Whether in the Amazon of Ecuador or the US states of Hawaii and North Carolina, I am realizing that wherever the fossil fuel industry operates there are Indigenous peoples and local residents fighting back to protect their communities from cancers and other serious pollution problems. One is an extraordinary climate leader named Susan Wind from North Carolina who I interviewed when I was in Washington recently. Please watch it above. As background, Susan invited me to speak at a rally to protest corporate capture of the EPA. She has organized a group in the US called S.A.F.E. which includes several mothers who wear T-shirts that say "Advocate Like A Mother.” Susan's 22-year-old daughter Taylor is battling thyroid cancer after the utility Duke Energy dumped 48,000 tons of toxic coal ash to be used as soil fill. Homes, schools, and entire communities in the Lake Norman area of North Carolina were built over this coal ash in the 1990s with catastrophic health impacts manifesting now; at least 110 people have been diagnosed with cancer in a small area. In the meantime, the EPA refuses to do anything about it and in fact has approved the use of coal ash as landfill relying on "industry" data. As Susan says, this agency seems far more interested in protecting polluters than in protecting people. I am calling for EPA Chief Michael Regan to meet with Susan Wind and help her address the coal ash problem in North Carolina that is killing people. To learn more about Susan's work and how to help, please click on the link in my bio. Godspeed to Susan and the other incredible mothers I met whose stories I intend to bring to a wider audience. @susan_wind2