Activists work to reduce pollution in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’

Photo courtesy of Jim Bowen via Flickr.
St. Gabriel, Louisiana houses multiple industrial facilities that put residents at high risk of cancer.

By Diksha Batra ’26

Staff Writer

From 2009 to 2016, there was a decrease in air pollution in the U.S., but “the annual carbon dioxide emission rate in the St. James parish [of Louisiana], where St. Gabriel is located, equaled that produced by approximately 113 countries” according to BlackPast. St. Gabriel, Louisiana, is home to what residents call “Cancer Alley,” due to the “plastic plants, oil refineries and petrochemical facilities” that make it one of the most toxic areas in the nation, BlackPast wrote. 

Despite the region’s reputation of high pollution rates, the plastic industry continues to grow. “Industrial expansion continues especially in areas with high percentages of poor and Black residents,” BlackPast reported. One example of this expansion was when the St. James Parish Council approved the “Sunshine Project,” which would build a large plastic plant in the area.  

According to the British Plastics Federation, there are four major steps in plastic production. First, the extraction of raw materials including “largely crude oil and natural gas, but also coal.” Second, the refining process “transforms crude oil into different petroleum products” which happens when “crude oil is heated in a furnace,” and then sent to a “distillation unit, where heavy crude oil separates.” The next step is polymerisation, a process “in the petroleum industry where light olefin gases (gasoline) such as ethylene, propylene, butylene (i.e., monomers) are converted into higher molecular weight hydrocarbons (polymers),” according to the British Plastics Foundation. The final step is compounding and processing, during which materials are melted and mixed together to form plastics. 

The process of making plastics creates byproducts that can pollute the atmosphere and soil, and can cause serious health problems like cancer, according to EcoEnclose. Phthalates, one of the materials needed for plastic, can affect “fertility, endocrine glands and birth defects.” In water, plastic waste can further break down into microplastics. According to EcoEnclose, “the biggest harm associated with microplastics is that they exist not only in the waterways but also the potable water and seafood we eat.” These harmful effects of plastic pollution are felt the most by those living near areas with high levels of plastic manufacturing activity. 

EcoEnclose named “Cancer Alley” as one of the areas most impacted by pollutants in the U.S., and cited environmental racism as a driving reason for that. Greenaction defines environmental racism as “the institutional rules, regulations, policies or government and/or corporate decisions that deliberately target certain communities for locally undesirable land uses and lax enforcement of zoning and environmental laws, resulting in communities being disproportionately exposed to toxic and hazardous waste based upon race.” In this part of Louisiana, the majority of the population is Black, and because of the 150 plants and refineries, the “residents are 50 times more likely to get cancer as a result of the polluted air compared to the average American,” according to Ecoenclose.  

To put an end to plastic pollution and its health consequences, many residents of “Cancer Alley'' have organized themselves to protest against the injustice. “RISE St. James, a grassroots organization founded in 2018, organized its first protest in response to the St. James Parish County Council approving the ‘Sunshine Project,’ which would build another large plastic plant in the area,” according to BlackPast. RISE St. James has been working to stop industries from increasing pollution levels in Louisiana, according to Inside Climate News. This group was founded by Sharon Lavigne, “a retired special education teacher and grandmother of 12,” She said that her work “was a calling from God,” because she found inspiration from the church where she was baptized. RISE St. James’ victories against the plastic industry include stopping Formosa Plastics from constructing a “$9.4 billion manufacturing complex on 2,400 acres in Welcome, Louisiana, less than two miles from Lavigne’s home,” according to Inside Climate News. Some of Lavigne’s other work includes organizing protests, serving as a plaintiff in lawsuits against the plastic industry and working with local governments as well as nationwide environmental groups. Even though Lavigne gives credit to attorneys and others who have been part of the alliance, she believes her cause gained the upper hand because she “put God first.” 

Many other people have been inspired by their religion to fight against the factories. An example is Florence Robinson, a biology professor who lived in the East Baton Rouge Parish, according to Inside Climate News. In 1999, she received an award for her role in shutting down a waste incineration plant, in what was called a “virtual one-woman war against toxic waste,” Inside Climate News reported. In a 2005 article, she told The Advocate that her belief in her actions stemmed from “the Judeo-Christian concept of helping others.” For many of the activists in “Cancer Alley,” faith is what inspired them to fight against the plastic industry.

Hampshire College reaches carbon neutrality goals a decade earlier than expected

Photo courtesy of Sven Manguard via Wikimedia Commons.
Five College Consortium member Hampshire College has announced that carbon offset programs allowed the institution to reach carbon neutrality.

By Lily Benn ’24

Staff Writer

Hampshire College officially announced on Feb. 15 that the institution had reached full carbon neutrality. According to the College’s website, this goal was set for 2032, but was able to be achieved by 2022, as has been calculated for a full year. 

According to an article from the European Union News, carbon neutrality is defined as achieving net, or a total of, zero carbon emissions, usually by balancing the emissions of an individual, institution or community with the amount of carbon being recycled or removed from the atmosphere through Earth’s carbon sinks. The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change promotes this idea, and suggests that achieving carbon neutrality by the mid-21st century is essential.

Hampshire College, located in Amherst, Massachusetts, and one of the five colleges included in the Five College Consortium, created its plan to achieve carbon neutrality as an institution in 2012, according to Sara Draper, the College’s sustainability manager. 

Part of Draper’s work with Hampshire College includes connecting students to the various sustainability programs that are on campus so that the projects can be a part of their educational experience. These include Hampshire’s many Living Buildings, their community farm and their campus and community solar fields. She works with an environmental committee that involves students and other staff, with the goal of working towards and maintaining this carbon neutrality achievement and other sustainability goals.

To calculate this goal of full carbon neutrality on and off campus, the College had set up an annual Greenhouse Gas Analysis. Draper reported that in the past few years, due to COVID-19 and previous financial instability, the College was unable to calculate their carbon emissions. “It was really like a check-in to see, we set the groundwork a long time ago, how are we now doing?” Draper said. 

She also explained that since carbon neutrality as well as some of Hampshire’s other climate and sustainability goals were originally set to be achieved by 2032, the result of this year’s Greenhouse Gas Analysis was surprising. According to the Hampshire College Carbon Neutrality Brief provided by the College in their announcement, in 2022, the College emitted 4,712.8 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents. Draper explained that these remaining emissions that the College could not limit in 2022 are entirely balanced by various carbon offset programs that the College participates in.

To balance the metric tons omitted by the College in various aspects, this year Hampshire purchased offsets from a refrigerant reclamation program, Draper explained. “You recycle a refrigerator, and at the end of its life it has this amount of refrigerant in it, that something needs to be done with,” Draper explained, “Otherwise it will escape into the atmosphere and contribute to the climate change issue.” Hampshire College is able to recapture and recycle these refrigerants, known as HFCs, or hydrofluorocarbons, and reuse them in new products, according to Draper. If this material is not recycled, it can be destroyed, she explained, but by purifying and recycling it, it can be put back into the industry and reused, eliminating the carbon emissions created when manufacturing new refrigerants. 

Draper explained that she believes this program has real impacts in reference to carbon emissions and climate change. “This is something where the market forces for certain kinds of refrigerants weren’t really there to make this cost-effective,” Draper said, “If we can incentivize it as this carbon offset project, it starts to make more financial sense.”

Draper believes that GHG analysis and carbon offset initiatives will continue to be an annual part of Hampshire’s priorities. “What are our values, what are the kinds of projects we want to support?” Draper asked, referring to keeping an annual offset budget and investment. “I would also really look forward to having conversations with our other Five College folks about potentially creating our own, local offset projects,” she said. 

As of 2023, Hampshire College is the only college of the Five College Consortium that has achieved carbon neutrality, according to the other colleges’ and university websites. It was one of the first colleges in the country to divest from fossil fuels in 2011, according to Hampshire’s carbon neutrality announcement. 

“For me, at the end of the day, is this part of having a positive impact on our world, on our peer institutions, on our local area?” Draper said in reflection. “And I think the answer to something like this is ‘yeah!’” Draper advised other sustainability departments and colleges such as Mount Holyoke that every institution is different and has different assets available to achieve their sustainability goals. Still, colleges can look at what their strengths are, and look at what is easiest for them to leverage in terms of reducing carbon emissions, Draper explained. 

Mount Holyoke College has not actively divested from fossil fuels, despite past pressure from organizations and student groups on campus, according to a Mount Holyoke News article from 2021. 

Draper expressed that she is excited to see other colleges moving in on carbon emission reduction and other sustainability programs as institutions, and is glad to feel this sense of momentum in a larger community, even as a smaller college such as Hampshire.