PITTSBURGH — A group of about 50 health care workers including doctors, nurses and public health officials from across the U.S. attended an “environmental justice walking tour” in Pittsburgh this morning. Participants in the pre-conference tour walked along the river trail downtown, learning about the city’s industrial past and ongoing problems with pollution. “Even seeing all of that coal in the barges is interesting,” Katya Simkhovich, a relationship manager at Ceres, a nonprofit that helps corporations (including those in the health care sector) reach their sustainability goals, told Environmental Health News (EHN). Credit: Kristina Marusic for Environmental Health News The tour also made a stop beneath a rusty, visibly dilapidated Norfolk Southern rail bridge that crosses the river in front of the convention center where the conference is being held. He also noted that an estimated 70% of Pittsburgh's low-income minority communities live within a blast zone, a clear example of environmental injustice.

Source: The Guardian May 23, 2023 20:03 UTC