Mac Shaffer PCB Story Photos 0146This story comes from Warren County, North Carolina.  In the early 1980s, Warren County became a flash point in the fight for something that didn’t have a commonly used name at the time: environmental justice. 

These days, members of this small, “majority-minority” community are taking new approaches to raising environmental consciousness. 

Jereann King Johnson and Joe O’Connell have teamed up to tell the story of local environmentalism in the present day. 

Jereann has been involved in social justice work in the county since the 1970s.  She knows Warren County intimately. Joe, on the other hand, was drawn to this story through his work as a folklorist.  He lives in Durham, about an hours drive to the south of where our story takes place.

Learn more about PCBs and global environmental justice conflicts. 

(Image: Anti-PCB demonstration 1982. Credit: Mac Shaffer)

Slideshow of protests against PCB site in Warren County, photographer Mac Shaffer:

PCB March September 15, 1982, photos by Matt Cooper, Jr.

Environmental News

September 28, 2025

Ear to the Wild: The Belted Kingfisher - Gustav’s “Mechanical Bird"

In memory of Gustav Hobel. My friend Gustav and I used to live next door to one another on Sonoma Creek. The Belted Kingfishers would fly by, calling, with that ratchety kind of sound that they have in their voice. That’s why he’d call them the “mechanical bird.”
Belted Kingfisher 24120918989
September 10, 2025

BeautifySJ

When San Jose volunteers feel the need to clean, BeautifySJ is there to supply all the tools and services necessary to facilitate their anti-litter activism.
September 10, 2025

The Trash Punx

“We’re a group of people…who want nothing but a cleaner world!”
May 27, 2025

The 3rd Annual Food and Wine Awards Recap

An unforgettable evening that brought together food lovers, changemakers, and public media supporters to celebrate the best of the Bay Area’s farms,…
Mar 10, 2025

Bay Area Bountiful: Fisher Creek Women

A group of women environmentalists from Point Blue Conservation Science and Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority get together to plant native…
Feb 25, 2025

Bay Area Bountiful: The Worm Lady

From thermal composting, to worm composting, to compost tea we see Alane O'Rielly spreading compost and spreading the good word about sustainable…

Northern California
Public Media Newsletter

Get the latest updates on programs and events.