the NUANCE // a community health podcast.

Dr. Susan Clayton is a Whitmore-Williams Professor of Psychology and chair of Environmental Studies at the College of Wooster. Her PhD, in social psychology, is from Yale University. Dr. Clayton is a lead author in the major scientific report released on 28 February, 2022 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a body of experts convened by the United Nations. Dr. Clayton was a lead author of the chapter titled, “Health, Wellbeing, and the Changing Structure of Communities”. Dr. Clayton explores the connections between people and nature. You can find the report here: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/

Vickie Boothe who is an epidemiologist and environmental engineer with more than 33 years of public service. Vickie has a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, a Bachelor’s Degree in Management/Marketing, and a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) from Georgia State University. She is dedicated to improving community health and advancing health equity.  She spent 19 years at the CDC and 14 years at the EPA. In 2019, after retiring from the federal government, she relocated to New Orleans in order to more actively engage and support disparately impacted communities across Louisiana. Her research focuses on health impacts resulting from exposures to traffic emissions and other air pollutants; understanding the role of social determinants in creating community health and health disparities; and evaluating public health and environmental interventions, programs, and policies.

Dr. Melanie Yazzie is Assistant Professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota (starting in the fall of 2022) and coauthor of Red Nation Rising: From Bordertown Violence to Native Liberation and The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save the Earth, both of which came out in 2021. She specializes in Navajo/American Indian history, political ecology, Indigenous feminisms, queer Indigenous studies, and theories of policing and the state. She also organizes with The Red Nation, a grassroots Native-run organization committed to the liberation of Indigenous people from colonialism and capitalism. 

Cyndhia Ramatchandirane joined Earthjustice in 2020 and is based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her role as staff scientist on the Fossil Fuels team involves supporting the diverse communities impacted by the oil, gas, and petrochemical buildout along the Louisiana/Texas Gulf coast and in the Ohio River Valley. Cyndhia investigates the associated pollution impacts on climate, the environment, and public health from these infrastructure projects. She assists with litigation and also collaborates with scientists and local environmental and community groups to fight these climate and environmental justice issues. LINKS: https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_promise_of_community_driven_science https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-021-00861-7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bJIWWbdhLk Abdulrahman Jbaily et al., Air pollution exposure disparities across US population and income groups, 601 Nature 228–233 (2022). Jiawen Liu et al., Disparities in air pollution exposure in the United States by race/ethnicity and income, 1990–2010, 129 Environ Health Perspect 127005 (2021). Jonathan I Levy, Invited perspective: Moving from characterizing to addressing racial/ethnic disparities in air pollution exposure, Environmental Health Perspectives 2 (2021). https://www.propublica.org/article/how-we-created-the-most-detailed-map-ever-of-cancer-causing-industrial-air-pollution https://www.propublica.org/article/toxmap-poison-in-the-air https://projects.propublica.org/toxmap/ https://www.propublica.org/article/can-air-pollution-cause-cancer-risks

Jo Banner is the cofounder with her twin sister, Joy Banner, of the Descendants Project. An emerging organization committed to the intergenerational healing and flourishing of the Black descendant community in the Louisiana river parishes. The lands of the river parishes hold the intersecting histories of enslavement, settler colonialism, and environmental degradation. The Descendants Project is committed to reversing the vagaries of slavery through healing and restorative work. They aim to eliminate the narrative violence of plantation tourism and champion the voice of the Black descendant community while demanding action that supports the total well-being of Black descendants. ig:@ thedescendantsproject

Dr. David Puder went to U.C. Berkeley and competed on the Cal Rowing Team. Afterwards, he attended Loma Linda School of Medicine and subsequently spent a year doing internal medicine, then completed his psychiatry residency at Loma Linda where he later joined the faculty. Dr. Puder looks holistically at diet, exercise, lifestyle, traditional psychiatric medication needs, and also psychotherapy needs when working with his patients. He was been awarded "Outstanding Teaching Resident in Psychiatry Award" in recognition of your excellence and enthusiasm in the teaching of medical students."  He hosts a podcast called Psychiatry and Psychotherapy podcast. Dr. Puder is married with two children and spends most of his free time playing with them or cooking for them. Dr. Puder is also helping our podcast and we are unbelievably grateful for his support.

Dr. Nicole Redvers, ND, MPH, is a member of the Deninu K’ue First Nation and has worked with various Indigenous patients and communities around the globe helping to bridge the gap between Indigenous traditional and modern medical systems. She is co-founder and chair of the Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation based in the Canadian North. Dr. Redvers is currently an assistant professor in both the Department of Family & Community Medicine and the Department of Indigenous Health at the University of North Dakota where she has helped co-develop the first Indigenous Health PhD degree program in North America. She has been actively involved at the international level promoting the inclusion of Indigenous perspectives in planetary health and education for sustainable health care. Dr. Redvers recently published the trade paperback, The Science of the Sacred: Bridging Global Indigenous Medicine Systems and Modern Scientific Principles. Twitter handle: @DrNicoleRedvers

Mr. Darryl Malek-Wiley works as an Environmental Justice Organizer for the Sierra Club in Louisiana working with community groups on environmental problems and their possible solutions. He has worked on public policy and environmental issues since 1972, when he first joined the Sierra Club. Propublica ir pollution map: https://projects.propublica.org/toxmap/ https://web.doh.state.nj.us/rtkhsfs/indexfs.aspx LEAVE A REVIEW: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-future-is-healthy/id1537453361?uo=4

Samantha Thomas has spent the last several years on walkability and placemaking projects to achieve greater community well-being with 200 big cities, small towns, and tribal nations. She works with Terra Soma, a woman and indigenous run agency. She has broad community design background and manages numerous policy, planning and design projects focused on the built environment. https://www.changelabsolutions.org/good-governance/the-series

Ms. Sharon Lavigne who runs rise st james, a faith based organization focused on preventing expansion and worsening petrochemical plant pollution in the area.  St. James parish is at the epicenter of “cancer alley", a stretch between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana with over 110 petrochemical facilities.  She is a former special education teacher now turned environmental justice advocate, who successfully stopped the construction of a US$1.25 billion plastics manufacturing plant alongside the Mississippi River in St. James Parish, Louisiana. Ms. Lavigne mobilized grassroots opposition to the project, educated community members, and organized peaceful protests to defend her predominantly African American community. The plant would have generated one million pounds of liquid hazardous waste annually, in a region already contending with known carcinogens and toxic air pollution.She is currently focused on defending her community from the Formosa Plastics Plant. She was awarded the Goldman environmental prize in 2021.