Popaganda Episode: Environmental Justice

Your ability to drink clean water, breathe unpolluted air, and eat healthy food shouldn't depend on your income or your skin color. But as stories from Flint and elsewhere prove, all too often race and class play a role in access to environmental quality. We talk about the meaning of “environmental justice” and hear from three activists who have worked to make the world a better, greener place. This episode features interviews with a co-founder of indigenous rights movement Idle No More, African American farmers in Wisconsin, and the late Nobel Prize winner Wangari Matthai. 

FULL SHOW: 

THE ACTIVISM OF IDLE NO MORE: 

ON BEING BLACK AND GREEN: 

INTERVIEW WITH WANGARI MAATHAI: 

SPONSOR: 

This episode of Popaganda is sponsored by She's Beautiful When She's Angry. The first documentary about the women’s liberation movement, She's Beautiful When She's Angry is a  critically-acclaimed film now available to own. Featuring the women who made change happen - then and continue to bang the drum of equality today. Look for it on DVD, iTunes, Amazon Video and wherever you watch movies.

CREDITS: 

• Big thanks to Grist for letting us feature the audio of their video explaining the term environmental justice. Watch the video—which includes awesome animations—right here. 

• Two of the stories on this episode come from our friends at Making Contact. Check out the full interview with Idle No More co-founder Sylvia McAdam and the original story on being “Black and green.” 

• The 2009 interview with Wangari Maathai was produced for Sea Change radio. Listen to the full interview here. 

• The photos featured on the Soundcloud segments are Creative Commons images taken by James Mitchell, The Indignants, The Time Line, and Julie Falk. 

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Our show will be transcribed by Cheryl Green of StoryMinders. We're proud to make Popaganda accessible to people who are Deaf or hard of hearing.