New York student Shadia Wood tells how she became an environmental activist in this video adapted from Earth Island Institute's New Leaders Initiative. Wood lives near several toxic waste sites and was concerned to learn that the New York Superfund - the money set aside for cleaning such sites in her state - had gone bankrupt. Working with other students and environmental groups, Wood lobbied the New York legislature for eight years until the Superfund program was refinanced. Environmentalist Laura Haight says that this law was the most important environmental law passed in New York State in a decade. Includes background essay and discussion questions. [3:57]

Concepts

hazardous waste

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Additional Tags

environmental pollution, toxic waste, pbs learningmedia, pbs learningmedia: environmental public health: teen fights for toxic waste cleanup, toxic waste sites

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Classroom Considerations

• Knovation Readability Score: 5 (1 low difficulty, 5 high difficulty)
• The intended use for this resource is Instructional