deep south

Partnering with local community advocates Black Belt Citizens Fighting for Health and Justice, the CEEJH Lab has joined a multi-university academic research team that includes Yale University to provide technical assistance and environmental health literacy and to conduct citizen science training and research on air quality monitoring, soil sampling, water quality testing, and environmental risk reduction.

High density industrial hog farming operations present numerous environmental health hazards (including local air and water pollution). In 2001, Dr. Wilson and a team of researchers investigated environmental justice impacts of differential siting of hog concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) near African-American communities in Mississippi. Their study found that these hog farms were disproportionately more prevalent in areas with high percentages of African-Americans and persons in poverty. Today, Dr. Wilson continues research on this issue, studying the differential burden of chicken farms in Mississippi.