Unlawful Entry: Toxic Trespass in American Soils

The third installment of our ongoing series about water in the American West, written and produced by Patricia Schwartz, looks at a largely obscured but incredibly pervasive threat to both our natural resources and our general wellbeing. One that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought even further into focus. Toxic trespass is the non-consensual infiltration of our homes, bodies and bloodstreams by harmful substances and chemicals. Its consequences are experienced disproportionately across the socio-economic and geographic spectrums, but its legacy affects us all to an increasing degree. Schwartz talks with Dr. Monica Ramirez Andreotta of the University of Arizona about her work in communities near the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund clean-up sites, exploring the history, and failures, of the systems we rely on to protect us from exposure. Music by Algar the Bard: System of Down's Toxicity, Medieval Style.