This special Earth Day edition of CUNY TV’s Independent Sources explores a number of inequities around Earth Day.
First, Sarah Pizon speaks with Mychal Johnson, co-founder of South Bronx Unite, on the subject of Fresh Direct’s planned distribution center in the South Bronx. Johnson details how the trucks are expected to worsen air quality in a neighborhood with high asthma rates. Tune in at 1:20.
Then, “waste equity” in New York City is discussed by Sarah Crean, editor of the New York Environment Report, in an interview conducted by Abi Ishola. Crean describes the bill before the City Council, supported by council member Anthony Reynoso, to reduce the burden of waste processing on particular neighborhoods. Right now, 70 percent of the city’s trash is handled in the South Bronx, North Brooklyn and SouthEast Queens. Listen to how the new bill would distribute the burden of waste processing across more regions of the city at 9:40.
Next, Garry Pierre-Pierre speaks with Michael Heimbinder, executive director of Habitat Map, a Brooklyn-based environmental health justice non-profit, which developed a low-cost air quality monitor called the Air Beam. The device measures particles in the air which are so small that they can enter the bloodstream. Heimbinder’s group works with schools and other entities concerned about air quality and its health consequences. Learn more at 18:10.
Finally, Zyphus LeBrun speaks with Mitra Khorasheh, the curator of a new project called the Water Tank Project. The group is seeking to illustrate the global challenge of ensuring access to clean water sources by enlisting artists to wrap water towers in NYC – eventually numbering 80– with artwork related to water.
The group’s founder, Mary Jordan, a filmmaker and artist, almost died from a water-borne illness while filming a documentary in Ethiopia. After being nursed back to health by young women, she asked how she could repay them and they asked her to raise awareness about water and the water crisis. See just how she is trying to do that at 26:10.