Interview with Lois Gibbs, Toxic Avenger at Love Canal and Founder of the Center for Health, Environment & Justice

The Toxic Avengers

In the first episode of the Toxic Avengers podcast, we interview Lois Gibbs, who led the successful fight for community relocation from the poisoned neighborhood of Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York. For the past 40 years, she has been the Director of the Center for Health, Environment & Justice, helping communities facing similar threats to their health from toxic chemicals.

www.https://chej.org/

The interview, taped in February, begins discussing Lois' sabbatical and how she separates her work and non-work lives. We discuss how the pandemic has affected CHEJ's advocacy.

Lois outlines two of CHEJ's current projects for ensuring protection for communities overburdened with pollution, and discusses the different perspectives of national environmental groups and local community organizers.

She also provides insight into how CHEJ helps individual communities organize their opposition to toxic threats including incinerators, oil refineries and chemical plants, and the creative process that CHEJ's interns use to develop new policies and strategies.