Join Great Lakes Now for a PBS Virtual Town Hall featuring American Experience's Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal, which tells the dramatic and inspiring story of ordinary women who fought against overwhelming odds for the health and safety of their families. In the late 1970s, residents of Love Canal in Niagara Falls, NY, discovered that their homes, schools, and playgrounds were built on top of a former chemical waste dump. Housewives activated to create a grassroots movement that galvanized the landmark Superfund Bill.
This town hall will feature video clips from the film, a conversation with American Experience Executive Producer Cameo George, a live panel discussion about the lasting impacts of the Love Canal environmental disaster. We'll also take a look at the Superfund cleanup program, and discuss how other environmental disasters in the Great Lakes shaped the creation of additional policies related to cleanup and remediation efforts in the region and beyond.
Featured guests include:
--Kim Diana Connolly, Professor and Vice Dean for Innovation, Interdisciplinarity and Community Impact at University of Buffalo School of Law
--Mike Basile, Public Affairs Officer, US EPA Region 2
--Theresa Landrum, Resident of Southwest Detroit 48217, Michigan's most polluted zip code
--Mike Shriberg, Professor of Practice & Engagement and Director of Engagement at the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR) and Michigan Sea Grant (MISG). Mike is part of the University of Michigan's School for Environment and Sustainability
--Dr. Ijeoma Nnodim Opara, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit. She is a physician and advocate for health equity.
This event is made possible through a climate programming collaboration between PBS and Detroit Public Television.
*Banner image of children demonstrating for evacuation from the Love Canal neighborhood of Niagara Falls is courtesy of Mickey H. Osterreicher. *
Add new comment