LaSharon Adams grew up in the shadow of what is now the Valero Oil Refinery in South Memphis, Tennessee, and watched many relatives die younger than they should have. Now her daughter LaTricea is fighting for clean air, clean water, and environmental justice in this same community as CEO of Young, Gifted & Green.

Articles by Tanzina Vega
Back to School 2024: No ABCs Without A/C
As children across the United States start the school year, concerns about rising heat in classrooms continue. Moms’ Ylenia Aguilar shares her experience in Arizona with extreme heat and schools.
The Power of Moms: A Cherokee Filmmaker Helps Her Chosen Grandmother Clean Up Tar Creek
Filmmaker Loren Waters met environmental activist Rebecca Jim when she was making a documentary about Tar Creek, one of most environmentally contaminated sites in the U.S. They’ve become “chosen family” whose shared Cherokee heritage and connection to the land have deeply impacted each other’s lives and activism.
The Power of Moms: This Mother-Daughter Duo Shut Down the Urban Oil Well Sickening Their Community
Monic Uriate and her daughter, Nalleli Cobo, have been an unlikely environmental justice team since 2010, the year Cobo first got sick from living near an active oil well. Read how they used grassroots advocacy and storytelling to get the neighborhood well shut down.