Resistance Radio interview of Jim Powell and Maria Powell

Maria Powell, co-founder of the Madison Environmental Justice Organization (MEJO) and author of Poisoning Paradise: An Environmental History of Madison and other posthumous writings recently published on the People's Environmental History of Madison website, was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin and grew up next to the polluted waters of the Fox River. In 1998, Maria and her family moved to Madison, where Maria earned her PhD in environmental studies and communication and, more importantly, spent more than 20 years fighting for environmental justice in her community. In 2023, she was recognized with the Bill Iwen Environmental Justice Award. Maria passed away in November 2023.

Jim Powell is a longtime community organizer and environmental activist based in Wisconsin. He has worked for Citizens for a Better Environment and the Wisconsin Stewardship Network, as well as co-founding the Midwest Environmental Justice Organization in Madison with his late wife, Maria, and others. He worked for years as a community organizer developing neighborhood capacity, protecting land from development, editing and publishing a community newspaper and building a local alternative political party, Progressive Dane (County). He is co-author with Maria Powell of "Invisible People, Invisible Risks: How Scientific Assessments of Environmental Health Risks Overlook Minorities and How Commmunity Participation Can Make Them Visible," published by MIT Press.