Where growing up depends on the wind; on building lives near freeways
by Casey Fischl The American Lung Association’s State of the Air 2017 Report identified Los Angeles as the number one polluted city by ozone and number four by particulate pollution. Low-income, communities of color in Los Angeles suffer from disproportionate exposure to this health degrading pollution. A key example of Read more…
drinking, still I thirst: the impact of bottled water
by Casey Fischl Bottled water consumption has steadily increased over the last few decades, reaching an all-time high in 2017 with 13.7 billion gallons of bottled water purchased in the United States. The consumption of bottled water has surpassed all other products in the beverage industry, including soda and beer. Read more…
An unHappy Meal: how government spending forced reliance on fast food
by Olivia Olson Despite being one of the richest, most resource-dense, and innovative countries on the globe, the United States “remains the most obese country in the world.” Given that obesity is an epidemic that disproportionately affects those of lower socioeconomic status, public opinion often characterizes it as a byproduct of Read more…
5 Things to Know About Water On #WorldWaterDay
by Patricia Quintero Estades It’s World Water Day so it seems only fitting we take some time to think about water and how it affects everything and everyone. In previous water posts I’ve stressed the importance of prioritizing water in policy when talking about the Flint water crisis, and about sustainable Read more…
Learning about sustainable water management: The case of Los Angeles
by Patricia Quintero Estades Oh it is magical! In the Disney movie Enchanted, a twist on the traditional fairy tale, Giselle is pushed out of her fairy-tale world into modern-day New York City where a divorce attorney Robert and his daughter take her in. After spending a night in their NYC Read more…
Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist
Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist imagines what it means to be empathetic within the institutional violence of our system and the violence humans can commit against each other. Listen to our discussion about power and the necessity of protest within our democratic structure, and how protests should, and can, peacefully engage to solve the world’s “wicked problems.”
On Flint, water, and environmental justice
by Patricia Quintero Estades If you’re like me, you don’t worry about how you’ll get your next glass of water to drink or your next shower. In most developed nations, clean and safe water is something we often take for granted. When we think of conserving water we most often worry Read more…
The Flint Lead Poisoning Disaster: Why We Must Invest in Healthy Homes
by Raphael Bostic About 150 years ago, people figured out that lead pipes could kill them. In 1861, fifty prisoners in King County Jail in Brooklyn started vomiting uncontrollably, until a doctor realized that the water supply was contaminated with lead. Seven years later, a New York City woman named Elizabeth Read more…