MY STORY BEHIND THE STORY

“Rural Rabble Rousing”
Aired March 19, 2010, on PRI's "Living on Earth."

By Devin Robins
IJJ Environmental Justice Fellow, 2009

Originally, I proposed a weeklong series profiling the efforts of community environmentalists in each of the five poorest congressional districts in the country.  My goal was to show how, despite poverty and the added pressure of the current economic turmoil, they remain committed to cleaning up their communities.  I also wanted to examine the idea that poor communities don’t care about or value environmental issues.

In the end, I narrowed my project to California’s Central Valley which includes the nation’s fourth poorest congressional district.  I am a native Californian but had never been to this part of the state.  It was not what I expected.  It’s a region where towns are small, houses sit right up against orchards and streets are often unpaved.  It’s a California seldom seen.  It's also an area beset by environmental pollution.  Here I met up with four mothers who are speaking out against what they see as environmental injustice, and through perseverance and dedication, working to make things healthier in hardscrabble country. 

My first stop was Earlimart, located in the heart of California's farm-rich San Joaquin Valley.  Here I met Teresa DeAnda, who’s raising her seven children and eight grandchildren in a community polluted by pesticides and diesel exhaust.  I spent the day with Teresa touring the fields and speaking with residents about their community.  Teresa’s advocacy work in Earlimart grabbed the attention of a non-profit environmental group. Today she’s the Central Valley representative of Californians for Pesticide Reform.  Teresa says the work is hard but she’s motivated to keep fighting for cleaner air, knowing her children’s and grandchildren’s health is at stake.

The next day I drove about an hour and a half to Kettleman City, a small community wedged between two highways and acres of agricultural fields as far as the eye can see. The town is surrounded by polluting industries.  On a given day, thousands of diesel trucks pass through town and the nearby fields are sprayed with pesticides and chemical fertilizers.

Here I met up with Maricela Mares-Alatorre, her son Miguel and parents Mary Lou and Ramon.  Maricela is part of a homegrown environmental justice movement. Her family has led most of Kettleman City’s struggles against the hazardous-waste landfill located a few miles out of town. 

After interviewing the Mares-Alatorre family about their environmental justice work, Miguel took me to the toxic dump site.  I wanted to see about getting a tour.  It turns out the facility was closed for the day but something interesting happened while I was waiting for the PR guy.  Miguel stayed in the car while I went inside.  Miguel and his family have a tumultuous relationship with the waste-disposal facility to say the least.  He’s famous for throwing trash on the president’s desk.  So it’s fair to say they were a bit annoyed to see Miguel in my car and I was quickly asked to leave the property.  

I went back to Kettleman City for a follow-up interview with Maricela.  Through grassroots organizing, protests, rallies and even lawsuits Maricela continues to work with the group founded by her mother, “People for Clean Air and Water of Kettleman City.”  She told me, “Just because people are poor or immigrants doesn’t mean they don’t care about the environment.  It also doesn’t give others the right to pollute their communities.”

Maricela also mentioned that a number of women had babies born with birth defects and suggested I speak with Maria Saucedo, whose baby died. I drove about 15 miles to Avenal where Maria lives.  Pictures of her middle daughter, Ashley, adorned the tables of her living room. Ashley was born with a cleft palate and a chromosome disorder that affected her heart.  She died before her first birthday.  Maria is convinced that pollutants were the culprit.

Unfortunately, Maria’s story did not make the final piece due to time constraints but her story still needs to be told.  Maria told me in Spanish that Ashley’s death gave her strength to get involved in environmental justice and rally other mothers in her community to speak out.  I often see pictures of Maria on websites and in newspapers. She’s always wearing a t-shirt with Ashley’s picture on the front. 

Finally on my last day, I drove about an hour and a half north to Merced, where I met Melissa Kelly Ortega, her husband, Jaime, and their three children.  Melissa is fighting air quality issues in Merced, which consistently ranks among the top 10 most polluted regions in the U.S, even though it's rural.  It’s mostly diesel exhaust and dirty air blown down from the Bay Area, combined with agricultural burning. Melissa says the Valley “is actually like a bowl, so our pollution just sits here. In the summertime, we deal with ozone and smog but then they're cooked by the sun.”

Melissa works as a program associate with the Merced/Mariposa County Asthma Coalition.  She started to cry when she recalled the near-fatal asthma attack her daughter Ellen had in the 3rd grade.  A few years later, her youngest daughter Satia was born with breathing problems.  I asked all the mothers if they had the opportunity to move away from the pollution, would they go?  The answer was always “no!”  Melissa also said she’s not moving away from Merced.  It’s her mission to create a safe place for her children to live and grow up. 

After I got back from my trip to the Central Valley it took me a few weeks to log all my tape and craft the final story.  I made a decision to profile the women of the Central Valley environmental justice movement rather than focus on the politics of their fight.  I felt this was a way to get across their stories and the issues in a more relatable way.  After I had the focus of my story and logged all my tape, I started the pitch process. 

Public Radio International’s “Living on Earth” program, which airs nationwide on more than 300 stations really liked the story but said it could only be 8 minutes.  No problem, except I had collected so much amazing tape the first draft of my script was close to 16 minutes.  Thanks to an amazing editor we got the story down to 9 minutes without losing too much heart and soul.  Thanks “Living on Earth” for letting me squeeze by with the 9 minutes!

During my career I’ve produced dozens of segments and stories focused on environmental issues, but I’ve never had the opportunity to report on an environmental story until this fellowship.   The workshops and field reporting in both Los Angeles and Chicago helped me tremendously in doing my project. A few standouts were Robert Cabrales from Communities for a Better Environment.  I also found Steve Padilla's writing workshop incredibly useful, and the hands-on digital information-gathering session by Martha Mendoza is a resource I will use for the rest of my career. 

I am thankful to the Institute for Justice and Journalism for this amazing experience.  I could have never completed my piece without the expertise and resources of IJJ.  I began with a super ambitious project that worked out in the end.  Lesson learned: Really focus your story ahead of time and be realistic about your time and resources.