Episode 36

Will Chappell is the President of Air and Water Quality, Inc., a Maine-based business that helps homeowners resolve water quality concerns.  Since Maine has a higher percentage of residents drinking from residential wells than any other state, it is a matter of public health to get regular testing for well water.

Toxic heavy metals (arsenic, manganese, uranium) and man-made chemicals (PFAS) can often be present in our residential well water.  Because you cannot see, smell or taste these toxics, it is important to test your residential wells every 3-5 years.  

One can get started by contacting a lab or reaching out to a water treatment business.  In Maine, there are also funds available to help low-income households with testing and remediation expenses. 

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 Episode 34

Dianne Kopec is a Research Fellow at the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability at the University of Maine. Her biological research documents toxic contaminants in wildlife, such as mercury in fish (and the animals that eat them, like birds and harbor seals). 

Because of mercury contamination in Maine's waters, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has a posted fish consumption health advisory. Since all 50 states have such advisories, the EPA also offers safe eating guidelines for fish consumption, especially for pregnant women, as exposure can cause behavioral problems and decreased cognitive performance.  

For decades, mercury contamination in Maine freshwater fish has denied members of the Penobscot Nation their legally protected sustenance fishing rights. Currently, Dr. Kopec's research is helping to minimize mercury exposure to tribal members. 

With an eye on the future, Dianne Kopec says, "We don't have to accept mercury pollution as a given."  She discusses how legislation today can protect all of us from toxic exposures tomorrow, so that we might be able to fish with our grandchildren...and eat the catch.  

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Episode 25

​Dr. Roopa Krithivasan, recently published a 68 page report called Problem Plastic: How Polyester and PET Plastic Can Be Unsafe, Unjust and Unsustainable Materials.  Dr. Krithivasan is the Director of Research for Defend Our Health and has a background in social, ecological and conservation research.  

Dr. Krithivasan discusses the hidden health hazards from the hundreds of chemicals used to make plastics.  For instance, antimony is a chemical used in the plastic finishing process for PET and polyester (plastic bottles, clothing, stuffed animals, packaging), and it is toxic to the liver and heart.  More than 99% of PET and polyester is made from non-renewable fossil gas and oil and is very often created in plants located next to "fenceline communities."  Serious environmental justice issues have been created In these exposed communities.  Often young children and people of color face the greatest harm  to the chemicals used in the plastic plants next door.

Roopa Krithivasan calls for greater corporate responsibility with regard to reducing and/or eliminating the toxics used in plastics production.

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Episode 23

​Mindi Messmer is an environmental and public health scientist (Clinical and Translational Science, MS) so other parents reached out to her when local families began experiencing a tragic pediatric cancer cluster in Rye, NH 2014. Her empathy for their terribly scary situations led her to become involved as a local activist, leader, and public servant.

Mindi Messmer was elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives (2016-2018) where she worked to protect public health through bills on PFAS, arsenic and lead poisoning prevention. She remains committed to cancer prevention and environmental and drinking water protection.

Mindi is the author of Female Disruptors, Stories of Mighty Female Scientists (2022), which she discusses in this interview. 

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Episode 18

Abby Barrows is a marine scientist, researcher and oyster farmer.  She initiated the first baseline data map of micro plastic pollution in Maine in 2012 and more recently was the principal investigator for the Global Microplastic Initiative, compiling one of the largest global datasets on every continent and ocean in the world. Abby partnered with Adventure Scientists to successfully gather samples from remote fresh and marine waters around the globe. See map of findings.

Abby is the owner and operator of Long Cove Sea Farm, an oyster business in Stonington, ME, where she works to employ alternatives to plastic in her oyster farming practices.  For purchasing sustainable seafood, Abby recommends using Monterey Bay Aquarium's app called Seafood Watch.

Ways to decrease single-use plastics in your daily life:
Don't use K-cups/coffee pods, bring your own utensils, use glass containers for food storage, use bar soap/shampoo/conditioner, bamboo toothbrushes, fill your trash bags full and more.

Ways to join others in the fight against plastics:
5Gyres
​Plastic Pollution Coalition
Surfrider Foundation
Upstream Solutions

on Facebook
​on Instagram

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