Environmental Justice Digital Storytellers Media Library

This internship program, funded by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Gulf Region Program, allows high school students representing five states in the Gulf Coast region to take on the roles of climate journalists.

During their internship, students partner with regional experts in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Medicine (STEMM) and environmental and climate justice organizations to chronicle stories of vulnerable communities adversely affected by climate change and environmental hazards.

Funded by:

 Year 3 Cohort (October 2024 – May 2025)

DIGITAL STORY

Poisoned Grounds, Polluted Skies

DSCEJ Digital Storyteller Interns Alijah Banks and Nyla Knox share the story of Alsen, LA residents impacted by nearby polluting facilities and landfills.

DIGITAL STORY

Saltwater Intrusion Zion Travelers

DSCEJ Digital Storyteller Interns Jazlyn Morton, Khloe Sommersville and Jamarcus Tinson discuss the adverse health impacts of saltwater intrusion in Plaquemines Parish.

 Year 2 Cohort (October 2023 – May 2024)

DIGITAL STORY

Breaking Point: The Fight Against Environmental Injustice

Gulfport, MS Interns, Dewayne Moore, Joshiah Rayford, and Christina Smokes from the Year 2 Cohort in Gulfport, MS presented their digital story, Breaking Point: The Fight Against Environmental Injustice, at the Community Dinner Meeting hosted by EEECHO on July 25, 2024. Their digital story addresses the challenges of sea-level rise and flooding in their community and proposed solutions to become a more resilient community.

DIGITAL STORY

Perspective is Power

Perspective is Power addresses the challenges faced by the Wedgewood Community in Pensacola, FL and profiles Unity in the Family Ministries, a CBO that advocates for environmental justice.

Jaden Allen, Takianeshia Bynumm Christopher Garrett, and Clarence O’Neal from the Year 2 Cohort produced this digital story.

DIGITAL STORY

Water and Air Pollution in Africatown

Africatown, AL interns Carlos Knight and Tiere Olayoju-Arikawe produced this digital story on the EJ community that is fighting to re-establish unity in a neighborhood that once thrived as an example of the most loving and family-oriented atmosphere in the Deep South.

Their story profiles the organization Clean, Healthy, Educated, Safe and Sustainable (C.H.E.S.S.),  a CBO that advocates for environmental justice.

DIGITAL STORY

Chasing Earth

New Orleans interns, Victoria Cager, Reine Morris, and Kevaun Porter, spent nine months learning about the adverse environmental and health impacts in Cancer Alley, the 85-mile corridor from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, LA that has over 150 polluting facilities.

The interns interviewed residents from Concerned Citizens in St. John the Baptist Parish in Reserve, LA. Their digital story gave a history of environmental justice and featured the fence line community adversely impacted by a chemical plant releasing chloroprene near Fifth Ward Elementary School that is only half a mile away from the plant.