Broken Ground

Southern Environmental Law Center
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Broken Ground is a podcast produced by the Southern Environmental Law Center digging up environmental stories in the South.

  1. Jo and Joy Banner: Reclaiming Home

    11/25/2025

    Jo and Joy Banner: Reclaiming Home

    Jo and Joy Banner envision a time, not too distant from now, when travelers visiting their small town along the Mississippi River don’t gawk at the concentration of polluting petrochemical plants nearby, but instead revel in the area’s rich cultural history. As founders of the non-profit Descendants Project, the twin sisters have dedicated themselves to preserving the histories of the Black communities tied, like theirs, to the nearby Whitney Plantation. They’re also challenging the industrialization that has given their beloved home its unwelcome nickname, Cancer Alley.  Support the show

    28 min
  2. Aya Shabu: Highway Through the Heart

    11/13/2025

    Aya Shabu: Highway Through the Heart

    On her group walking tours around Durham’s Hayti District, performance artist Aya Shabu brings Black history to life, transporting visitors back to Hayti in its heyday. Once known as a Black Wall Street, the community was founded by freed people from Stagville and other nearby plantations. But eventually it was torn apart by urban renewal and construction of Highway 147, leaving residents dealing with displacement, air pollution, extreme heat conditions, and economic loss.Today, as development and gentrification pressures mount, residents like Aya celebrate what came before, while fighting to make sure they have a voice in what comes next.   Support the show

    30 min
  3. Michelle Lanier: What the Land Witnessed

    10/30/2025

    Michelle Lanier: What the Land Witnessed

    A “keeper of memory” and Director of the North Carolina Division of State Historic Sites, Michelle Lanier has built a career on understanding layers of history underlying our Southern landscapes, not just battlefields and burial grounds, but native pine forests as well. Prized for their lumber and ‘bled’ for their multipurpose pine gum, Longleaf pines were exploited, much as the enslaved and indentured laborers forced to harvest them were. Today, though few Longleaf pines remain, echoes of this exploitation endure in the Black Southern communities now battling the biomass industry. Support the show

    28 min
  4. Latria Graham: The Roots of Environmental Injustices

    10/16/2025

    Latria Graham: The Roots of Environmental Injustices

    Writer Latria Graham helps us unearth the surprising ways in which long-ago plantations and modern environmental injustices are intertwined in the South. From some of the earliest Freedmen’s communities built on frequently flooded land, to contemporary Black neighborhoods now hemmed in by polluting industries, we map the many ways that racist systems codified during plantation slavery still dictate who thrives in the South today – who breathes clean air, who owns land, who is most impacted by climate change. A fifth generation South Carolinian, Latria also shares her family’s own experience of flooding and Black land loss.   Support the show

    30 min
  5. Season 8: Plantations to Pollution

    SEASON 8 TRAILER

    Season 8: Plantations to Pollution

    On a map, you can often spot pollution sources like a power plant, a highway, or a factory. But why were these things built where they are, and who lives next door? Answering those questions reveals a surprising truth: it’s often a short distance from yesterday’s plantations to today’s pollution. In this season of Broken Ground, we’ll journey through history, from a remote turpentine camp where enslaved laborers once toiled, through a bustling “Black Wall Street” where freed men and women once thrived, to the last green stretch of ‘Cancer Alley’ in Louisiana, where twin sisters Jo and Joy Banner are fighting for justice for descendants of the enslaved. Together, these stories uncover how the legacy of slavery connects to the environmental injustices we are facing today. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.   Support the show

    1 min
  6. Rural Justice: The Power of Coalitions

    12/19/2024

    Rural Justice: The Power of Coalitions

    This season of Broken Ground we spend time in the rural South with the people who call it home. Often celebrated for the quiet life close to nature, and a region that defines many perceptions of the South, it’s also a place polluting industries target, betting what they do will be out of sight and out of mind. Sometimes these polluters are even invited to town by local officials eager for economic engines. But in each community we visited, we met small town neighbors who summoned their nerve and rallied together to become a powerful force. Coalitions built small wins into a mighty wave, shifting tides and determining their destiny. Hear their stories this season on Broken Ground.  Support the show

    14 min
  7. The Landfill Next Door

    12/10/2024

    The Landfill Next Door

    We don’t spend a lot of time thinking about where our trash ends up but, when you live next door to a landfill, you don’t have that luxury. The burning smell of chemicals, the flocks of circling vultures, the constant rumble of truck traffic and the accompanying exhaust are just the most obvious impacts of living near acres of garbage, especially when that garbage isn’t managed properly. Neighbors in rural eastern North Carolina never wanted any of this. They were told, back when plans were first floated to expand the county dump, that they wouldn’t have to worry about a massive future expansion or the arrival of toxic trash. So, when the footprint grew into the largest landfill in North Carolina and there was evidence that dangerous waste was making its way into the community’s water supply, residents took legal action, and made history in the process. Support the show

    35 min
  8. After the River Rises

    11/01/2024

    After the River Rises

    "Inland flooding" was a phrase that often needed explanation. Now all you need to say is "Helene". The storm that ravaged Appalachia was a stark reminder of a phenomenon that’s becoming more and more common – residents living far from the coast watching as their local river jumps its banks and inundates yards, homes, and businesses. For small towns with even smaller budgets, disasters like this can accelerate a community's decline. But in Fair Bluff, North Carolina, town officials have responded to two devastating downtown floods with some innovative ideas and lots of outside help. Now, the town is on a new path, holding a ribbon cutting for its newly-constructed "Uptown", and providing a model for one way to manage the long process of flood recovery. Rebuilding in the wake of a flood takes time, money, creativity, and community. Join us to hear how one town is putting those to good use. Support the show

    41 min
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About

Broken Ground is a podcast produced by the Southern Environmental Law Center digging up environmental stories in the South.

Information

  • Creator
    Southern Environmental Law Center
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2025
  • Episodes
    47
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Broken Ground
  • Show Website
    Broken Ground

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