Oluwajuwon Filani

Oluwajuwon Filani (she/her) is an eight grade student at LREI. She was born in Nigeria and is now living in Queens, NY. She is a hardworking student and some of her favorite hobbies are drawing, dancing, listening to music, writing poems, etc. She is very passionate in exploring the outdoors which is why she studies so much about climate change and pollution (in the air, land, and water) and she wants to improve nature so it is safe for both humans and animals.

Poop, Toilets, and Sanitation!

On Thursday, the 31th of March my group was honored to meet Jennifer Scales. Jennifer Scales is a professional at Discovery Center Gates Foundation. We were also with Rebecca Lawler who is Jennifer’s assistant.

Jennifer opens up the interview with a poop slide presentation and talked about poop, toilets and sanitation. What I learned from meeting her was that 3.5 billion people in the world are not connected to good waste management system. That’s almost half of the whole worlds entire population. Some people even have to public defecate which is just pooping in public. Improper sanitation is the cause of 700,000 childhood deaths each year. Knowing this makes me really sad that this is happening to people around the world but it also encourages me to do more to sustain pure water and sanitation.

She also talked to us about different types of toilets. There are western toilet, urinals, and squat toilets. Squat toilets are more common than western toilets. Which is really surprising to me because I only us western toilets. There are solutions to this toilet problem though that she talked about. One in particular she talked about was a toilet that turns poop into ashes and filter our pee to be like ocean water. All in all it was really great talking to Jennifer and she taught us so much that I have never thought about before.

Water Pollution Interview with Jennifer Bombardier

On Thursday, the 3rd of February our group was honored to meet with Jennifer Bombardier. Jennifer Bombardier is an export at LES Ecology Center. She is focused around educating others on the environment around us, “work toward a better future.” We asked many questions like different types of water pollution, how climate change affecting the water cycle, and what are some solutions to water pollution which then helps climate change. She was very nice and informed us with her wisdom about how rain water and waste water in the same sewage system is being dumbed back into the ocean untreated.

Jennifer became passionate about environmental education during her college years at George Mason University in Northern Virginia. She is dedicated to connecting youth with their local environment and instilling stewardship values that last a lifetime. She told use different organization that we can trust, including Billion Oyster Project, Water Act, etc. This issue is really important to her and us and we were so happy to interview her on zoom.

Water Pollution Interview with Linda Escalante

On Tuesday, the 1th of February our group was honored to meet with Linda Escalante. Linda Escalante is an export at Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). We asked many questions like different types of water pollution, how climate change affecting the water cycle, and what are some solutions to water pollution which then helps climate change. She was very nice and informed us with her wisdom about how water pollution affects industries and the people. She talks about how people who work in industries are also affected by the changing of policies to help benefit water pollution and climate change. If they take away these industries, thousands of people are not going to have jobs.

Linda Escalante goes to elected officials to persuade them into making good decisions for the environment and public health. Escalante is a renowned environmental expert in the U.S-based Spanish language—empowering and mobilizing Latinos to engage in advocacy and activism around environmental and health issues. Escalante, who is also passionate about civil, immigrant, and women’s rights, has served as a board member of a worker wellness and healthcare access organization. This issue is really important to her and us and we were so happy to interview her on zoom.

Water Pollution Interview with Sofia Zuberbuhler-Yafar

On Monday, the 31th of January our group was honored to meet with Sofia Zuberbuhler-Yafar. Sofia Zuberbuhler-Yafar is an export at NYC Dept of Design and Construction, leading their Green Infrastructure and Sustainable/Resilient Infra Program. We asked many questions like different types of water pollution, how climate change affecting the water cycle, and what are some solutions to water pollution which then helps climate change. She was very nice and informed us with her wisdom about sewage water and storms and was very cooperative.

Sofia Zuberbuhler-Yafar is a mother of a student in our school. She is a graduate degree in Urban Design and over 19 years of experience architecture. including urban planning with the NYC Department of City Planning and landscape architecture design in the private realm. This issue is really important to her and us and we were so happy to interview her on zoom.

Water Pollution Presentation

On Thursday, the 27th of January, I presented an overview of my social justice project. We presented the issue of water pollution and how it leads to climate change. My group did a great job collaborating. We called, texted, and all worked on the project. This information is important to me because I grew up where there was a high population of poverty and a lack of access to resources. Having a lack of one of the most important resources in the world and also it being dirty and filled with toxic waste is very jeopardizing. Even if I specifically wasn’t “poor,” I still feel sympathy for my people.