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.

Abby was interviewed by Sina Hickey of The Sanctuary for Independent Media on WOOC 105.3 about the Our Soil project. Abby announced that the Our Soil project and NATURE Lab are looking for Soil Justice Fellows who would like to learn, think, and act collectively about local urban soils through a series of collaborative workshops in August 2021. You can listen to the radio interview here.

The NSF grant will support research of soil lead in the US, Chile, UK, and Australia, four regions with distinctive roles in the lead industry. The main goal is to understand how people in each area create knowledge about soil lead, develop and promote methods to reduce exposures, and change the social and economic circumstances in which lead exposures occur. By “following the chemical” across four areas, from lead mines to the soils of urban neighborhoods, there is potential to affect environmental politics and policy, offering new ways to conceptualize the global problem of lead residues, while illuminating possible solutions that are emerging in particular locales.

Check out the NSF award page for the project and the RPI press release!

“Soil in the City” is a comic about living and gardening safely with city soils that may contain lead residues from past uses of leaded gasoline and lead-based paint. The Our Soil team wrote the script and partnered with Kaitlyn Briscoe, Angela Duras, and Madeline Montero for the illustrations. Kaitlyn and Angela are currently undergraduates at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, and Madeline is an alumni.

The Our Soil team also partnered with Aileen Javier of Troy, NY, to complete a Spanish translation of the comic, “El Suelo en la Ciudad.”

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

Abby and Sebastián joined a panel discussion for the film screening of “Arica: A Toxic Waste Scandal” hosted by The Sanctuary for Independent Media. Arica, Chile, is one of the two cities where Our Soil/Nuestros Suelos will hold workshops with residents to test local soils for lead and arsenic this year. The people of Arica have a long history dealing with the health consequences of lead and arsenic contamination of city soils. One substantial contribution of lead and arsenic to soil in Arica is smelter waste exported from Sweden to Chile in 1984. The metallic waste contained extremely high concentrations of lead and arsenic, and local residents continue to face the contamination due to negligence of the Swedish and Chilean companies involved and both governments.

The documentary, created by Lars Edman and William Johansson Kalén, covers this history and the ongoing pursuit of justice by residents in Arica. You can find more information about the documentary here and about film screening at The Sanctuary’s website here.