Fighting to Win

Listen to Charles Utley's inspiring experiences and insights related to Environmental Justice! Utley grew up in Hyde Park, Georgia, a predominantly Black community. Many people worked at Southern Wood Piedmont Co., a company that used creosote and dumped their chemical debris into a stream that bordered Hyde Park. Residents of Hyde Park [are] continually being exposed to contamination; many did not receive enough reimbursement funds to relocate and are still living in the community. Charles Utley is a big proponent of the Polluters Pay Tax. This tax will create an avenue for those harmed by corporate pollution to seek retribution for their suffering. Listen now for more info!!

Jose Franco Garcia has over 15 years of experience with community organizing in the San Diego area. He currently focuses on environmental justice issues and working to ensure that his community is safe & healthy. After graduating from the University of California at San Diego with a B.A. in Political Science, he spent four years as the Community Building director at the Coalition of Neighborhood Councils in San Diego. In 2010, he began work with the Environmental Health Coalition (EHC), where he now serves as organizing director. Listen to CHEJ's organizing director Gustavo Andrade interview Jose and share personal stories and insights behind what it is like to lead an environmental organization.

Georgette Gomez is a queer, Latina woman rooted in her San Diego community where she grew up with two immigrant parents. She received her degree in Environmental and Natural Resource Geography, and has acquired over 13 years of experience as an environmental organizer at the Environmental Health Coalition. At EHC, she spearheaded a new community plan for Barrio Logan and worked on other important environmental justice campaigns. Georgette left her position as Associate Director for Policy at EHC in 2016 because she was elected as a city council representative. During her time in office, Georgette continued to fight for environmental justice, alongside other issues of equality such as immigrants rights, affordable housing, and universal health care.

Tune into today's episode to learn valuable lessons in leadership and organizing from formidable activist Olinka Green! To learn more, visit http://chej.org/livingroomleadership/.

Tune into today's episode for a conversation with Gillian Graber, the cofounder and president of Protect PT, a community organization working for security, safety, and quality of life for people in Penn Township. Today, Protect PT's most recent focus is a fight against a local Injection Well that is threatening the safety of drinking water in the area. To learn more about Graber's journey, visit http://chej.org/livingroomleadership/.

Tune into today's episode for a conversation with Lee Ann Smith, an elementary school librarian turned environmental activist from Asheville, North Carolina! She began fighting against environmental injustice when her son Gabe was diagnosed with rare thyroid cancer at the age of 11. In addition to her son, many community members were getting sick as a result of a toxic waste site that was emitting Trichloroethylene (TCE). Lee Ann Smith looked in the mirror and decided she was the one who needed to take action. Gabe, now a healthy adult living in Iceland, joins his mom on this podcast as they recount their experiences related to fighting to clean up this Superfund site. To learn more about Smith's journey, visit http://chej.org/livingroomleadership/.

Tune into today's episode for a conversation with Darryl Malek-Wiley, an environmental activist with over 30 years of experience! He has been fighting alongside the primarily African-American, low income communities affected by “Cancer Alley” for clean water, air, and land, and to prevent more industrial plants from being built. To learn more, visit http://chej.org/livingroomleadership/.

Tune into today's episode for a conversation with Melissa Mays, Water You Fighting For activist, nicknamed “Champion of the Underdog”, to learn more about her fight against the Flint water crisis. Although Mays has had to deal with the trauma from the consequences of speaking up, it does not stop her, because she believes that this is what she is meant to do. To learn more about Mays' journey, visit http://chej.org/livingroomleadership/

On April 6, 1981, 501(c)(3) paperwork was filed marking the beginning of the Center for Health, Environment & Justice (CHEJ). Lois Gibbs, Founder of CHEJ, celebrates 40 years of founding the organization, and remembers the role everyone played in making it the organization it is today. Tune into today's episode for a conversation with Gibbs about her victory in Love Canal, as well as her contributions to the Superfund bill. To learn more, visit chej.org/livingroomleadership/.

Tune into today's episode for a conversation with Andrea Amico, the Co-founder of Testing for Pease in NH. Amico became an activist after reading about high level of PFAS contamination in a well which supplied drinking water to the Pease International Tradeport, and her family were among those who drank the contaminated water every day. To learn more, visit http://chej.org/livingroomleadership/.

Penny Newman, Founder of Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ) held victory after fighting against the Stringfellow Acid Pits in the 1980s. Tune into today's episode for a conversation with Newman about her journey as an activist and her fights against toxic pollution. Newman's transformation from a shy young woman to a leader that has spoken to hundreds of thousands of people was all as a result of her and her family suffering from the harm of a toxic site. To learn more, visit chej.org/livingroomleadership/.

Tune into today's episode for a conversation with Phyllis Glazer about the sufferings of her community, and her tactic of using the press to drive the facility out of business. Phyllis Glazer is an activist featured in People Magazine, the Houston Chronicle, CNN/Time News Magazine's Earth Day 2000 Special, NBC Dateline, and more. She was the founder of Mothers Organized to Stop Environmental Sins (MOSES), and has been fighting against toxic pollution since the 1990s. To learn more, visit chej.org/livingroomleadership/.

Tune into today's episode to learn about how Nina Morgan and GASP go above and beyond to help those in Birmingham during the pandemic. Morgan is a Climate and Environmental Justice Organizer with GASP, and have recently held victory in reaching a settlement agreement to end ABC's Coke pollution. Interested in learning more? Visit chej.org/livingroomleadership/.

Tune into today's episode to with Charlie Powell of People Against Neighborhood Industrial Contamination (PANIC) in Birmingham, AL to learn about his fight to get his community relocated from toxic facilities and his experience as a former steel mill worker! To learn more, visit http://chej.org/livingroomleadership/

Tune into today's episode for a chat with Pam Kingfisher, an organizer who led the fight in shutting down 23% of the world's uranium supply and fighting off unwanted poultry CAFO in her community. Interested in learning more? Visit chej.org/livingroomleadership/ .

Tune into today's episode with Maria Lopez-Nuñez, Deputy Director, Organizing and Advocacy of Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC), to listen to her experience as one of the leaders that helped pass S232, the strongest environmental justice law in the United States. Interested in learning more? Visit http://chej.org/livingroomleadership/ .

Tune into today's special Veteran's Day episode with U.S. Marine Corps veteran Jerry Ensminger to learn about the contamination and fight for justice at Camp Lejeune, a military base in North Carolina. Interested in learning more? Visit https://chej.org/livingroomleadership/.

Tune into today's episode to learn valuable lessons in leadership and organizing from formidable activist and former elected official, Roxanne Groff! To learn more, visit http://chej.org/livingroomleadership/.

Tune in to today's episode with Esther Portillo, Interim Executive Director of the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ), to learn about how she leads grassroots efforts to bring lasting environmental justice to communities in the Inland Empire. To learn more, visit https://www.facebook.com/CCAEJ.

Tune in to today's episode to learn about Rebecca Jim's work leading her Native American community's fight for environmental justice and remediation of the Tar Creek area, one of the largest and most polluted Superfund sites in the United States. Interested in learning more? Visit https://www.facebook.com/leadagencyinc/.

Tune in to today's episode to learn about how Pamela Miller and Vi Waghiyi tackle military toxics, protect health, and achieve justice for Alaskan natives. Interested in learning more? Visit https://www.akaction.org/.

Tune in to today's episode to hear CHEJ's founder, Lois Gibbs, talk about the various connections and collaborations between labor and environmental movements. To learn more about CHEJ's history and the we work we're doing with communities, visit www.chej.org.

Tune in to today's episode to learn about how Ranjana Bhandari brought residents together to oppose fracking in Arlington, TX. Interested in learning more? Visit https://www.facebook.com/LiveableArlington.

Tune in to learn about why Hilton Kelley, Executive Director and Founder of CIDA, Community In-Power & Development Association, gave up his acting career to pursue environmental justice in his hometown of Port Arthur, TX. Interested in learning more? Visit https://www.cidainc.org.

Interested in electoral politics? Tune in to learn about Kaniela Ing's experiences as a community organizer and former representative in the Hawaii State House.

Tune in to learn about Tom Kilian's experience pushing back against corporate polluters in Wausau, Wisconsin. Interested in learning more? Visit http://cleanwausau.com.

Tune in to learn about Jackie Medcalf's experience leading the fight for full remediation of San Jacinto River Waste Pits Superfund Site. Interested in learning more? Visit https://txhea.org.

Tune in to learn about the health effects of drinking TCE-tainted water in Tuscon. Interested in learning more? Visit https://www.facebook.com/ejtaskforce.

Tune in to learn about Lou Zeller's successful efforts to cancel the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Interested in learning more? Visit https://www.facebook.com/BlueRidgeEnvironmentalDefenseLeague.

Tune in to learn about how two moms brought awareness to a nuclear waste problem in their community and demanded change from the EPA. Interested in learning more? Visit http://www.stlradwastelegacy.com.

Welcome to Fighting to Win, the series where we share real stories from the frontlines of the environmental justice movement. Here at CHEJ, we connect communities to each other, so when COVID-19 hit, we launched a webinar series to bring organizers, activists and community leaders together despite the distance. Tune in to listen to these communities' rich and inspiring stories. We are together in this fight, and we are fighting to win environmental justice for our communities!