Brownfields Conference 2009: Educational Sessions

In this documentary, experts discuss the importance of community involvement in brownfields reclaimation. Renewal projects from Denver, Trenton, Baltimore, Phoenix, and elsewhere illustrate how sustainable redevelopment depends on sharing information, balancing minority and majority interests, and long-term planning.

America’s “first” suburbs, those suburban communities built next to America’s urban centers, were the birthplace of the American Dream. Sixty years later, many of these original suburbs are facing a crisis: a dwindling tax base, population and business losses, decaying infrastructure, increased racial tensions, and “white flight.” Lacking policies to help reverse these trends, many towns are seeking revitalization strategies.

In Poisoned Waters, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Hedrick Smith examines the growing hazards to human health and the ecosystem. Through interviews with scientists, environmental activists, corporate executives, and average citizens affected by the burgeoning pollution problem, Smith reveals his startling new findings: evidence shows that today’s growing environmental threat comes not from the giant industrial polluters of old, but from chemicals in consumers’ face creams, deodorants, prescription medicines, and household cleaners that find their way into sewers, storm drains, and eventually into America’s waterways and drinking water.