Season 8: Plantations to Pollution

On a map, you can often spot pollution sources like a power plant, a highway, or a factory. But why were these things built where they are, and who lives next door? Answering those questions reveals a surprising truth: it’s often a short distance from yesterday’s plantations to today’s pollution. In this season of Broken Ground, we’ll journey through history, from a remote turpentine camp where enslaved laborers once toiled, through a bustling “Black Wall Street” where freed men and women once thrived, to the last green stretch of ‘Cancer Alley’ in Louisiana, where twin sisters Jo and Joy Banner are fighting for justice for descendants of the enslaved. Together, these stories uncover how the legacy of slavery connects to the environmental injustices we are facing today. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.  

Support the show