Trailer Park Activists of Coachella Valley Fight for Health

You may be familiar with Coachella from hearing about the annual
music festival there. But for 10 years, journalist Ruxandra Guidi
has been visiting farmworkers in the area, learning about the
deplorable conditions in which they live.



There’s now some hope that community health workers are making a
significant difference in the lives of workers. Here’s Ruxandra
with the story – and stay tuned afterwards for a conversation
with her detailing how she gains the trust of folks whose lives
she’s documenting.


 


 



Learn more about Coachella Valley trailer park activists. 



 


READ: Amid California's Toxic Dumps, Local Activists Go It Alone,
by Ruxandra Guidi


 


(In this historic photo by Dorothea Lange, migrant farmworkers
pull carrots in the Coachella Valley. Credit: Library of
Congress)



Ruxandra Guidi reported and produced this episode of Living
Downstream, The Trailer Park Activists of Eastern Coachella
Valley


Thanks to Anthony Garcia for mastering the show.


The Living Downstream theme music was written by David
Schulman.


Steve Mencher is the host and senior producer. Darren LaShelle
in the executive producer, and the president and CEO of
Northern California Public Media is Nancy Dobbs.


Subscribe to Living Downstream wherever you get your podcasts.
If you see environmental injustice in your community, write to
us at living@norcalpublicmedia dot org


LIVING DOWNSTREAM thanks our sponsors who make this podcast
possible. A list is available at norcalpublicmedia.org


Activist Eduardo Guevara takes a picture inside Lawson Dump as
smoke rises from a fire smoldering belowground. Although it was
ordered closed in 2006, underground fires continued to burn for
years afterward, and residents of nearby mobile home parks
continued to complain about noxious odors and possible
contamination. (Credit: Roberto (Bear) Guerra, 2010)


A hand-written sign warns Duroville mobile home park residents
in Thermal, California, to stay away from a waste pond on the
neighboring property. On the far side of the pond is Lawson
Dump, now closed by the EPA because it contained dangerous
amounts of arsenic, PCBs, asbestos, dioxin and other toxic
materials. (Credit: Roberto (Bear) Guerra, 2010)



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