while the science is clear, polarized public opinion make response to the climate crisis a challenge, as shown in recent research from the proceedings of the national academy of sciences (pnas) nexus and a 2016 report from pew research center. as the 2030 deadline approaches to cut global greenhouse gasses by 47% outlined in the paris climate accords, reaching a consensus is becoming critical despite growing conflict between opposing groups.

but there are a few nonpartisan public and private climate organizations working to appeal to all parts of the political spectrum. by combating climate change through shared interests, they hope to benefit communities by directly connecting americans to the environment. 

connecting communities, big and small

since its founding in 1986, the rails-to-trails conservancy has created more than 41,400 miles of nature trails for public use. vice president of trail development at rails-to-trails liz thorstensen said she is working on building a network of walking/biking trails communities and commuters could use. 

a national network of interconnected trails and “active transportation” has the potential to cut as much as 12 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, according to a 2019 rails-to-trails report.

thorstensen said every trail rails-to-trails project is meant to be interconnected with other trails to create more access for communities by going through both residential and commercial areas. 

“in a lot of communities your only choice is to get around in a car,” thorstensen said. “we want to increase those transportation choices.”

thorstensen said rails-to-trails receives their funding from the bipartisan infrastructure law, giving funding for local projects alleviating the effects of climate change and benefiting other areas of the economy. rails-to-trails also ensures funding granted to state governments is going towards creating trails.

specifically, according to the rail-to-trails conservancy website, they receive funding from a subset of the bipartisan infrastructure law called the reconnecting communities pilot program (rcp). the rcp provides $1 billion in funding for projects relating to “restore community connectivity,” by creating infrastructure related to areas such as mobility. 

“it gave us an unprecedented amount of funding for our movement,” thorstensen said in reference to the bipartisan infrastructure law and rcp. 

beyond the environmental health benefits and its funding, thorstensen said rails-to-trails recognizes communities have different priorities for what type of trail they want. to make sure these communities take advantage of the trail when it is in place, they connect with community members and local organizations. there are often a wide range of opinions and concerns. 

for example, some communities in the upper midwest requested their trails have outdoor lights along them as it gets darker outside sooner in the winter and residents still want to be able to safely use them. 

some other projects thorstensen said they worked on were the baltimore greenway trails network, with a metropolitan population of 2.8 million, and milwaukee route of the badger, with a metropolitan population of 1.4 million. 

one of the bigger projects the organization is working on is the great american rail-trail spanning 12 states and 3,700 miles.

“the key is actually engaging with the different stakeholders depending on where the corridor travels through,” thorstensen said. 

protecting beloved spaces

coastal communities are often the ones taking the hardest hits during hurricane season. the 2024 season was the second costliest on record, according to the scalia laboratory at ohio university, and produced five major hurricanes, including multiple rated as category 5.

climate central, a nonprofit researching the impacts of climate change, reported hurricane wind speeds increased by an average of 9 to 28 miles per hour in 2024 due to elevated sea surface temperatures caused by climate change.

“you had communities that had no dunes, no real beaches, and they got destroyed,” said dan ginolfi, senior vice president at warwick group consultants, llc. 

warwick group is a private firm assisting businesses and government entities with coastal infrastructure and flooding projects. ginolfi is working with coastal local governments such as in new jersey and florida to add more beach nourishment, such as sand and dunes, to combat hurricanes causing flooding.

according to data shared by ginolfi, coastal communities spend roughly $175 million to $200 million on beach nourishment per year to combat flooding. maintaining the beaches by adding new sediment supports beach tourism, generating approximately $520 million in return, ginolfi said. for every $1 spent on beach nourishment, ginolfi said this yields $3,000 in economic return for the community. 

ginolfi often talks with people in these coastal communities who do not attribute flooding issues and beach erosion to climate change. but to these individuals, he said, there is “no doubt” rising sea levels and hurricanes are destroying tourism in their communities. 

“mother nature doesn’t see boundaries,” ginolfi said. “mother nature doesn’t see politics.”

besides extreme weather events, he said these communities also face “sunny-day flooding,” or when areas flood during normal high tides rather than storms. the national oceanic and atmospheric association reports sunny-day flooding has increased from 400% to 1,100% compared to the year 2000. 

ginolfi said he works on getting the authorization for communities to spend money for beach restoration/nourishment projects through the water resource development act, which provides funding for flood control, navigation, and ecosystem restoration for communities affected by flooding. he also said there can also be state and county assistance depending on the area. 

ginolfi said there’s something “particularly american” about the pastime of going to the beach, as he noted many people will drive from places like pittsburgh, pennsylvania, all the way to myrtle beach, south carolina, to experience coastal relaxation. 

he also said these coastal areas are not only where people vacation, but also where they live, retire, and work.  

“when i’m at the beach, i look around and i just remind myself that, wow, everybody’s having the time of their life,” ginolfi said. 

shared passions break barriers 

the national audubon society, headquartered in new york city, seeks to protect birds and the places they habit. according to the organization’s website, part of their mission is to reach “across aisles. across landscapes. across borders.” 

sam wojcicki, the senior director of climate policy at the national audubon society, said he is working toward building a healthier planet for the birds through state and federal legislation. 

“as many as two thirds of north american bird species could go extinct if we fail to address the climate crisis,” wojcicki said in reference to the organization’s research. 

he said audubon works to prevent their risk of extinction by advocating for cleaner and renewable energy such as offshore and solar. the challenge, according to wojcicki, is what society wants to spend their money on is not necessarily renewable energy. 

but like for rails-to-trails, these economic concerns are alleviated under the federal government. for audubon, renewable energy programs are not only funded under the biden administration’s bipartisan infrastructure law but also inflation reduction act, giving funding to projects like renewable energy.

in “most cases” renewable energy is cheaper than fossil fuel-based energies, according to a report from the united nations. and according to a 2023 report from the international renewable energy agency, an intergovernmental group focused on the energy transition, after decades of falling costs and improved performance in solar and wind technologies, the economic benefits are “now compelling.”

rather than directly advocating for new forms of renewable energy or supporting any one political party, wojcicki said audubon instead shows the public how climate change is affecting the connection between birds and people.

“most people do not spend their days thinking about energy, but there are a lot of people who think about the birds,” wojcicki said. 

before joining audubon, wojcicki worked for rep. sean casten (d-ill.) where he learned people put their guard up when having a conversation about climate change or transitioning to renewable energy, but they were emotionally affected when hearing about birds going extinct. wojcicki said many americans have bird feeders in their backyard or like to go bird watching. 

“everybody’s got a bird story,” he said. 

to americans there is a “powerful” presence of nature and interest in the diversity of species in our environment, he said, which makes people care about birds. this means, wojcicki said, the national audubon society can have conversations with the public about the warning signs of climate change, and how these changes could impact the birds living by their homes, and in their communities.

“it’s not a story about politics,” wojcicki said. “it’s a story about nature.”

air pollution disproportionately affects communities across the us. the particulate matter that can enter our lungs and travel all throughout our bodies from our bloodstream, to our brains, to our future children, can come from different sources, but communities that are located directly next to an emission source will oftentimes develop short and long term health problems.

occupational health researcher gaige kerr discusses how air quality relates to environmental injustice, and maryland resident latasha currie talks about her experience developing asthma after a construction plant was built in her community. despite not having any problems with asthma throughout her childhood currie says her lungs are now at 60% capability.

air pollution is a silent killer as so many people in these communities do not know that the air they are breathing is contaminated. however, there is hope for the future. kerr discusses how we can work together to combat air quality injustice through a combination of research, advocacy, education, and community building.

listen to the podcast below!

podcast transcript:

guinevere maclowry: welcome to planet forward’s podcast series. my name is guin maclowry, and here with me today to talk about air pollution and environmental injustice. is gaige kerr. kerr is a current faculty member and assistant research professor with milken institute’s department of environmental and occupational health. thanks for sitting down with me today, gaige.

gaige kerr: thanks for having me.

gm: can you begin by giving us a brief introduction of your work and what you do?

gk: i would say, at essence, i’m an air quality scientist. i spent many years trying to understand air pollution and air quality, and the air pollution i focus on is ambient or outdoor air pollution. i’ve done a number of different studies across different scales that range from local scales all the way to global scales, but most of the work i do is based in the us.

so in my work, i use a lot of satellite data and sophisticated computer models of the atmosphere to try to understand what kind of air pollution we face in the us, where it’s coming from, as well as some of the impacts that it has on health and environmental justice.

gm: to begin i want to talk about fine particulate matter. according to the epa, fine particulate matter, or pm, is the term for microscopic particles of pollutants in our air. pm can be made up of hundreds of different chemicals and come in different shapes and sizes. but pm 2.5, or particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, are the most dangerous to our health. what makes them so harmful?

gk: there are a number of constituents in the atmosphere, and some of them are bigger in size. so many listeners might be familiar with pollen and dust in the air, and you might know that when we breathe it in your nose might get itchy, your eyes water. so those larger particles are thankfully filtered out by some of the natural defense mechanisms that we have in our throat, in our nose, but there’s this whole other class of particles that are very fine that are able to bypass some of those natural defense mechanisms that we have, and they can get into our lungs and into our blood.

and there’s been a number of studies to show that the impacts that pm 2.5 have on our health are quite pervasive and far reaching. so there’s been really interesting and groundbreaking studies that have shown that these really super small particles can make it into the blood brain barrier. they can make it into the fetal part of the placenta. so it’s not just that they’re limited to our lungs or respiratory system. once they’re in our bodies, they can travel really many places and have wide reaching impacts on our health.

in terms of longer term health impacts, we know from epidemiological literature that higher concentrations of no2 over long periods of time is associated with increased odds of stroke of copd, ischemic heart disease, and many other adverse health outcomes that no one wants to have. but we know and listeners probably can guess this, that pm 2.5 can have a really wide range of sources, ranging from natural things like little particles from wildfires and sea salts to things that are human caused or anthropogenic – black carbon from diesel fuel burning.

so one exciting area of environmental epidemiology currently is trying to pick apart whether different types of pm, whether they’re sourced from dust or from wildfires or from fossil fuel burning, might have different health impacts. currently in the us, though, the quantity that’s regulated by the epa is just undifferentiated or total pm 2.5. so our current regulation structure in the us doesn’t really discern between different kinds of pm 2.5 but there is evidence to suggest, and hopefully this evidence continues to be fleshed out in research, that different constituents of pm 2.5 might have different health impacts.

gm: the negative impacts of air pollution can take effect within days or weeks of exposure, and children are particularly vulnerable. i know that you did some work studying nitrogen dioxide air pollution, and i know that nitrogen dioxide can combine with other chemicals and become particulate matter.

gk: yeah, there’s a lot to him back here, as you alluded to, air pollution is complex the atmosphere, and the chemistry that takes place in the atmosphere is really complex. and pollution varies a lot, not just from location to location, but from day to day. different weather patterns like warm fronts and cold fronts can create different pollution levels and similar things go for high and low pressure systems and other meteorological features that we might hear about on the evening or morning news.

so there are really major variations, both in space and time with respect to pollution. when we think about the health impacts that pollution causes, a lot of times, people group them into the long term or chronic impacts, and then the short term or acute impacts. i mainly focus on those chronic or long term impacts in my research. so i’m interested in understanding areas that persistently have higher levels of air pollution.

so in the context of environmental equity and justice, those might be communities that are proximal to a highway or interstate or to, let’s say, a power plant or refinery. so in these communities, residents are faced with high pollution day after day, and while some of those levels might fluctuate again, oweing to the role that meteorology has on air pollution, their levels are persistently higher than levels in other neighborhoods that might not be so proximal to emission sources.

there is a community in south baltimore that is a little bit downwind of a major trash incinerator, and then to its other side, it’s boxed in by a lot of industry related to the port of baltimore. in this community, they are grappling with incredibly high school absenteeism rates due to pediatric asthma. so this is one example of a fairly clear link between industrial processes and fossil fuel combustion and then some adverse health impact that is unfortunately disproportionately born by this community, which happens to be predominantly black and brown with lower wealth.

gm: looking closer at dc, while air pollution has decreased in general over the past 20 years, the improvement has not been equitable across the city. according to a 2023 study by nasa, higher levels of pm 2.5 were found in neighborhoods with the highest percentage of black residents, particularly in the southeast areas of the city.

i had the chance to speak with 36 year old latasha currie, a maryland resident who was born and raised in alexandria, virginia. currie developed asthma later in life as a result of frequent exposure to smoke and pollutants in the air emitted by a nearby factory.

latasha currie: air pollution has impacted me in many ways. i develop asthma. i frequently get bronchitis, and i now have a 60% lung function. where i currently live, there is a- some type of construction factory that lets off either smoke or some type of debris or something into the air, which has definitely caused my asthma to flare up a lot.

gm: and when you went to the doctor, were there any resources available to you at the time when you realized there was a problem?

lc: no, there weren’t many resources available. they just quickly diagnosed me with asthma and put me on steroids. i only knew of the issue because i did a lot of research, because i’m not the type that really just takes medicine, just because the doctor says, ‘take this.’

so i researched and read up on the background of air pollution and everything that’s going on currently in the world with air pollution.

gm: did you get any sort of support from your local government or community. how, like, what was the response that you heard from people?

lc: i didn’t get any support from the local government. i got support from a there’s a asthma group on instagram, and they told they tell you about different ways to decrease asthma attacks, or what to do if your breathing is labored and stuff like that. so that was the resource and the help that i got from the community.

gm: what’s something you wish people knew about air pollution and environmental injustice that they might not know?

lc: i wish people would do more research on it, instead of just allowing doctors or people to tell them, ‘okay, well, you have lung disease or you have asthma.’ there’s reasons why we have these conditions, and i would like for people to advocate more for themselves.

don’t just take the asthma diagnosis, do the research and find out what tests you can get to get your lungs tested and checked and see why you’re having these issues. and i would also like for the local government to put more information out there about the air pollution and air quality in different parts of the states and in different communities.

gm: what work is being done to mitigate air pollution. i know that it’s difficult. there’s not one solution. we can’t just put an air filter through the entire atmosphere, but what work is being done to help these communities?

gk: you are completely right that there’s not just one solution. we can’t pass air through a vacuum. but actually think there’s some excitement and there’s actually a positive way we can spin that, because there is no one size fits all solution or approach. there are many prongs, many different mitigation, adaptation strategies that we have our disposal.

and maybe one of those strategies isn’t going to reduce all of pollution or eliminate all inequities and injustices in pollution, but we at least have different options, and we can approach those different options, or choose those different options based on what pollution is affecting an area or the political situation in an area at the time.

so i am most familiar with traffic related pollution, and even within this one subset of air pollution emission sources, there are many different options that we have to try to reduce traffic related air pollution. so one particular research question that i’m interested in is understanding the role of heavy duty traffic semis and other large, boxy trucks in producing nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter pollution. there’s growing research to highlight how electric trucks or low emission trucks can reduce pollution coming out of their tail pipes.

there’s also ways that we can rethink about how we move goods in the country. so maybe it’s shifting more to rail. and all of these actions, along with others, can have impacts on reducing pollution in overburdened communities.

gm: that’s fantastic. i know that the burden is not on the individual to fix environmental injustice and pollution in general, but i do think that it’s important to look around each other and find ways we can help, especially in the face of a very doom and gloom attitude when it comes to the climate. so do we focus on educating each other, urging our elected officials to make changes a combination of both, or something else

gk: all of the above! i do think education is needed. i’m someone who’s really steeped in the science and in this work, so i know many of the ins and outs of the field of air quality and environmental justice. i will say, though, in people i’ve talked to that are pretty far removed from air quality and even environmental studies and earth science, the air to them feels, it smells all the same. so to tell people that air pollution is two times worse, three times worse in a certain community might come as a surprise. and even politicians. i won’t name any names here, but there have been kind of iconic tweets from certain high level politicians that accuse certain political parties of racializing or politicizing the air. you know, people will say, ‘how can air be racist?’ and of course, air is not a racist object. it’s a, you know, an inanimate object.

but the urban planning, the design of our cities that is so closely linked to the air pollution that we experience has unfortunately placed emission sources in communities of color. so all this is to say, i think educating the general public, teaching them that all people do not breathe the same air, unfortunately, and these differences, these inequities in the air we breathe, can lead to really real health consequences that don’t just impact the health of the residents breathing that air, but they also have larger economic and productivity consequences for our society as a whole.

so yes, education is important, and then advocacy is super important as well. i realize not everyone is a researcher like me, but people that have lived experiences dealing with air pollution and health inequities in overburdened communities should be talking with policy makers as their time and interests allow, because they have really valuable lived experiences that will help shape the way that their elected leaders hopefully respond to this important issue. for those who are able to afford air filtration, hepa filters, that’s one way that we can reduce our exposure when we’re inside. additionally, when there are high pollution episodes outdoors, we can either stay inside or we can sometimes mask too if there are fine particulate matter episodes.

gm: thank you so much for sitting down with me today. gaige,

gk: of course!

gm: this has been a planet forward podcast series. my name is guin maclowry, and thank you so much for listening.

imagine two neighborhoods just three subway stops apart. one bakes at 96°f during a heatwave, while the other stays at a cooler 87°f. behind heat disparities like this, is the legacy of racial discrimination.

this podcast examines the stark realities of these temperature disparities, focusing on phenomenons such as urban heat islands, and real-life examples from washington, dc, where neighborhoods like park view and colonial village reveal the enduring effects of systemic inequality. insights from zoe davis, boston’s heat resilience leader, highlight the measures cities are implementing — tree-planting initiatives, cooling shelters, and other innovative solutions.

but is that enough? in a conversation that bridges history, science, and social justice, we ask ourselves: is it time to hold ourselves and our governments accountable — and to build a future where everyone can thrive?

podcast transcript:

mario castroviejo: imagine two neighborhoods, just four miles apart and separated only by three subway stops. during a heat wave, one reaches 96 fahrenheit degrees while the other stays at 87. ninety-six and 87.

they are only three metro stops away. it doesn’t seem real, does it? well, it is.

these neighborhoods are park view and colonial village in washington, d.c. and this disparity isn’t unique. cities like phoenix, boston, and miami experience similar patterns. and here’s the kicker: one of the main causes behind these temperature differences is racial discrimination. let’s break it down with some data. according to research by the atlantic council, black and hispanic workers experience at least 10 more days of extreme heat per year compared to white workers.

10 more days. that’s not just an uncomfortable statistic that is product of chance. it has everything to do with the environment in which people live and work.

it’s about how decades of discriminatory policies shaped the design of our cities, leaving lasting impacts. but today, some local governments are working to undo the damage. to understand how these disparities arose, i spoke with zoe davis, head of boston’s heat resilience team.

i asked her a basic but critical question. where do these disparities come from?

zoe davis: the homeowner’s loan corporation map. this is one of many tools that was used through the 30s and 40s to essentially evaluate the riskiness of providing loans to people who wanted to purchase land. and so this tool was essentially… it provided a series of grades.

this gradient was largely defined by race and heritage as well, socioeconomic background. and so there were whole areas where if there were people of color, if there were jewish people, then the grade of that particular area would be set lower. and so using those grades, essentially loan providers would be able to see, okay, is it perceived as too risky to provide these loans?

essentially what that did is that dictated where private investment was across the city.

mc: although the homeowner’s loan corporation or federal housing administration maps that rank neighborhoods from a to d or to f are no longer in use, their effects persist. during all those years, a-rated neighborhoods attracted more investment. they got better infrastructure, more green spaces and an abundance of trees.

meanwhile, the lowest rated neighborhoods were left with dense housing, minimal green space and underfunded infrastructure. let’s return to those washington dc neighborhoods as they work as a great example. we’ll start with colonial village.

it’s a picturesque tree-lined suburban area where most residents are white. every house has a garden and the area is close to a small river surrounded by greenery. here, it’s seven degrees fahrenheit cooler than the city’s average temperature.

those trees, they do more than beautify the landscape. they act as natural cooling system, deflecting solar radiation and releasing moisture into the air. contrast that with park view.

it’s located just north of howard, a historically black university. in here, things heat up, literally. the temperature is 8.5 degrees fahrenheit hotter than the average for washington dc. here, trees are sparse and the landscape is dominated by row homes tightly packed together, expansive parking lots, playground covered with dark surfaces and minimal green space. all of these features create a perfect storm for what scientists call the urban heat island effect.

zd: what we’re seeing today is areas that have experienced that historic disinvestment are experiencing much hotter conditions. now, some of that is due to the quality of the built environment. some of that is also due to how much sort of impervious structures and how much hardscape there is across the environment.

mc: here’s the science. paved surfaces and roofs, especially those painted with dark colors, absorb the sunlight and retain the heat, which combined with that released by technologies such as air conditioners, cars and industrial activity, creates an island warmer than surrounding areas. park view is a great example of this.

it’s covered with great structures that reduce airflow and absorb heat, such as three-story row homes stuck together tightly, basketball and tennis courts, a parking lot and playground structures with dark surfaces beneath them. meanwhile, in colonial village, the presence of trees and vegetation helps keep temperatures cool by deflecting solar radiation, providing shade and releasing moisture into the atmosphere. coupled with a lower concentration of buildings and concrete, all of this results in less heat retention.

so basically, the map outlined by some organizations 90 years ago has resulted in black and latino neighborhoods nowadays being hotter than white neighborhoods. and it’s not just a dc problem. this pattern repeats across the nation.

a recent study by the department of energy of over 400 american cities revealed that black residents live in air that’s 0.5 fahrenheit degrees warmer than their city average, while white residents enjoy air that’s 0.4 degrees cooler. think about that. living under hotter conditions every single day has very serious consequences.

extreme heat affects more than comfort. it’s a matter of survival. for residents and workers of neighborhoods like park view, the risks compound.

residents often commute long distances and wait for buses under the sun with no shade or tree coverage. many are low-income and can’t afford to run air conditioning continuously. homes are smaller, more crowded and trap heat.

and when a heat wave strikes, finding relief isn’t always an option. public cooling centers may be out of reach and health care access is often limited, exacerbating even more the health impacts of extreme heat. the problem is massive.

now fast forward to the year 2050. experts predict that summer highs will climb by 4.5 fahrenheit degrees in phoenix, by 4 in boston and by 5 in dc. for already hotter neighborhoods, the future looks even more severe.

but there is hope. cities like phoenix, boston and dc are stepping up, rolling out plans to become more heat resilient. and in boston, zoe davis is leading the charge.

zd: we have outlined our framework for preparing for hotter summers and preparing for extreme heat to be the norm. that means increasing access to cooling resources and cooling hot spaces. so that can be the built environment outside, indoor temperatures and also looking at ways to increase green infrastructure and tree canopy.

mc: in the short term, cities are implementing measures like distributing air conditioners and establishing cooling centers. however, zoe acknowledged the short sight of these efforts.

zd: one thing that we have heard from residents is generally people prefer to stay in their homes rather than go to a cooling center. or they might go somewhere else, but not necessarily because it is a cooling center. so what that means is we have a long way to go in terms of refocusing and really building out strategies that help to cool people, especially in our existing buildings.

mc: so while this short-term relief is crucial, it’s clear that the solution lies in long-term investments. one of those, trees.

zd: some of the ways that we’re looking at cooling are through tree planting initiatives. this is trying to reduce ambient temperatures around the building. this does have impacts on the building envelope and what people are experiencing inside.

it does take a bit for trees to essentially provide those bigger, longer-term benefits, but this does go towards the longer-term resilience of the area.

mc: however, trees take time to grow and a whole plan is needed to integrate them in the environment. but their impact is undeniable. they cool the air, reduce heat around buildings, and improve overall livability.

still, i wanted to know if beyond plans, they are actually carrying out any action right now. zoe shared an exciting project boston rolled out this past summer.

zd: we have implemented a living roof retrofit on 30 of our bus shelters across the 28 bus line. and so this is one of our free fare bus lines. it’s also one of the busiest bus lines in the city.

this is really making the case for building out shade in the public right-of-way.

mc: this project is just one example of how cities can improve. according to the boston mayor’s office, painting surfaces such as roads with reflective or light colors can lower the perceived temperature by one fahrenheit degrees, planting trees in clusters by eight degrees, and installing shaped canopies by 12 degrees. the cumulative impact of efforts like tree planting, creating climate shelters, and other projects such as the ones i’ve just mentioned can make a tangible difference.

but this isn’t just about cooling cities. the real goal is equity, to create livable, sustainable spaces for everyone, especially the communities that have historically been left behind. despite all these promising projects and initiatives having a great focus on neighborhoods historically discriminated against, the big question remains.

how do we redesign our cities to truly protect the most vulnerable among us? as citizens, we have the power and the responsibility to hold our governments accountable, to demand they confront the legacy of discrimination that continues to shape the environments we live in, and to push them to take meaningful action to undo the damage caused by decades of systemic neglect. this is about more than urban heat islands or temperature disparities.

it’s also about justice.

a long standing presence of the us military on the island of vieques, puerto rico has left its warm, turquoise waters and sandy, beach getaways tainted by ammunition waste and chemical contamination leaving spirited residents and restoration task forces to pick up the shrapnel.

in 1941, the u.s. navy purchased 27,000 of the 33,000 acres that comprise the island of vieques. for nearly 60 years, the viequenses people “coexisted” in the crossfire between the divided training areas on the 50.8 sq mile island, roughly the same area as the city of las vegas.

following the death of a civilian navy employee, david sanes in 1999, civil unrest ensued, eventually leading to the departure of the us navy presence in 2003. however, the navy left the island peppered with remnants of undetonated bombs, pfas chemicals, uranium, mercury, napalm and more. all of which are toxic materials known to have serious effects on human health along with generational impacts on the health of island youth.

caught in a crossfire: life on the island

the navy’s departure followed years of persistent displays of civil disobedience by viequenses. before that, residents on the island lived an alarmingly close 8.7 miles from the “live impact area” where military jets, traveling between 500 and 1,300 miles per hour, trained for high altitude bombing on the easternmost part of the island. according to author katherine t. mccaffrey, an error in four seconds of fire from a ship could land up to 14 or 20 miles from the target, while a four second error from an aircraft pilot could drop a bomb up to 50 miles from a target. 

local vieques resident, elda guadalupe carrasquillo, grew up during the navy’s occupation and recalls the windows of her grade school classroom shaking during active munitions trainings. carraqquillo was raised on various army bases before settling in vieques with her family around age 10. “when i was in a real military base, even though i saw a lot of military things, there were no actual live practices like here in vieques,” she said.

despite carrasquillo’s familiarity with the events that occur on a military base, she affirms these training sessions were “too close” for the safety and comfort of residents. today, carrasquillo works with an agro-ecological farm on the island, la colmena cimarrona, and is a middle school teacher. in addition to the violent nature of living so close to these “live impact areas”, residents also suffered from legacy pollution due to the chemical and material shrapnel. 

rates of cancer amongst viequenses are 31% above that of the rates of cancer on the main island along with 4 times the rate of hypertension amongst residents. coupled with this, pollutants like agent orange, depleted uranium, and pfas have leached into the island’s soil, groundwater, and air leaving residents vulnerable to exposure through a variety of mediums.

“we don’t know how contaminated our underground water sources are,” carrasquillo said. she also noted that a large majority of students on the island require individualized educational plans due to learning disabilities which recent studies have found links between cognitive development and pfas exposure.

uxos and remediated sites: successful strides in clean-up efforts

in 2005, the island was placed on the national priorities list, as a “superfund” site — one that requires investigation and clean-up by the u.s. government. today, several locations around the island have been successfully remediated to become recreational spaces for islanders and tourists.

a notable site from the eastern sect of the superfund sites, the puerto ferro lighthouse was constructed in 1896 by spanish colonizers. the lighthouse lies within the 535 acres that comprise uxo area 15, an unfortunate title that refers to the presence of unexploded ordnance like bombs and bullets on the land. despite the contamination, the scenic area on the southern coast of vieques overlooks a bright blue coastline and slopes upward as you move inland.

the area around the abandoned structure is home to a thin forest of mangrove trees, lagoons, and salt and sand flats. but in just one year, over 23,000 explosive bombs were dropped on these coastal hills. in 2013, the us navy initiated priority action to facilitate public access and to encourage recreational and commercial activities at puerto ferro and the surrounding beach areas.

the area was investigated for munitions and explosives of concern anywhere from 1 to 4 ft below ground surface level. the area was ultimately remediated seven years ahead of schedule, and upon completion provided public access to formerly restricted areas as well as educational kiosks and monuments for visitors to interact with.

moving to the western sect of the superfund sites, former open burn/open detonation sites (swmu 4 and uxo 16) were also successfully remediated ahead of schedule to provide further public access to recreational spaces like the beaches around the island. several pieces of munitions were removed from the site, however, not all were recollected. despite this, a 2018 remedial investigation report found the likelihood that these munitions were still physically present in the area was improbable.

balancing the health of the land and the people

a large part of the uxo sites on the island have been remediated, and are in the concluding or monitoring stages of the clean-up process. while numerous sites still remain around the island, within the next decade, most of the entire island is expected to be remediated.

nonetheless, carrasquillo expects challenges and uncertainty ahead. “we know it’s never going to be completely clean and maybe it’s not going to be usable for what the viequenses need,” she said.

still, carrasquillo characterizes viequenses as “resistant,” embodied in the peoples’ continued advocacy for their own health and the island’s environment. following the clean up of munitions around the island, she hopes to see the island begin to restore its emotional and mental wellness through strengthening their relationship with the land stating, “if we can heal our land little piece by little piece so we can also be healthy, maybe we can help vieques recover.”

the d.c. climate rally “every day counts,” was hosted in collaboration with more than 30 climate advocacy groups. attendees held signs such as “stop oil now,” “green new deal now,” and “off fossil fuels,” while chanting “yolo joe” and “climate justice now.” speakers urged president joe biden to enforce stricter climate regulations and pardon climate activists — and to do it now.

acting at an inflection point

keanu arpels-josiah, a youth organizer with fridays for future nyc, the group founded by greta thunberg in 2018, urged the crowd to demand actions like designating federal lands as off-limits for drilling, canceling new oil and gas projects, and reallocating mass transit funding from the ira and bipartisan infrastructure law. 

hours after the 2024 presidential election was called for donald trump, the biden administration announced limitations to oil drilling in alaska’s arctic national wildlife refuge. although the leasing of land in the refuge for oil is mandated under a 2017 law, signed by then-president trump, biden’s outgoing government moved to lease the bare minimum amount of land before the deadline of the end of the year.

but protestors at sunday’s rally remained anxious about the signals from the incoming administration.

arpels-josiah criticized trump’s nomination of chris wright, an oil and gas executive, to lead the department of energy, calling him a “fossil fuel ceo.” he also condemned trump’s choice for epa administrator, former new york republican representative lee zeldin, describing him as a “deregulatory champion” whose plans would “tear apart” the future of the planet.  

“that ain’t right,” arpels-josiah said. “that’s not the future we deserve.”

in a post on x, wright has defended his appointment to lead the department of energy, claiming he would “better human lives” by ensuring energy is “affordable, reliable, and secure.” in a video posted on linkedin, wright denied climate change: “there is no climate crisis and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition either.” 

zeldin, trump’s pick for epa administrator, pledged in a post on x to restore “energy dominance” while ensuring access to clean air and water. he also criticized biden for canceling the keystone xl pipeline, a proposed extension of an oil pipeline system running between canada and the united states.

trump, through his agenda47 and the republican national committee platforms, has pledged to undo biden’s climate policies. his plans include withdrawing from the paris climate accords again, restarting oil production in recently restricted areas, and pulling away funding from the inflation reduction act. 

charting the path forward

keya chatterjee, executive director of the us climate action network, also spoke at the rally. she warned attendees against participating in “anticipatory obedience,” which she described as abandoning the fight against climate change out of fear that a second trump administration will roll back regulations. 

“we are not going to anticipate in fear and not do things,” chatterjee said. “we’re going to live big and we’re going to do big.” 

among the rally participants, mechanical engineer nick tatnall, 29, said trump’s appointments reflect his self-serving interests. tatnall’s own passion for the environment was sparked by visiting national parks, and he expressed concerns that a second trump administration will weaken regulations and expand drilling on public lands.

“i just hope the next four years are not as bad as we think they will be,” he said.

julia barnes, 30, a podcast producer, said she had hoped vice president kamala harris would win the election but was not surprised by trump’s victory. barnes criticized trump’s track record on the environment. 

“climate is incredibly low on his agenda,” she said, adding that her biggest fear is seeing no progress on climate issues for another four years.

organizers said that through the event more than 470 people signed up to participate in training, movement-building efforts, and continued organizing over the next 60 days, with plans to sustain their actions through trump’s inauguration.

the policy and advocacy subcommittee has decided to pursue a year-long project on equitable land use in d.c.’s waste infrastructure. this project will further focus on waste systems in d.c., looking at the distribution of waste facilities and practices over the eight d.c. wards. the team is currently in the process of gathering further background information on the history of waste in d.c., current procedures, and the different stakeholders involved. they are hoping to combat the discrepancies in this system that disproportionately affects poorer neighborhoods in d.c.. ejan’s co-presidents kaitlyn gang and jonathan lippolis spoke on the importance of advocating for the environment in the political sphere.

ejan is a relatively new organization at gw. “it’s kind of a complicated story, originally ejan was started in 2020 by a group of students,” lippolis said. “they came into the first year with the idea of having subcommittees, i think that was kind of from the jump, and then that first e-board came about and founded ejan.” after the original e-board graduated, gang and lippolis continued the club with the rest of the subcommittees.

gang and lippolis share a strong passion for environmental advocacy. “coming into gw i was undecided, i didn’t know what i wanted to do, i was actually more interested in stem before this, like biology. then i took the society and environment class and just loved it,” gang explained. “that entire class i feel like really made me fall in love with environmental studies which is why i ended up choosing the environmental studies major.” gang is also a political science major at gw, making a policy and advocacy subcommittee perfect for her skillset. lippolis first became interested in ejan out of a desire to participate in climate groups. “i wanted to get involved in climate related issues and movements.”

senegal at a crossroads: economic prosperity or climate protection? 

“in electing me, the people of senegal have decided on a break with the past,” said bassirou diomaye faye in the first interview after his election as the president of the small but geostrategically important nation in western africa. 

in the midst of the “free sudan” and “free congo” movements, an amplified focus on african struggles has echoed through the american and european publics. meanwhile, senegal has also had a glimmer of hope to remedy some of the problems that have burdened its people in recent decades. 

in 2023, the country’s youth mobilized in protests aimed at opposing the efforts of then-president macky sall to stay in power for longer than two mandates, and in 2024 the country elected its youngest president to date, diomaye faye, as part of a leftist movement that promises to eradicate corruption and increase economic justice. 

however, one particular dilemma has arisen: is the move toward more progressive economic policies harmful to the environment? or must a break from the past be accompanied by environmentalism? 

such questions have become pressing particularly as the new administration has promised to begin working with australia’s woodside lng, a liquified natural gas company and a large contributor to fossil fuel pollution, to ensure that senegal’s natural resources are utilized to increase the nation’s prosperity. 

pollution is a persistent problem

long before the election of diomaye faye, pollution has been a problem, especially in the capital city of dakar. walking through dakar, one may walk past market stands full of fruits and vegetables, bustling streets filled with people proudly donning traditional clothing, and speedy motorcycles zooming through the busy traffic. 

but exploring the city quickly turns painful due to the immense amount of smog generated by second-hand cars brought from european countries and burning trash. in 2019, prior to the pandemic, bbc reported that air pollution levels were exceeding by more than seven times the world health organization’s limits of particulate matter (pm), and according to the united nations environment programme the situation has only worsened since.

with the capital city of dakar already struggling with decreasing air quality, what do people in senegal have to say about the choice between progress in the western sense and the promise of additional revenue versus the need to preserve the peoples’ and climate’s health? 

kéba djibril mané, who teaches french, wolof, and several other languages spoken in africa to foreign students affiliated with the peace corps and additional international programs in the city of dakar, said he is appalled about the pollution situation in senegal.  

“pollution has reached an extraordinary level,” he said. “i know many people who have health problems because of pollution. and this pollution is largely due to cars. you wait for a taxi in the street. a car passes, but there is smoke. everyone is affected.” 

a choice between health and opportunity

beyond his passion for languages, djibril mané is also interested in politics because he has seen the effects pollution can have on health and wants to see this issue being addressed effectively by the country’s leaders. his sister-in-law, the wife of his older brother, became sick from the air pollution in dakar. because she developed a respiratory disease, he said, her family had to move to a rural area where there are fewer economic opportunities but the air is cleaner.

stories like that of djibril mané’s sister-in-law are common in dakar. in an article published in the new york times in 2019,  the chief of the pulmonology unit at a hospital in the capital of senegal was quoted stating that asthma is one of the main childhood diseases in the city and that over a third of the city’s population has some form of lung disease. 

moreover, according to an article published in the journal of pulmonary and respiratory medicine in 2019, there is a direct correlation between the poor air quality and the prevalence of respiratory manifestation in dakar. 

specifically, during a six year period (2011 to 2016), nearly 350,000 patients in dakar were treated for respiratory symptoms, which gradually increased over time. the manifestation of both upper and lower respiratory diseases was strongly correlated with exposure to sulfur dioxide (so2) and nitrogen dioxide (no2). due to the poor quality of the air in dakar, children and adults were likely to not only contract a range of respiratory illnesses, from cough and acute respiratory infection to asthma, bronchitis, and angina, but also to have persistent forms of such diseases and recurrent outbreaks.

mask up to protect against (covid) toxic air quality

according to djibril mané, pollution has become such a prevalent issue that many have realized the masks of the covid era should be worn all year around for protection not against viruses but against the toxic substances in the air. 

“you have to hide your face in your sleeve, we cover our faces like that after about a minute on the street. even today, there are people who wear masks,” he said. “now, people are used to the masks because of covid, and covid came and went, but people have continued to wear masks. i have. if you ask why you want to put on the mask again, it is very useful, not only to protect yourself against covid, but for dust, pollution in general during the day. when i go to town, there are too much dust, fumes, toxic gases, etc.”

djibril mané said he is aware that second-hand cars constitute one of the biggest sources of pollution in senegal and overall in africa. he also knows a key reason for this pollution is that european nations such as france impose bans on older cars, but that countries in africa then import those refurbished cars from europe. 

“it’s not just cars by the way, it’s a lot of things. many things are imported second-hand, there are tvs like that, large or small. there are refrigerators and there are gas stoves and other materials which are not within the environmental standards at the international level, they are prohibited for use in europe,” he said. “when they can no longer use them in france, they say ok, we cannot use them in france, but we will use them among africans.”

“not good for health. what should we do instead of destroying them? recycle them?” djibril mané said.

“there is the buñuul. it means black in wolof. this is what french people call africans pejoratively. he’s a wolof. it is the only wolof word that is in the french lexicon.”

“france has the right to choose that it needs good health for its population and it needs a good environment for its population. but africa doesn’t have that right. this is the inhumanity, the lack of humanism, of neocolonialism.”

while djibril mané is not opposed to developing new economic opportunities such as those related to natural gas, he thinks the association with western companies for such endeavors will not lead to success. he said he views western countries and companies as entities that seek to keep africa in poverty and africans marred by disease both by exporting used products to africa and by exploiting africa’s natural resources.

‘everything they do on other continents, they don’t do in africa the same’

“unfortunately, western policy toward africa is much more based on racism, because often everything they do on other continents, they don’t do in africa the same,” he said. 

el hadji faly, a college student who is interested in the betterment of african youth, mental health, and environmental action, and who published the book therapy is banned in africa, is somewhat more optimistic about environmental aspects in senegal. 

in high school, hadji faly had the opportunity to live and learn in the united states for a year and to compare the environmental situation in american and african settings. moreover, in 2023, to continue his studies during the political protests, he transferred from a university in senegal to a university in rwanda, which allowed him to consider how pollution fares across african countries. hadji faly thinks there are both challenges and opportunities in regards to environmental issues in senegal. 

hadji faly acknowledges the negative impact that pollution has long had in dakar. 

“yeah, it was definitely a problem because i have allergies, unfortunately. so when i was living in dakar, it was really tough sometimes because of all the smoke coming from the cars and the buses. it really affected my health and wellbeing,” he said.

dakar’s all electric bus fleet 

however, hadji faly also feels that pollution in dakar has come down a little since the introduction of electric buses. the city “just got a bunch of electric buses, but the old ones are still in use,” he said. “if we could get rid of the old ones and keep the electric ones, it would be really good for the environment. i guess it’s a process, but we can get there.”

in march 2024, dakar launched its bus rapid transit (brt) system which the administration claims to be leading the way for african cities. it is a nearly 20-kilometer (approximately 12.5-mile), fully electric bus system that according to the institute for transportation and development policy in dakar is expected to carry 300,000 passengers a day, reduce travel time per person to nearly half, and shift toward zero emission urban transport. with access to public transit, officials hope residents of dakar will use private vehicles less and thus contribute to the improvement of air quality. 

djibril mané agrees that electric buses provide some relief from pollutants, but he also thinks it is too little, too late. 

“this is precisely the problem. we are in the 21st century. those are tools that existed in other countries more than 20 years ago,” he said. 

in his view, senegal should be at the forefront of environmental innovation, but western european countries are not allowing african countries to develop and adopt new technologies at the pace needed to mitigate environmental issues while protecting valuable resources. 

djibril mané points out that  the contracts were actually signed under macky sall regime, and those contracts are disastrous for senegal because the vehicles are imported at high prices, with requirements to be repaired in western european countries, but without contribution from senegalese workers. 

djibril mané particularly fears the lobbying power regarding such economic advancements that disregard local needs of the economic community of west african states (ecowas). 

“we have to be sincere. we africans must know. we know it, the majority know it,” he said. “but there are always lobbies that are there, which do not want the people to follow these ideas,” he said. 

neocolonialism by any other name

“ecowas is not there for the interest of africans. ecowas is there to obey the orders of the settlers and continue to be the long arm, as we call it, of neocolonialism.” 

both djibril mané and el hadji faly believe that the new leadership of senegal will try to provide real solutions for both economic justice and environmental protection. according to djibril mané, the political movement of the new president resonated with youth because of the message “we are poor today, but in reality, we should not not be poor because we have mineral resources, we have human resources, the right people. if we are still poor, it is because a small group of people take the wealth of the country.” 

this movement now has a mandate to address economic issues. one of the critical challenges for the new administration will be to pay attention to justice for those who have been underprivileged while also maintaining mindfulness for environmental aspects. 

elsa park, a u.s. teen who spent 10 months in senegal during the 2023-2024 school year through the u.s. department of state’s kennedy-lugar yes abroad program, agrees that there are opportunities as well as challenges in regard to balancing the need for economic development with mindfulness for environmental action. during her stay in senegal, she saw change as the regime of macky sall was replaced by the new administration of bassirou diomaye faye. high school students were urged to spend multiple saturdays cleaning up their schools and to also participate in cleanups in the city, in their neighborhoods, and on beaches. “for young people, it was nice to feel that you were making a difference,” she said. 

under the new administration of senegal, additional environmental action initiatives have been started. specifically, $5.5 million will be dedicated to promoting environmental health. this will be achieved by reducing the release of unintentional persistent organic pollutants (upops) and toxic chemicals as well as establishing laws for the rational management of urban waste, a major contributor to harmful particle releases. moreover, senegal’s national waste management unit in collaboration with other agencies has installed 18 standardized collection points where communities can deposit their waste.

the united states has taken an interest in collaborating with senegal’s new administration. in july, deputy secretary of state kurt campbell traveled to senegal and met with president diomaye faye and entrepreneurs. campbell highlighted the two nations’ shared dedication to good governance. he announced u.s. investments in senegal’s economy, including the millennium challenge corporation’s $550 million power compact to increase energy access solutions can boost economic growth and help address environmental challenges.

while concerns remain about the government’s collaborations with highly polluting organizations such as australia’s woodside lng, senegalese youth have found grounds to believe that it is possible to increase the prosperity of regular people while also engaging in good stewardship of the environment. 

said hadji faly: “i think we just need good leaders, some people who are ethical and who fight here for the population, not only for themselves.”

take a moment to envision an alternate reality that encapsulates the past while imagining the future. personally, when i see collective and community controlled food systems, i see happy, healthy people who can cultivate and harvest food on a local level that works in alignment to the natural world, rather than against it. indigenous communities around the world have been engaging with their food systems in this way since time immemorial and continue to do so through the passing of intergenerational knowledge.

as indigenous communities in north america are sovereign nations existing within a settler colonial nation, their fight to enact food sovereignty has been and continues to be ongoing. food sovereignty can be described as the “right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.” 

while attending the united nations world food forum (wff) at the food and agriculture organization (fao) headquarters in rome, italy, i had the immense honor of attending a session called, “safeguarding indigenous people’s food systems for better nutrition.” the session brought together three indigenous panelists from around the world to talk about their efforts and experiences in enacting food sovereignty within their own communities.

after the session, i was able to meet daryl kootenay, the global indigenous youth caucus focal point for fao, to learn more about his specific community’s food sovereignty practices and how it ties them to their place of being, fosters nutritional practices, and overall brings people together through connection to food.

daryl kootenay and his food sovereignty efforts

kootenay is from the iyarhe nakoda nation in southern alberta, a part of treaty 7 territory, and is also a part of the navajo nation in new mexico. he is a land based educator, a singer, dancer, culture keeper, husband, father and so much more. as he states, “i hold many different roles. i teach as a faculty member at the university of calgary and the banff centre for indigenous leadership. i co-founded a nakoda youth council that we take annually to the un permanent forum on indigenous issues, and i’m also the co-executive director for the howl experience.” 

kootenay began his introduction with an explanation of the people and places he comes from. this is very common in indigenous communities, as doing so honors relationships to the people and places that make someone who they are. 

the iyarhe nakoda, or stoney nakoda, communities are the original “peoples of mountains.” “iyarhe nakota, we’re mountain people and are well known for big game harvesting,” kootenay said. elk meat is one of the many indigenous game foods that kootenay specifically relates to and educates others on. part of his role as an educator is to engage both indigenous and non-indigenous folks in food sovereignty. he does that by coordinating camps as a part of the howl experience, as he knows it takes collective community efforts to successfully accomplish these types of traditional activities.

land dispossession and conservation practices as a challenge for food sovereignty

due to settler colonial violence, such as forced removal of indigenous people from their homelands, enacting food sovereignty has been no easy feat. one reason that indigenous peoples, like daryl’s community of the iyarhe nakoda nation, have been forcibly removed is through the creation of parks canada. the creation of banff national park led to the removal of stoney nakoda from their homeland, in turn causing disruption to their ways of being and traditional practices of hunting and gathering.

there is a distinct difference between indigenous communities and settler societies, and the ways in which each believes people should interact with plants, animals, and other non-human beings. the conservation method of parks canada is rooted in the belief that nature should be untouched and exists separate from humans, whereas indigenous communities believe in reciprocal and respectful interactions with their environment. this belief is central to the ways in which food sovereignty practices are carried out. 

these ideas are spoken of in an article that highlights the voice of a nakoda elder, sykes powderface. powderface declares that, “it denied our ancestors from accessing an area that has sustained who we were from time immemorial… the so-called conservation/preservation, particularly for wildlife, what does it mean? it means something different to us than the western world. to the western world it means money, to us a belly full. that’s what it means.”

indigenous people and foodways are resilient

despite colonial systems working against indigenous peoples’ efforts to maintain food sovereignty and community connections to land, indigenous people and their foodways continue to thrive. creating spaces where people can connect to their food on a deeper level is one way this is done, but also by using intergenerational knowledge to carry forth ways of being into the future.

kootenay spoke about recreating a type of learning environment where knowledge that’s shared is based off of the way stoney people operated their harvest camps in the past. this type of knowledge is based on long-standing connection to a place. indigenous knowledge itself is scientific and the ways of knowing are created through the lived experience.

this is further described in a journal which states, “traditional foodways are based on an intimate and spiritual connection to the land and entail a reciprocal relationship that must be actively maintained… indigenous knowledge derives from traditional teaching, empirical observation, and spiritual insight.”

none of this work could be done without the head and the heart. while at the wff, kootenay commented on how he notices that in these spaces there is a lack of people leading with their hearts. he beautifully describes, “i think that’s primarily the main cause for how things are taking the wrong turn today, because there’s a lot of policy, there’s a lot of academia that requires a lot of your brain and your head and lack of love.”

kootenay was given a native american name, wocantognake itancan, which is lakota for “the one that leads with his heart”, and as he states, that is exactly as he tries to do while engaging internationally and within his local community. the wff was about bringing people together for their love and knowledge of foods. kootenay’s food sovereignty efforts and his role as an educator really embody the goals of what wff is all about.

to read the full story, click on the presentation below.

“i am the grocery store,” said hall, who sells his products on top of folding tables and from his truck at a discounted price on the corner of south capitol st. sw and brandywine st. se every afternoon.

hall works in a neighborhood that is considered a food desert. the closure of good food market in november 2022, just one year after opening, brought residents of anacostia and congress heights back to having slim pickings. the grocery stores giant and safeway, on alabama ave. se, are the only full-service stores in the surrounding area. for some people in these neighborhoods, the trip to either store could be at least a 20-minute bus ride.

according to capital area food bank’s hunger heat map, there are 2,431 estimated food insecure households in this area – which is 98% higher than in the rest of the dmv. there are approximately 3,843 food insecure adults, according to their data.

though hall does not sell perishable food, members of the community said he can get them these items when necessary.

“terry’s been helping me every single day. he helped me not steal from people and if i need anything he helps me, if it comes down to food, clothing or anything. he helps me and he helps this community a lot,” said damontre long, a young man who lives right around hall’s store. “i set up stuff for him and he gives me jobs to keep me out of trouble.”

long is not the only young member of the community positively impacted by hall. jessica jankes, another ward 8 resident, said her 11-year-old daughter worked for hall last summer. “she sold merchandise and talked to customers. she did everything. terry does a lot for the kids and the community.” 

hall also provides incentives for the kids to do well in school. when they come to him with good grades on their report cards, hall gifts them with candy or dollar bills, he said.

“he is a good man. he always has things for my daughter and he’s always helping the kids. if you run out of stuff, he makes sure you get it,” said dechell blackeney, who lives in congress heights and is the mother of a 3-year-old girl whom hall always helps. “last friday, he even had fried fish friday and he cooked and gave to the community.”

hall said he can save people the time and money it takes to pick up a few necessary items.

“i’ve been here in this spot every day for 20 years. i deal with people who really, really need me,” he said. 

he sells a plethora of products, varying from personal hygiene to household cleaning products and even clothing. he takes cash only for payment, he said.

“i come here all the time. sometimes i got to get something and need it right away and i come here instead of the grocery store,” said violet council, a member of the congress heights community. “you don’t got to take bus after bus after bus. he got all the stuff right here.”

according to hall, his only goal is to give back to this community, where he grew up and still lives. however, he has also faced some difficulties. he said his truck with thousands of dollars worth of products was once stolen and that some people have tried to take advantage of him and his store, but that is not enough to stop him.  

hall said he buys the products from large, full-service stores in either virginia or the district. he said he purchases them with the money he has saved and invested over the years from working several jobs simultaneously, in addition to his social security income and donations.

“i just keep turning my money over and over again. but some people donate, which is really helpful, because i lower my price to make products affordable here in the community,” hall said.

donations and visitors are welcomed by hall. to donate, get in touch with hall’s assistant, jessica, at 202-892-9305.