Blog

Featuring contributions from JTNWI organizers and community members on the frontlines of environmental justice in Northwest Indiana. From personal stories and poetry to campaign updates, interviews, and reflections, these pieces highlight local resistance, community power, and the collective work of building a just, fossil-free future.

Susan Thomas Susan Thomas

May 2025 Policy Dive

Read through these updates for a crash course on what happened in May, and help us elevate and respond to these pressing issues.

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Serina Hill Serina Hill

5 Ways to Celebrate Earth Month in Northwest Indiana

Like this year’s theme, “Planet vs. Plastics,” we know that we must do more to carry on the legacy of Earth Day that promotes inclusion and equity for all. Recycling as a sole solution will not save us. It is about both our roles as individuals and a part of a collective to ensure sustainable choices while changing the rules and policies and holding corporations accountable for perpetuating the climate crisis.

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Daniela Guerrero Rodriguez Daniela Guerrero Rodriguez

The Interconnection of Social Work and Environmental Justice

We applaud these future social workers for their desire to work with vulnerable populations while also protecting the environment, climate, and future generations. Their stories describe their firsthand experiences with the unfair distribution of environmental burdens and the consequences for community health.

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Malaska Hernandez Malaska Hernandez

An Interview with Artist William Estrada

Artwork allows us to imagine things and make those things a reality through the art we create. Art is a way for us to build the futures that we want to live in. We're taking our imagination and building things that don't yet exist. But through our creation, they are now possible because now people can envision it.

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Malaska Hernandez Malaska Hernandez

Living Green Garden: An Interview with Libré Booker

When you grow your own food, the nutrients your body needs will be grown in the food that you are connecting with and growing. It is like the plants know what your body needs. It’s a beautiful dance and a beautiful relationship. We have cut off this dance because we have removed ourselves from nature and given up our food sovereignty to solely big businesses.

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Cheryl Chapman Cheryl Chapman

We Can’t Not: A Poem

We showed up to let the world know

That our stories have the energy, the true power,

The true electricity, to protect all of America,

Just like that able and proud widow

Whose life is now spent in places like this,

With us, protecting America.

She can’t not.

We will be there beside her and for her because, like her,

We can’t not.

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Donavan Barrier Donavan Barrier

Why I’m An Activist: My Journey from Guam to Michigan City

I feel my life here would have similar roads, too, if I had stayed on the island. For that reason, I’m determined to fight to ensure that my home here and the place I came from stay environmentally sound; that the people who live here with me and in Guam can live with nature as we are meant to be. Hafa Adai and Si Yu’us Ma’ase.

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Cheryl Chapman Cheryl Chapman

The Hourglass: A Poem

Generations of generating will stop,

Buildings will empty,

Quiet and birdsong will prevail.

It’s a transition…

It’s a hard transition.

Make it just.

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