The Our Soil team will be working with the Uptown Summer program at The Sanctuary for Independent Media on Wednesdays this month. We will be investigating soil lead in local soils, which will involve grappling with how and why lead is in soil in cities, how much lead do local soils contain, and what we can do about it to protect community health.

Today, on the first Wednesday of Uptown Summer, Dan and Hannah joined the Uptown Summer teens to introduce the topics of lead pollution and soil. We read and discussed the “Soil in the City” comic book together, relating it to the situation in Troy and thinking about what it would take to keep residents safe from lead.

We then watched a video about the Toxic Soil Busters in Worcester, MA, a group of teens that organized a soil testing program to measure lead in people’s yards in the city and took landscaping measures to prevent exposure where they found lead. This example prompted questions and discussion about what we thought about the role of science in identifying environmental pollutants like lead in soil, as well as its role in contributing to lead being in soil now. You can watch the video on the Toxic Soil Busters here.

We ran out of time before we had a chance to then dive into a map on childhood blood lead levels produced by Reuters, “Looking for Lead.” You can view the map here and read the articles associated with the larger reporting series, “Unsafe at Any Level,” here.

Screenshot of the Reuters “Looking for Lead” map centered on Troy, NY.

Dan was interviewed by McKenna Conners of The Sanctuary for Independent Media on WOOC 105.3 about the Our Soil project. They discuss the health implications of heavy metals like lead in soil, methods that people can test their own soil, and ways that people can prevent exposure to lead that may be in soil. You can listen to the two-part radio interview here and here.

The Our Soil team held a virtual information session tonight to provide more details and answer questions about the Soil Justice Fellowship at NATURE Lab this August. You can view a recording here by using this passcode: 6N.gLq=K

Sebastián was interviewed by McKenna Conners of The Sanctuary for Independent Media on WOOC 105.3 about the Our Soil project. Sebastián discussed his role in the Our Soil project and the importance of healthy soil for community health. You can listen to the radio interview here.

Abby, Dan, and Sarah doorknocked on the blocks surrounding NATURE Lab to announce the Soil Justice Fellowship at NATURE Lab in August. We handed out over 100 “Soil in the City” comic books and informational brochures about the Fellowship. We spoke to many neighbors of the NATURE Lab about how soil can be a pathway of exposure to lead, and what measures we can take collectively to protect community health.

You can find the informational brochure in English here and in Spanish here.

You can find the comic book in English here and in Spanish here.

Abby, Dan, and Sarah posted flyers on telephone poles and in corner store windows throughout North Central to announce the Soil Justice Fellowship at NATURE Lab in August. We are hoping to train 10-15 Soil Justice Fellows in testing soil for lead and arsenic, beginning with soils in the places most important to the Fellows! Fellows will need to commit nine hours (1 hour sampling + 2×4 hour workshops) to complete the training, and will be paid $225 for their time.