We started our day off with a morning climate talk held in a
community room in the city. There were about 40 people, which was a great turn
out for a Saturday morning. We learned about the different changes that the
community is experiencing with weather, including extreme precipitation events
and temperatures. Following the event, we had lunch with the organizers at a
cute spot nearby. Ann Arbor has some nice restaurants! We had a lot to do, so
after lunch we found ourselves back at the AirBNB working on email, blogs, and
phone calls related to our tour. We have found that free time is not something
we have encountered a whole lot of on the road, so it was nice to have a few
hours to focus on our to-do items. This didn’t last too long, as we had plans
to interview Guy Williams, who we mentioned in the last blog.
We met Guy the
night before when he noticed the decals on our car. It turns out Guy has a
non-profit called “Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice.” He also
helped write the Detroit Climate Action Plan! He was also one of the
friendliest people we had ever met! He happened to be organizing a block party
in his community on Saturday, which he invited us to. We were happy to accept!
The work he is doing is incredible and necessary. We were fortunate to
interview Guy about his work. We learned some history about the city of
Detroit, and the issues that Guy is working to address. We learned that due to
a combination of factories, including the largest municipal solid waste
incinerator in the nation, the air quality in Detroit is some of the worst. We
learned that 2-3 people a day die in the Detroit Metro Area alone due to poor air
quality. With 80% of Detroiters being people of color, this is a huge
environmental justice issue. We talked about climate change and how on top of
being a being an environmental issue, it is also an ethical and political
issue. Those least responsible for climate change are suffering the most. That
concluded our day in Ann Arbor! Take a look at our interview with Guy Williams,
featured below!
Click here to learn more about "On the Road for Climate
Action!"
Dr. Shahir Masri
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