PHOTOS FROM THE FIELD

American Lung Association in Montana Screening and Discussion of Unbreathable: The Fight for Healthy Air

Please click this URL to join! Wednesday, August 19, 2020; 12pm MDT

Created by American University’s Center for Environmental Filmmaking in partnership with the American Lung Association, this short film looks back on 50 years of the Clean Air Act, highlighting both the incredible progress made in cleaning up air pollution as well as the stories of communities that are still suffering from polluted environments. Underscoring the challenges we continue to face in protecting health and ensuring health equity amid the growing threats from climate change and worsening air quality, this 30-minute film premiers at a critical time. Asthma is the number one health issue for children, and recent research links air pollution to higher cases and deaths from COVID-19. Environmental regulations and enforcement of existing laws are being stripped away when the need for renewable energy is more urgent than ever.

We invite you to watch the film in advance and then join us live on Wednesday, August 19, 2020; 12pm for a moderated panel discussion. Registrants will be sent more instructions about how to view the film a few days before the event.

Special guests
• Kenneth Smoker, Jr., MBA, Director of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Wellness Program, Fort Peck Tribes
• Gwen Lankford, Sapphire Strategies, Inc., specializing in strategic communications with a focus on health and climate; Member of the Gros Ventre Tribe and direct descendent of the Salish Tribe.
• Margaret Cook-Shimanek, MD, Occupational and Environmental Medicine Specialist
• Wilmot Collins, Mayor of Helena, MT
• Samantha Francine, Black Lives Matter Community Leader, Whitefish MT

PHOTOS FROM THE FIELD

Fishing towns hoping they could dodge the coronavirus bullet got a wake-up call this month.

Until two weeks ago.

That’s when cases at fish processing plants began shooting up from a few dozen to more than 360, with spikes in Seward, Juneau and Anchorage, plus an outbreak aboard a factory trawler on the Aleutian Island chain.

In the state’s largest city, things are expected to worsen.

“With so many workers now testing positive, it is likely that this outbreak has been in progress for some time and that transmission has already occurred among family, friends and others in the community,” Dr. Bruce Chandler, the Anchorage health department’s chief medical officer, said in a statement. Continue reading…

Indian Country Today – COVID spikes at Alaska fish processing plants raise alarm

Photo credit: Men unloading fish that had been iced down to stay chilled, Cordova. (Photo by Brandon Blake, Copper River Seafoods)