Port City, from Generation to Generation
Oct08

Port City, from Generation to Generation

In this episode, we’ll head to Norfolk, Virginia, where flooding and rising sea levels are disproportionately threatening Black residents, while the city is also also weathering a housing crisis. We’ll hear about how sea-level rise, racism and housing are intertwined in this coastal city in a story from episode one of the podcast Wading Between Two Titans, brought to us by the University of Virginia’s Repair Lab and...

Read More
Saltwater Soundwalk: Indigenous Audio Tour of Seattle (Encore)
Oct02

Saltwater Soundwalk: Indigenous Audio Tour of Seattle (Encore)

In this special encore episode of Making Contact, we present “Saltwater Soundwalk”: Indigenous Audio Tour of Seattle. Produced by Jenny Asarnow and Rachel Lam, this rhythmic, watery audio experience, streams of stories that ebb and flow, intermixes English with Coast Salish languages. Indigenous Coast Salish peoples continue to steward this land and preserve its language, despite settler colonialism, industrialization and...

Read More
Crosswinds: Change
Aug13

Crosswinds: Change

On this week’s show, we’ll continue with the podcast mini-series Crosswinds from the University of Virginia’s Repair Lab and producer Adrian Wood. The show looks at the impact of coal dust pollution on Black neighborhoods in Virginia through the lens of environmental racism. In this episode, we’ll listen to how the looming gentrification of one community might impact the pollution. Featuring: Lathaniel Kirts,...

Read More
Crosswinds: Friendship
Aug06

Crosswinds: Friendship

We take a deep dive into coal dust air pollution in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, where trains transporting coal expose residents of predominantly Black communities to harmful dust. We look at this issue of environmental racism with the help of the podcast Crosswinds, featuring producer Adrian Wood. Featuring: Lathaniel Kirts, practitioner-in-residence at University of Virginia’s Repair Lab Malcolm Jones,...

Read More
Thirsting For Justice (Part Two): Community Utility Districts and East Orosi’s Drinking Water Problems (Encore)
May28

Thirsting For Justice (Part Two): Community Utility Districts and East Orosi’s Drinking Water Problems (Encore)

This episode first aired on Aug 7, 2024 as “East Orosi’s Long Struggle for Water Part 2: The Role of Community Utility Districts.” You can learn about new developments since then in more recent coverage via SJV Water and Fresnoland. In part one of our series on water in the Central Valley of California, we visited a town called East Orosi, which has been fighting for clean water for over 20 years. This week we turn our...

Read More
Thirsting for Justice (Part One): East Orosi’s Struggle for Clean Drinking Water (Encore)
May21

Thirsting for Justice (Part One): East Orosi’s Struggle for Clean Drinking Water (Encore)

This episode originally aired on July 25, 2024 as “East Orosi’s Struggle for Clean Drinking Water.” East Orosi hasn’t had safe drinking water in over 20 years. The water is full of nitrates, runoff from industrial agriculture, which is harmful to human health. The community has taken action to find a solution, from lobbying at the state capital to working with neighboring towns.  And they may finally have one. New...

Read More