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.
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.
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.
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.
Voices of Steel: An Interview with Scott Houldieson
They only call it class war when we fight back, you know. The class war has been going on forever. And it only gets termed that when the workers stand up to fight for their rights.
Voices of Steel: An Interview with Elizabeth Palacio
The steel industry is male-dominated, but if women speak up, we can get there too. It needs us!
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.
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.
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.
Project Clean Air: A Reflection of Me and Everyone Who Made It Possible
JTNWI fellow and Freshwater Lab alum, Saif Syed, reflects on the impact and importance of Project Clean Air
How Growing Up in Colombia Led Me to Fight for Northwest Indiana
JTNWI’s digital organizer shares how her childhood in Colombia shaped her commitment to winning a Just Transition in Northwest Indiana
Correcting the Record
Find out the facts about what’s really going on with the NIPSCO coal ash crisis.
Warehouse Developers at It Again
The town of Hobart is fighting back against the latest reckless warehouse development
Earth Day Special: There’s No Environmental Justice Without Worker Justice
Our Community Engagement and Education Director, Mike Santos, breaks down what exactly a Just Transition is and why it’s so important to communities like ours.
JTNWI Condemns Legislative Inaction on Crucial Environmental Bills
The Indiana House and Senate chairs of the Environmental Affairs Committees are shutting the door on life-saving legislation two years in a row. The time to act is now.
Emergency Update: Act Now on Coal Ash Clean Up Bills
The Indiana General Assembly is considering two landmark bills that would force dirty utilities to clean up their toxic Coal Ash dump sites that are poisoning our communities. See what you can do to help these critical bills get passed.
4,000-Year-Old Forest Under Threat by Hammond Mayor
In today’s society, we’re losing more and more of our wild places and natural wonders, like the High Tolleston Dunes, are in danger of being lost forever.
An Evening to Remember
They told the story of how coal ash contamination had affected their lives and those of their neighbors, some of whom now use bottled water in lieu of water from contaminated wells. Michigan City residents also rose to speak: a local pastor exhorted us to act with a passion which transformed us into a revival meeting as he spoke. Community members shared their deep concern for their neighborhood, which they had lived in for many years (and love).
NWI Groups Come Together in Anti-Racist Solidarity
Hobart, a former sundown town where the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) once marched, continues to be an important frontline in the struggle against racism. The decision to march there was motivated by an understanding of this history and the ways in which racism continues to manifest itself in our communities. We saw the parade as an opportunity to make an important statement about the progress that is being made by our movement for social change.
Interview with State Rep. Pat Boy
While Thanksgiving break around America tends to consist of yams and turkey, State Representative Pat Boy’s dinner table included talks of coal ash and a flow of ideas.