs in the marine mammals blubber and rendered oils which are important foods for our people. We found the high levels of perfluorinated compounds, which are added to items to make them stain resistant, but also Teflon pans. These are endocrine disrupting chemicals. There was a time that we noticed that we had more girls in Sivaganga. Now we're questioning and observing boys getting feminized. We're also seeing the undescended testicles, limbs where they're not attached, never seen before in our people until the military came, we need to help. Stephenie Hendricks 11:43 Vi works with Alaska Community Action on Toxics. co-founder biologist Pamela Miller.. 278 Pam Miller 11:50 What I've come to understand is the Arctic is the ultimate fenceline of the planet. Even though chemicals are manufactured hundreds and 1000s of miles away from the Arctic, the Arctic is a hemispheric sink for these chemicals that can travel such long distances on wind and ocean currents and that accumulate in the bodies of fish, wildlife, and people of the north. So much so that Indigenous peoples of the Arctic, now have some of the highest body burdens of these chemicals, of any population on Earth, even so distant from the places where they're manufactured and used. These persistent chemicals are volatile, that is they can become gases, the “Grasshopper Effect” is it's called that because they move up into the atmosphere, they settle out for time. But they continue moving northward in this grasshopper effect, until they reach the North in the Arctic where they have no place else to go. And then they settle out on the ocean surface or on the land surface. And then they bioaccumulate in the primarily fatty tissues of a fish and other animals as well as people. Paul Saoke 13:10 It is easier for the multinational chemical companies to manufacture and use dangerous chemicals in the third world countries because legislations are not there. Stephenie Hendricks 13:25 Dr. Paul Saoke with Physicians for Social Responsibility, Kenya works on global protections from persistent organic pollutant chemicals. Paul Saoke 13:35 What we're dealing with here is a monstrous situation, where the chemical industry can actually walk in and walk out, do anything they want, the way they want, it, will reap their profits without caring about the human lives without even caring about the consequences of their activities. That is by design, because all the dirty chemical industries that have been burned in the West, and now down here in the south, the sad reality is that all those activities, their actions, their levels of pollutions that are the pollution that is being experienced here, actually is finding its way in the west through the grasshopper effect. And in the process of migration, they're actually leaving their footprints in each and every region they pass through on their way to the polar regions. The intention is not to do racial profiling, and harm intentionally. The primary motive is not to practice racism, but is to read, raking profit. Stephenie Hendricks 14:52 Well, toxic chemical applications in Africa are making their way to Indigenous communities in North America. One of the worst contaminations in Canada occurred with corporate dumping of toxics upstream from an Indigenous community near Dryden, Ontario. The Asabiinyashkosiwagong or Nitam-Anishinaabeg, or Grassy Narrows First Nations people were poisoned by more than 10 tons of methyl mercury dumped in their river over an eight-year period more than 60 years ago. The health impacts are so severe that the federal government has pledged over $68 million to build a care center there for people suffering from the mercury poisoning. Judy Da Silva 15:38 279 I'm a mother of five children and I've been fighting the effects of mercury poisoning and our reverse system. Stephenie Hendricks 15:44 Here is Judy DeSilva when she was interviewed for the film, The Story of Grassy Narrows produced by the Public Service Alliance of Canada.. Judy Da Silva 15:53 The mercury issue started in 1975 when they discovered the fish were dying, or people are a river people historically they lived from the water. When we found out the mercury was in the water, it had a really devastating effect in our community, economically, socially and all that a lot of our people have died from the mercury poisoning and still today they are. Stephenie Hendricks 16:27 in addition to the mercury trichloroethanes, also known as TCMs, haloacetic acids, also called HAASs and Hexachlorocyclopentadien have been in the Grassy Narrows drinking water. Judy Da Silva 16:43 It can attack the genetics of unborn like a baby that's an in the womb. So that's how toxic those three chemicals are. Stephenie Hendricks 16:54 They are disinfected by-products also called DBPS and linked to liver and bladder cancer. They are not removed by boiling water. Judy Da Silva 17:06 Sometimes the racism must be put aside that it's not just the Indigenous problem. It's a human problem. And I think industry is given too much free rein on our lands to put their pollutants out there and their chemicals and underneath to put water first. Stephenie Hendricks 17:33 South of Grassy Narrows another Ontario Indigenous community is fighting toxic contamination. There are so many chemical plants surrounding the Aamjiwnaang people in Sarnia, Ontario, that the area is called Chemical Valley. Indigenous leaders there including the late Ron Plain, along with advocate Ada Lockridge were interviewed by the late Silver David Cameron for his “Green Interview.” Ron died July 4, 2022. From the cancer he was trying to prevent happening to his fellow community members. He was 60 years old. Ron Plain 18:08 We have what every other community in Canada or North America has. We just have more of it. Stephenie Hendricks 18:14 Thanks to Paper Tiger Enterprises. We can hear Ron Plame telling the stories of his community.. Ron Plain 18:20 280 More cancers, more respiratory problems, more cardiovascular problems, we just have more of they in quotations say it's because we drink too much smoke too much party too much. It's all lifestyle. It's our fault. They don't take into account at all the fence line around us. Stephenie Hendricks 18:42 In 2005 McGill University study revealed a decline in the rates of male births in the Sarnia area. Researchers believe that endocrine disrupting chemicals are contributing factors to these imbalances. Asthma, especially among children is prevalent there and so as cancer. Here's Ada Lockridge. Ada Lockridge 19:03 You know what it is? 90% of our deaths here are cancer of one sort or another. One kid was in grade eight and one was in grade nine that same year, they both died of leukemia or whatever for cancer. You know, well, that kid wasn't doing it. He was you know; he was in sports. He did you know everything. Stephenie Hendricks 19:24 Well, Canada has Chemical Valley, the US has Cancer Alley, which runs from Texas or the coast of Louisiana. More than 100 chemical plants were built. They're often located in historic African American or Latino communities. Bryan Parras 19:40 We have one of the largest concentrations of petrochemical facilities along the ship channel 15 to 20 miles of plant after plant after plant. Stephenie Hendricks 19:51 Bryan Parras and his father Juan Parras founded Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services to address the contamination in communities near the Houston Ship Channel. Juan Parras has been appointed to the US White House Environmental Justice Commission. Bryan Parras 20:06 If you look at the Gulf Coast, the rest of the country, you know benefits from the output. Stephenie Hendricks 20:11 Here’s Bryan Parras from a video produced by Bridge the Gulf. Bryan Parras 20:15 I would say that the Gulf Coast is a Sacrifice Zone. When it comes to energy. We've been working in organizing a fenceline community because they're right on the fence of your neighborhood or home could be a coal fired power plant, industrial plant, chemical facility, Superfund site. One of the strongest things that we've been able to do is just build networks of people working on similar issues, building a national base of people to provide support for these communities in Texas, other places in the world to make it so that companies have to prove these chemicals are safe before they're used. Whereas here, we have to prove that they've harmed us before they stop using them. And there's a paradigm shift that needs to change there. Obviously, 281 someone living in poverty does not have the funds available to do the necessary research to show that you know these exposures are causing health problems. Stephenie Hendricks 21:24 Southwest from Houston, a shrimp fisherwoman has been fighting against the petrochemical plants polluting her community of Seadrift, Texas. Diane Wilson 21:33 My name is Diane Wilson. I'm a fourth-generation fisherwoman. Stephenie Hendricks 21:40 Diane Wilson first noticed that the shrimp populations were diminishing, and the shrimp didn't look healthy. Neither did her fellow shrimp fishermen. Diane Wilson 21:49 This one particular day, I had a shrimper he had three different types of cancer. So, he had these lumps that were all over him. But he's still with shrimp and he came in and pitched a newspaper to me, local paper, front page story. And it was the first time the Toxic Release Inventory had ever been made public. Stephenie Hendricks 22:16 She heard that her county Calhoun County had the highest levels of toxic emissions in the US, Diane Wilson 22:22 Part of the community Right to Know, it was the law in Congress that said, citizens have a right to know what's going out smokestacks. What's going on in the water, what's being trucked out what is in the landfills. What's in the injection wells. Stephenie Hendricks 22:40 First, Diane tried to talk to local officials. But the petrochemical industry was too powerful of an influence for Diane to persuade the local authorities to try and stop the pollution. Diane Wilson 22:50 I was saying for most of they had to do an environmental impact study, which they are supposed to do, but people just don't do it. Stephenie Hendricks 23:00 Then she went on her first hunger strike. Diane Wilson 23:03 The hunger strike had a way of shifting stuff that they could not control. Stephenie Hendricks 23:12 Diane continued her hunger strike, while on her shrimp boat. Diane Wilson 23:15 282 I remember the upper management he was in regulatory affairs. One day, he brought down all of these engineers, and they got on the boat, and he said, just look at that stupid woman. And then he would say, Diane, you're shooting yourself in the foot. And then he would say, oh, please get off the hunger strike. Get off. You know, Stephenie Hendricks 23:37 I first met her when I was producing a live broadcast for Pacific radio when she chained herself to a petrochemical tank and Seadrift, Texas. Diane Wilson 23:49 I'd say for 25 years I have mostly one done civil disobedience. And that is where I would try to make progress. In generally it worked. I'm official woman. I know nothing about chemical plants. where I got most of my information from was the workers in the plant. Because when workers are exposed, they've had vinyl chloride or benzene or walking in EDC or any of this stuff when they get exposed. They can't go to the company because they will fire you there's no union support. So, they will get fired. You can't go to City Hall. You can't go to the mayor's you can't go to the sheriff's office. Eventually, they started coming to me. I would meet them in the middle of fields in Ally's Walmart parking lot was actually a good place to meet workers and that's where I got an enormous amount of information on What that facility was really doing, how they were doing this pollution, how they were getting rid of it. The workers that were injured, you really knew what was going on. Stephenie Hendricks 25:15 From the chemical plant workers sharing their information and her own collection of water, Diane determined that plastic powder and micro plastics were harming the ecosystem of her Bay. Diane Wilson 25:27 And it was pellets in powder. The micro plastic, this powder, it sinks to the bottom. The fish in the crabs and the little shrimp when they're first starting out, it's like that's their nursery area. They don't realize the damage that it does and that it never goes away. They have found the plastic all the way to the Arctic, all the way to the bottom of the sea. They had founded in the whole embryonic fluid of a baby. Stephenie Hendricks 26:04 Diane realized that one of the polluting corporations had also been the company at the heart of the worst industrial catastrophe in history to Bhopal, India explosion at the Union Carbide plant there. Indian news announcer Were about a Gas Tragedy mom Laurie Kendra Campo jotka got Laurie (speaking in Bhopal dialect). Diane Wilson 26:18 Bhopal, India, it's probably the world's largest environmental disaster. the unthinkable happened. News Announcer 26:32 283 1000s of choking, dying, Bhopal is overwhelmed the hospital. Diane Wilson 26:37 As many as 1000 to 10,000 people died those first two nights, and they literally suffocated. And actually, the reason why the United States has the toxic release inventory, and the Community Right to Know which started my activism is because what happened there, those people had no idea. I went to India for a people's tribunal. They were giving witness. And I remember when I was on a bus the Convention Center, one of these Indian men started running after the bus, and it was these old dusty buses in there. And all the windows are down because there's no air conditioning. And he pitched something through the window. And it was his handkerchief. And so, I opened it up. It was about 20 pictures, black and white photographs. And I think they tried to keep the people from taking pictures of the dead. But these were babies that were aborted when their mothers were attacked with all of this pesticide gas. Oh, it was terrible. Stephenie Hendricks 28:00 So, Diane went back home to Texas, and started a hunger strike in solidarity with the women in Bhopal. Diane Wilson 28:07 I did it in a truck right outside Union Carbide. Stephenie Hendricks 28:11 During the 30 days she was on the hunger strike for the women in Bhopal. She sat staring up at a big chemical tank right in front of her. Diane Wilson 28:18 I had just parked right in front of that plant. I had a lot of women come down and sit in that truck with me. Stephenie Hendricks 28:26 Then she had an idea. She would climb up on top of that tank and chained herself to it. Diane Wilson 28:31 I was thinking, I bet I can get up there. I got me a hard hat that washed up on the beat. I started walking down the road and some of the workers at Union Carbide thought I was the worker climbed a tower. Stephenie Hendricks 28:50 We did a live broadcast on Pacific Radio with Diane chained to that tower, and community radio stations all over the US heard the story of Bhopal and what Diane learned from the women there. Diane Wilson 29:01 I was really proud of that action. I really, really was very strong supporter of the people of Bhopal. And anytime they ask for anything from me, I’m always there for them. Stephenie Hendricks 29:19 284 When the BP oil spill happened, Diane mixed up a molasses concoction to look like oil and went to the US Congressional hearing. Congressional hearing audio 29:29 Ranking members both. Diane Wilson 29:33 I stood up in the middle of it and just dumped it over my head. And I remember even the guards were afraid to touch me they didn't know what was on me. I was totally covered in this molasses, and I was all over my head all over my body. Stephenie Hendricks 29:48 It took more than three decades, but Diane Wilson tried everything she could think of to hold the polluters accountable. She sued one of the chemical corporations and won a large judgment that she uses to continue to clean up her community. More and more communities are like Diane gathering their own evidence of toxic contamination. Monica Unseld 30:12 We've got Western Kentucky with hemp processing facilities, children are wearing respirators inside the house. I'm on a call with someone and she's like, oh, my daughter's home from school, she's got to put a respirator on and lay down on the couch. I'm thinking that's not, that's not okay. My name is Monica Unseld, I have a doctorate in biology, and a master's in public health. And I am the founder and executive director of Until Justice Data Partners. Stephenie Hendricks 30:39 Until Justice Data Partners is an organization based in Louisville, Kentucky, that is helping community members to understand how data is collected, how its interpreted, and how it can be used to either protect a community or to make it more difficult for environmental justice to be achieved. Monica Unseld 30:58 It's like company towns where people are afraid to speak up any job is a good job, especially in the state of Kentucky. That's where they don't have the data to back that up. Because I'm going to go in there and say like, how much is that little girl on the respirator worth, and then how much our healthcare bills and the stress on her parents and how much is taken out of the economy because their parents have to take off work to take her to the doctor. Those are data points that we need to uplift and start pushing. I've been on an EPA committee for a fence line screening methodology ad hoc committee, they tell the EPA we're handing this data over to you We swear it's true. We've been taught to just trust, because it's so shocking to hear that the United States does not test chemicals for safety before they go to the market. And then when they want to evaluate chemicals, they rely on data from the chemical industry, which science 101 I'm pretty sure I learned this before I graduated high school, if you're going to profit from it, you can't use your data because there's a huge asterisk because that's a bias that cannot be ignored. Stephenie Hendricks 32:06 Here's Dr. Mark Mitchell, again about how he sees the results of environmental justice work. 285 Mark Mitchell 32:12 I do want to say that I'm really optimistic. I think that people are realizing that these issues that we've been talking about for decades are real things that I've been working on all of my lifetime, are finally, I think getting a lot of the attention that they deserve. I'm particularly encouraged by the younger generation, they are much more open, much more able to do things, we can make it much more equitable, we can make sure that the people who are most affected benefit the most, for example, in housing, low income housing tends to be a built in floodplains, where there's a lot more flooding or near highways, they don't have to be built there. And they can be built in a way that reduces the amount of energy that they use reduces the amount of pollution indoors, we have the technology to do that. Stephenie Hendricks 33:13 Here's Vi Waghiyi from Alaska Community Action on Toxics and the Yupik people of St. Louis Island. She's speaking here with the University of California Davis Environmental Health Sciences Center. Vi Waghiyi 33:25 You heard about learning and developmental disabilities that we're seeing. This is threatening not only our population, but our culture and way of life. It's so important that we work together. I can't stress that enough, because how can how can our people continue to live a lifestyle like we have for many, many generations, I challenged myself to learn as much as I can. I don't have a degree, but I have a passion. There was a time I used to be terrified to speak in front of groups. But I challenged myself and now every opportunity to educate people at the clinic and everywhere in anywhere. Because we need to help. These multinational corporations have far reach. So, but our power is our voice. And that's why it's important that we put measures in place to protect our children's health and well-being and our future generations. Thank you. Diane Wilson 34:40 I believe everybody, everybody has something they are meant to do. And it's either on a little piece of paper, or it's some little something that they've read. And it's like what we too with that information will determine the rest of our lives. I'm a high school graduate five kids, no money, no support. And if I can do it, anybody can. Anybody can. Dr. Robert Bullard, when Robert Bullard 35:19 We talk about environmental justice, climate justice, we have to understand that those who have contributed least to the problem of environmental pollution and degradation, and this whole issue of ecological destruction, will feel the pain first, worst and longest. But I'm an optimist. I'm often this I've been working on this for many years. And I say this is a race to the finish line, and it's not a sprint is it's a marathon. And as a matter of fact, it's a race that doesn't exist. It's a marathon relay, you running 26 miles, and you pass the baton to the next generation to run the 26th. And I'm running my 26. Stephenie Hendricks 36:02 Here's Pam Miller from Alaska Community Action on toxics. Again, for me, 286 Pam Miller 36:06 it's the opportunity to work with people around the planet who are so committed, so dedicated, so passionate toward protecting this precious life that we have here. The human life, the animal life, all life on Earth. And, and you have to realize that you may be the one to change things that you have the power to create, change it and it's up to you, it's up to you to join with your friends, with your family, with people that you may not even know, to create the kind of change that you want to see in the world. It’s your responsibility. It's our responsibility. And you can do this, you can do this by organizing with people, maybe around your community, your university, the country in the world, and you can make change. Stephenie Hendricks 37:12 You've been listening to “Unintended Consequences On the Fenceline.” Kelly Hendricks is editor Kim Thomas advisor, Stephenie Hendricks, researcher, writer, producer and Narrator Special thanks to Robert Bullard. Judy DeSilva, Tom Goldtooth, Ada Lockridge, Pam Miller, Dr. Mark Mitchell, Brian Parras the late Ron Plain, Dr. Paul Saoke, Dr. Monica Unseld, Vi Waghiyi, and Diane Wilson, archival footage was used in this podcast and we'd like to thank the Grist Climate Solutions from the Frontlines of Environmental Justice video Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Tribunal, Paper Tiger Productions, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the Southern Environmental Law Center, Broken Ground podcast and the University of California Davis Environmental Health Science Center. This was funded in part by the Peter Wall Institute Catalyst Collaboration Fund and the Jonas Philanthropies Special thanks to the Green Science Policy Institute. This has been an Environmental Humanities doctoral research project for the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies program Sustainability Theme, at the Faculty of Creative and Critical studies. Dr. Greg Garrard, Principal Investigator, I'm Stephenie Hendricks, thanks for listening. What Instead? Podcast Transcript from Otter AI SUMMARY KEYWORDS companies, chemicals, shareholder, green chemistry, products, people, toxic, working, business, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, transition, planet, sustainable, Stacy, find, glyphosate, science, sustainable business, communities, SPEAKERS Paul Anastas, Jose Bravo, Andy Behar, Janine Beynus, Lauren Heine, Stephenie Hendricks, David Levine, Stacy Malkan, , Bev Thorpe. Stephenie Hendricks 00:02 We love the convenience of plastic, cars, and perfect looking fruits and vegetables grown all year round. We complain about prices going up. However, there's a much higher and profound cost we are paying for modern life. TV News Anchor 00:22 The US Environmental Protection Agency is targeting PFAs chemicals and its new proposal. 287 David Levine 00:27 What more do you need to know when you hear that the childhood cancer rates are rising? Stacy Malkan 00:33 Finding a way to make products that don't cause harm. Bev Thorpe 00:39 We just have these great tools and data systems. David Levine 00:42 The solutions are there. Stephenie Hendricks 00:44 And how can we play a key role in making these changes? This is “Unintended Consequences, What Instead?” a brief look at how scientists, chemical engineers, businesspeople, shareholder, labor, and consumer advocates are all evolving away from the production of toxic chemicals and working towards solutions for a healthier future. In this podcast we’ll discuss innovations. There are so many ways people are working on this. There's Green Chemistry, how to make new chemicals without hazards or with less hazards. There's identifying hazards of existing chemicals. We'll also look at what Just Transitions for workers and communities look like as we veer away from the fossil fuels that make toxic chemicals. Dame Polly Courtice 01:38 Working towards sustainability is an extraordinary opportunity. Stephenie Hendricks 01:42 We'll meet sustainable businesspeople trying to make a healthier planet. Andy Behar 01:47 If you're investing in a company that's poisoning its customers. You probably want to know that because they're going to get sued and you're going to have risk. Stephenie Hendricks 01:54 and also hear about shareholder activism that pressures polluters to clean up their acts. Andy Behar 01:59 They're frightened by information they don't want information to get out. Stephenie Hendricks 02:03 But learn how consumer advocacy can cause companies to change their ways. Stacy Malkan 02:07 . Men, if they got a phone call from an LA Times reporter, they were changing their product. And 288 Stephenie Hendricks 02:13 Finally, we'll learn how scientists are looking to nature for ways to make less toxic products. And that's called biomimicry. A foundational approach to weaning us off toxic chemical exposures is through green chemistry, or the process of making safer chemicals to begin with, Paul Anastas 02:34 The future … I genuinely believe is going to look largely what we design it to look like. Stephenie Hendricks 02:39 Here is a man who many consider the “Father” of Green Chemistry, Paul Anastas, from a lecture to Purdue University engineering students about the future. Paul Anastas 02:50 The influence that we have over society, civilization is going to be affected by design, the 21 more definition of green chemistry, the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. The most important word in that definition is the word design. Stephenie Hendricks 03:13 Dr. Anastas, just referred to a definition of green chemistry that he and collaborator John Warner came up with, read more about these definitions in the companion essay for this module. In a nutshell, green chemistry means reducing hazards from chemicals to human health and the environment as you are designing the chemicals. Paul Anastas 03:33 Design is going to be the single most important motivator factor framework that we're going to have if we're going to get off the unsustainable trajectory that we're on. This is not about doing things less bad. It's about how do you invent things that haven't existed before with performance and function that we haven't thought about in the way that we've thought it before. Stephenie Hendricks 03:58 So green chemistry means not replacing a hazardous chemical with another hazardous chemical. When that happens, that's called a regrettable substitution. Well, more and more chemists and chemical engineers are designing new molecules that are less toxic to human health in the environment. It's also important to understand what we're already using, so we can know how to use them more safely, and even find safer alternatives, a process referred to as alternatives assessment. Lauren Heine 04:30 Do we do risk assessment? Do we do alternatives assessment? How does this all work? Stephenie Hendricks 04:36 Here's environmental engineer Lauren Heine. Lauren Heine 04:39 I am a co-founder and strategic advisor to ChemForward. I've spent most of my career working on tools to help people compare chemicals for their inherent hazard. 289 Stephenie Hendricks 04:54 Dr. Hein has been at the forefront of this very important process of alternatives assessment. Lauren Heine 05:00 In the early days, there was something called a lethal dose 50, which was an animal, usually wrapped in just this chemical at what concentration will 50% of them die. And that was used as an indicator of toxicity is pretty gruesome. It's emphasized less than less going forward. Now, toxicology is moving toward predictive tools and models. But really to say something is not toxic or not hazardous. You have to know does it cause cancer? Is it genotoxic? Does it interfere with reproduction or development? Is it an endocrine disruptor? Does it irritate your skin or eyes? Does it sensitize your skin? Or lungs? Is it toxic to fish? Does it persist? Does it bio accumulate? Is it flammable? Does it explode? All of those things are hazards. Green Chemistry is about designing safer molecules and alternatives assessment. It's intended to help people move away from the proverbial frying pan to the fire or the fire to the frying pan and avoid regrettable substitution. Stephenie Hendricks 06:13 Dr. Hein used to work with a group called Clean Production Action or CPA. While there she co-authored and led the development of what CPA calls the Green Screen. Bev Thorpe 06:23 Green Screen has been very, very, very important. major corporations like Apple have been using it for years, HP Hewlett Packard was one of the first users. Stephenie Hendricks 06:33 Here's Beverly Thorpe. She's retired now, but she was a co-founder of Clean Production Action. She still consults but when she was there, she was Bev Thorpe 06:43 Program Manager for networks and advocacy at Clean Production Action. When you say the word chemicals, you can see people's eyes kind of glaze over. I'm often asked, “Are you were you trained as a chemist?” And I always say no, I was trained as an environmental biologist, which is why I find chemicals so fascinating. Because it's the impact that synthetic chemicals are having on our living system and on our health. And that's why I stick with this whole world of chemicals. Chemistry is fascinating. Green Chemistry is brilliant. One of the strongest tools is the Green Screen. It simplifies the complexity of chemical hazards into four benchmarks, benchmark one, avoid chemical of high concern, you want to get out of that chemical. And you want to replace it with a chemical that is at least in benchmarks two, three or four benchmark to we're happy with it shows you I'm just telling the progress to keep moving to inherently safer chemicals. Another interesting tool called chemical footprinting, the chemical footprint project gives companies a survey or management structure. And then it also gives them a metric to actually begin to measure chemical footprint of a product with the chemical footprint of a manufacturing plant. This is what gives me encouragement now is that we just have these great tools and data systems. 290 Stephenie Hendricks 08:11 Okay, so there are innovative ways that chemicals are being designed to be safer via green chemistry. And then there are modern tools to evaluate existing chemicals to understand how to use them more safely, and not use regrettable substitutions. As we transition away from hazardous chemical production. What about the workers? Currently workers suffer from health impacts with hazardous substance production. How can we change how we deal with toxic chemicals and also protect workers? How can we have a just transition? Jose Bravo 08:51 My name is Jose Bravo. I'm the Executive Director of the Just Transition Alliance. We were asked to the table by what was then the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union and they discuss what their just transition was. They say look, you know our union makes everything from a beebee to a nuclear weapon. There are things that our rank and file produced that at some point, we need to come to terms that they don't belong on the face of the planet. Let's talk about just transitioning workers out of this process. Challenges, there have been several. One is that not all workers believe that their jobs are poisonous. Not all workers believe that their jobs are impacting their health. We believe that we need to leave fossil fuels or fossil minerals in the ground. Stephenie Hendricks 09:45 As we move away from a fossil fuel economy, we have to think about the consequences of the technologies that we consider instead. Some people working on the issue believe that some of the technology are what advocates call false solutions.. Jose Bravo 10:01 Those things literally just our life extension to fossil fuels. It really puts the pressure back on communities of color and low-income communities in the United States to then, you know, be in that same situation around carbon into the atmosphere. Stephenie Hendricks 10:18 Other people are focusing on the economic systems that perpetuate these threats to our health. Increasingly, businesspeople are realizing that they can make money and be profitable by making safer products currently growing by 10s of billions of dollars a year, Fortune magazine estimated that the sustainable business markets are expected to grow to up to $61.92 billion a year by 2030, sustainable. Dame Polly Courtice 10:48 Agriculture, sustainable fish sustainable business sustainable fashion. So, what does it actually mean? Stephenie Hendricks 10:53 Here's Dame Polly Courtice, senior Ambassador Cambridge Institute of Sustainable Leadership. Dame Polly Courtice 11:00 The simple definition of sustainable is a resource or an activity that is able to be maintained at a certain rate or level. In business, it has long been used in a financial sense to indicate that the 291 company continues to make money. But it is also used to mean maintaining the Earth's natural balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources and disrupting environmental systems such as the Earth's climate. Another way of looking at sustainability is to see it as an approach to decision making, which balances the needs of the current generations with the needs of future generations and the health of the natural environment. If you David Levine 11:34 We took people interested in green transportation and sustainable, renewable energy, healthy food systems, and you put that all together, what would that look like? Well, it looked like a new economy. Stephenie Hendricks 11:47 The American Sustainable Business Council, and its organizational members collectively represent over 200,000 businesses. Here is David Levine 11:56 David Levine. And I am the co-founder and president of the American Sustainable Business Network. Stephenie Hendricks 12:03 David looked around and asked the question about why we were not making more progress towards a just and sustainable economy, David Levine 12:11 Looking at all these other businesses operating with a different set of values, something that often included profits, or creating economic well-being for their enterprise, but included care for their employees care for their community care for the planet? And the like? What if we brought them all together, that led to the formation of the American Sustainable Business Network? It was bad for business and the planet and the communities and the workers, and the like, is the toxic chemicals. What more do you need to know when you hear that the childhood cancer rates are rising? This is not about a utopian vision; the solutions are there. Look at all these companies that are growing, making lots of money paying their employees, well, you know, and also creating healthier conditions, everyone from the workers to their families, to the communities in which they're embedded in the like, if we understand that if the science is it, oh, well, now science is actually woke. Right? You know, science is not, you know, to be believed. Why? Because we're told – Gee, who’s telling us ? - which is why the voices of reason, the voices of responsibility, the voices of solutions need to be strong and need to be working together with each other to drive this change. Stephenie Hendricks 13:42 But what about companies that continue to pollute, even when they know it's harming people in the environment? One strategy is shareholder activism. Many years ago, I worked to convince an Associated Press reporter to read a story about nuns. They were shareholders in a company that made Bisphenol A or BPA, that's a synthetic sex hormone. And that's linked to all sorts of health impacts, particularly for babies and children. The shareholder nuns and the Associated Press 292 story were able to convince the company that made the BPA to stop selling it to other companies that were making products for infants and children. Another group I worked with is As you Sow. Andy Behar 14:30 My name is Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, we engage literally hundreds of companies every year on issues like climate change, environmental health, as shareholders. We use our legal rights as shareholders to ask companies to shift their policies and practices to optimize their businesses and to reduce material risk for all stakeholders. We engage the company we sit down with them and we say look, we did all this research you And I'd say that half the time the company says, well, thank you for the research, let's go get it done. The other half, they're less than they're moving so fast. And so, we escalate by filing what's called a shareholder resolution, which means every shareholder gets to vote on it at the annual meeting. So, at that point, then we organize all the shareholders of the company. So, it'll be good for the employees, it'll be good for the customers, the communities where they operate the supply chain, and the shareholders. And once you get all of those groups in agreement, then you go to this vote. Once we find the resolution, about half of the time that companies agreed to our terms, and we withdraw, only about 20 to 25%, ever go to an actual vote. And when we do, well, we need to get 2030 50% of your shareholders saying this is important, then the company needs to act. And if they don't, that shows that the board is not doing proper oversight, in which case, then you can move to replace the board. And then if they don't do anything beyond that, you can actually escalate into a litigation stance. And we, right now we're involved with gets five litigations where it's escalated into that level. We'd like 100% of the companies, when we first visit with them to say, what a great idea, let's go do it. But it it's kind of a funnel that you keep getting down to the most resistant companies. But eventually, they all come to realize it's going to be good for them. And so, they agree. So, we come up with a rating system, we develop key performance indicators rate the companies, then we can see who's a leader and who was a laggard. And then we go talk to the laggards and say, hey, your direct competitors doing this. That's why they're outperforming. And so, this is how you could become competitive. For instance, we got General Mills to agree to regenerative agriculture in 2019, they started to attract a great deal more investment, their customers increased their loyalty. We got Kellogg to stop using, for instance, this chemical called glyphosate, on their wheat, oats, and beans. And that led other companies to start to do the same thing because the customers started realizing, oh, Kellogg, food is safer to eat. Once they start to move, it really becomes a wave. Stephenie Hendricks 17:24 Using energy, social, and governance related criteria as a way to decide how to make investments is called ESG. There's been a backlash among people involved in the financial interests of the oil and gas industry against ESG. News clip 17:41 Environmental, Social and Governance, investing has become a cancer and a fraud. Within our capital markets, Stephenie Hendricks 17:47 Conservative legislators in the United States are even attempting to make ESG investing illegal. Here's Andy Behar, again with more. 293 Andy Behar 17:56 So ESG is a framework for assessing risk. It's just short for assessing environmental risks, like climate change, or like toxins in the food system. You know, if you, if you're investing in a company that's poisoning its customers, you probably want to know that the people who are so frightened by this are the people who are frightened by the truth. They're frightened by information. They don't want information to get out. There, this minority of people that are trying to remain in power desperately. And the desperation is showing. That's the sad part. They're passing laws in, in Republican states. So, Texas, they banned the state from doing business with any company that believes climate change is real. These are elected officials who are harming their own constituents for their own ego and their own. I don't know exactly what and look at the words they use that were against people being awake. They like literally they say that is like stay asleep. We are against waking up. There is a mass movement that is happening. This is what people are starting to say is I want little planet I deserve a livable planet. It's my it's my right. Stephenie Hendricks 19:12 Here's American Sustainable Business Network’s David Levine again. David Levine 19:16 Investors are moving their money into all these companies. Now we have an anti ESG movement, call it woke call it lots of other things. Let's not be mistaken, where that language is coming from where these campaigns are coming from, where the money is coming to mount these campaigns and states across the country. Hey, aren't you the same guys who want a free market? Well, if people want to choose that that's where they want to invest their money and those values actually matter. Stephenie Hendricks 19:52 What happens when the public is harmed by a polluting company and the regulatory policy and shareholder protections just aren't there? Environmental health advocates help the media produce news stories on toxics and products, for example, that create market shifts when people decide not to buy the products known to have toxics in them. One advocate who's created some very powerful market shifts is Stacy Malkin. Stacy Malkan 20:18 I'm the co-founder and managing director of U.S. Right to Know. And we're a small non-profit that works on investigating and reporting on public health issues. It's been a lot of fun actually working in this field. My favorite part was taking on companies that we knew were using toxic chemicals and didn't want to admit it, and finally getting them to change their ways. The first thing was getting Johnson and Johnson to take carcinogens out of its baby shampoo. That was way harder than it should have been. It took us years. And we first started by testing their products. And identifying that the iconic Johnson's Baby Shampoo had two chemicals linked to cancer. They knew it was in there. So, we publicize this, they argued with us, it's fine, it's safe, we're not going to change our product. They launched a more expensive natural version of Johnson's shampoo for people who didn't want to put carcinogens on their baby sets. I mean, it was outrageous. Doctors had been complaining to J & J, they just wouldn't budge on that 294 product. Until finally we decided we were going to buy Johnson's baby shampoo in 13 different countries, and we were able to show that they were not using formaldehyde in a lot of those countries. And a lot of them, they were so why the double standard. Within an hour of hearing from an Associated Press reporter they were making an announcement that they were going to be reformulating their products. He had a similar experience with the biggest nail polish company OPI using a toxic trio of chemicals. And again, they wouldn’t change but the minute they got a phone call from an LA Times reporter, they were changing their product. And of course, both companies got great press for being on the cutting edge of safer products and changing their products. Stephenie Hendricks 22:13 These days, Stacy works with an NGO she co-founded called U.S. Right to Know. Stacy Malkan 22:19 We have a right to know what's in the food we eat and buy a right to know what's in the products we put on our bodies a right to know what companies are doing behind the scenes to manipulate science manipulate government manipulate the media, there is an entire side industry devoted to propaganda and disinformation to manipulating science and using even professors at universities to do their public relations work and product defense funding front groups to be out there saying chemicals are safe, safe, safe. Pesticides are fine, ultra-processed foods are fine, you don't need to worry. But the course the science is catching up with them and there's so much science showing health impacts from these products. So, fight and try to cover it up. Part of the learning process is learning how to find sources of information that we trust and have our own radars and find communities of people that you trust. Stephenie Hendricks 23:17 Stacy and her team researched a company that was making an herbicide glyphosate that was put into consumer products. The trouble was some of the people using it came down with cancer. Stacy Malkan 23:30 After the World Health Organization said that glyphosate based on the cancer links, specifically Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, many people began to sue Monsanto now over 100,000 people. And we reported closely on the trials for years just clear evidence of how Monsanto manipulated the science for decades. It's the chemical industry playbook. Cover up health concerns. Ghost writes studies, find friendly scientists to write studies, shoddy science, awful scientists, not reputable science. Stephenie Hendricks 24:05 I asked Stacy about the lawsuits that people are winning, Stacy Malkan 24:08 Dwayne Johnson, who was a groundskeeper spraying glyphosate all over the place and had a couple of accidents where he was soaked with glyphosate and then developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. And he was granted a huge jury trial award, husband in life using glyphosate in their home garden for 30 years, wearing flip flops and shorts because there's no warning on the product. Both of them got non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, like the chances of that are so 295 infinitesimal, and they won like a $2 billion lawsuit. And we've always said we shouldn't be litigating these issues in the courtroom. They really need to be figured out in the lab before products are even made. Finding a way to make products that don't cause harm. And that's just not been a value in the economy. Every two years electronics were getting smaller and faster and more efficient. But they weren't getting less toxic until the European Union came along and said, you’ve got to take the known, very harmful, toxic heavy metals out of electronic equipment in the US were like, we don't have to do that. Do we? Consultants said, well, you do if you want to sell to, you know, the 450 million people in the EU. So, the electronics companies quickly figured out how to make their hardware without those toxic heavy metals when they had to, but they were not going to unless the government made them, and so government is really important element of holding companies accountable. Stephenie Hendricks 25:45 So, we've heard from chemical engineers, workers’ rights advocates, sustainable businesspeople, shareholder and consumer advocates, everyone agrees it's time to start looking at how we make things in a new way. One scientist looks to nature for solutions. Janine Beynus 26:05 We're looking through our biological elders for advice.. Stephenie Hendricks 26:12 Biologist Janine Benyus studies biomimicry, or how a function is achieved in nature. For instance, Janine Beynus 26:21 A company might want to know how to create a kind of paint without toxins. But then they'll learn that the most brilliant organisms in the natural world don't use paint. They don't use pigment, even, you know, things like peacocks, morpho butterflies, they use structure, structural color, they use transparent layering and light comes through and creates the color to your eye. That's a breakthrough. If instead of painting we were to put down transparent films and allow light to create the color to our eyes, we get away from this idea of toxic dyes. We came up with a list of life's principles that as far as we can tell a scientist and applies to all life forms on the planet that is as close to an operating manual for how to be an earthling as you can get to also realize that you're looking at a code guaranteed in a sense to allow us to fit in here on this planet. This code these life's principles, we ignore them at our peril. embracing them, brings us out of risk and guesswork. With their help, we can leapfrog to be a welcome species on the planet. Most long surviving, mature ecosystems run on cooperation. Competition is short, and brutish, and to energy intensive. Cooperation is the most natural thing in the world. Stephenie Hendricks 27:56 Dr. Benyus’s point about cooperation being far more effective in nature than competition - that's an interesting one to ponder. How might this apply to the polluters of today? In any case, the growing number of people working on these wicked problems is exciting. Andy Behar 28:17 We're in this incredible moment, it feels chaotic. But actually, what it is, is a transition the scale of the industrial revolution, we are changing from an extractive economy to a regenerative 296 economy. And the companies who adopt this, the boards of directors who go you know, we want to be part of that. They're the ones who are thriving, they're the ones who are going to thrive into the next 10 2050 years, the other ones are going to be winding down, you're going to see a lot of companies winding down. And that's because they're not taking this moment right now to say, okay, let's transition. How do we pivot? I mean, Kodak invented the digital camera, and then they just kept making film until they went out of business. You know, Blockbuster saw Netflix, and they just kept renting VHS tapes until they went out of business, as an investor, move your money out of those and move them into something that's going to have a future. Stephenie Hendricks 29:11 Everyone I interviewed for this project said that the opportunities for new careers and this these changes are robustly growing. Here's Andy Behar again. Andy Behar 29:20 If you know anything about ESG, or environmental, social and governance risk assessment, you are so sought after in the job market. There's like 5000 job openings. This is a booming, booming time and communications. There's just all these stories need to be told that we're still telling these old paradigm stories. Stephenie Hendricks 29:42 David Levine agrees with Andy's outlook, that this is a great time to be looking into careers with sustainable businesses. David Levine 29:48 The opportunity to innovate, to be creative, to hold your values. I can't think of a better reason to wake up every morning than to have that understanding that you're making a difference. Stephenie Hendricks Here's Beverly Thorpe. Bev Thorpe 30:03 I'm really looking forward to seeing the climate movement and the chemical toxics movement coalesce like this, I can't wait to see how we strengthen this movement to a cleaner, renewable economy. Stacy Malkan 30:19 I really think environmental health and justices can be part of any career, whether it's in a non-profit, or the government or a company, or your family, a leader in your community, the schools as a parent, I mean, just educating people to see the bigger picture to understand that we need to take it upon ourselves to find the information for what's healthy and sustainable for our families. And for our lives. I really do think a big part of it. And that's why it gets so excited about communications is just helping people to see the big picture, helping them to learn how to find the facts, to see what's true, to be able to figure it out for themselves, and then figure out how you can share those truths. It is really actually fun to go after the bad guys and to win and to get huge companies making big changes is really gratifying. And it comes down to us taking the power for ourselves, rather than trusting or believing that somebody else is going to fix it for us. 297 This is why I get so excited when I see someone say I changed what I study, or I decided to start a company or change the way I think. Because that's just the beginning of a long, exciting road to really living your fullest life and helping other people to find their way. Stephenie Hendricks 31:40 And we'll leave you with Paul Anastas. Remember, he's considered the “Father” of Green Chemistry. Paul Anastas 31:46 What's more important, perhaps, is to look 50 or 100 years into the future and start saying, all right, what are they going to look back on us and correctly judge us on our absurdities? I do say that today is somewhere between an absurdity and an obscenity. When we talk about the status of the world, the inequity, the situation we are with running an experiment on the only planet that we're ever going to get. Stephenie Hendricks 32:20 This has been “Unintended Consequences, What Instead?” Kelly Hendricks is the editor and director, Kim Thomas is the advisor, Stephenie Hendricks, researcher, writer, producer, co-director and Narrator Special thanks to Dr. Paula Anastas, Andy Behar, Jose Bravo, Dr. Lauren Heine. Dr. David Levine, Stacy Malkan, and Beverly Thorpe. Archival footage was used in this podcast, and we'd like to thank the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, Plus TV Africa, The X foundation, and Town Meeting TV. This was funded in part by the Peter Wall Institute Catalyst Collaboration Fund and the Jonas Philanthropies Special thanks to the Green Science Policy Institute. This has been a doctoral research project for the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies program at the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, Sustainability Theme. Dr. Greg Gerhard is Principal Investigator. I'm Stephenie Hendricks project lead. Thanks for listening. 298 Appendix D Module Specific Podcast Credits A Brief and Recent History of Environmental Health Podcast Credits Kelly Hendricks, editor Kim Thomas, advisor Stephenie Hendricks, producer, writer, host Special Thanks To: Arlene Blum Lois Gibbs Carol Kwiatowski Pete Myers Archival footage was used in this podcast, and we’d like to thank: The CBS Network The Eleventh Hour The Endocrine Disruption Exchange The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency The Goldman Fund Bill Moyers Reports The Purpose Prize The Retro Report from the New York Times The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Funded in part by the Peter Wall Institute Catalyst Collaboration Fund and Jonas Philanthropies. Special thanks to the Green Science Policy Institute. 299 “Unintended Consequences” is a doctoral research project for the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies Program, Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, Sustainability Theme. Dr. Greg Garrard, Principal Investigator. Stephenie Hendricks, Project Lead. Contact: Unintendedtoxicthreats@gmail.com. Drs., Nurses, and Health Researchers Working on Protecting Our Environmental Health Credits Kelly Hendricks, editor Kim Thomas, advisor Stephenie Hendricks, producer, writer, host Special Thanks to Dr. Robert Bullard Dr. David Carpenter Dr. Phil Landrigan Dr. Mark Mitchell Dr. Joel Moskowitz Participants in Hurricane Katrina Tribunal Raluca Radu Dr. Paul Saoke Barbara Sattler Dr. Tracey Woodruff Archival footage was used in this podcast, and we’d like to thank: Christensen Global Team with The Sun Valley Institute PublicResource.org University of California Davis U.S. Centers for Disease Control 300 The Southern Environmental Law Center “Broken Ground” podcast. Funded in part by: The Peter Wall Institute Catalyst Collaboration Fund and Jonas Philanthropies. Special thanks to Green Science Policy Institute. This has been a doctoral research project for the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, Interdisciplinary Studies Program, the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, Sustainability Theme. Dr. Greg Garrard, principal investigator. On the Fenceline Credits Kelly Hendricks, editor Kim Thomas, advisor Stephenie Hendricks, producer, writer, host Special Thanks to: Dr. Robert Bullard Judy Da Silva Tom Goldtooth Hilton Kelley Ada Lockridge Pam Miller Dr. Mark Mitchell Bryan Parras The late Ron Plain Dr. Paul Saoke Monica Unseld Vi Waghiyi 301 Diane Wilson Archival footage was used in this podcast, and we’d like to thank: “Broken Ground” podcast from the Southern Environmental Law Center Grist Climate Solutions from the Front Lines of Environmental Justice The Goldman Fund Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Tribunal Paper Tiger Productions The Public Service Alliance of Canada The Southern Environmental Law Center “Broken Ground” Podcast The University of California Davis Environmental Health Science Center WFSB Funded in part by the Peter Wall Institute Catalyst Collaboration Fund and Jonas Philanthropies This has been an environmental humanities doctoral research project for the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, Interdisciplinary Studies Program, Sustainability Them, at the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, Dr. Greg Garrard, Principal Investigator. Stephenie Hendricks, Project Lead. What Instead? Podcast Credits Kelly Hendricks, editor Kim Thomas, advisor Stephenie Hendricks, producer, writer, host Special Thanks To: Dr. Paul Anastas Andy Behar Jose Bravo Lauren Heine 302 David Levine Stacy Malkan Beverly Thorpe Archival footage was used in this podcast, and we’d like to thank: Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership Plus TV Africa Purdue Engineering Town Meeting TV Funded in part by the Peter Wall Institute Catalyst Collaboration Fund and Jonas Philanthropies Special Thanks to Green Science Policy Institute "Unintended Consequences" is a doctoral research project for the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies Sustainability theme, Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies. Dr. Greg Garrard, Principal Investigator. Stephenie Hendricks, Project Lead.
Thesis/Dissertation
eng
Interdisciplinary Studies
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Graduate
Garrard, Greg
Unintended consequences : an open educational resource about environmental health and environmental justice
Text