Plastics, Pipelines, Fracking and Our Planet

Sandra Steingraber, Distinguished Scholar in Residence, Ithaca College

Biologist, author, and cancer survivor, Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D. writes about climate change, ecology, and the links between human health and the environment. Her highly acclaimed book, Living Downstream: An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment was the first to bring together data on toxic releases with data from U.S. cancer registries and was adapted for the screen in 2010. As both book and documentary film, Living Downstream has won praise from international media. A contributing essayist and editor for Orion magazine, Sandra Steingraber is currently a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York.

Alison Grass, Deputy Research Director, Food & Water Watch

Alison Grass is the Deputy Research Director for Food & Water Watch. She is an experienced watchdog/public interest researcher and advocate on energy, climate change and water issues. Her research tends to focus on energy issues, including (but not limited to) hydraulic fracturing, the fossil fuel industry, and climate change; she also does some work on the corporate control of water resources (as it relates to bottled water). Alison also has experience doing research on campaign finance and money in politics. She has a Master’s degree from Alabama A&M University in Urban Planning, specialized in Environmental Planning, and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communications from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Rebecca Britton, Founder, Uwchlan Safety Coalition

Rebecca Britton is the Founder of Uwchlan Safety Coalition, and a School Board Director in Downingtown Area School District, Chester County, Pennsylvania.  Rebecca and her family live approximately 450ft from the Mariner East Pipeline and her children will spend 24 hours a day, kindergarten through 12th grade, living and learning in the "blast zone" of the dangerous Energy Transfer Partners project.  The Uwchlan Safety Coalition is a grass roots, bipartisan assembly of safety conscious citizens that is dedicated to educate and engage the community about the, 'frack to plastic to waste journey of a hydrocarbon'; putting their community and vulnerable populations at risk for overseas export and plastic production.

Juan has been organizing community voices for years beginning as a social worker with the Harris County Welfare Office and later with City of Houston Section 8 Housing Department where he organized the workers at both offices. Recognizing his unorthodox organizing efforts, he was recruited by AFSCME as project staff. Organizing people to fight for standards in their working environments Juan eventually was elevated to be an International Union Representative for AFSCME as an International Union Representative until 1993 where his efforts reestablished MLK day and impeached Governor Mechum of Arizona.  In 1995 he began the long-standing battle which started against the construction of Cesar Chavez High School and formed Unidos Contra Environmental Racism, which was later renamed Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (TEJAS).  Juan was an original member of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC), and has served on many other boards such as the Gulf Restoration Network, Coalition of Community Organizations (CoCO)National Childhood Lead Prevention Program, and the Center for Health and Environmental Justice (CHEJ). He is currently an Environmental Justice Ambassador for the Gulf of Mexico Alliance. Juan can attest to the empowering force behind marrying issues of intersectionality in environmental work for marginalized communities.