In Our Backyard Podcast

Dr. Michael McKinney is the Director of Environmental Studies at University of Tennessee, Knoxville. I personally did microplastic research with him on invertebrates in local creeks and the Tennessee River. And now, he is teaching a course on microplastics at UTK along with his research.  Microplastics are tiny plastic particles that result from both commercial product development and the breakdow...

Steven Lester is a Toxicologist and the Science Director at the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, CHEJ. We speak about the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment where 38 of its 150 cars derailed while carrying a variety of hazardous chemicals on February 3rd. A few days after the train cars derailed the company, Norfolk Southern, was afraid of a bigger explosion and decided to dump and b...

Sabrina Webster is a resident of Piney Grove, NC - which is in the 1 mile radius of where the Winston-Salem Weaver Fertilizer Plant Fire that happened in January of last year. I did four other episodes about the fire itself and stricter regulations that need to be in place, especially for Ammonium Nitrate that the community was exposed to, so listen to episodes 5,6,7, and 8 for that. There is now...

Emily Franc is the Vice President of Development & Philanthropy at Potomac Riverkeeper Network. Freshwater mussels like Eastern Lampmussel, and Alewife floaters are among 16 species native to the Potomac River and its Maryland tributaries, and they once existed in the millions, similar to the oyster populations in the Chesapeake Bay. Like oysters, mussels are effective at removing nutrients an...

We check back in with Kathy Andrews where 2 years ago when she was in the middle of the fight against Dominion Energy putting a pipeline through her land in Florence County, SC. Now she is Executive Director of BREDL and she is continuing her work on stopping this same pipeline and protecting people’s properties. Dominion Energy, one of the nation’s top polluters, they have condemned the land of s...

This is New Mexico, a sacrifice zone for the nuclear industry. From the first testing of a nuclear weapon, the relentless mining of uranium, radioactive areas, and now transportation and storage of nuclear waste. New Mexico and the Indigenous Peoples have experienced far too much neglect and harm - all caused by the nuclear industry. In September 2022 Jesse Deer In Water, based in Michigan, a citi...

We’re back with the New Mexico series where Jesse Deer in Water, Leona Morgan and I talk to and learn from the local peoples who are fighting against the nuclear fuel chain in New Mexico. As mentioned, New Mexico has been a sacrifice zone for the nuclear industry. From the first testing of a nuclear weapon, the relentless mining of uranium, radioactive areas, and now transportation and storage of...

Petuuche Gilbert is an elder from the Pueblo of Acoma. He talks about his life in the “Grants Mining District,” and takes us on a tour of cultural sites and abandoned uranium mine lands in the region, where he worked and still lives today. Uranium extraction in New Mexico was primarily done in the “Grants Mineral Belt,” or “Grants Mining District” –depending who you ask, which is in the northwest...

Mark Vick is the Chief Volunteer Firefighter for the Rich Square Volunteer Fire Department and President of the Northampton County Firefighters Association. As a volunteer firefighter, they’re not only in service of the community, but also a more visible member of the community. According to the National Fire Protection Association, 70 percent of firefighters in the United States are volunteers. A...

Jason Burns who is Executive Director at Last Call Foundation and he's been a Firefighter since 2006. He has spent much of his career advocating for better and safer working conditions for his firefighters. He currently serves as a District Vice President for the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts. Jason has also been a part of the team of people who have collaborated on a nation wide effo...

Kevin Ferrara is considered a PFAS subject matter expert who has 34-years of fire service experience, and agile Fire Protection and Emergency Service (FPES) consulting expertise, to emergency service affiliated organizations around the world. In the episode we speak about Kevin’s personal experience and exposure with PFAS during his years of service and specifically Aqueous Film Forming Foam or (A...

Dean Rivkin is an attorney as well as a professor at University of Tennessee, Knoxville College of Law. His work includes civil rights, air pollution, public interest, protecting the environment, and more. He has been counsel in public interest litigation concerning issues such as air pollution, TVA, and a challenge to the Tennessee Barratry Statute.  As well as he was a member of the Souther...

Grace Tuttle Development & Programs Coordinator at Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR). POWHR is an interstate coalition representing individuals and groups from Virginia and West Virginia dedicated to protecting water, land, and communities from harms caused by the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure, including the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). The Mountain Valley Pipeline is a...

Freeda Cathcart who is the Mothers Out Front Team Coordinator. We talk all about the Manchin Bill which is proposed by Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Joe Manchin. It's a bill with an outline of tax, climate, energy, and healthcare measures that speeds up fossil fuel and clean energy projects. In the episode we will focus on its effects on the Mountain Valley Pipeline, MVP. Manchin’s bil...

Beth Markesino is the founder of the non-profit North Carolina Stop GenX. North Carolina Stop GenX in Our Waters is a group wanting to stop the contamination of GenX and other harmful chemicals in North Carolina waters. GenX is a Chemours trademark name for a synthetic, short-chain chemical compound. The chemicals are used in products such as food packaging, paints, cleaning products, non-stick co...

Leona Morgan (Diné/Navajo, she/her) is an indigenous community organizer and activist who has been fighting nuclear colonialism since 2007. Her work includes stopping: new uranium mining, transport of radioactive materials, and nuclear waste dumping in the Southwestern United States. Uranium mining in New Mexico was a significant industry from the early 1950s until the early 1980s. New Mexico has...

Theaux Le Gardeur who is executive director of Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER®, they are a grassroots, advocacy-based membership organization charged with protecting, conserving and restoring the Gunpowder, Bird and Bush Rivers and their Watersheds located in Monkton, MD. Because of the economic, biological and recreational importance of the Gunpowder River, there exists a pressing need for independent, co...

Charles Utley is Associate Director of BREDL. He was last on the podcast 2 years ago in Episode 45 called “What’s Happening at Plant Vogtle?” so go back and listen to that one. Now, I check back in with Charles to get updates on what’s been happening with his projects and BREDL for the past two years. We speak about the Shell Bluff for Concerned Citizens chapter, the zero waste plan for Augusta, G...

Jesse Deer In Water, based in Michigan,  is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and a leader in CRAFT (Citizen Resistance At Fermi Two). This grassroots, Indigenous-led environmental activism group is focused on protecting the Great Lakes. The Fermi 2 Power Plant, on the shore of Lake Erie in Newport, Michigan, supplies 20 percent of the power generated by DTE Energy. Fermi 2 power p...

Steph Compton is a Baltimore Organizer for Energy Justice Network, she has been working on Environmental justice issues since 2012 and she is currently working on all things pertaining to zero waste. Baltimore currently has a large waste incinerator in the middle of the city that burns not only Baltimore’s trash but surrounding states and counties trash. This makes for some of the most dangerous a...

In this re-release episode I talk with John LaForge who is the co-director of NukeWatch. We highlight his work advocating the issue of the U.S. nuclear bombs in Germany. To give some historical background, Despite the end of the Cold War, about 20 US nuclear bombs are still deployed in Germany. German pilots are both trained and obligated to take off with these bombs in their Tornado jet fighter-b...

In this episode I check back in with Ruth Ann Tesanovich of the Madison County Clean Power Coalition Chapter (MCCPC) and retired Medical Laboratory Scientist from UGA. When I last talked to Ruth Ann 2 years ago, they were in the middle of their fight to ban the burning of creosote railroad ties at the biomass plant in their small agricultural community. Now we talk about their massive success in g...

This episode I bring back Lisa Sorg after 2 years on the podcast, she is an Environmental Reporter for N.C. Policy Watch. She has been a journalist for 22 years covering environmental issues, including social justice, pollution, climate change and energy policy. To listen to your previous episode is episode 8, called Inside the Mind of An Environmental Reporter. With Lisa we talk about what’s been...

Jennifer Wilson is a member of CHASE which is a chapter of BREDL. CHASE stands for Citizens for a Healthy and Safe Environment based in Georgia. Metro Green is a recycling plant that is placed in a residential area of StoneCrest, GA. The community there has been fighting this facility for the past 2 years over their health and the pollutants it gives off and the environment. Jennifer lives directl...

Elise Traywick is a Masters student of Public Administration at UNC Chapel Hill. She’s been doing research with BREDL on all about 1,4 Dioxane in North Carolina landfills. 1,4-Dioxane is used as a stabilizer for chlorinated solvents such as trichloroethane and trichloroethylene . 1 It can also be an unintended contaminant of chemical ingredients used in consumer products including bubble bath, sha...