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WVPE is your gateway to green and sustainable resources in Michiana. Sustainability is meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This is accomplished by finding a balance between businesses, the environment, and our society (people, planet, and profit).State, National and International resources on sustainability include:The Environmental Protection AgencyThe Natural StepSustainability Dictionary45 Sustainability Resources You Need to Know Explore ways to support sustainability in the Michiana area through the Green Links Directory.Sept. 17, 2019 from 2-3:30pm"Global Warming: A Hot Topic"Sept. 17, 19, 24, and 26All sessions are from 2-3:30pmGreencroft Goshen Community Center in the Jennings Auditorium1820 Greencroft Blvd.Goshen, IN 46526The event will look at possible solutions and suffering as well as consequences beyond warmer weather. The event will examine what other civilizations have or haven’t done when faced with environmental problems. Plus there will be an exploration of the biggest unknown in the climate system: What will the humans do? Paul Meyer Reimer teaches physics, math and climate change at Goshen College. The events are presented by the Lifelong Learning Institute. The Institute can be reached at: (574) 536-8244lifelonglearning@live.comhttp://life-learn.org/

Indiana Neighborhood Learns It's Had Lead-Contaminated Soil For Decades

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And we've been hearing a lot about the lead-contaminated water in Flint, Mich. In the city of East Chicago, Ind., it's not lead in the water that's the problem; it's lead in the soil. The Environmental Protection Agency is conducting tests, and local leaders have ordered 1,100 residents to move out. As Nick Janzen from Indiana Public Broadcasting reports, many people are upset that they're only learning now that their neighborhood has been unsafe for decades.

NICK JANZEN, BYLINE: Byron Florence is in a car, pointing out neighborhood landmarks.

BYRON FLORENCE: This is McCook. We used to walk this block every day going back and forth to school.

JANZEN: Florence is 64 years old, and he's lived in this part of East Chicago, Ind., most of his life. In 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency designated this area a Superfund site because of lead-contaminated soil. The Superfund program cleans up the country's most contaminated land. This site used to be home to several companies, including the U.S.S. Lead plant. It was a smelting facility, processing raw lead for use in products like batteries or pipes.

FLORENCE: Now, this is the area, you know, as they say, that was affected, you know, when the lead plant was there. This is my house here - the white house right here on the corner.

JANZEN: When people play, garden or walk around lead-contaminated soil, it's easily inhaled or ingested. Lead poisoning damages the brain and nervous system. It can cause learning and behavioral problems, and it stunts growth, so it's especially dangerous to children. Florence remembers growing up here.

FLORENCE: We would be playing baseball. They would barrels - 55 gallon barrels - up and down this area. And a bulldozer would come in and cover it up. And maybe half-hour, 45 minutes after they left, we're digging it up, poking holes in the barrels, just seeing the stuff squirt up.

JANZEN: In 1985 U.S.S. Lead shut down. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management found the facility often exceeded permit levels for lead and arsenic. That's what's now being found in the soil of the Calumet neighborhood of East Chicago. State Senator Lonnie Randolph represents this area. He's worried families could have lived with this contamination for decades.

LONNIE RANDOLPH: I'm too mad to be scared. And I imagine that's how a lot of people, particularly the families of West Calumet, feel. And you've got some stories saying that hotspots in that area were discovered back in the '70s.

JANZEN: EPA records dating to at least 1985 show elevated lead levels in the soil around the former plant, but a lot of residents say they've only learned about that recently. The EPA says it's only finalized test results in May, which showed lead levels 10 times higher than what's allowed. That's when the government ordered people out. East Chicago Mayor Anthony Copeland ordered the shutdown of the West Calumet Housing Complex, where the worst contamination is. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is helping those 1,100 residents look for new homes. Sherry Hunter says this is all quite a shock.

SHERRY HUNTER: All of a sudden, about a month ago, when the mayor finally gets the test, and he wants to panic and get everybody out at one time.

JANZEN: Others have praised the mayor's quick response. Demolishing the housing complex is more than what the EPA had planned to do, which was just to remove the contaminated soil. Still, that doesn't help residents like Sherry Hunter or Byron Florence. They live a few streets away, and the government can't formally identify which company is responsible for the lead contamination in their part of the neighborhood. For NPR News, I'm Nick Janzen in East Chicago, Ind. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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