This talk will explore the involuntary cancer risks posed by exposures to agricultural chemicals in the Midwestern Corn Belt, based on the latest findings from epidemiological and toxicological studies, as well as examine the promises of agroecology as an alternative to industrial agriculture. Dr. Steingraber will also describe her lived experience as a young biologist diagnosed with cancer in rural Illinois and provide a human rights approach to the idea that “behind every data point in the cancer registry there is a human life.”

Featured Speaker

Biologist and writer Sandra Steingraber holds a Ph.D. in ecology from the University of Michigan. She is the author of a trilogy of award-winning books on environmental health: "Living Downstream: An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment" (adapted as a documentary film in 2010); "Having Faith: An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood"; and "Raising Elijah: Protecting Our Children in an Age of Environmental Crisis." Throughout, she calls parents and cancer patients alike to political action. Steingraber’s honors for her work as researcher and science writer include the Rachel Carson Leadership Award, the American Ethical Union’s Elliot-Black Award, and, in 2011, the Heinz Award. By donating the Heinz cash prize to the anti-fracking movement, she became, in 2012, a co-founder of New Yorkers Against Fracking, a statewide coalition of hundreds of grassroots organizations that helped win a statewide ban on fracking in 2015. The 2018 documentary film Unfractured told the story of New York State’s fracking ban, featuring Steingraber as its subject. A contributing essayist and advisor for Orion magazine, Steingraber served, from 2003-2021 as Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. 

Sponsors

School of Health & Human Sciences
Center for Energy & Environmental Education
College of Social & Behavioral Sciences
College of Humanities, Arts & Sciences