Children, elders, and women are impacted with disproportionate severity by environmental pollution – and low-income communities are often marginalized and placed directly in the path of toxic sites and extreme weather events. As part of a Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network online training, three women leaders from different parts of the U.S. share their voices to expose and counter these dire impacts and injustices. Sheila Bushkin-Bedient, M.D. of the Institute for Health and the Environment presents on air pollution, and impacts including asthma, allergies, cardiac and pulmonary disease, lung and heart related hospitalizations, diminished lung function, and premature deaths. Journalist, blogger, mother, and grassroots community organizer, Pramilla Malick of Protect Orange County and Stop the Minisink Compressor Station speaks on damages caused by fracking and gas infrastructure in her community in upstate New York. Cherri Foytlin of Southern Louisiana speaks on the dual threat experienced by communities of color in her region, who face health and other hazards from oil extraction and refining, and again as climate disasters such as hurricanes hit their homes.
