Broken Ground Episodes
Lesson 1: Nobody Asks
This is Boxtown, a neighborhood in southwest Memphis founded by formerly enslaved people who put down deep roots and residents who cherish their ties to this land. It’s also a neighborhood that’s seen decades of government...
Brenda Mallory: Federal Action on Environmental Justice
Brenda Mallory, former Director of Regulatory Policy at SELC, sat down with us in December 2020 before joining the Biden administration as Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and reflected on how the...
Chandra Taylor: The Impact of Everyday Environmentalists
Chandra Taylor is the leader of SELC’s Environmental Justice Initiative. Her ongoing work in North Carolina includes cleanups at contaminated industrial sites and an end to unchecked water pollution in Black communities. “It’s not going to be just...
Catherine Coleman Flowers: When Listening Becomes Activism
Catherine Coleman Flowers was recently named to the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. A 2020 MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, her environmental health research brought to light the failing wastewater infrastructure in rural parts of the...
Heather McTeer Toney: Wrapping Communities in Climate Justice
Heather McTeer Toney stumbled into environmental justice work as the Mayor of Greenville, Mississippi. After moving on as EPA administrator and now as a Senior Adviser at Mom’s Clean Air Force, Toney talks about how to...
Uprooted
Find out what we learned about sea level rise in the South this season. Who will be hit the hardest? What can we do? How can we navigate a path forward?...
Uncharted Territory
In Norfolk, Virginia scientists battling sea level rise enlist residents to help collect data that could help the city better understand its rising tides and flooding problems.
Progress for Who?
In Charleston, South Carolina and its suburbs questions of environmental justice and wetland protections arise as development encroaches.
Flood City
In Norfolk, Virginia homeowners like Karen Speights are struggling with the hard decision of staying put in rising waters or finding a way to start over. Meanwhile, the city is hoping it can buy people time.
Breaking Point
With waters rising in Charleston, South Carolina we explore what, if any, breaking point there is for people living and working in this city. And we talk to city officials about making the big decisions of...