Living Downstream

Seeking Justice: On Repeat, In Every Language, Unceasingly

For this final Living Downstream episode of the season, we're dropping in on three recent webinars: One gathering considered Social and Environmental Justice at Upaya Ze

Health, Wealth and Race in Today's Louisiana

This season, we’re looking at environmental racism across the country, and today that takes us to the sugarcane covered, oil-rich region at the intersection of southern L

The Sea Next Door

From Northern California Public Media and Mensch Media, this edition of Living Downstream is guest hosted by Molly Peterson. This time, from the Coachella Valley, east o

The Little Town That Would Transform the World

On this episode of Living Downstream, we take you to a little city with big plans for changing the world. While we’re there, we ask what role local governments can play i

Degrees of Injustice: The Social Inequity of Urban Heat Islands

On this episode of Living Downstream, Texas Public Radio’s Yvette Benavides takes us to Central and South Texas where summer days are frequently in the upper 90’s, but wh

Chicken Country, North Carolina: Justice on the Factory Floor

On this episode of Living Downstream: The Environmental Justice Podcast, Victoria Bouloubasis visits a rural county where the multicultural workforce kept America fed dur

West Oakland's 'Diesel Death Zone'

For decades, community members and allies have complained about the diesel truck traffic around the Port of Oakland. People who live in this neighborhood, between several

Generations in Houston's 5th Ward Contend With Contamination, Cancer Clusters

On this episode of Living Downstream, we visit Houston's Greater Fifth Ward, to learn how creosote contamination has degraded the health of people living near a rail yard

New Growth in the Birthplace of Environmental Justice - Encore

The 40th anniversary of PCB protests in North Carolina is about to be commemorated. To mark the occasion, we revisit one of the most listened-to episodes from our first s

Catherine Coleman Flowers: Warrior for Environmental Justice

On this episode of Living Downstream, we meet Catherine Coleman Flowers. In 2020, she released her first book, Waste: One Woman's Fight Against America's Dirtiest Secret.

Struggling to Breathe in the Bronx

More than a year into the pandemic, the Bronx is still the New York City borough with the highest death rate from COVID-19. That's where we begin the second season of our

Living Downstream Podcast: Season 2 Preview

Season 2 of Living Downstream: The Environmental Justice Podcast premieres Earth Day (4/22/21). Producers are checking in from around the country, from California to Nort

'Living Downstream' Exposes Agent Orange Plight in Florida

Last year we brought you the story of civilian workers at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, who tested the defoliant Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. Today these worke

Environmental Justice for Non-Recognized Tribes

Non-Federally Recognized Tribes Struggle to Protect Environmental and Cultural Assets  By Debra Utacia Krol and Allison Herrera Read more about federally non-recognized

Living Downstream: The Klamath Water Wars

  This is the story of a 15-year conflict over what would be the biggest dam removal ever, a modern cowboys and Indians tale that shows how victories for Native American

Living Downstream Visits Birthplace of Environmental Justice

This story comes from Warren County, North Carolina.  In the early 1980s, Warren County became a flash point in the fight for something that didn’t have a commonly used n

Fire and Rain: Living Downstream Reports from Borneo

The peat swamp forests of Borneo are the site of a failed agricultural experiment. Planners believed that rice should grow in the swamps, but it couldn't. Even today, exp

Trailer Park Activists of Coachella Valley Fight for Health

You may be familiar with Coachella from hearing about the annual music festival there. But for 10 years, journalist Ruxandra Guidi has been visiting farmworkers in the ar

Uranium: A Toxic Legacy at Red Water Pond Road

For the Navajo people Mother Earth is sacred. She places her mineral riches below ground. That’s where they’re meant to stay. If the Earth’s elements are hauled up to the

Smackdown: City Hall vs. Big Oil

"Smackdown" tells the story of Richmond California, a working class town that grew up in the shadow of a massive Chevron refinery. The refinery emits a toxic soup of chem