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Cancer Alley: Pollution Is Making Louisianans Sick, and They’re Fighting Back [1]
['Condé Nast', 'Kamea Sibley Ozane', 'Roishetta Sibley Ozane']
Date: 2023-05-10 12:00:00+00:00
My name is Kamea and I am 10 years old. I live in Sulphur, Louisiana near the Gulf Coast with my mom and my brothers and sisters. I love my home, but I’ve also learned that pollution from oil and gas is making me and the environment sick and it is also contributing to climate change.
I had everything planned for my tenth birthday party. I had picked out the decorations and a cake. I was so excited. But one week before my party, everything changed. My skin started to burn, itch, and break out. We went to the doctor and they told me I had a skin disease that I can’t even pronounce. They told me that I couldn’t have my party, but that my skin would get better. It didn’t. The doctors ran more tests and they told me that my skin condition is caused by my environment— the air around me is peeling off my skin.
It wasn’t the first time I’ve been affected by my environment. I’ve had asthma since I was little. But now that I’m older, I started to ask questions. What is happening to me? What’s causing it? How do we stop it?
Kamea and Roishetta Sibley Ozane Dayna Reggero
The Sibley Ozane family
My name is Roishetta and I am Kamea’s mom. It broke my heart to have to explain to my daughter and the rest of my children that the petrochemical facilities around us are poisoning our air. They spew dangerous chemicals, and pollutants that make it more likely for my kids, and others like them, to break out in skin rashes and develop other illnesses. They also pollute our water. For example, a recent report concluded that oil refineries in Lake Charles “release about 675 thousand pounds of nitrogen pollution a year in the Calcasieu river,” causing serious environmental harms.
I’ve also had to explain to my family that oil and gas companies are hurting us by causing climate change. In Southwestern Louisiana, we are experiencing the devastating effects of the climate crisis on a daily basis. Over the past several years we have suffered at the hands of fossil-fueled hurricanes, tornadoes, and even a freeze.
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[1] Url:
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/cancer-alley-pollution-sick
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