Climate Crusader–Wilma Subra, “Gasland”, The Climate Daily Reforestation Campaign!

CLIMATE CRUSADER, WILMA SUBRA

Wilma Subra was born in 1943 and is an American environmental scientist. She is President of the Subra Company, an environmental consulting firm. Subra was born in Morgan City, Louisiana, and was raised there and in nearby Bayou Vista. Her father was a chemist, and her grandfather an oyster fisherman. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in microbiology and chemistry in 1965 from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette, and her master’s a year later.

From 1967 until 1981 Subra worked for the Gulf South Research Institute.[5] She founded the Subra Company in May 1981 to help people facing problems because of environmental health issues. Subra served for seven years as vice-chair of the Environmental Protection Agency‘s (EPA) National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology, for six years on the EPA’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, and for five years on the National Advisory Committee of the US Representative to the Commission for Environmental Cooperation. She appeared in the 2010 documentary Gasland.

Dozens of toxic sites across the state of Louisiana have been cleaned up as a result of her activity as a scientist and community organizer. Subra works with families, nonprofit groups, universities, and government agencies to test soil and water, to interpret test data, and to advocate for political and regulatory reform. She has worked with communities on health problems stemming from wetland destruction, groundwater contamination, waste streams, landfills, pesticide misuse, radioactive oil-field waste, incinerators, and injection wells. She led a multiyear campaign to close the Marine Shale Processors in East St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, which was licensed as a recycling facility but operated as a hazardous waste incinerator. She also worked with citizens of Grand Bois, Louisiana, the EPA, and the Federal Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry to close an open, oil field waste dump that has compromised the health of Grand Bois residents.

DEEPER DIVE: Wikipedia, MacArthur Foundation, American Chemical Society

A REVIEW OF “GASLAND”

We just heard about Wilma Subra’s appearance in the documentary Gasland. But what is Gasland? It’s a 2010 American documentary film written and directed by Josh Fox. It focuses on communities in the United States where natural gas drilling activity was a concern and, specifically, on hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), a method of stimulating production in otherwise impermeable rock. The film was a key mobilizer for the anti-fracking movement, and “brought the term ‘hydraulic fracturing’ into the nation’s living rooms” according to The New York Times. 

Here’s a synopsis of Gasland: Josh Fox describes receiving a letter in May of 2008 from a gas company that offered a signing bonus of nearly $100,000 to lease his family’s land in Milanville, Pennsylvania, to drill for natural gas, after which he sets out to see how communities across the nation are being affected by the natural gas drilling boom. He drives to locations as far away as Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and Texas, where the boom began a decade earlier. Fox spends time with citizens in their homes and on their land and hears stories about how hydraulic fracturing has contaminated their air, water wells, and surface water with methane and toxic chemicals, leading to a variety of chronic health problems and, sometimes, tap water that can be lit on fire.

Why does Gasland matter to us? Robert Koehler of Variety referred to the film as “one of the most effective and expressive environmental films of recent years”, saying it “may become to the dangers of natural gas drilling what Silent Spring was to DDT.” Eric Kohn of IndieWire wrote: “Gasland is the paragon of first person activist filmmaking done right. […] By grounding a massive environmental issue in its personal ramifications, Fox turns Gasland into a remarkably urgent diary of national concerns.” 

DEEPER DIVE: Gasland Trailer, Josh Fox, Anti-Fracking Movement

THE CLIMATE DAILY’S 50/100 REFORESTATION CAMPAIGN!

Remember how in January we at The Climate Daily launched our first ever Climate Champions Massive Tree Reforestation campaign? Well in honor of upcoming Earth Day 2023, we’re launching The Climate Champions 50/100 campaign! What’s a climate champion, you ask? A climate champion proves that a small group of people can make a massive impact on the planet in a short amount of time. How? Our company, The Climate, is partnering with over 30 international tree-planting organizations–ALONG WITH our climate champions– to re-plant, and regrow forests all over the world, by planting ten thousand trees at a time. Why? Because science says the best way to combat climate change is to restore nature. And the fastest way to restore nature is to plant and grow a trillion trees, and the fastest way to plant and grow a trillion trees is to replant and regrow forests. The fastest way to do that is to plant ten thousand trees at a time, 

And the fastest and most fun way to plant ten thousand trees at a time is to fundraise with friends, climate champions. So, we’re looking for folks to donate $50 or $100 one time, to help us plant 10,000 trees at a time, in one of seven regions around the planet. (Which our tree planting partners will do. They’re the tree-planting professionals.)

Please visit champions.theclimate.org/climate hyphen champions/50or100. Click on the donate button and join our team of climate champions today. Again, visit champions.theclimate.org/climate hyphen champions/50or100. Click on the donate button and join our team of climate champions today. And if you want to start your own team of climate champions, reach out to us at info@34.203.12.8. Well help you put together your own small group of climate champions to make a massive impact on the planet in a short amount of time.

(Planting 10 thousand trees–a 20-acre forest!) Wouldn’t it be great to be the change you want to see in the world? Go to champions.theclimate.org/climate hyphen champions/50or100and become part of something special. Become a climate champion.  Thank you!!

DEEPER DIVE: 50/100 Campaign, Trillion Tree Project