Prospering backyards Midpoint report 2023
Community Scientist Sonia Roman, taking a soil sample
We are soil healers, storytellers, scientists, artists, gardeners, community organizers, researchers, and more.
We are a community dedicated to healing our soil through scientific research and community action, with a specific focus on communities affected by contamination from the Exide Battery Plant in East and South East LA. We have had a busy year and continue to work towards healing our soil. Here is a review of our journey over the last year.
Soil time! and our commitment to soil education and community
During Spring 2022, Prospering Backyards held community workshops called Soil Time! centering soil, art, and healing at Self Help Graphics. Each workshop’s theme explored our connection to soil, to our food, and to our culture. Families from neighboring communities joined us to learn about living and nonliving organisms in the soil, create soil art, build community, and discuss the health impacts faced due to lead contamination present in our soil.
The programs were full of wonder thanks to the participation of many experts! We were joined by scientists from the Natural History Museum, community activists from local organizations, and dedicated community partners. Some of our guests included:
Maura Palacios brought a dozen microscopes and shared the wonderful world of microorganisms living in our soil!
Sonia Roman, a Pb community scientist, shared her work with community organization Vision City Terrace and their mission to make communities safer and healthier for all.
Alberto Tlatoa from South Central Farm shared his knowledge about plant propagation with a tomato plant!
Tina Calderon, Tongva cultural bearer, led a workshop on garden care and our relationship to soil.
Metabolic Studio shared their love for mushrooms and LA Compost brought seeds and compost for attendees.
Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) shared their critical work to ensure polluting industries such as Exide and others are held accountable.
Self Help Graphics teaching artists led numerous art activities such as painting with soil, stencils sharing our love for soil and creating our own soil sculptures.
Soil sampling season, what did we find in our soil?
During this time, we also began collecting soil samples from East Los Angeles, Boyle Heights, Vernon, Commerce, Maywood, Huntington Park, and Bell. Over a 4 month period, we sampled over 50 homes. This was no easy task. We are fortunate to have a team of incredible volunteers who generously gave their time, energy, and care to support the team in collecting these samples.
As we met with each family, we heard their concern for their family’s safety. Lead contamination affects us all. It is especially a concern for young children and pets, who spend a lot of time in the yard and in the soil. It was important for the team to educate ourselves and prepare to have deep conversations with people we were just meeting for the first time.
We began to compile resources on precautions that can be taken to mitigate exposure to lead, even when it is present in the soil of our homes. Dr. Monica Ramirez- Andreotta, Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science at University of Arizona shared a wealth of knowledge and resources from their work with Gardenroots. You can find these resources here.
Upon wrapping up our sampling season, the Mineralogy lab was busy analyzing each and every sample. This also is no easy task. It takes about one day to analyze one sample. A detailed breakdown of our findings can be seen in the 2022 Sampling results. Few homes detected under 80 ppm, the California limit for residential soil. You’ll see that most homes were over 80 ppm, with some samples detecting over 1,000 ppm.
With results coming in, we could begin sharing results with the community members who had their soil tested. Each household received a detailed report sharing the concentration in parts per million (ppm) of lead detected in their soil and resources. We held space for community members wishing to talk by phone through their results. For many, these numbers held a lot of pain. “I don't even have words to explain how I feel. We didn’t know. We didn’t choose this.”
Coming together as a team: Community Scientists + Research Partners join the efforts.
The fifteen community members with the highest lead levels were offered a spot in our cohort to join our year long research as Community Scientists. We held a training at NHM in November 2022. This was a wonderful opportunity to meet one another, learn about our remediation methods and build a sampling site together
Prospering backyads cohort of Community Scientists, Research Partners, and Pb team at the in person training at the Natural History Museum
Volunteers who supported the sampling season are now our Research Partners! Each Community Scientist was paired with two Research Partners who installed testing sites in the Community Scientists backyards during December 2022- February 2023. Each Community Scientist has three testing plots testing our remediation method.
This infographic demonstrates our “lasagna method.” The first site, treatment Z, tests the use of zeolites applied to the surface of the soil. The second plot, treatment C (control) has a layer of compost and mulch on the surface of the soil. Lastly, our final plot, treatment T, tests the use of zeolites, compost and mulch. Each team is now taking samples bimonthly from their home and collecting all important data in our database until December 2023.
This summer, we reached the midpoint of our research! Halfway through testing the use of zeolites to absorb lead found in soil. While we are all anxiously awaiting to the results of the samples we have been collecting over the past several months, it will be likely that we will have to wait until early next year to see results. The Mineralogy team is analyzing samples as they come in, and Graham, Pb’s data manager, is ensuring all data is accounted for. This work will give us a clear and accurate picture of the year-long research and its results.
We will report our findings and make our learning experience accessible to everyone next year. Keep posted for more updates.
A note of gratitude…
Pb is an initiative that would not be possible without the support, dedication, and care of the Natural History Museum’s Community Science team, Mineralogy Lab team, and Self Help Graphics. Not only do they lend their expertise working with the community, and bring their science and research background to this project, but they also are part of the core Pb team, meeting weekly to move this project forward.
Our volunteers, turned Research Partners - thank you for everything! This project owes so much of its success to your dedication and care. Thank you Maura, Levi, Jeffrey, Christine, Zoe, Paola, and David!
Big gratitude to our partner organizations and sponsors: LA Compost, Urban Soul Farmer, Tawa Compost, Metabolic Studio, Getty Foundation, CalEPA, and New York Foundation for the Arts.
Thank you for following our journey of healing and connecting to our soil.
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