In our season three opener, Secret Sauce, we’re heading to St. James Parish, Louisiana, to chat with Sharon Lavigne and her daughter, Shamyra. Sharon is the Founder and President of the faith-based advocacy group Rise St. James and a 2021 Goldman Environmental Prize winner.

Last fall, we caught up with Miss Sharon one week after Hurricane Ida blew the roof off her home as she was deep in the fight against Formosa Plastic. A year later, we are joined by her daughter Shamyra to have an intergenerational conversation about their Secret Sauce in staying resilient and grounded in the face of hurricane season, Big Plastic, and the industrial polluters of “Cancer Alley”. Shamyra, who has a background in mental health, shares the ways that youth remain engaged and proactive in their community and her vision for St. James.

Since our recording, a Louisiana court judge denied the necessary air permits for a massive petrochemicals complex to be built in St. James due to the relentless organizing by environmental justice organizers on the ground, with Miss Sharon at the helm.

This season, we’re honored to join forces with Prism - a nonprofit newsroom led by journalists of color to go deep into the stories behind environmental racism. Our host Shilpi Chhotray and Prism’s climate justice reporter Ray Levy Uyeda investigate what it’s really like on the ground and how federal agencies ironically defend the industries that exploit them.

 

Key themes explored:

Who is protecting the people of Saint James and who is protecting the industry that threatens to pollute it?

How did we get here and why are petrochemical industries interested in communities like St. James Parish, Louisiana?

What is the future of environmental justice organizing?

Tune in to the latest episode, Secret Sauce, to find out. Visit People over Plastic’s website to learn more about us and continue the conversation by sharing this episode on Instagram and Twitter.

 

RESOURCES:

• Prism article: “Supreme Court guts EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions” written by Ray Levy Uyeda.
• Learn more about Sharon Lavigne, 2021’s Goldman Environmental Prize Winner.
• Support Miss Sharon’s work by visiting the Rise St James website and donating to her organization directly.
• People over Plastic’s Season 1 episode featuring Sharon Lavigne
• “Louisiana judge cancels air permits for plastics plant” in Reuters

 

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