It’s In Our Blood: Communities vs Forever Chemicals

There are chemicals in your blood that weren't there fifty years ago. They are in the products you use, the water you drink, the food you eat - and for years, almost nobody was told the full truth about the risk. This week, Christiana speaks to two women who found contamination in their communities and refused to accept it. Emily Donovan and Sarah Alexander have spent decades fighting for greater regulation of PFAS or ‘forever chemicals’. Through their work, and the work of many others, some progress has been made on regulation, and on supporting the communities most impacted. But this story is far from over. Because these chemicals don't break down. They move through soil, through water, through the food chain and through us. And the impacts on our health and on our ecosystems are only beginning to come to light.So, with environmental protection rollbacks at the US federal level, can progress endure? And can community action take on the big companies and the big money behind this scandal? This episode is about what happens when institutions fail, what accountability actually requires, and why the clean energy transition is incomplete if we trade one toxic system for another. 🔗Follow the work of Clean Cape Fear 🔗Learn more about the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association 🎬 Watch Dark Waters (2019) - the film that brought the DuPont PFOA story to a wider audience 📋Read the Relief for Farmers Hit with PFAS Act 🎤 Leave us your voice notes and questions for upcoming episodes on SpeakPipe Join the conversation: Instagram @outrageoptimism LinkedIn @outrageoptimism Or get in touch with us via this form . Producer: Ben Weaver-Hincks Planning: Caitlin Hanrahan Exec Producer: Ellie Clifford This is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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It’s In Our Blood: Communities vs Forever Chemicals is an episode from Outrage + Optimism by Persephonica .

This episode is 42:43 long.

This episode was published on Apr 16, 2026.

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