New Broken Ground season uncovers environmental issues facing the rural South

Award-winning podcast focuses on small-town communities and neighbors tackling big challenges.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Sept. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) launched the latest season of its award-winning and Webby-nominated podcast, Broken Ground. The new season explores unique environmental issues facing the rural South, with five distinct stories all linked by the impact of pollution and climate change on people in small towns and the natural places around them.

"The challenges of the rural South, like the clustering of polluting industries in the same low-wealth areas where medical services are closing down, and the personal stories behind them, reveal a lot about the environmental inequities that too often go unaddressed," said Leanna First-Arai, host of the Broken Ground podcast. "From strip mines to wood pellet mills to toxic fish in our rivers and lakes, polluting industries have forced the costs of consumption onto small Southern towns – places they're betting are out of sight, and therefore out of mind."

Covering one-third of the region, the rural South is often held up politically as the heart and identity of this area of the country, but then just as often ignored when the time comes to protect the health of those same communities. The combined effect of limited options for economic stimulus plus the eagerness of local leaders for growth opportunities has left rural residents vulnerable to advances from dirty industries.

"But no one should underestimate the power of tightly knit communities," said Erin Malec, SELC's Director of Communications. "That's why this season, we wanted to explore how the rural South is navigating major issues like environmental injustice and climate change, and share how small towns are fighting big forces to protect their communities and build a better future."

The reporting led Broken Ground's producers to people who showed us the grassroots power that's possible when neighbors come together behind a common cause, people of all walks of life who just want clear air, clean water, and protection from climate disasters. The challenges of the rural South, and the powerful stories of communities addressing them, reveal much about the environmental issues facing us all.

Broken Ground, now in its seventh season, focuses on sharing the environmental stories and voices in the South that don't often get the attention they deserve. From leaders of the environmental justice movement to Southerners navigating sea level rise and higher tides, previous episodes provide a powerful perspective on the ways environmental destruction collides with underlying inequities, and the solutions Southerners are building.

The latest season of Broken Ground can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

In 2023, Broken Ground won an Anthem Award in the Sustainability, Environment and Climate Change Podcast category and was nominated Best Series by the Webby Awards. The podcast has also been nominated for an iHeart Radio Award for Best Green podcast, and The New York Times called it "an environmental 'This American Life' for the South."

Southern Environmental Law Center

The Southern Environmental Law Center is one of the nation's most powerful defenders of the environment, rooted in the South. With a long track record, SELC takes on the toughest environmental challenges in court, in government, and in our communities to protect our region's air, water, climate, wildlife, lands, and people. Nonprofit and nonpartisan, the organization has a staff of 200, including more than 120 legal and policy experts, and is headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., with offices in Asheville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Chapel Hill, Charleston, Nashville, Richmond, and Washington, D.C. southernenvironment.org 

Broken Ground

Broken Ground is a podcast by the Southern Environmental Law Center digging up environmental stories in the South that don't often get the attention they deserve, and giving a voice to the people bringing those stories to light. BrokenGroundPodcast.org

SOURCE Southern Environmental Law Center