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That Sickening Smell?
Where you live can have a significant impact on your health. Youth Radio’s Sophie Simon-Ortiz grew up in West Berkeley near a steel manufacturing plant, and still has vivid memories of the smell that poured regularly from its smoke stacks and permeated the neighborhood. Her friend, Katri remembers how much the smell used to bother her dad:
Katri: We would go for walks every now and then around the neighborhood and every now and then he would start complaining about the smell in the air and be really grossed out by it and I didn’t really know what that meant…I think I thought that was just what the neighborhood smelled like, like what are we gonna do?
The smell is still there. So Sophie decided to find out why, after so many years and complaints from nearby residents, not much seems to have changed at all.
Click here to find the full script and audio for this story.
Teach Youth Radio
For this month's feature, you will be able to view these strategies and resources:
1. How teachers can align this Youth Radio story to National Standards in the classroom.
2. Suggestions for lesson plans that link the story's content to your classroom's themes and subject areas.
3. Suggestions for lesson plans that explore media literacy, using the story to re-read mainstream media.
4. Bios of the Youth Radio reporters who produced the story.
5. resources and further research related to the story's themes.
6. Ideas for using media production methods from this story in your classroom.
1. NATIONAL STANDARDS: Standards Alignment
Subject: LANGUAGE ARTS
NL-ENG.K-12.1 READING FOR PERSPECTIVE
NL-ENG.K-12.2 UNDERSTANDING THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE
NL-ENG.K-12.3 EVALUATION STRATEGIES
NL-ENG.K-12.6 APPLYING KNOWLEDGE
NL-ENG.K-12.9 MULTICULTURAL UNDERSTANDING
Subject: LIFE SCIENCE
NS.9-12.6 PERSONAL AND SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES
Subject: HEALTH
NPH-H.9-12.1 HEALTH PROMOTION AND DISEASE PREVENTION
NPH-H.9-12.2 HEALTH INFORMATION, PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
NPH-H.9-12.3 REDUCING HEALTH RISKS
NPH-H.9-12.4 INFLUENCES ON HEALTH
Subject: ECONOMICS
NSS-EC.9-12.1 SCARCITY
NSS-EC.9-12.2 MARGINAL COST/BENEFIT
NSS-EC.9-12.3 ALLOCATION OF GOODS AND SERVICES
NSS-EC.9-12.4 ROLE OF INCENTIVES
NSS-EC.9-12.5 GAIN FROM TRADE
NSS-EC.9-12.7 MARKETS -- PRICE AND QUANTITY DETERMINATION
NSS-EC.9-12.8 ROLE OF PRICE IN MARKET SYSTEM
NSS-EC.9-12.9 ROLE OF COMPETITION
NSS-EC.9-12.13 ROLE OF RESOURCES IN DETERMINING INCOME
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2. NEWS YOU CAN USE: Story content in your classroom, Suggestions for lesson plans
Language Arts:
Community Asset Mapping:
At the top of Sophie’s story, she focuses on the industrial aspects of the neighborhood where she grew up—the warehouses, the smoke stacks, the railroad—and her story explores some of the risks associated with living in that environment. But she also mentions other parts of her neighborhood—a preschool, a strong working class history, and diversity. Have students tour their neighborhoods and map what they see. Discuss how their perceptions of their neighborhoods differ from other representations (e.g., those in the local press), and have them consider what factors determine whether a neighborhood is “known” for its assets or problems. In order to draw public support to address neighborhood problems, you often need to be able to “tell the story” in a powerful and convincing way. Based on their community maps, how would your students persuasively present a story about their neighborhood in such a way that inspires others to join community improvement efforts?
Voices in Dialogue: Sophie speaks with a friend, a spokesperson for Pacific Steel Casting, a representative of a non profit, and her former pre-school director. How does this story compare with other literary works or journalistic reports that offer several different perspectives on an issue? How does Sophie rely on these different characters to bolster her story and build her argument? How does she establish each character’s specific credibility? What perspectives, if any, are missing?
Health and Science:
Environmental Inquiry: In her story, Sophie explores the relationship between environmental conditions and public health. She’s careful here to draw on a range of sources. Have your students identify an environmental problem that affects their own community. Have them research both the scientific issues and social debates circulating around the problem, and ask them to conduct at least two interviews: one with a scientist, and one with a community member directly affected by the problem. Have students compare what they learn from these two perspectives, and discuss the relationship between the “scientific” and the “anecdotal.” Then ask your students to identify what additional research they would need to do to tell the whole story, and what innovative solutions they’d propose.
Health Risks: In preparing this story, Sophie did some research suggesting that in the late 1990s, out of all Bay Area facilities subject to Toxic Release Inventory reporting, Pacific Steel Casting ranked number two for carcinogenic risk. Additionally, she found a recent study that concluded that asthma hospitalization rates for all Berkeley children are 2.5 times higher than for all California children, and that asthma hospitalization rates in her childhood zip code, 94710, are highest in all of Berkeley. What are some of the ways that these health risks affect the human body? Why are children more susceptible than adults? How do scientists determine carcinogenic risk, and what is the Toxic Release Inventory? (see article listed under research/resources)
Economics:
Rich Profit, Poor Health: Although the PSC representative Sophie quotes doesn’t deny that a noxious smell permeates the neighborhood, Sophie says the company is one of Berkeley's largest employers, brings in tax dollars for the city, donates to city organizations, and participates in the Spare the Air program. Students can research corporations that generate environmental pollutants yet support positive programs. What cost benefit analysis is the corporation undertaking in making these decisions? And what cost benefit analysis do local people make, in determining how hard to push for reforms?
Ethical dilemmas: In Sophie’s words, “What complicates the situation is that many of the employees for Pacific Steel live in the neighborhood and it’s one of the biggest employers in Berkeley, with union wages.And for many people who depend on those paychecks, it’s more of a health risk to be unemployed than exposed to bad air.” In groups of 3-4, students can come up with an issue that poses a moral dilemma for a company, and/or for environmental advocates. Each group can give their issue to another group to brainstorm how they will handle the situation, taking various perspectives, and present back to the whole class.
Good Business: Students can do research to find companies that are socially and environmentally responsible. What are the philosophies of these companies? Are the products of these businesses offered at reasonable prices? What are some of the trade-offs for being a responsible business?. What incentives do your students believe would be effective in encouraging companies to create and maintain environmentally responsible practices?
3. CRITICAL MEDIA LITERACY: Putting This Story in Context
Environmental Justice: Sophie says that the neighborhood primarily affected was working class and diverse. Students can research to find out the socio-economic and ethnic make-up of areas largely affected by pollution in comparison to areas that are not (see environmental justice links under research/resources)
Youth battles for social justice: Reflecting on growing up in a neighborhood filled with chemical odors, Sophie’s friend Katri says, “I think I thought that was just what the neighborhood smelled like, like what are we gonna do?” Students can do research on social justice actions in their local vicinities that young people have organized. What are some strategies these groups can use to draw media attention to their campaigns?
Spokespeople Speak: Elizabeth Jewel, the spokesperson for PSC, responded to community concerns about the foul smell by bringing up the company’s “proposal to install a 2 million dollar filter that the company is confident will address all of if not the majority of the odor problems.” She doesn’t, in this statement, draw a connection between the proposed filter and toxic emissions or health problems. Students can use newspaper articles to find other statements made by spokespeople. What is the role of a spokesperson at a company or organization? What training does a spokesperson receive? What are some investigative reporting strategies journalists can use to get real answers from spokespeople, or to get access to others from within a given company or organization who might bring different perspectives?
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4. MEET THE COMMENTATOR
Sophie Simon-Ortiz graduated from Berkeley High School and now attends Oberlin College in Ohio. She worked at Youth Radio all through high school, as a reporter, commentator, peer educator, and associate producer. She covered the 2004 U.S. presidential election with Youth Radio and has produced stories on topics including education reform, sexual harassment in school, lying to your parents, the war in Iraq, and young people working retail.
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5. RESOURCES AND RESEARCH
• Communities for a Better Environment
• Community Coalition for Environmental Justice
• West Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs
• Report on Toxic Release Inventory
• Watchdog Group Will Sue Pacific Steel (Berkeley Daily Planet articles)
• Community Meeting Addresses Steel Plant Issues (Berkeley Daily Planet articles)
• Commentary: West Berkeley Odors Mandate Comprehensive Tests (Berkeley Daily Planet articles)
• Pacific Steel Cited For Noxious Odor After Neighbors Complain (Berkeley Daily Planet articles)
• City, Pacific Steel Will Study Noxious West Berkeley Odor (Berkeley Daily Planet articles)
• Ecology Center information
• Health & Human Services
• Youths Make Spirited Case at Climate Meeting (The New York Times)
• Article on community asset mapping
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6. MEDIA PRODUCTION FOR LEARNING: Making Audio Narratives
Click here to link to Youth Radio's guidelines for conducting interviews, writing commentaries, and producing features.
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