Join us as Dr. Melanie Malone offers, "Seeking Justice, Eating Toxins: Overlooked Contaminants in Urban Community Gardens". Dr. Malone is an Assistant Professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington Bothell campus. She earned her Ph.D in Earth, Environment and Society from Portland State University and a Master's degree in Soil Science from Oregon State University. Some of her current research projects revolve around soil analysis for community gardens in the Seattle area and in Brooklyn, NY. The work analyzes the soil for endocrine distrupting and carcinogenic contaminants. She also uses surveying and interviewing to understand general practices in and between gardens to explore the following topics: concentration levels of contaminants in organic community gardens; social and physical practices contributing to or mitigating contaminants in community gardens; sources of community garden contaminants; whether environmental justice mandates affect garden practices; federal policies affecting garden contaminant concentrations.
Additionally she is engaged in the assessment of homeless populations' exposure to potentially harmful contaminants in contaminated homeless rest areas in two U.S. cities. |