The fourth installment in our special Earth Day series
What happens to waste when you flush the toilet? Most Americans depend on basic sanitation infrastructure, but a surprising number of people, especially in rural communities, don’t have an affordable way to cleanly dispose of sewage. Catherine Coleman Flowers calls it America’s dirty secret.
A tireless environmental justice activist, author and MacArthur “genius,” Catherine has dedicated her life to bringing attention to the largely invisible problem of inadequate waste and water sanitation infrastructure in rural communities in the United States.
She discusses this fight, and her new book Holy Ground: On Activism, Environmental Justice, and Finding Hope, in today’s conversation with reporter and fellow Alabamian Lee Hedgepeth.
Watch as Catherine explains what it’s like to live with this disparity, how faith and bipartisanship weave into her work, and why policymakers should spend the night in a home with a failing septic system.
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