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LISTEN: Greer Hamilton on arts-based environmental justice research

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Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Dr. Greer Hamilton joins the Agents of Change in Environmental Justice podcast to discuss how she uses the arts to engage and involve communities around environmental justice research.Hamilton, a transitional postdoctoral fellow and incoming assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, is a current fellow in the Agents of Change program. She also talks about how she found her passion in social work, her activism on reproductive justice, tips on meaningfully involving communities in research, and some of her favorite spots in Detroit.The Agents of Change in Environmental Justice podcast is a biweekly podcast featuring the stories and big ideas from past and present fellows, as well as others in the field. You can see all of the past episodes here.Listen below to our discussion with Hamilton, and subscribe to the podcast at iTunes or Spotify. Agents of Change in Environmental Justice · Greer Hamilton on arts-based environmental justice researchTranscript Brian BienkowskiHello and welcome back to the Agents of Change in Environmental Justice podcast, a partnership between Environmental Health News and Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. I'm your host, Brian Bienkowski, editor of Agents of Change and senior editor at Environmental Health News. Welcome back to all of our regular listeners, and welcome to anybody new. We are here every two weeks talking to up-and-coming and established leaders in environmental justice. Please find us wherever you get your podcasts and please subscribe. Well, I am so excited for today's episode. Last month, our leadership team traveled to Philly and we met our fifth cohort fellows. And today we have our very first guest from this latest round of environmental justice rockstars that we are working with. today's guests is Dr. Greer Hamilton, a transitional Postdoctoral Fellow and incoming assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. Greer is doing fascinating work, she talks about how she got into social work, tips on meaningfully engaging communities in your research, what it means to be an art space researcher, and what changes she would like to see in the field of social work. And just a quick warning that we nerd out on Detroit a little bit here and there. But I'm sure you're all used to me doing that every time we have a Detroit-based guest. Enjoy. All right, I am super excited to be joined by our very first fellow from this cohort to join me on the podcast. Greer Hamilton. Greer, how are you doing today?Greer Hamilton I'm doing well. How are you?Brian Bienkowski I'm doing great. We won't talk about all the technical difficulties that we had before we connected now they don't need to know about that. So where are you today?Greer Hamilton I'm in Detroit, Michigan.Brian Bienkowski Detroit, Michigan. As all the listeners know, that is a place very near and dear to my heart. So I'm glad you're down there. In fact, when we met and you told me where you're at down there, I was looking around a little bit. And it's not too far from some of my old house. So I'm hoping to come visit you sometime. But you of course did not grow up in Detroit. You're there now for schooling and such. So you mostly grew up in New York state, from what I understand. So can you tell me a bit about your upbringing and where the interest in the environment and health came into your life?Greer Hamilton Yeah, so you're right, I mostly grew up on Long Island, in a town called Limbrick. But I also spent eight or so years of my childhood living in Alabama, where my mother's family is from. And to be honest, I think environment and health issues really didn't kind of come to the focus until college. And when I started taking a lot more interest in like thinking more about like, you know, the saying of like, "oh, well zip codes matter."– like, we're zip code is can like be a big proxy for like other things. Like that was kind of like the thing that like made me want to think more about environmental and health issues. And I know I mentioned this at like the retreat, but like, one of the things that kind of came full circle to me was about like my town Valley Stream on Long Island being a sundowntown. And how almost kind of short sighted like that zip code as proxy statement is because right zip codes aren't the things that matter. Right? Those other factors, right, like racism or other structural issues are the things that create, right, zip codes mattering. And so like when I kind of started making those connections, I began to become more interested in like, how does like a public park or like how to neighborhood, right? factor into like, our conversation about environment and health, and what do they do? You know, in terms of people's well being.Brian Bienkowski Can you explain to listeners what a sundown town is?Greer Hamilton Yeah, they were pretty prevalent between like, 1940 and 1960 throughout the country you know. Like, we talk poorly about the South, but like, they were in northern places like New York, and they were towns that were predominantly white. And after sundown, they were locations where non-white people were meant to not be and sometimes they were were murdered right for being in the town after sundown. Or they were chased out. But they're just like really, like harmful relics, right of that that time period.Brian Bienkowski You say relics, but men, if you think about the, you know, the 40s to the 60s, I mean, that was long ago, but it's not that long ago. I mean, that's grandparents and stuff, you know, that were around then so that is you know, and being in Detroit there I often think of the zip code that always gets thrown out is 48217 –I have it memorized because that is southwest Detroit – and they deal with some of the worst air in the city and in the state and in the country. So the there's been a lot written and talked about, not too far from you right there a zip code that is really determinant of people's health. So. So you went on to get a dual bachelor's and master's degree at the University of Buffalo. So what was it about social work as a career that spoke to you?Greer Hamilton Yeah, to be honest, my parents went through a divorce in high school, and I went to a social worker. And it was, at the time like thinking about going into pre med. I always kind of planned to be a medical doctor. And, but at the time, my life cannot imagine also doing that. And I was talking to my social worker about like, her job, and like, what were those opportunities, and she thought social work could be a good option for me, because it was still helping. And it's also a really broad profession, right? So I could still, you know, be interested in health and, and make a career out of that. And so that's kind of what like pushed me into social work and found it and then like, really developed like a love and appreciation for it.Brian Bienkowski That is so cool. That you know, in pursuing support for yourself, you not only found support, but a career, passion. That is that is really cool and turned something that was maybe difficult, into, you know, something that is very, it's very positive now, so very cool. I've been asking everybody this, what is a moment or event that has shaped your identity up to this point? I know, that's big and unwieldy.Greer Hamilton Yeah, I'm thinking about this. And I think in my master's program, one that sticks out to me was, I worked in a student-run health clinic on the east side of Buffalo, which is a predominantly Black part of the city. And in my experience, it was really interesting because, right, I had to reflect on my blackness, right. And like about also my privileges, because I grew up middle middle class, and we were working with people who were uninsured and low income. And, you know, they saw me as like a similar person to them. And also, they were things that really like I didn't share in terms of like lived experience. But also it like made me really want to, like pursue research, right, related to health. And so I think at that time, it was like, you know, about a year of working every Wednesday night and this clinic, but it was really cool to work with, like medical doctors and community members to like, try to figure out ways to improve their, their health and well being.Brian Bienkowski So this leads me really nicely in my next question, so before you returned to get your PhD was, which is where you're at now, you were, you know, working in social work in Buffalo, and I know this was meaningful, obviously, to you. But can you talk about why you wanted to get your PhD? why research spoke to you as something that you could maybe do more good, or, you know, additional good in this space?Greer Hamilton Yeah. Um, so after my master's, I went on to work at a nonprofit that was focused on actually increasing representation of non-white and low-income people in health professions, including social work and medicine. And then after that, did some work with a local foundation, doing community capacity building work with nonprofits. And in both of those experiences, both program managing a nonprofit and working with other nonprofits, I realized how there was like this weird cyclical kind of nature of like funding and research where nonprofits needed funding funders wanted research or evaluation. But those nonprofits didn't have either the staff person or the money, right to then go out and do research or evaluation. And so then it ended up putting large organizations that had that type of resource ahead, right, and then smaller, more grassroots organizations behind. And so I was like, "Oh, well, I like research will maybe this is something I could pursue, and then eventually come back with it to Buffalo or somewhere else and be that person who can provide that type of research or evaluation, support to organizations that they can do more," right? and get the funding they need in order to do the great work that they were doing.Brian Bienkowski So you went from one, Rust Belt city to another. And we talked about our love of rust belt cities, and I have a soft spot in my heart for Buffalo. I used to really like the Buffalo Bills football team when I was okay. And now you know, of course, the Lions because that's where I'm from, but it's just really cool to be working in those in those cities. I just find them fascinating, the kind of industrial history and all of that, and you mentioned something there that I want to just talk to you a little bit about and that's representation in healthcare settings, kind of having non-white representation. Can you talk about maybe an example or just why that's important, what that means to people to go into, you know, what can be kind of a vulnerable setting and see people like them or at least see people that represent their community?Greer Hamilton Yeah. I think like it also I think ties back to this my interest in like history and its relationship to health because I think, right, so much of like the current conversations about Black people in healthcare settings are about how medical doctors often don't like consider them capable of pain, right? And like that has kind of shown up in maternal mortality related situations recently, and how all of those things are like so directly tied back to our history of enslavement in this country. And so I think when people –and I can speak for myself– and I am able to find a Black doctor who is truly able to kind of understand that history, but also to be like, the one to ask more questions, right? And not assume that like, because I have a PhD or because of certain things that like maybe I'm not capable of experiencing certain issues, the person like to ask those questions just really matters. And so I think it's sometimes helpful to have a person who is like you in some way, and being your care provider or kind of being another person in your life.Brian Bienkowski So you've been doing a lot of your research is fascinating. And the way you put your research out is fascinating. And when I read your application, I think it's okay for me to admit that you are the one that I was telling the staff like, "No, we need her. She's, she's part of this cohort." I was really excited because you're doing a lot of cool stuff. And I want to get into that. But let's start first kind of take a step back and talk about the research that you're doing so. And you're also again, into unique ways of communicating it. So can you tell me about the research, you're co-leading looking at indoor air pollution in affordable housing and transportation pollution in the Boston area? What are you all doing and what have you found so far?Greer Hamilton Yeah, so our affordable housing project wrapped up last year was called Stainable air quality in affordable housing, and it was with engineering researchers at Tufts University. And I worked with them over the past four or five years. And then collectively, those engineers and Alok Shuhada and John Durant, and I applied for a grant with this group called Mystic River Watershed Association. And we have now a community-based air quality study in East Boston, Charlestown, Everett, and Malden to monitor the air quality over three years, and then to also work with residents to understand their own understandings of air quality, and how it's affected them. We chose those four communities because they are communities that are most overburdened by air pollution, because of where the highways are, the airport, and also they have the most are like they have a large population of non-white and linguistically-isolated people. And so they're often not represented in in this type of research. But should be, right? And so I think that's what we're trying to kind of do in our work. It's a community-engaged study that goes through 2026. And I hope to do all the community engaged research, which is, you know, exciting, and fun.Brian Bienkowski Yeah, before we get into some of that outreach, have there been Do you have findings yet? Have you looked at kind of air quality and seen, you know, bad things in the air compared to other neighborhoods and stuff? Are there any findings? Oh, yeah.Greer Hamilton Not from our project. But like Boston has done a lot of air quality research over the past 10 years or so. So there is some research like, I always forget the acronym but or like the full name, but it's called Cafe, there was a study done in Chinatown, right? where they found that people living in Chinatown, right were greatly affected by air quality. And also then didn't have like the resources to monitor or to do some of the mitigation strategies. So Chinatown has been doing a lot of research in those years following. For our project we started last April. So we have some preliminary survey data that finds that like a lot of people are concerned about air pollution, but either don't understand what are the sources of pollutants, or don't understand what to do to make improvements, right, whether that is by personal behavior changes, or advocacy work. And so that's kind of what we're hoping to do next.Brian Bienkowski We just did a big investigation, our newsroom with the Texas Tribune, looking at air quality in certain neighborhoods, certain Latino neighborhoods. And one of the things that we found was that even when there is data, it's not the first of all, it was often not in Spanish. And a lot of these are Spanish-speaking communities. And then you go to these websites, and I've been a reporter for a while and use the TRI from the EPA and stuff. And it's just a mess. I mean, you almost need a PhD to understand the data in the first place. So I think I really want to get at this kind of community engagement. And that's where a lot of your work comes in. So let's take this this study as a way to understand that, can you talk about your role in getting community members involved in the project, and making sure that they're engaged and aware of what you guys are finding and doing?Greer Hamilton Yeah. So the first kind of part of like our community engagement efforts were to develop a community advisory board. This is an 11 person board that is made up of young people under 18 and adults who live in those four communities. They are people who are not researchers, they are moms, they are nurses, they are students, right? And we really wanted to prioritize people who live there, and had lived there for a long time. And in order to kind of like contextualize the research that we're doing. We meet with them quarterly, and they give us guidance on kind of all facets of our work. We also have a community survey that is out, I'm in all four communities where we're asking people about, what is air quality to them? How do they know that poor air quality is occurring in their neighborhood? Is it smelling does it like look bad? and where are kind of the sites that they would want us to do follow up research in. And then we've also linked back to the language conversation you were just having have been really like intentional about making sure that our work is able to reach communities that we want. So we translate all of our work, whether that's the surveys to materials for like community meetings, into seven different languages including English, with the ones that are most represented by those four, so like Arabic, Haitian, Creole, Spanish, Portuguese, for example. And then we've also really been trying to, like build out like educational kind of workshop series for both our community advisory board members, but also residents. So we've been working with organizations to host like air quality one-on-one workshops, so they can like, start learning how to deconstruct the air quality data that we might be producing, and also to like, do like do DIY, kind of like air filtration types of projects. And then we're also beginning to offer your policy and advocacy trainings over the summer, so that our county advisory board members can then take that information back to their community, and really start to like work with other organizations around like, what are those strategies we want to implement? Knowing that policymakers right, have a lot of responsibility for regulating air pollution, whether it's like idling buses, or, you know, a truck, right, that stuck on the on the, on the 93, right? and so really kind of trying to work with residents around that. So those are some of the ways that we're thinking about community engagement.Brian Bienkowski That's really great. Because I mean, it takes everything from "Okay, let's find out what's in the air" all the way through to "Okay, now you are armed with this information here, we're going to train you to advocate for yourself." And I think making that holistic connection like that is, it's really exciting. It's really cool to hear about that. So what are some tips that you would have for other researchers who are trying to do this kind of community engagement, but are having trouble or finding people reluctant or busy? That's probably a big one, too. What are some tips you might have?Greer Hamilton I think you have to know that it's going to be slow from the very beginning. I work with people who wanted to communicate research, but don't want to invest the time. And you can't do this work without investing time. Time not only in like, learning what people's needs are, right? Like, let's say that like air pollution actually wasn't the top need for people like that means that we might have to shift right like kind of our priorities until we can get there. And it means like showing up to events that like you don't think are relevant to your work, right, like a block party, or you know, an event that's happening in a local college. And also listening, I think, like, my goal always is to do more listening than I am talking. So if a resident is telling me like something that matters to them, or something that like I've done that maybe was not in line of how they think it should be done. My job is not to like, talk down to them, right? Because I'm in a certain position and just to like, really listen and hear kind of what are the concerns that they're bringing up so that I can either shift what I'm doing or shift my thinking or approach around something.Brian Bienkowski And so you call yourself an arts-based researcher, which is, I love that title. I think it's really cool. And so can you give some examples of the ways that you used arts to engage with communities around environmental justice research and issues? And what are some artistic outlets or methods that you haven't used yet, but that you'd like to try?Greer Hamilton Yeah, so beginning of my PhD, I worked with students in the School of Arts to work on puppetry. So we made some stop motion work about green gentrification, which was kind of the environmental work that I was working on at that time. And it was really cool, because it was a really like disarming way of like talking about gentrification, which can be such a heavy topic. And people like, were able to kind of see like the horrors, right? of like, what happens when neighborhoods changed without people being able to participate in and then that shifted to my dissertation where I began to include more like visual arts and storytelling, so like doing like oral history collections, and like walking tours as a way to kind of engage people like, like in their total bodies around these topics. And then now, I have a small project that's working on a comic book and an animated film about transportation-related air pollution that we hope to kind of build out to like bleed into like, some curriculum for like K through 12 people in particular. But as a way to kind of start getting people to be aware of terms be aware of like air pollution and how it can like, affect them and even lead to like premature death, right? We want people to be more aware of like the health pieces. And you know, I think we've talked about this or I know we've talked about this, but like, also have interest in like soundscapes, and we'd love to, like think about how can we use soundscapes really to like traffic Navy, or just like the neat like nature, with electronic music or either like classic music, classical music. So it's like, uh, hopefully, within the next year, I can move into that. But those are some things I'm working on. But Fine Arts to be like a really great way to kind of communicate either environmental science or communicate like topics that people are thinking about, but maybe don't have like the language or are scared, right? to talk about it.Brian Bienkowski There's also I mean, we always hear growing up, or at least most of us did, that we all kind of learn differently. You know, some of us like to touch and get into stuff, some of us like to read or watch a YouTube video, whatever it is, and the you know, the soundscapes the one you mentioned, I am just very sensitive to audio, it really kind of resonates with me, it really... and in the kind of stuff that you're talking about, I actually, you know, I do some of that, like, you know, we talked about that. So I do think it's a really good way to kind of spread the message around in all these different ways. And who knows what's going to stick, right? Who knows what, how people learn and stuff? Where does that come from, where you always are the arts and kind of being creative, something that was prior to research, or did it kind of dovetail with some of this research that you're doing?Greer Hamilton It was prior to research, I like had a phase in like high school where I thought maybe I'll be a documentary filmmaker, and I took classes at NYU, they have a really great film school. And so it was like me, this will be what I will do, that did not obviously end up being what I'm doing. But it is a full circle thing to kind of come back to the arts now and include it in research.Brian Bienkowski And do you find that, you know, I don't know so much about your advisors, or how that works. But you know, I know just kind of historically, academia and stuff hasn't put a lot of, you know, it's like published in the journal and move on with your life kind of thing. Do you find that you're you're finding support, and that people are maybe kind of changing in that regard and open to kind of some of these different methods?Greer Hamilton I do. I do think that people are opening, becoming more open to arts. And that's why I ended up at University of Michigan. So they actually put out a call for arts-based research position last year when I was on the job market. And that was what drew me I was like, Oh, how cool it is to see a school like Michigan be interested, right in arts work. You know, I will also say that there are evolving flaws, right? Like they're like, right, because people have for so long thought of like research as like one thing and, and publishing as the only kind of output, right? Like, they are having to change kind of their own metrics to figure out how my work fits into that. But I will say they've been really supportive of like, encouraging of me, using the arts in my research. So I hope that more schools will, will do that.Brian Bienkowski And, you know, I have a brother in law, just as an example here, who wasn't really environmentally engaged. He's a tribal police officer up here. And he watched a documentary about I believe it was about dairy, I don't know what the documentary was about, he quit eating dairy. Like immediately, that was it like no more for him after he saw, I don't know if it was animal abuse, you know, some kind of animal rights issue. He's done. And it just spoke to me that like, oh, gosh, you can put all of the articles out in the world. And you can write all of the stories and send all of the tweets. But if you can find that kind of storytelling aspect, in this case, it was a really well-done documentary, I assume, I mean, it had a profound impact on his life. So I'm just such a, I'm just such a fan of this. And I'm really excited to see where you take some of this stuff. So, very cool. Another avenue that you're interested in, I know you have some different activist tendencies and things that you're very interested in. And I know reproductive justice is something that you're interested in, have engaged in, and it opened your eyes to the intersection of colonialism, capitalism, and environmental injustice, of course. So can you talk about your work in this space? And how it shows these issues as interconnected?Greer Hamilton Yeah, um, when I was in my master's program, that was actually my first research experience. I did abortion-access research with a professor, and this was before Roe vs. Wade was ended. And I learned like how profoundly like geographical location informs was people's access to abortion, right? So like people were having to travel really long, like distances in order to get an abortion, or like the wait times at the time. And I think for me, it really reinforced like the role of place in terms of health and environmental issues, that these are also the same communities that are likely to be overburdened or experienced overburdened by environmental toxins. And these are also the same people who are less likely to be able to access like a basic health care need, like an abortion. And I think it also was a good reminder that things like Roe versus Wade, which we you know, I think for a long time people kind of claimed was the ultimate dream of abortion rights actually had its flaws – like that people were not getting the care they needed. And so, you know, now that, you know, Roe versus Wade has been overturned, it's been even more kind of painful to see the ways in which geography informs people's or restricts people's right access to abortions, and how those geographical barriers are deeply tied right back to like colonialism and capitalism and racism, right, that those things were created intentionally right for people to not be able to access services that you need, whether it's like in their local area, or within a larger state. And so I'm hoping for more people to like, learn more about those barriers that people face, because it's not as easy as people think, to get an abortion, even in 2024. And even with like medical or abortion pills being readily available, right? those pills are also sometimes constrained right by location. So yeah, it's a issue that's really near and dear to my heart. And I'm glad to have seen over the past couple of years, people learn more about abortion restrictions in the country, and reproductive justice.Brian Bienkowski And it's another one of those really frustrating issues, I should say, as we speak right now, you know, Arizona just turned back the clock this week in such a archaic way, on this on this very issue and, and Florida, right. And it's one of those things, it's kind of like gun rights, where it's so frustrating that when you actually look at the, the electorate, you know, the it's not really that controversial of an issue, there really is kind of mostly broad support for this. And to see how our, you know, the system has been perverted in a way that allows people to make decisions for others is, is really something. But I think you're right, you have seen kind of a groundswell of awareness, if nothing else, after Roe fell. So I guess we will see what happens. Do you still is this work that you still engage in now that you're in Detroit and in Michigan? Are you too busy? No.Greer Hamilton Um, so I've been on the board of boards of abortion funds for the past couple years first of Eastern Massachusetts abortion fund. But now that I'm in Detroit, I'm with the Midwest Access Coalition, which is a practical support fund, actually, which people may not know about. But, um, practical support is to tends to be hotels, airfare, childcare, you know, food support, like the other things, right that, that people will require in order to access an abortion. And so I'm really proud of the work that Midwest Access Coalition does. And I'm just proud to be a board member. And also I will just put a plug it is funding season, it is the peer-to-peer fundraising campaign for abortion funds across the country and some international ones. But if you go to nn, like Nancy, a f.org, you will find or you should be able to find your local abortion fund. And they likely are having some sort of event or a fundraising effort for the next month or so. So a great time to give because people's money are drying up. And now that people have decided that the Roe decision no longer takes precedent.Brian Bienkowski Thank you so much for that it is a great time for people to get involved in this, especially, you know, as we head into another election season, and this is top of mind. Hopefully everybody can check that out. So when it comes to social work writ large here, what would you like to see change? I mean, I get the sense that you're you're wanting to do things a little bit differently than have been done historically. So what would you like to see the field change? And how do you see yourself as part of that change?Greer Hamilton Yeah, as much as I love social work, I find it to be a pretty a-historic profession. I think it often forgets like, context matters in terms of like, the social issues that we're working on. And so for me, I really try to include history as much as I can in my work. And so we'd love to see more social workers like integrating and interrogating our history and its relationship to other things. But also, I think we're sometimes reactionary in terms of our engagement with social action. Sometimes it is right like other people who start doing social actions. And then social work is like, "Oh, hey, actually, we should care about it." Environmental issues, I think being an example of this. And so would love to see more social workers just like less scared, right of what other social professionals right are thinking, counselor social work, and to be more, be more open right to like what what social it can be and the issues that we should be focused on. And to, like, take that risk of, of just being more vocal and more active in issues that matter to you, but also to your community.Brian Bienkowski I spoke to, I'm forgetting the fellow right now. But she was a city in this kind of City Planning and had a very similar response that there's, there's a tendency to want to stick within the what the professional parameters have always been, instead of kind of integrating yourself in the community. And I think there's I think there's definitely some lessons there. So this has been a largely positive conversation. But I know environmental justice is not positive all the time, even though we're seeing some progress. So what are you optimistic about?Greer Hamilton I am really proud of the students that are organizing at University of Michigan where I'm at, there's been a lot of like, attempt to like stop them from organizing, but they're making really crucial connections, right to militarization and militarization and how it relates to like environmental issues or public health issues. And I'm just like always deeply proud of young adults who are willing to kind of take risk, even when there are like potential harms, not only to like their physical body, but also to their ability to graduate. And so I think that makes me really optimistic.Brian Bienkowski Excellent. Well, now we get to do some of the fun stuff before we get you out of here. So I have three rapid-fire questions, and you can just give me one word, or a phrase. My favorite hangout in Detroit isGreer Hamilton Kitab coffee.Brian Bienkowski Oh, tell me about it. Where is it at?Greer Hamilton They may have on Hamtramck but they also just built one in Midtown. It's an Arab on coffee shop that just is doing really cool community based work and also has really good coffee.Brian Bienkowski So I think I've seen the one in Hamtramck is it wood paneled?Greer Hamilton Yeah, in Midtown too. It's just Edmonton. So okay.Brian Bienkowski Okay, so we're getting away in the weeds here. And you can tune out listeners for a second. But I've seen the one in Hamtramck because it's on my walk when I walk to cafe 1923 which is my coffee shop that I go to down there. So I will have to definitely try a new one. If I could have dinner with anyone in this can be living or past it would beGreer Hamilton Spike LeeBrian Bienkowski that's a fun one. My go to comfort musician or albumGreer Hamilton Lianne La Havas.Brian Bienkowski I don't know this one. Tell me about tell me about this person.Greer Hamilton She's from London. She has a really beautiful soulful voice and, and she got me through the pandemic. So it'sBrian Bienkowski High praise. Excellent. Well, I will definitely check her out. I've got two recommendations from this. So Greer, this has been a whole lot of fun. I'm really glad we got to connect. And hanging out with you in Philly. It was just, it was so much fun. There's never enough time at those retreats with everybody. And my last question before we get you out of here is what is the last book that you read for fun?Greer Hamilton The City of Dispossession, by Kyle T. Mays, you would also really like it. It's about indigenous andBblack history of Detroit. And just a really good read. Awesome.Brian Bienkowski Well, I'm gonna give a short plug for Book Suey is the bookstore in Hamtramck where I tried to get all my books, even though I live so far away from there now, but they carry a whole local section. So I'm hoping and it's in there next time I'm down there. And Greer, thank you so much for being here today. Thank you so much for your time, and I will talk to you soon.Greer Hamilton Take care.

Dr. Greer Hamilton joins the Agents of Change in Environmental Justice podcast to discuss how she uses the arts to engage and involve communities around environmental justice research.Hamilton, a transitional postdoctoral fellow and incoming assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, is a current fellow in the Agents of Change program. She also talks about how she found her passion in social work, her activism on reproductive justice, tips on meaningfully involving communities in research, and some of her favorite spots in Detroit.The Agents of Change in Environmental Justice podcast is a biweekly podcast featuring the stories and big ideas from past and present fellows, as well as others in the field. You can see all of the past episodes here.Listen below to our discussion with Hamilton, and subscribe to the podcast at iTunes or Spotify. Agents of Change in Environmental Justice · Greer Hamilton on arts-based environmental justice researchTranscript Brian BienkowskiHello and welcome back to the Agents of Change in Environmental Justice podcast, a partnership between Environmental Health News and Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. I'm your host, Brian Bienkowski, editor of Agents of Change and senior editor at Environmental Health News. Welcome back to all of our regular listeners, and welcome to anybody new. We are here every two weeks talking to up-and-coming and established leaders in environmental justice. Please find us wherever you get your podcasts and please subscribe. Well, I am so excited for today's episode. Last month, our leadership team traveled to Philly and we met our fifth cohort fellows. And today we have our very first guest from this latest round of environmental justice rockstars that we are working with. today's guests is Dr. Greer Hamilton, a transitional Postdoctoral Fellow and incoming assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. Greer is doing fascinating work, she talks about how she got into social work, tips on meaningfully engaging communities in your research, what it means to be an art space researcher, and what changes she would like to see in the field of social work. And just a quick warning that we nerd out on Detroit a little bit here and there. But I'm sure you're all used to me doing that every time we have a Detroit-based guest. Enjoy. All right, I am super excited to be joined by our very first fellow from this cohort to join me on the podcast. Greer Hamilton. Greer, how are you doing today?Greer Hamilton I'm doing well. How are you?Brian Bienkowski I'm doing great. We won't talk about all the technical difficulties that we had before we connected now they don't need to know about that. So where are you today?Greer Hamilton I'm in Detroit, Michigan.Brian Bienkowski Detroit, Michigan. As all the listeners know, that is a place very near and dear to my heart. So I'm glad you're down there. In fact, when we met and you told me where you're at down there, I was looking around a little bit. And it's not too far from some of my old house. So I'm hoping to come visit you sometime. But you of course did not grow up in Detroit. You're there now for schooling and such. So you mostly grew up in New York state, from what I understand. So can you tell me a bit about your upbringing and where the interest in the environment and health came into your life?Greer Hamilton Yeah, so you're right, I mostly grew up on Long Island, in a town called Limbrick. But I also spent eight or so years of my childhood living in Alabama, where my mother's family is from. And to be honest, I think environment and health issues really didn't kind of come to the focus until college. And when I started taking a lot more interest in like thinking more about like, you know, the saying of like, "oh, well zip codes matter."– like, we're zip code is can like be a big proxy for like other things. Like that was kind of like the thing that like made me want to think more about environmental and health issues. And I know I mentioned this at like the retreat, but like, one of the things that kind of came full circle to me was about like my town Valley Stream on Long Island being a sundowntown. And how almost kind of short sighted like that zip code as proxy statement is because right zip codes aren't the things that matter. Right? Those other factors, right, like racism or other structural issues are the things that create, right, zip codes mattering. And so like when I kind of started making those connections, I began to become more interested in like, how does like a public park or like how to neighborhood, right? factor into like, our conversation about environment and health, and what do they do? You know, in terms of people's well being.Brian Bienkowski Can you explain to listeners what a sundown town is?Greer Hamilton Yeah, they were pretty prevalent between like, 1940 and 1960 throughout the country you know. Like, we talk poorly about the South, but like, they were in northern places like New York, and they were towns that were predominantly white. And after sundown, they were locations where non-white people were meant to not be and sometimes they were were murdered right for being in the town after sundown. Or they were chased out. But they're just like really, like harmful relics, right of that that time period.Brian Bienkowski You say relics, but men, if you think about the, you know, the 40s to the 60s, I mean, that was long ago, but it's not that long ago. I mean, that's grandparents and stuff, you know, that were around then so that is you know, and being in Detroit there I often think of the zip code that always gets thrown out is 48217 –I have it memorized because that is southwest Detroit – and they deal with some of the worst air in the city and in the state and in the country. So the there's been a lot written and talked about, not too far from you right there a zip code that is really determinant of people's health. So. So you went on to get a dual bachelor's and master's degree at the University of Buffalo. So what was it about social work as a career that spoke to you?Greer Hamilton Yeah, to be honest, my parents went through a divorce in high school, and I went to a social worker. And it was, at the time like thinking about going into pre med. I always kind of planned to be a medical doctor. And, but at the time, my life cannot imagine also doing that. And I was talking to my social worker about like, her job, and like, what were those opportunities, and she thought social work could be a good option for me, because it was still helping. And it's also a really broad profession, right? So I could still, you know, be interested in health and, and make a career out of that. And so that's kind of what like pushed me into social work and found it and then like, really developed like a love and appreciation for it.Brian Bienkowski That is so cool. That you know, in pursuing support for yourself, you not only found support, but a career, passion. That is that is really cool and turned something that was maybe difficult, into, you know, something that is very, it's very positive now, so very cool. I've been asking everybody this, what is a moment or event that has shaped your identity up to this point? I know, that's big and unwieldy.Greer Hamilton Yeah, I'm thinking about this. And I think in my master's program, one that sticks out to me was, I worked in a student-run health clinic on the east side of Buffalo, which is a predominantly Black part of the city. And in my experience, it was really interesting because, right, I had to reflect on my blackness, right. And like about also my privileges, because I grew up middle middle class, and we were working with people who were uninsured and low income. And, you know, they saw me as like a similar person to them. And also, they were things that really like I didn't share in terms of like lived experience. But also it like made me really want to, like pursue research, right, related to health. And so I think at that time, it was like, you know, about a year of working every Wednesday night and this clinic, but it was really cool to work with, like medical doctors and community members to like, try to figure out ways to improve their, their health and well being.Brian Bienkowski So this leads me really nicely in my next question, so before you returned to get your PhD was, which is where you're at now, you were, you know, working in social work in Buffalo, and I know this was meaningful, obviously, to you. But can you talk about why you wanted to get your PhD? why research spoke to you as something that you could maybe do more good, or, you know, additional good in this space?Greer Hamilton Yeah. Um, so after my master's, I went on to work at a nonprofit that was focused on actually increasing representation of non-white and low-income people in health professions, including social work and medicine. And then after that, did some work with a local foundation, doing community capacity building work with nonprofits. And in both of those experiences, both program managing a nonprofit and working with other nonprofits, I realized how there was like this weird cyclical kind of nature of like funding and research where nonprofits needed funding funders wanted research or evaluation. But those nonprofits didn't have either the staff person or the money, right to then go out and do research or evaluation. And so then it ended up putting large organizations that had that type of resource ahead, right, and then smaller, more grassroots organizations behind. And so I was like, "Oh, well, I like research will maybe this is something I could pursue, and then eventually come back with it to Buffalo or somewhere else and be that person who can provide that type of research or evaluation, support to organizations that they can do more," right? and get the funding they need in order to do the great work that they were doing.Brian Bienkowski So you went from one, Rust Belt city to another. And we talked about our love of rust belt cities, and I have a soft spot in my heart for Buffalo. I used to really like the Buffalo Bills football team when I was okay. And now you know, of course, the Lions because that's where I'm from, but it's just really cool to be working in those in those cities. I just find them fascinating, the kind of industrial history and all of that, and you mentioned something there that I want to just talk to you a little bit about and that's representation in healthcare settings, kind of having non-white representation. Can you talk about maybe an example or just why that's important, what that means to people to go into, you know, what can be kind of a vulnerable setting and see people like them or at least see people that represent their community?Greer Hamilton Yeah. I think like it also I think ties back to this my interest in like history and its relationship to health because I think, right, so much of like the current conversations about Black people in healthcare settings are about how medical doctors often don't like consider them capable of pain, right? And like that has kind of shown up in maternal mortality related situations recently, and how all of those things are like so directly tied back to our history of enslavement in this country. And so I think when people –and I can speak for myself– and I am able to find a Black doctor who is truly able to kind of understand that history, but also to be like, the one to ask more questions, right? And not assume that like, because I have a PhD or because of certain things that like maybe I'm not capable of experiencing certain issues, the person like to ask those questions just really matters. And so I think it's sometimes helpful to have a person who is like you in some way, and being your care provider or kind of being another person in your life.Brian Bienkowski So you've been doing a lot of your research is fascinating. And the way you put your research out is fascinating. And when I read your application, I think it's okay for me to admit that you are the one that I was telling the staff like, "No, we need her. She's, she's part of this cohort." I was really excited because you're doing a lot of cool stuff. And I want to get into that. But let's start first kind of take a step back and talk about the research that you're doing so. And you're also again, into unique ways of communicating it. So can you tell me about the research, you're co-leading looking at indoor air pollution in affordable housing and transportation pollution in the Boston area? What are you all doing and what have you found so far?Greer Hamilton Yeah, so our affordable housing project wrapped up last year was called Stainable air quality in affordable housing, and it was with engineering researchers at Tufts University. And I worked with them over the past four or five years. And then collectively, those engineers and Alok Shuhada and John Durant, and I applied for a grant with this group called Mystic River Watershed Association. And we have now a community-based air quality study in East Boston, Charlestown, Everett, and Malden to monitor the air quality over three years, and then to also work with residents to understand their own understandings of air quality, and how it's affected them. We chose those four communities because they are communities that are most overburdened by air pollution, because of where the highways are, the airport, and also they have the most are like they have a large population of non-white and linguistically-isolated people. And so they're often not represented in in this type of research. But should be, right? And so I think that's what we're trying to kind of do in our work. It's a community-engaged study that goes through 2026. And I hope to do all the community engaged research, which is, you know, exciting, and fun.Brian Bienkowski Yeah, before we get into some of that outreach, have there been Do you have findings yet? Have you looked at kind of air quality and seen, you know, bad things in the air compared to other neighborhoods and stuff? Are there any findings? Oh, yeah.Greer Hamilton Not from our project. But like Boston has done a lot of air quality research over the past 10 years or so. So there is some research like, I always forget the acronym but or like the full name, but it's called Cafe, there was a study done in Chinatown, right? where they found that people living in Chinatown, right were greatly affected by air quality. And also then didn't have like the resources to monitor or to do some of the mitigation strategies. So Chinatown has been doing a lot of research in those years following. For our project we started last April. So we have some preliminary survey data that finds that like a lot of people are concerned about air pollution, but either don't understand what are the sources of pollutants, or don't understand what to do to make improvements, right, whether that is by personal behavior changes, or advocacy work. And so that's kind of what we're hoping to do next.Brian Bienkowski We just did a big investigation, our newsroom with the Texas Tribune, looking at air quality in certain neighborhoods, certain Latino neighborhoods. And one of the things that we found was that even when there is data, it's not the first of all, it was often not in Spanish. And a lot of these are Spanish-speaking communities. And then you go to these websites, and I've been a reporter for a while and use the TRI from the EPA and stuff. And it's just a mess. I mean, you almost need a PhD to understand the data in the first place. So I think I really want to get at this kind of community engagement. And that's where a lot of your work comes in. So let's take this this study as a way to understand that, can you talk about your role in getting community members involved in the project, and making sure that they're engaged and aware of what you guys are finding and doing?Greer Hamilton Yeah. So the first kind of part of like our community engagement efforts were to develop a community advisory board. This is an 11 person board that is made up of young people under 18 and adults who live in those four communities. They are people who are not researchers, they are moms, they are nurses, they are students, right? And we really wanted to prioritize people who live there, and had lived there for a long time. And in order to kind of like contextualize the research that we're doing. We meet with them quarterly, and they give us guidance on kind of all facets of our work. We also have a community survey that is out, I'm in all four communities where we're asking people about, what is air quality to them? How do they know that poor air quality is occurring in their neighborhood? Is it smelling does it like look bad? and where are kind of the sites that they would want us to do follow up research in. And then we've also linked back to the language conversation you were just having have been really like intentional about making sure that our work is able to reach communities that we want. So we translate all of our work, whether that's the surveys to materials for like community meetings, into seven different languages including English, with the ones that are most represented by those four, so like Arabic, Haitian, Creole, Spanish, Portuguese, for example. And then we've also really been trying to, like build out like educational kind of workshop series for both our community advisory board members, but also residents. So we've been working with organizations to host like air quality one-on-one workshops, so they can like, start learning how to deconstruct the air quality data that we might be producing, and also to like, do like do DIY, kind of like air filtration types of projects. And then we're also beginning to offer your policy and advocacy trainings over the summer, so that our county advisory board members can then take that information back to their community, and really start to like work with other organizations around like, what are those strategies we want to implement? Knowing that policymakers right, have a lot of responsibility for regulating air pollution, whether it's like idling buses, or, you know, a truck, right, that stuck on the on the, on the 93, right? and so really kind of trying to work with residents around that. So those are some of the ways that we're thinking about community engagement.Brian Bienkowski That's really great. Because I mean, it takes everything from "Okay, let's find out what's in the air" all the way through to "Okay, now you are armed with this information here, we're going to train you to advocate for yourself." And I think making that holistic connection like that is, it's really exciting. It's really cool to hear about that. So what are some tips that you would have for other researchers who are trying to do this kind of community engagement, but are having trouble or finding people reluctant or busy? That's probably a big one, too. What are some tips you might have?Greer Hamilton I think you have to know that it's going to be slow from the very beginning. I work with people who wanted to communicate research, but don't want to invest the time. And you can't do this work without investing time. Time not only in like, learning what people's needs are, right? Like, let's say that like air pollution actually wasn't the top need for people like that means that we might have to shift right like kind of our priorities until we can get there. And it means like showing up to events that like you don't think are relevant to your work, right, like a block party, or you know, an event that's happening in a local college. And also listening, I think, like, my goal always is to do more listening than I am talking. So if a resident is telling me like something that matters to them, or something that like I've done that maybe was not in line of how they think it should be done. My job is not to like, talk down to them, right? Because I'm in a certain position and just to like, really listen and hear kind of what are the concerns that they're bringing up so that I can either shift what I'm doing or shift my thinking or approach around something.Brian Bienkowski And so you call yourself an arts-based researcher, which is, I love that title. I think it's really cool. And so can you give some examples of the ways that you used arts to engage with communities around environmental justice research and issues? And what are some artistic outlets or methods that you haven't used yet, but that you'd like to try?Greer Hamilton Yeah, so beginning of my PhD, I worked with students in the School of Arts to work on puppetry. So we made some stop motion work about green gentrification, which was kind of the environmental work that I was working on at that time. And it was really cool, because it was a really like disarming way of like talking about gentrification, which can be such a heavy topic. And people like, were able to kind of see like the horrors, right? of like, what happens when neighborhoods changed without people being able to participate in and then that shifted to my dissertation where I began to include more like visual arts and storytelling, so like doing like oral history collections, and like walking tours as a way to kind of engage people like, like in their total bodies around these topics. And then now, I have a small project that's working on a comic book and an animated film about transportation-related air pollution that we hope to kind of build out to like bleed into like, some curriculum for like K through 12 people in particular. But as a way to kind of start getting people to be aware of terms be aware of like air pollution and how it can like, affect them and even lead to like premature death, right? We want people to be more aware of like the health pieces. And you know, I think we've talked about this or I know we've talked about this, but like, also have interest in like soundscapes, and we'd love to, like think about how can we use soundscapes really to like traffic Navy, or just like the neat like nature, with electronic music or either like classic music, classical music. So it's like, uh, hopefully, within the next year, I can move into that. But those are some things I'm working on. But Fine Arts to be like a really great way to kind of communicate either environmental science or communicate like topics that people are thinking about, but maybe don't have like the language or are scared, right? to talk about it.Brian Bienkowski There's also I mean, we always hear growing up, or at least most of us did, that we all kind of learn differently. You know, some of us like to touch and get into stuff, some of us like to read or watch a YouTube video, whatever it is, and the you know, the soundscapes the one you mentioned, I am just very sensitive to audio, it really kind of resonates with me, it really... and in the kind of stuff that you're talking about, I actually, you know, I do some of that, like, you know, we talked about that. So I do think it's a really good way to kind of spread the message around in all these different ways. And who knows what's going to stick, right? Who knows what, how people learn and stuff? Where does that come from, where you always are the arts and kind of being creative, something that was prior to research, or did it kind of dovetail with some of this research that you're doing?Greer Hamilton It was prior to research, I like had a phase in like high school where I thought maybe I'll be a documentary filmmaker, and I took classes at NYU, they have a really great film school. And so it was like me, this will be what I will do, that did not obviously end up being what I'm doing. But it is a full circle thing to kind of come back to the arts now and include it in research.Brian Bienkowski And do you find that, you know, I don't know so much about your advisors, or how that works. But you know, I know just kind of historically, academia and stuff hasn't put a lot of, you know, it's like published in the journal and move on with your life kind of thing. Do you find that you're you're finding support, and that people are maybe kind of changing in that regard and open to kind of some of these different methods?Greer Hamilton I do. I do think that people are opening, becoming more open to arts. And that's why I ended up at University of Michigan. So they actually put out a call for arts-based research position last year when I was on the job market. And that was what drew me I was like, Oh, how cool it is to see a school like Michigan be interested, right in arts work. You know, I will also say that there are evolving flaws, right? Like they're like, right, because people have for so long thought of like research as like one thing and, and publishing as the only kind of output, right? Like, they are having to change kind of their own metrics to figure out how my work fits into that. But I will say they've been really supportive of like, encouraging of me, using the arts in my research. So I hope that more schools will, will do that.Brian Bienkowski And, you know, I have a brother in law, just as an example here, who wasn't really environmentally engaged. He's a tribal police officer up here. And he watched a documentary about I believe it was about dairy, I don't know what the documentary was about, he quit eating dairy. Like immediately, that was it like no more for him after he saw, I don't know if it was animal abuse, you know, some kind of animal rights issue. He's done. And it just spoke to me that like, oh, gosh, you can put all of the articles out in the world. And you can write all of the stories and send all of the tweets. But if you can find that kind of storytelling aspect, in this case, it was a really well-done documentary, I assume, I mean, it had a profound impact on his life. So I'm just such a, I'm just such a fan of this. And I'm really excited to see where you take some of this stuff. So, very cool. Another avenue that you're interested in, I know you have some different activist tendencies and things that you're very interested in. And I know reproductive justice is something that you're interested in, have engaged in, and it opened your eyes to the intersection of colonialism, capitalism, and environmental injustice, of course. So can you talk about your work in this space? And how it shows these issues as interconnected?Greer Hamilton Yeah, um, when I was in my master's program, that was actually my first research experience. I did abortion-access research with a professor, and this was before Roe vs. Wade was ended. And I learned like how profoundly like geographical location informs was people's access to abortion, right? So like people were having to travel really long, like distances in order to get an abortion, or like the wait times at the time. And I think for me, it really reinforced like the role of place in terms of health and environmental issues, that these are also the same communities that are likely to be overburdened or experienced overburdened by environmental toxins. And these are also the same people who are less likely to be able to access like a basic health care need, like an abortion. And I think it also was a good reminder that things like Roe versus Wade, which we you know, I think for a long time people kind of claimed was the ultimate dream of abortion rights actually had its flaws – like that people were not getting the care they needed. And so, you know, now that, you know, Roe versus Wade has been overturned, it's been even more kind of painful to see the ways in which geography informs people's or restricts people's right access to abortions, and how those geographical barriers are deeply tied right back to like colonialism and capitalism and racism, right, that those things were created intentionally right for people to not be able to access services that you need, whether it's like in their local area, or within a larger state. And so I'm hoping for more people to like, learn more about those barriers that people face, because it's not as easy as people think, to get an abortion, even in 2024. And even with like medical or abortion pills being readily available, right? those pills are also sometimes constrained right by location. So yeah, it's a issue that's really near and dear to my heart. And I'm glad to have seen over the past couple of years, people learn more about abortion restrictions in the country, and reproductive justice.Brian Bienkowski And it's another one of those really frustrating issues, I should say, as we speak right now, you know, Arizona just turned back the clock this week in such a archaic way, on this on this very issue and, and Florida, right. And it's one of those things, it's kind of like gun rights, where it's so frustrating that when you actually look at the, the electorate, you know, the it's not really that controversial of an issue, there really is kind of mostly broad support for this. And to see how our, you know, the system has been perverted in a way that allows people to make decisions for others is, is really something. But I think you're right, you have seen kind of a groundswell of awareness, if nothing else, after Roe fell. So I guess we will see what happens. Do you still is this work that you still engage in now that you're in Detroit and in Michigan? Are you too busy? No.Greer Hamilton Um, so I've been on the board of boards of abortion funds for the past couple years first of Eastern Massachusetts abortion fund. But now that I'm in Detroit, I'm with the Midwest Access Coalition, which is a practical support fund, actually, which people may not know about. But, um, practical support is to tends to be hotels, airfare, childcare, you know, food support, like the other things, right that, that people will require in order to access an abortion. And so I'm really proud of the work that Midwest Access Coalition does. And I'm just proud to be a board member. And also I will just put a plug it is funding season, it is the peer-to-peer fundraising campaign for abortion funds across the country and some international ones. But if you go to nn, like Nancy, a f.org, you will find or you should be able to find your local abortion fund. And they likely are having some sort of event or a fundraising effort for the next month or so. So a great time to give because people's money are drying up. And now that people have decided that the Roe decision no longer takes precedent.Brian Bienkowski Thank you so much for that it is a great time for people to get involved in this, especially, you know, as we head into another election season, and this is top of mind. Hopefully everybody can check that out. So when it comes to social work writ large here, what would you like to see change? I mean, I get the sense that you're you're wanting to do things a little bit differently than have been done historically. So what would you like to see the field change? And how do you see yourself as part of that change?Greer Hamilton Yeah, as much as I love social work, I find it to be a pretty a-historic profession. I think it often forgets like, context matters in terms of like, the social issues that we're working on. And so for me, I really try to include history as much as I can in my work. And so we'd love to see more social workers like integrating and interrogating our history and its relationship to other things. But also, I think we're sometimes reactionary in terms of our engagement with social action. Sometimes it is right like other people who start doing social actions. And then social work is like, "Oh, hey, actually, we should care about it." Environmental issues, I think being an example of this. And so would love to see more social workers just like less scared, right of what other social professionals right are thinking, counselor social work, and to be more, be more open right to like what what social it can be and the issues that we should be focused on. And to, like, take that risk of, of just being more vocal and more active in issues that matter to you, but also to your community.Brian Bienkowski I spoke to, I'm forgetting the fellow right now. But she was a city in this kind of City Planning and had a very similar response that there's, there's a tendency to want to stick within the what the professional parameters have always been, instead of kind of integrating yourself in the community. And I think there's I think there's definitely some lessons there. So this has been a largely positive conversation. But I know environmental justice is not positive all the time, even though we're seeing some progress. So what are you optimistic about?Greer Hamilton I am really proud of the students that are organizing at University of Michigan where I'm at, there's been a lot of like, attempt to like stop them from organizing, but they're making really crucial connections, right to militarization and militarization and how it relates to like environmental issues or public health issues. And I'm just like always deeply proud of young adults who are willing to kind of take risk, even when there are like potential harms, not only to like their physical body, but also to their ability to graduate. And so I think that makes me really optimistic.Brian Bienkowski Excellent. Well, now we get to do some of the fun stuff before we get you out of here. So I have three rapid-fire questions, and you can just give me one word, or a phrase. My favorite hangout in Detroit isGreer Hamilton Kitab coffee.Brian Bienkowski Oh, tell me about it. Where is it at?Greer Hamilton They may have on Hamtramck but they also just built one in Midtown. It's an Arab on coffee shop that just is doing really cool community based work and also has really good coffee.Brian Bienkowski So I think I've seen the one in Hamtramck is it wood paneled?Greer Hamilton Yeah, in Midtown too. It's just Edmonton. So okay.Brian Bienkowski Okay, so we're getting away in the weeds here. And you can tune out listeners for a second. But I've seen the one in Hamtramck because it's on my walk when I walk to cafe 1923 which is my coffee shop that I go to down there. So I will have to definitely try a new one. If I could have dinner with anyone in this can be living or past it would beGreer Hamilton Spike LeeBrian Bienkowski that's a fun one. My go to comfort musician or albumGreer Hamilton Lianne La Havas.Brian Bienkowski I don't know this one. Tell me about tell me about this person.Greer Hamilton She's from London. She has a really beautiful soulful voice and, and she got me through the pandemic. So it'sBrian Bienkowski High praise. Excellent. Well, I will definitely check her out. I've got two recommendations from this. So Greer, this has been a whole lot of fun. I'm really glad we got to connect. And hanging out with you in Philly. It was just, it was so much fun. There's never enough time at those retreats with everybody. And my last question before we get you out of here is what is the last book that you read for fun?Greer Hamilton The City of Dispossession, by Kyle T. Mays, you would also really like it. It's about indigenous andBblack history of Detroit. And just a really good read. Awesome.Brian Bienkowski Well, I'm gonna give a short plug for Book Suey is the bookstore in Hamtramck where I tried to get all my books, even though I live so far away from there now, but they carry a whole local section. So I'm hoping and it's in there next time I'm down there. And Greer, thank you so much for being here today. Thank you so much for your time, and I will talk to you soon.Greer Hamilton Take care.



Dr. Greer Hamilton joins the Agents of Change in Environmental Justice podcast to discuss how she uses the arts to engage and involve communities around environmental justice research.


Hamilton, a transitional postdoctoral fellow and incoming assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, is a current fellow in the Agents of Change program. She also talks about how she found her passion in social work, her activism on reproductive justice, tips on meaningfully involving communities in research, and some of her favorite spots in Detroit.

The Agents of Change in Environmental Justice podcast is a biweekly podcast featuring the stories and big ideas from past and present fellows, as well as others in the field. You can see all of the past episodes here.

Listen below to our discussion with Hamilton, and subscribe to the podcast at iTunes or Spotify.


Agents of Change in Environmental Justice · Greer Hamilton on arts-based environmental justice research

Transcript 


Brian Bienkowski

Hello and welcome back to the Agents of Change in Environmental Justice podcast, a partnership between Environmental Health News and Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. I'm your host, Brian Bienkowski, editor of Agents of Change and senior editor at Environmental Health News. Welcome back to all of our regular listeners, and welcome to anybody new. We are here every two weeks talking to up-and-coming and established leaders in environmental justice. Please find us wherever you get your podcasts and please subscribe. Well, I am so excited for today's episode. Last month, our leadership team traveled to Philly and we met our fifth cohort fellows. And today we have our very first guest from this latest round of environmental justice rockstars that we are working with. today's guests is Dr. Greer Hamilton, a transitional Postdoctoral Fellow and incoming assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. Greer is doing fascinating work, she talks about how she got into social work, tips on meaningfully engaging communities in your research, what it means to be an art space researcher, and what changes she would like to see in the field of social work. And just a quick warning that we nerd out on Detroit a little bit here and there. But I'm sure you're all used to me doing that every time we have a Detroit-based guest. Enjoy. All right, I am super excited to be joined by our very first fellow from this cohort to join me on the podcast. Greer Hamilton. Greer, how are you doing today?

Greer Hamilton

I'm doing well. How are you?

Brian Bienkowski

I'm doing great. We won't talk about all the technical difficulties that we had before we connected now they don't need to know about that. So where are you today?

Greer Hamilton

I'm in Detroit, Michigan.

Brian Bienkowski

Detroit, Michigan. As all the listeners know, that is a place very near and dear to my heart. So I'm glad you're down there. In fact, when we met and you told me where you're at down there, I was looking around a little bit. And it's not too far from some of my old house. So I'm hoping to come visit you sometime. But you of course did not grow up in Detroit. You're there now for schooling and such. So you mostly grew up in New York state, from what I understand. So can you tell me a bit about your upbringing and where the interest in the environment and health came into your life?

Greer Hamilton

Yeah, so you're right, I mostly grew up on Long Island, in a town called Limbrick. But I also spent eight or so years of my childhood living in Alabama, where my mother's family is from. And to be honest, I think environment and health issues really didn't kind of come to the focus until college. And when I started taking a lot more interest in like thinking more about like, you know, the saying of like, "oh, well zip codes matter."– like, we're zip code is can like be a big proxy for like other things. Like that was kind of like the thing that like made me want to think more about environmental and health issues. And I know I mentioned this at like the retreat, but like, one of the things that kind of came full circle to me was about like my town Valley Stream on Long Island being a sundowntown. And how almost kind of short sighted like that zip code as proxy statement is because right zip codes aren't the things that matter. Right? Those other factors, right, like racism or other structural issues are the things that create, right, zip codes mattering. And so like when I kind of started making those connections, I began to become more interested in like, how does like a public park or like how to neighborhood, right? factor into like, our conversation about environment and health, and what do they do? You know, in terms of people's well being.

Brian Bienkowski

Can you explain to listeners what a sundown town is?

Greer Hamilton

Yeah, they were pretty prevalent between like, 1940 and 1960 throughout the country you know. Like, we talk poorly about the South, but like, they were in northern places like New York, and they were towns that were predominantly white. And after sundown, they were locations where non-white people were meant to not be and sometimes they were were murdered right for being in the town after sundown. Or they were chased out. But they're just like really, like harmful relics, right of that that time period.

Brian Bienkowski

You say relics, but men, if you think about the, you know, the 40s to the 60s, I mean, that was long ago, but it's not that long ago. I mean, that's grandparents and stuff, you know, that were around then so that is you know, and being in Detroit there I often think of the zip code that always gets thrown out is 48217 –I have it memorized because that is southwest Detroit – and they deal with some of the worst air in the city and in the state and in the country. So the there's been a lot written and talked about, not too far from you right there a zip code that is really determinant of people's health. So. So you went on to get a dual bachelor's and master's degree at the University of Buffalo. So what was it about social work as a career that spoke to you?

Greer Hamilton

Yeah, to be honest, my parents went through a divorce in high school, and I went to a social worker. And it was, at the time like thinking about going into pre med. I always kind of planned to be a medical doctor. And, but at the time, my life cannot imagine also doing that. And I was talking to my social worker about like, her job, and like, what were those opportunities, and she thought social work could be a good option for me, because it was still helping. And it's also a really broad profession, right? So I could still, you know, be interested in health and, and make a career out of that. And so that's kind of what like pushed me into social work and found it and then like, really developed like a love and appreciation for it.

Brian Bienkowski

That is so cool. That you know, in pursuing support for yourself, you not only found support, but a career, passion. That is that is really cool and turned something that was maybe difficult, into, you know, something that is very, it's very positive now, so very cool. I've been asking everybody this, what is a moment or event that has shaped your identity up to this point? I know, that's big and unwieldy.

Greer Hamilton

Yeah, I'm thinking about this. And I think in my master's program, one that sticks out to me was, I worked in a student-run health clinic on the east side of Buffalo, which is a predominantly Black part of the city. And in my experience, it was really interesting because, right, I had to reflect on my blackness, right. And like about also my privileges, because I grew up middle middle class, and we were working with people who were uninsured and low income. And, you know, they saw me as like a similar person to them. And also, they were things that really like I didn't share in terms of like lived experience. But also it like made me really want to, like pursue research, right, related to health. And so I think at that time, it was like, you know, about a year of working every Wednesday night and this clinic, but it was really cool to work with, like medical doctors and community members to like, try to figure out ways to improve their, their health and well being.

Brian Bienkowski

So this leads me really nicely in my next question, so before you returned to get your PhD was, which is where you're at now, you were, you know, working in social work in Buffalo, and I know this was meaningful, obviously, to you. But can you talk about why you wanted to get your PhD? why research spoke to you as something that you could maybe do more good, or, you know, additional good in this space?

Greer Hamilton

Yeah. Um, so after my master's, I went on to work at a nonprofit that was focused on actually increasing representation of non-white and low-income people in health professions, including social work and medicine. And then after that, did some work with a local foundation, doing community capacity building work with nonprofits. And in both of those experiences, both program managing a nonprofit and working with other nonprofits, I realized how there was like this weird cyclical kind of nature of like funding and research where nonprofits needed funding funders wanted research or evaluation. But those nonprofits didn't have either the staff person or the money, right to then go out and do research or evaluation. And so then it ended up putting large organizations that had that type of resource ahead, right, and then smaller, more grassroots organizations behind. And so I was like, "Oh, well, I like research will maybe this is something I could pursue, and then eventually come back with it to Buffalo or somewhere else and be that person who can provide that type of research or evaluation, support to organizations that they can do more," right? and get the funding they need in order to do the great work that they were doing.

Brian Bienkowski

So you went from one, Rust Belt city to another. And we talked about our love of rust belt cities, and I have a soft spot in my heart for Buffalo. I used to really like the Buffalo Bills football team when I was okay. And now you know, of course, the Lions because that's where I'm from, but it's just really cool to be working in those in those cities. I just find them fascinating, the kind of industrial history and all of that, and you mentioned something there that I want to just talk to you a little bit about and that's representation in healthcare settings, kind of having non-white representation. Can you talk about maybe an example or just why that's important, what that means to people to go into, you know, what can be kind of a vulnerable setting and see people like them or at least see people that represent their community?

Greer Hamilton

Yeah. I think like it also I think ties back to this my interest in like history and its relationship to health because I think, right, so much of like the current conversations about Black people in healthcare settings are about how medical doctors often don't like consider them capable of pain, right? And like that has kind of shown up in maternal mortality related situations recently, and how all of those things are like so directly tied back to our history of enslavement in this country. And so I think when people –and I can speak for myself– and I am able to find a Black doctor who is truly able to kind of understand that history, but also to be like, the one to ask more questions, right? And not assume that like, because I have a PhD or because of certain things that like maybe I'm not capable of experiencing certain issues, the person like to ask those questions just really matters. And so I think it's sometimes helpful to have a person who is like you in some way, and being your care provider or kind of being another person in your life.

Brian Bienkowski

So you've been doing a lot of your research is fascinating. And the way you put your research out is fascinating. And when I read your application, I think it's okay for me to admit that you are the one that I was telling the staff like, "No, we need her. She's, she's part of this cohort." I was really excited because you're doing a lot of cool stuff. And I want to get into that. But let's start first kind of take a step back and talk about the research that you're doing so. And you're also again, into unique ways of communicating it. So can you tell me about the research, you're co-leading looking at indoor air pollution in affordable housing and transportation pollution in the Boston area? What are you all doing and what have you found so far?

Greer Hamilton

Yeah, so our affordable housing project wrapped up last year was called Stainable air quality in affordable housing, and it was with engineering researchers at Tufts University. And I worked with them over the past four or five years. And then collectively, those engineers and Alok Shuhada and John Durant, and I applied for a grant with this group called Mystic River Watershed Association. And we have now a community-based air quality study in East Boston, Charlestown, Everett, and Malden to monitor the air quality over three years, and then to also work with residents to understand their own understandings of air quality, and how it's affected them. We chose those four communities because they are communities that are most overburdened by air pollution, because of where the highways are, the airport, and also they have the most are like they have a large population of non-white and linguistically-isolated people. And so they're often not represented in in this type of research. But should be, right? And so I think that's what we're trying to kind of do in our work. It's a community-engaged study that goes through 2026. And I hope to do all the community engaged research, which is, you know, exciting, and fun.

Brian Bienkowski

Yeah, before we get into some of that outreach, have there been Do you have findings yet? Have you looked at kind of air quality and seen, you know, bad things in the air compared to other neighborhoods and stuff? Are there any findings? Oh, yeah.

Greer Hamilton

Not from our project. But like Boston has done a lot of air quality research over the past 10 years or so. So there is some research like, I always forget the acronym but or like the full name, but it's called Cafe, there was a study done in Chinatown, right? where they found that people living in Chinatown, right were greatly affected by air quality. And also then didn't have like the resources to monitor or to do some of the mitigation strategies. So Chinatown has been doing a lot of research in those years following. For our project we started last April. So we have some preliminary survey data that finds that like a lot of people are concerned about air pollution, but either don't understand what are the sources of pollutants, or don't understand what to do to make improvements, right, whether that is by personal behavior changes, or advocacy work. And so that's kind of what we're hoping to do next.

Brian Bienkowski

We just did a big investigation, our newsroom with the Texas Tribune, looking at air quality in certain neighborhoods, certain Latino neighborhoods. And one of the things that we found was that even when there is data, it's not the first of all, it was often not in Spanish. And a lot of these are Spanish-speaking communities. And then you go to these websites, and I've been a reporter for a while and use the TRI from the EPA and stuff. And it's just a mess. I mean, you almost need a PhD to understand the data in the first place. So I think I really want to get at this kind of community engagement. And that's where a lot of your work comes in. So let's take this this study as a way to understand that, can you talk about your role in getting community members involved in the project, and making sure that they're engaged and aware of what you guys are finding and doing?

Greer Hamilton

Yeah. So the first kind of part of like our community engagement efforts were to develop a community advisory board. This is an 11 person board that is made up of young people under 18 and adults who live in those four communities. They are people who are not researchers, they are moms, they are nurses, they are students, right? And we really wanted to prioritize people who live there, and had lived there for a long time. And in order to kind of like contextualize the research that we're doing. We meet with them quarterly, and they give us guidance on kind of all facets of our work. We also have a community survey that is out, I'm in all four communities where we're asking people about, what is air quality to them? How do they know that poor air quality is occurring in their neighborhood? Is it smelling does it like look bad? and where are kind of the sites that they would want us to do follow up research in. And then we've also linked back to the language conversation you were just having have been really like intentional about making sure that our work is able to reach communities that we want. So we translate all of our work, whether that's the surveys to materials for like community meetings, into seven different languages including English, with the ones that are most represented by those four, so like Arabic, Haitian, Creole, Spanish, Portuguese, for example. And then we've also really been trying to, like build out like educational kind of workshop series for both our community advisory board members, but also residents. So we've been working with organizations to host like air quality one-on-one workshops, so they can like, start learning how to deconstruct the air quality data that we might be producing, and also to like, do like do DIY, kind of like air filtration types of projects. And then we're also beginning to offer your policy and advocacy trainings over the summer, so that our county advisory board members can then take that information back to their community, and really start to like work with other organizations around like, what are those strategies we want to implement? Knowing that policymakers right, have a lot of responsibility for regulating air pollution, whether it's like idling buses, or, you know, a truck, right, that stuck on the on the, on the 93, right? and so really kind of trying to work with residents around that. So those are some of the ways that we're thinking about community engagement.

Brian Bienkowski

That's really great. Because I mean, it takes everything from "Okay, let's find out what's in the air" all the way through to "Okay, now you are armed with this information here, we're going to train you to advocate for yourself." And I think making that holistic connection like that is, it's really exciting. It's really cool to hear about that. So what are some tips that you would have for other researchers who are trying to do this kind of community engagement, but are having trouble or finding people reluctant or busy? That's probably a big one, too. What are some tips you might have?

Greer Hamilton

I think you have to know that it's going to be slow from the very beginning. I work with people who wanted to communicate research, but don't want to invest the time. And you can't do this work without investing time. Time not only in like, learning what people's needs are, right? Like, let's say that like air pollution actually wasn't the top need for people like that means that we might have to shift right like kind of our priorities until we can get there. And it means like showing up to events that like you don't think are relevant to your work, right, like a block party, or you know, an event that's happening in a local college. And also listening, I think, like, my goal always is to do more listening than I am talking. So if a resident is telling me like something that matters to them, or something that like I've done that maybe was not in line of how they think it should be done. My job is not to like, talk down to them, right? Because I'm in a certain position and just to like, really listen and hear kind of what are the concerns that they're bringing up so that I can either shift what I'm doing or shift my thinking or approach around something.

Brian Bienkowski

And so you call yourself an arts-based researcher, which is, I love that title. I think it's really cool. And so can you give some examples of the ways that you used arts to engage with communities around environmental justice research and issues? And what are some artistic outlets or methods that you haven't used yet, but that you'd like to try?

Greer Hamilton

Yeah, so beginning of my PhD, I worked with students in the School of Arts to work on puppetry. So we made some stop motion work about green gentrification, which was kind of the environmental work that I was working on at that time. And it was really cool, because it was a really like disarming way of like talking about gentrification, which can be such a heavy topic. And people like, were able to kind of see like the horrors, right? of like, what happens when neighborhoods changed without people being able to participate in and then that shifted to my dissertation where I began to include more like visual arts and storytelling, so like doing like oral history collections, and like walking tours as a way to kind of engage people like, like in their total bodies around these topics. And then now, I have a small project that's working on a comic book and an animated film about transportation-related air pollution that we hope to kind of build out to like bleed into like, some curriculum for like K through 12 people in particular. But as a way to kind of start getting people to be aware of terms be aware of like air pollution and how it can like, affect them and even lead to like premature death, right? We want people to be more aware of like the health pieces. And you know, I think we've talked about this or I know we've talked about this, but like, also have interest in like soundscapes, and we'd love to, like think about how can we use soundscapes really to like traffic Navy, or just like the neat like nature, with electronic music or either like classic music, classical music. So it's like, uh, hopefully, within the next year, I can move into that. But those are some things I'm working on. But Fine Arts to be like a really great way to kind of communicate either environmental science or communicate like topics that people are thinking about, but maybe don't have like the language or are scared, right? to talk about it.

Brian Bienkowski

There's also I mean, we always hear growing up, or at least most of us did, that we all kind of learn differently. You know, some of us like to touch and get into stuff, some of us like to read or watch a YouTube video, whatever it is, and the you know, the soundscapes the one you mentioned, I am just very sensitive to audio, it really kind of resonates with me, it really... and in the kind of stuff that you're talking about, I actually, you know, I do some of that, like, you know, we talked about that. So I do think it's a really good way to kind of spread the message around in all these different ways. And who knows what's going to stick, right? Who knows what, how people learn and stuff? Where does that come from, where you always are the arts and kind of being creative, something that was prior to research, or did it kind of dovetail with some of this research that you're doing?

Greer Hamilton

It was prior to research, I like had a phase in like high school where I thought maybe I'll be a documentary filmmaker, and I took classes at NYU, they have a really great film school. And so it was like me, this will be what I will do, that did not obviously end up being what I'm doing. But it is a full circle thing to kind of come back to the arts now and include it in research.

Brian Bienkowski

And do you find that, you know, I don't know so much about your advisors, or how that works. But you know, I know just kind of historically, academia and stuff hasn't put a lot of, you know, it's like published in the journal and move on with your life kind of thing. Do you find that you're you're finding support, and that people are maybe kind of changing in that regard and open to kind of some of these different methods?

Greer Hamilton

I do. I do think that people are opening, becoming more open to arts. And that's why I ended up at University of Michigan. So they actually put out a call for arts-based research position last year when I was on the job market. And that was what drew me I was like, Oh, how cool it is to see a school like Michigan be interested, right in arts work. You know, I will also say that there are evolving flaws, right? Like they're like, right, because people have for so long thought of like research as like one thing and, and publishing as the only kind of output, right? Like, they are having to change kind of their own metrics to figure out how my work fits into that. But I will say they've been really supportive of like, encouraging of me, using the arts in my research. So I hope that more schools will, will do that.

Brian Bienkowski

And, you know, I have a brother in law, just as an example here, who wasn't really environmentally engaged. He's a tribal police officer up here. And he watched a documentary about I believe it was about dairy, I don't know what the documentary was about, he quit eating dairy. Like immediately, that was it like no more for him after he saw, I don't know if it was animal abuse, you know, some kind of animal rights issue. He's done. And it just spoke to me that like, oh, gosh, you can put all of the articles out in the world. And you can write all of the stories and send all of the tweets. But if you can find that kind of storytelling aspect, in this case, it was a really well-done documentary, I assume, I mean, it had a profound impact on his life. So I'm just such a, I'm just such a fan of this. And I'm really excited to see where you take some of this stuff. So, very cool. Another avenue that you're interested in, I know you have some different activist tendencies and things that you're very interested in. And I know reproductive justice is something that you're interested in, have engaged in, and it opened your eyes to the intersection of colonialism, capitalism, and environmental injustice, of course. So can you talk about your work in this space? And how it shows these issues as interconnected?

Greer Hamilton

Yeah, um, when I was in my master's program, that was actually my first research experience. I did abortion-access research with a professor, and this was before Roe vs. Wade was ended. And I learned like how profoundly like geographical location informs was people's access to abortion, right? So like people were having to travel really long, like distances in order to get an abortion, or like the wait times at the time. And I think for me, it really reinforced like the role of place in terms of health and environmental issues, that these are also the same communities that are likely to be overburdened or experienced overburdened by environmental toxins. And these are also the same people who are less likely to be able to access like a basic health care need, like an abortion. And I think it also was a good reminder that things like Roe versus Wade, which we you know, I think for a long time people kind of claimed was the ultimate dream of abortion rights actually had its flaws – like that people were not getting the care they needed. And so, you know, now that, you know, Roe versus Wade has been overturned, it's been even more kind of painful to see the ways in which geography informs people's or restricts people's right access to abortions, and how those geographical barriers are deeply tied right back to like colonialism and capitalism and racism, right, that those things were created intentionally right for people to not be able to access services that you need, whether it's like in their local area, or within a larger state. And so I'm hoping for more people to like, learn more about those barriers that people face, because it's not as easy as people think, to get an abortion, even in 2024. And even with like medical or abortion pills being readily available, right? those pills are also sometimes constrained right by location. So yeah, it's a issue that's really near and dear to my heart. And I'm glad to have seen over the past couple of years, people learn more about abortion restrictions in the country, and reproductive justice.

Brian Bienkowski

And it's another one of those really frustrating issues, I should say, as we speak right now, you know, Arizona just turned back the clock this week in such a archaic way, on this on this very issue and, and Florida, right. And it's one of those things, it's kind of like gun rights, where it's so frustrating that when you actually look at the, the electorate, you know, the it's not really that controversial of an issue, there really is kind of mostly broad support for this. And to see how our, you know, the system has been perverted in a way that allows people to make decisions for others is, is really something. But I think you're right, you have seen kind of a groundswell of awareness, if nothing else, after Roe fell. So I guess we will see what happens. Do you still is this work that you still engage in now that you're in Detroit and in Michigan? Are you too busy? No.

Greer Hamilton

Um, so I've been on the board of boards of abortion funds for the past couple years first of Eastern Massachusetts abortion fund. But now that I'm in Detroit, I'm with the Midwest Access Coalition, which is a practical support fund, actually, which people may not know about. But, um, practical support is to tends to be hotels, airfare, childcare, you know, food support, like the other things, right that, that people will require in order to access an abortion. And so I'm really proud of the work that Midwest Access Coalition does. And I'm just proud to be a board member. And also I will just put a plug it is funding season, it is the peer-to-peer fundraising campaign for abortion funds across the country and some international ones. But if you go to nn, like Nancy, a f.org, you will find or you should be able to find your local abortion fund. And they likely are having some sort of event or a fundraising effort for the next month or so. So a great time to give because people's money are drying up. And now that people have decided that the Roe decision no longer takes precedent.

Brian Bienkowski

Thank you so much for that it is a great time for people to get involved in this, especially, you know, as we head into another election season, and this is top of mind. Hopefully everybody can check that out. So when it comes to social work writ large here, what would you like to see change? I mean, I get the sense that you're you're wanting to do things a little bit differently than have been done historically. So what would you like to see the field change? And how do you see yourself as part of that change?

Greer Hamilton

Yeah, as much as I love social work, I find it to be a pretty a-historic profession. I think it often forgets like, context matters in terms of like, the social issues that we're working on. And so for me, I really try to include history as much as I can in my work. And so we'd love to see more social workers like integrating and interrogating our history and its relationship to other things. But also, I think we're sometimes reactionary in terms of our engagement with social action. Sometimes it is right like other people who start doing social actions. And then social work is like, "Oh, hey, actually, we should care about it." Environmental issues, I think being an example of this. And so would love to see more social workers just like less scared, right of what other social professionals right are thinking, counselor social work, and to be more, be more open right to like what what social it can be and the issues that we should be focused on. And to, like, take that risk of, of just being more vocal and more active in issues that matter to you, but also to your community.

Brian Bienkowski

I spoke to, I'm forgetting the fellow right now. But she was a city in this kind of City Planning and had a very similar response that there's, there's a tendency to want to stick within the what the professional parameters have always been, instead of kind of integrating yourself in the community. And I think there's I think there's definitely some lessons there. So this has been a largely positive conversation. But I know environmental justice is not positive all the time, even though we're seeing some progress. So what are you optimistic about?

Greer Hamilton

I am really proud of the students that are organizing at University of Michigan where I'm at, there's been a lot of like, attempt to like stop them from organizing, but they're making really crucial connections, right to militarization and militarization and how it relates to like environmental issues or public health issues. And I'm just like always deeply proud of young adults who are willing to kind of take risk, even when there are like potential harms, not only to like their physical body, but also to their ability to graduate. And so I think that makes me really optimistic.

Brian Bienkowski

Excellent. Well, now we get to do some of the fun stuff before we get you out of here. So I have three rapid-fire questions, and you can just give me one word, or a phrase. My favorite hangout in Detroit is

Greer Hamilton

Kitab coffee.

Brian Bienkowski

Oh, tell me about it. Where is it at?

Greer Hamilton

They may have on Hamtramck but they also just built one in Midtown. It's an Arab on coffee shop that just is doing really cool community based work and also has really good coffee.

Brian Bienkowski

So I think I've seen the one in Hamtramck is it wood paneled?

Greer Hamilton

Yeah, in Midtown too. It's just Edmonton. So okay.

Brian Bienkowski

Okay, so we're getting away in the weeds here. And you can tune out listeners for a second. But I've seen the one in Hamtramck because it's on my walk when I walk to cafe 1923 which is my coffee shop that I go to down there. So I will have to definitely try a new one. If I could have dinner with anyone in this can be living or past it would be

Greer Hamilton

Spike Lee

Brian Bienkowski

that's a fun one. My go to comfort musician or album

Greer Hamilton

Lianne La Havas.

Brian Bienkowski

I don't know this one. Tell me about tell me about this person.

Greer Hamilton

She's from London. She has a really beautiful soulful voice and, and she got me through the pandemic. So it's

Brian Bienkowski

High praise. Excellent. Well, I will definitely check her out. I've got two recommendations from this. So Greer, this has been a whole lot of fun. I'm really glad we got to connect. And hanging out with you in Philly. It was just, it was so much fun. There's never enough time at those retreats with everybody. And my last question before we get you out of here is what is the last book that you read for fun?

Greer Hamilton

The City of Dispossession, by Kyle T. Mays, you would also really like it. It's about indigenous andBblack history of Detroit. And just a really good read. Awesome.

Brian Bienkowski

Well, I'm gonna give a short plug for Book Suey is the bookstore in Hamtramck where I tried to get all my books, even though I live so far away from there now, but they carry a whole local section. So I'm hoping and it's in there next time I'm down there. And Greer, thank you so much for being here today. Thank you so much for your time, and I will talk to you soon.

Greer Hamilton

Take care.

Read the full story here.
Photos courtesy of

Measles Misinformation Is on the Rise – and Americans Are Hearing It, Survey Finds

Republicans are far more skeptical of vaccines and twice as likely as Democrats to believe the measles shot is worse than the disease.

By Arthur Allen | KFF Health NewsWhile the most serious measles epidemic in a decade has led to the deaths of two children and spread to nearly 30 states with no signs of letting up, beliefs about the safety of the measles vaccine and the threat of the disease are sharply polarized, fed by the anti-vaccine views of the country’s seniormost health official.About two-thirds of Republican-leaning parents are unaware of an uptick in measles cases this year while about two-thirds of Democratic ones knew about it, according to a KFF survey released Wednesday.Republicans are far more skeptical of vaccines and twice as likely (1 in 5) as Democrats (1 in 10) to believe the measles shot is worse than the disease, according to the survey of 1,380 U.S. adults.Some 35% of Republicans answering the survey, which was conducted April 8-15 online and by telephone, said the discredited theory linking the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to autism was definitely or probably true – compared with just 10% of Democrats.Get Midday Must-Reads in Your InboxFive essential stories, expertly curated, to keep you informed on your lunch break.Sign up to receive the latest updates from U.S. News & World Report and our trusted partners and sponsors. By clicking submit, you are agreeing to our Terms and Conditions & Privacy Policy.The trends are roughly the same as KFF reported in a June 2023 survey. But in the new poll, 3 in 10 parents erroneously believed that vitamin A can prevent measles infections, a theory Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has brought into play since taking office during the measles outbreak.“The most alarming thing about the survey is that we’re seeing an uptick in the share of people who have heard these claims,” said co-author Ashley Kirzinger, associate director of KFF’s Public Opinion and Survey Research Program. KFF is a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.“It’s not that more people are believing the autism theory, but more and more people are hearing about it,” Kirzinger said. Since doubts about vaccine safety directly reduce parents’ vaccination of their children, “that shows how important it is for actual information to be part of the media landscape,” she said.“This is what one would expect when people are confused by conflicting messages coming from people in positions of authority,” said Kelly Moore, president and CEO of Immunize.org, a vaccination advocacy group.Numerous scientific studies have established no link between any vaccine and autism. But Kennedy has ordered HHS to undertake an investigation of possible environmental contributors to autism, promising to have “some of the answers” behind an increase in the incidence of the condition by September.The deepening Republican skepticism toward vaccines makes it hard for accurate information to break through in many parts of the nation, said Rekha Lakshmanan, chief strategy officer at The Immunization Partnership, in Houston.Lakshmanan on April 23 was to present a paper on countering anti-vaccine activism to the World Vaccine Congress in Washington. It was based on a survey that found that in the Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma state assemblies, lawmakers with medical professions were among those least likely to support public health measures.“There is a political layer that influences these lawmakers,” she said. When lawmakers invite vaccine opponents to testify at legislative hearings, for example, it feeds a deluge of misinformation that is difficult to counter, she said.Eric Ball, a pediatrician in Ladera Ranch, California, which was hit by a 2014-15 measles outbreak that started in Disneyland, said fear of measles and tighter California state restrictions on vaccine exemptions had staved off new infections in his Orange County community.“The biggest downside of measles vaccines is that they work really well. Everyone gets vaccinated, no one gets measles, everyone forgets about measles,” he said. “But when it comes back, they realize there are kids getting really sick and potentially dying in my community, and everyone says, ‘Holy crap; we better vaccinate!’”Ball treated three very sick children with measles in 2015. Afterward his practice stopped seeing unvaccinated patients. “We had had babies exposed in our waiting room,” he said. “We had disease spreading in our office, which was not cool.”Although two otherwise healthy young girls died of measles during the Texas outbreak, “people still aren’t scared of the disease,” said Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, which has seen a few cases.But the deaths “have created more angst, based on the number of calls I’m getting from parents trying to vaccinate their 4-month-old and 6-month-old babies,” Offit said. Children generally get their first measles shot at age 1, because it tends not to produce full immunity if given at a younger age.KFF Health News’ Jackie Fortiér contributed to this report.This article was produced by KFF Health News, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF. It was originally published on April 23, 2025, and has been republished with permission.

Evangelical churches in Indiana turn to solar and sustainability as an expression of faith

A growing number of evangelical churches and universities in Indiana are embracing renewable energy and environmental stewardship as a religious duty, reframing climate action through a spiritual lens.Catrin Einhorn reports for The New York TimesIn short:Churches across Indiana, including Christ’s Community Church and Grace Church, are installing solar panels, planting native gardens, and hosting events like Indy Creation Fest to promote environmental stewardship.Evangelical leaders say their work aligns with a biblical call to care for creation, distancing it from politicized language around climate change to appeal to more conservative congregations.Christian universities such as Indiana Wesleyan and Taylor are integrating environmental science into academics and campus life, fostering student-led sustainability efforts rooted in faith.Key quote:“It’s a quiet movement.”— Rev. Jeremy Summers, director of church and community engagement for the Evangelical Environmental NetworkWhy this matters:The intersection of faith and environmental action challenges longstanding cultural divides in the climate conversation. Evangelical communities — historically less engaged on climate issues — hold substantial political and social influence, particularly across the Midwest and South. Framing sustainability as a religious obligation sidesteps partisan divides and invites wider participation. These faith-led movements can help shift attitudes in rural and suburban America, where skepticism of climate science and federal intervention runs high. And as the environmental impacts of fossil fuel dependence grow — heatwaves, water scarcity, air pollution— the health and well-being of families in these communities are increasingly at stake. Read more: Christian climate activists aim to bridge faith and environmental actionPope Francis, who used faith and science to call out the climate crisis, dies at 88

A growing number of evangelical churches and universities in Indiana are embracing renewable energy and environmental stewardship as a religious duty, reframing climate action through a spiritual lens.Catrin Einhorn reports for The New York TimesIn short:Churches across Indiana, including Christ’s Community Church and Grace Church, are installing solar panels, planting native gardens, and hosting events like Indy Creation Fest to promote environmental stewardship.Evangelical leaders say their work aligns with a biblical call to care for creation, distancing it from politicized language around climate change to appeal to more conservative congregations.Christian universities such as Indiana Wesleyan and Taylor are integrating environmental science into academics and campus life, fostering student-led sustainability efforts rooted in faith.Key quote:“It’s a quiet movement.”— Rev. Jeremy Summers, director of church and community engagement for the Evangelical Environmental NetworkWhy this matters:The intersection of faith and environmental action challenges longstanding cultural divides in the climate conversation. Evangelical communities — historically less engaged on climate issues — hold substantial political and social influence, particularly across the Midwest and South. Framing sustainability as a religious obligation sidesteps partisan divides and invites wider participation. These faith-led movements can help shift attitudes in rural and suburban America, where skepticism of climate science and federal intervention runs high. And as the environmental impacts of fossil fuel dependence grow — heatwaves, water scarcity, air pollution— the health and well-being of families in these communities are increasingly at stake. Read more: Christian climate activists aim to bridge faith and environmental actionPope Francis, who used faith and science to call out the climate crisis, dies at 88

Will the next pope be liberal or conservative? Neither.

If there’s one succinct way to describe Pope Francis’s stewardship of the Catholic Church over the last 12 years, it might best be  done with three of his own words: “todos, todos, todos” — “everyone, everyone, everyone.” Francis, who died Monday morning in Vatican City, was both a reformer and a traditionalist. He didn’t change […]

Pope Francis meets students at Portugal’s Catholic University on August 3, 2023, in Lisbon for World Youth Day, an international Catholic rally inaugurated by St. John Paul II to invigorate young people in their faith. | Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images If there’s one succinct way to describe Pope Francis’s stewardship of the Catholic Church over the last 12 years, it might best be  done with three of his own words: “todos, todos, todos” — “everyone, everyone, everyone.” Francis, who died Monday morning in Vatican City, was both a reformer and a traditionalist. He didn’t change church doctrine, didn’t dramatically alter the Church’s teachings, and didn’t fundamentally disrupt the bedrock of Catholic belief. Catholics still believe there is one God who exists as three divine persons, that Jesus died and was resurrected, and that sin is still a thing. Only men can serve in the priesthood, life still begins at conception, and faith is lived through both prayer and good works. And yet it still feels like Pope Francis transformed the Church — breathing life into a 2,000-year-old institution by making it a player in current events, updating some of its bureaucracy to better respond to earthly affairs, and recentering the Church’s focus on the principle that it is open to all, but especially concerned with the least well off and marginalized in society. With Francis gone, how should we think of his legacy? Was he really the radical progressive revolutionary some on the American political right cast him as? And will his successor follow in his footsteps?   To try to neatly place Francis on the US political spectrum is a bit of a fool’s errand. It’s precisely because Francis and his potential successors defy our ability to categorize their legacies within our worldly, partisan, and tribalistic categories that it’s not very useful to use labels like “liberal” and “conservative.” Those things mean very different things within the Church versus outside of it. Instead, it’s more helpful to realize just how much Francis changed the Church’s tone and posturing toward openness and care for the least well off — and how he set up to Church to continue in that direction after he’s gone. He was neither liberal nor conservative: He was a bridge to the future who made the Church more relevant, without betraying its core teachings. That starting point will be critical for reading and understanding the next few weeks of papal news and speculation — especially as poorly sourced viral charts and infographics that lack context spread on social media in an attempt to explain what comes next. Revisiting Francis’s papacy Francis’s papacy is a prime example of how unhelpful it is to try to think of popes, and the Church, along the right-left political spectrum we’re used to thinking of in Western democracies.  When he was elected in 2013, Francis was a bit of an enigma. Progressives cautioned each other not to get too hopeful, while conservatives were wary about how open he would be to changing the Church’s public presence and social teachings. Before being elected pope, he was described as more traditional — not as activist as some of his Latin American peers who embraced progressive, socialist-adjacent liberation theology and intervened in political developments in Argentina, for example. He was orthodox and “uncompromising” on issues related to the right to life (euthanasia, the death penalty, and abortion) and on the role of women in the church, and advocated for clergy to embrace austerity and humility. And yet he was known to take unorthodox approaches to his ministry: advocating for the poor and the oppressed, and expressing openness to other religions in Argentina. He would bring that mix of views to his papacy. The following decade would see the Church undergo few changes in theological or doctrinal teachings, and yet it still appeared as though it was dramatically breaking with the past. That duality was in part because Francis was essentially both a conservative and a liberal, by American standards, at the same time, as Catholic writer James T. Keane argued in 2021. Francis was anti-abortion, critical of gender theory, opposed to ordaining women, and opposed to marriage for same-sex couples, while also welcoming the LGBTQ community, fiercely criticizing capitalism, unabashedly defending immigrants, opposing the death penalty, and advocating for environmentalism and care for the planet. That was how Francis functioned as a bridge between the traditionalism of his predecessors and a Church able to embrace modernity. And that’s also why he had so many critics: He was both too liberal and radical, and not progressive or bold enough. Francis used the Church’s unchanging foundational teachings and beliefs to respond to the crises of the 21st century and to consistently push for a “both-and” approach to social issues, endorsing “conservative”-coded teachings while adding on more focus to social justice issues that hadn’t been the traditionally associated with the church. That’s the approach he took when critiquing consumerism, modern capitalism, and “throwaway culture,” for example, employing the Church’s teachings on the sanctity of life to attack abortion rights, promote environmentalism, and criticize neo-liberal economics. None of those issues required dramatic changes to the Church’s religious or theological teachings. But they did involve moving the church beyond older debates — such as abortion, contraception, and marriage — and into other moral quandaries: economics, immigration, war, and climate change. And he spoke plainly about these debates in public, as when he responded, “Who am I to judge?” when asked about LGBTQ Catholics or said he wishes that hell is “empty.” Still, he reinforced that softer, more inquisitive and humble church tone with restructuring and reforms within the church bureaucracy — essentially setting the church up for a continued march along this path. Nearly 80 percent of the cardinals who are eligible to vote in a papal conclave were appointed by Francis — some 108 of 135 members of the College of Cardinals who can vote, per the Vatican itself. Most don’t align on any consistent ideological spectrum, having vastly different beliefs about the role of the Church, how the Church’s internal workings should operate, and what the Church’s social stances should be — that’s partially why it’s risky to read into and interpret projections about “wings” or ideological “factions” among the cardinal-electors as if they are a parliament or house of Congress. There will naturally be speculation, given who Francis appointed as cardinals, that his successor will be non-European and less traditional. But as Francis himself showed through his papacy, the church has the benefit of time and taking the long view on social issues. He reminded Catholics that concern for the poor and oppressed must be just as central to the Church’s presence in the world as any age-old culture war issue. And to try to apply to popes and the Church the political labels and sets of beliefs we use in America is pointless.

Grassroots activists who took on corruption and corporate power share 2025 Goldman prize

Seven winners of environmental prize include Amazonian river campaigner and Tunisian who fought against organised waste traffickingIndigenous river campaigner from Peru honouredGrassroots activists who helped jail corrupt officials and obtain personhood rights for a sacred Amazonian river are among this year’s winners of the world’s most prestigious environmental prize.The community campaigns led by the seven 2025 Goldman prize winners underscore the courage and tenacity of local activists willing to confront the toxic mix of corporate power, regulatory failures and political corruption that is fuelling biodiversity collapse, water shortages, deadly air pollution and the climate emergency. Continue reading...

Grassroots activists who helped jail corrupt officials and obtain personhood rights for a sacred Amazonian river are among this year’s winners of the world’s most prestigious environmental prize.The community campaigns led by the seven 2025 Goldman prize winners underscore the courage and tenacity of local activists willing to confront the toxic mix of corporate power, regulatory failures and political corruption that is fuelling biodiversity collapse, water shortages, deadly air pollution and the climate emergency.This year’s recipients include Semia Gharbi, a scientist and environmental educator from Tunisia, who took on an organised waste trafficking network that led to more than 40 arrests, including 26 Tunisian officials and 16 Italians with ties to the illegal trade.Semia Gharbi campaigning in Tunisia. Photograph: Goldman environmental prizeGharbi, 57, headed a public campaign demanding accountability after an Italian company was found to have shipped hundreds of containers of household garbage to Tunisia to dump in its overfilled landfill sites, rather than the recyclable plastic it had declared it was shipping.Gharbi lobbied lawmakers, compiled dossiers for UN experts and helped organise media coverage in both countries. Eventually, 6,000 tonnes of illegally exported household waste was shipped back to Italy in February 2022, and the scandal spurred the EU to close some loopholes governing international waste shipping.Not far away in the Canary Islands, Carlos Mallo Molina helped lead another sophisticated effort to prevent the construction of a large recreational boat and ferry terminal on the island of Tenerife that threatened to damage Spain’s most important marine reserve.Carlos Mallo Molina. Photograph: Goldman environmental prizeThe tourism gravy train can seem impossible to derail, but in 2018 Mallo swapped his career as a civil engineer to stop the sprawling Fonsalía port, which threatened the 170,000-acre biodiverse protected area that provides vital habitat for endangered sea turtles, whales, giant squid and blue sharks.As with Gharbi in Tunisia, education played a big role in the campaign’s success and included developing a virtual scuba dive into the threatened marine areas and a children’s book about a sea turtle searching for seagrass in the Canary Islands. After three years of pressure backed by international environmental groups, divers and residents, the government cancelled construction of the port, safeguarding the only whale heritage site in European territorial waters.“It’s been a tough year for both people and the planet,” said Jennifer Goldman Wallis, vice-president of the Goldman Environmental Foundation. “There’s so much that worries us, stresses us, outrages us, and keeps us divided … these environmental leaders and teachers – and the global environmental community that supports them – are the antidote.”For the past 36 years, the Goldman prize has honoured environmental defenders from each of the world’s six inhabited continental regions, recognising their commitment and achievements in the face of seemingly insurmountable hurdles. To date, 233 winners from 98 nations have been awarded the prize. Many have gone on to hold positions in governments, as heads of state, nonprofit leaders, and as Nobel prize laureates.Three Goldman recipients have been killed, including the 2015 winner from Honduras, the Indigenous Lenca leader Berta Cáceres, whose death in 2016 was orchestrated by executives of an internationally financed dam company whose project she helped stall.Environmental and land rights defenders often persist in drawn-out efforts to secure clean water and air for their communities and future generations – despite facing threats including online harassment, bogus criminal charges, and sometimes physical violence. More than 2,100 land and environmental defenders were killed globally between 2012 and 2023, according to an observatory run by the charity Global Witness.Latin America remains the most dangerous place to defend the environment but a range of repressive tactics are increasingly being used to silence activists across Asia, the US, the UK and the EU.In the US, Laurene Allen was recognised for her extraordinary leadership, which culminated in a plastics plant being closed in 2024 after two decades of leaking toxic forever chemicals into the air, soil and water supplies in the small town of Merrimack, New Hampshire. The 62-year-old social worker turned water protector developed the town’s local campaign into a statewide and national network to address Pfas contamination, helping persuade the Biden administration to establish the first federal drinking water standard for forever chemicals.skip past newsletter promotionThe planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essentialPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionLaurene Allen. Photograph: Goldman environmental prizeThree of this year’s Goldman recipients were involved in battles to save two rivers thousands of miles apart – in Peru and Albania – which both led to landmark victories.Besjana Guri and Olsi Nika not only helped stop construction of a hydroelectric dam on the 167-mile Vjosa River, but their decade-long campaign led to the Albanian government declaring it a wild river national park.Guri, 37, a social worker, and Nika, 39, a biologist and ecologist, garnered support from scientists, lawyers, EU parliamentarians and celebrities, including Leonardo DiCaprio, for the new national park – the first in Europe to protect a wild river. This historic designation protects the Vjosa and its three tributaries, which are among the last remaining free-flowing undammed rivers in Europe.In Peru, Mari Luz Canaquiri Murayari, 56, led the Indigenous Kukama women’s association to a landmark court victory that granted the 1,000-mile Marañón River legal personhood, with the right to be free-flowing and free of contamination.Mari Luz Canaquiri Murayari. Photograph: Goldman environmental prizeThe Marañón River and its tributaries are the life veins of Peru’s tropical rainforests and support 75% of its tropical wetlands – but also flow through lands containing some of the South American country’s biggest oil and gas fields. The court ordered the Peruvian government to stop violating the rivers’ rights, and take immediate action to prevent future oil spills.The Kukama people, who believe their ancestors reside on the riverbed, were recognised by the court as stewards of the great Marañón.This year’s oldest winner was Batmunkh Luvsandash from Mongolia, an 81-year-old former electrical engineer whose anti-mining activism has led to 200,000 acres of the East Gobi desert being protected from the world’s insatiable appetite for metal minerals.

RFK Jr. Knows Amazingly Little About Autism

While his anti-vaccine allies swooned and scientists cringed, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. used his first-ever press conference this week, in response to new data showing an apparent increase in the number of autistic kids, to promote a variety of debunked, half-true, and deeply ableist ideas about autism. He painted the condition as a […]

While his anti-vaccine allies swooned and scientists cringed, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. used his first-ever press conference this week, in response to new data showing an apparent increase in the number of autistic kids, to promote a variety of debunked, half-true, and deeply ableist ideas about autism. He painted the condition as a terrifying “disease” that “destroys,” as he put it, children and their families. Kennedy made it clear he planned to use his powerful role as the person in charge of a massive federal agency devoted to protecting public health to promote the idea that autism is caused by “environmental factors,” a still-speculative thesis that’s clearly a short walk towards advancing his real aim: blaming vaccines.  Kennedy has spent the last 20 years promoting anti-vaccine rhetoric, falsely and repeatedly claiming that vaccines are linked to autism. Yet as the press conference made clear, Kennedy knows startlingly little about autism. In the course of his remarks, he detoured into a rabbit hole filled with pseudoscience about the condition, providing a vast display of all the things he does not seem to know about current research and basic facts about the condition. Here’s a list of just a few of the major pieces of misinformation Kennedy shared.  Falsely framing autism as a debilitating “disease” and an “epidemic”   Kennedy’s ableist and factually incorrect framing of autism relies on explicitly calling it a “disease,” when most scientists refer to it as a “disorder.” Many autistic self-advocates object to that framing too, saying that autism is part of the wide range of human neurodiversity. According to data released in 2021, roughly 61.8 million people worldwide are believed to be somewhere on the autism spectrum. Most significantly, autism is widely agreed to exist on a spectrum—hence its clinical name, “autism spectrum disorder”—and autistic people have a wide range of abilities and ways that their autism expresses itself. In remarks that drew the most scrutiny, Kennedy depicted profound autism as something that inevitably robs children of their abilities, proclaiming: “These are kids who will never pay taxes. They’ll never hold a job. They’ll never play baseball. They’ll never write a poem. They’ll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.” (Our colleague Julia Métraux interviewed autistic poet and attorney Elizabeth McClellan earlier this week, who said his remarks are “useless eaters rhetoric,” the eugenicist idea used by Nazi Germany in the 1930s to dehumanize and eventually murder disabled people.) A press release issued by HHS this week even referred to autistic children as “afflicted.” Kennedy previously claimed that under his guidance, HHS intends to uncover the causes of autism by September, a timeline as improbable as it is highly specific.  One autism researcher, who asked to speak anonymously in order to freely address their concerns, told Mother Jones that framing autism as a “disease” with environmental causes seemed designed to set up Kennedy “as the ‘savior’ to the autism community” when he claims to have discovered its cause. The notion that there is a single cause of autism is, to put it mildly, not at all backed up by the decades of research on this highly complex diagnosis. Framing autism as a “disease” with environmental causes seemed designed to set up Kennedy “as the ‘savior’ to the autism community” when he claims to have discovered its cause. Declaring that autism is “clearly” caused by “environmental toxins”  But Kennedy took on step towards meeting this self-imposed deadline by stating, “This is coming from an environmental toxin,” adding the provocative assertion, “And somebody made a profit by putting that environmental toxin into our air, our water, our medicines, our food.” He promised that within two to three weeks “we’re going to announce a series of new studies to identify precisely what environmental toxins are causing it.” He also floated the idea of using AI to help in those studies.  The causes of autism are still being studied, but it’s widely thought that both genetics and environmental factors likely play a role in who develops it. Nor are those environmental factors necessarily “toxins.” Dr. Paul Offit is a virologist, a pediatrician, the chief of infectious diseases at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and a co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine used in infants. He told Mother Jones that a variety of factors can contribute to the risk of developing autism, including advanced maternal or paternal age, intrauterine infections when the mother is pregnant, genetics, and maternal health. “What those four things all have in common is that you’re born with autism,” he says. All the evidence, he says, “is that these are events that are occurring while the child is in the womb,” rather than what anti-vaccine advocates have suggested many times, that autism is caused by vaccines received after the child is born. Craig Newschaffer, a professor of biobehavioral health and an autism researcher at Pennsylvania State University’s College of Health and Human Development, said that while he believes environmental exposures could play a role in autism, the interaction between those and other factors is incredibly complex. “There’s probably a constellation of environmental factors that could be involved here that they probably account on their own for small increases in risk,” he said, “and they probably work in concert with genetic mechanisms.” Rejecting the idea that increased autism rates are due in part to better diagnosis and surveillance The press conference was called to respond to a new CDC report which showed a small increase in the number of 8-year-olds diagnosed with autism. Kennedy repeatedly rejected the idea that the increase was due to better autism diagnosis tools and surveillance, declaring that making that argument amounted to “epidemic denial,” and saying that genes “don’t cause epidemics.” Kennedy also said that the root causes of autism could be found much faster “because of A.I. and because of the digitalization of health records that are now available to us.” Craig Newschaffer, who has spent the better part of his career studying potential causes of autism, called Kennedy’s idea of using artificial intelligence to quickly solve the mystery of autism “extremely infeasible.” He noted large-scale efforts are already underway to use machine learning to analyze existing autism datasets—but the results of those studies, he said, are at least five years away.  Yet Penn State’s Newschaffer said his research had suggested that expanded diagnostic capabilities were indeed an important contributor to increasing autism rates. “There’s been lots of accumulation [of evidence] that the diagnostic tendency is a strong, strong factor in this,” he said.   Claiming there are “no” older autistic adults To bolster his claim that environmental exposures are causing autism rates to climb, Kennedy argued that older adults are not autistic. “Have you ever seen anybody our age—I’m 71 years old—with full-blown autism?” he asked. “Headbanging, nonverbal, non-toilet-trained, stimming, toe-walking, these other stereotypical features—where are these people walking around the mall?” Putting aside the scornful and stigmatizing way Kennedy spoke about profoundly autistic people, it’s simply not true that there are no older autistic adults, which we know for many reasons, including the fact that their health outcomes have been studied for years. Autistic elderly people are at greater risk than the general population for a range of health conditions, including cardiovascular and metabolic disease, and they’re also more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression. Older autistic adults report loneliness at higher rates than the general population, and research suggests that many of them could benefit from the social services and support they do not currently receive. All of these factors could limit the likelihood that Kennedy might see them “walking around the mall.”  Relying on an expert who has connections to pseudoscience groups Kennedy also brought Dr. Walter Zahorodny to join him on the stage. An associate professor of pediatrics at Rutgers University’s medical school, he has been a lead researcher on the New Jersey Autism Study, which has monitored the state’s autism rate for two decades.    Zahorodny said during the press conference that he believed that the uptick in autism rates could not be explained by expanded diagnostic criteria. “I would urge everyone to consider the likelihood that autism, whether we call it an epidemic tsunami or a surge of autism, is a real thing that we don’t understand, and it must be triggered or caused by environmental or risk factors,” he said, echoing Kennedy who has also claimed it is triggered by “toxic exposure.” Zahorodny has collaborated with researchers and groups who deal in pseudoscience or are controversial in the autism community. He appeared in a 2018 video produced by SafeMinds, a group that has suggested that mercury in vaccines causes autism and regularly works with Kennedy’s anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense. In 2020, Zahorodny co-authored a study of autism rates in Black and Hispanic children with Cynthia Nevison, a University of Colorado climate scientist who is also a contributor to Children’s Health Defense. There, she writes not about climate but rather about her frustration with the lack of research into the “root causes” of autism. In addition, Zahorodny appeared on a 2020 episode of a podcast produced by the National Council on Severe Autism, which has come under fire for its support of the use of restraints for autistic people.  Melissa Alfieri Collins, an anti-vaccine activist in New Jersey, said in an email to Mother Jones that she had worked with Zahorodny in 2019 on her effort to defeat a bill that would have eliminated religious exemptions for childhood vaccination requirements. Zahorodny, Collins recalled, briefed legislators and “stated that vaccines could not currently be ruled out as one of multiple possible causes of sharply increasing autism prevalence.” The bill ultimately failed. Zahorodny did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Overall, Kennedy’s message worried autism researchers and mainstream scientists. But it was received ecstatically by the anti-vaccine community he’s long been a part of. Anti-vaccine activist Larry Cook, a California naturopath and one-man anti-vaccine clearinghouse, approvingly shared a tweet from Kennedy, underlining the places where the secretary referred to the “autism epidemic” and characterized autism as being “preventable.”  “We had the answers over 40 years ago,” Cook tweeted. “They were buried, dismissed, ridiculed, assassinated.”  Del Bigtree, a prominent anti-vaccine activist and the former spokesperson for Kennedy’s presidential campaign, who’s now the CEO of a group he co-founded with Kennedy called MAHA Action, also expressed his enthusiasm. “For decades we have been gaslit by every HHS Secretary that stood at this podium and denied that autism was an epidemic as it climbed from 1 in 10k to 1 in 31 (1 in 12.5 boys in CA),” he tweeted. “If you are watching a news organization that is not celebrating RFKJ in this historic moment it’s time to cancel your subscription forever. It’s now clear who they work for. #MAHA”

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