There was also a bit of trial and error to determine which type of zeolite would be best to soak up lead atoms, Celestian said.Īt the Natural History Museum, Celestian pointed to several puck-shaped soil samples taken from yards across Los Angeles County, explaining how each sample is examined to determine how effective the zeolite is at pulling out the lead. It has taken roughly two years for researchers with Prospering Backyards to train residents on how to become community scientists and take soil samples from yards. ![]() Muro thinks the project will serve as a reminder that this problem is still unfolding. ![]() Prospering Backyards invited percussionist Rude Calderón to play a djembe drum, because they feel the process is a form of healing for the earth. The project is at the intersection of social justice and art, with the voices of the community at the forefront, Muro said. “I’m using this exhibition to elevate this topic of lead contamination,” said Marvella Muro, director of artistic programs and education at Self Help Graphics. The exhibit’s title alludes to the idea that these communities have often served as reservoirs or sinks for industrial waste, curators said. The exhibit, “Sinks: Places We Call Home,” will examine the communities around a former petroleum storage facility known as the Athens Tank Farm in Willowbrook as well as the neighborhoods around the Exide plant. But research into the project began in 2021, when the Self Help Graphics & Art gallery and community space in Boyle Heights was selected to receive a grant from the Getty Foundation to participate in “Pacific Standard Time: Art x Science x L.A.” in 2024. The zeolite has been deployed in 15 backyards across multiple neighborhoods in an ongoing experiment that started in December, Garcia said. “It is not through just information, but through coming to the houses to offer a method that we could develop together to do this remediation.” “The idea is we want to help more people to become aware of the situation through education, and this is also how to heal our soil,” Garcia said in Spanish. It’s likely there is more lead in the backyard, Garcia said, because toxins from the Exide plant were airborne when they descended on the neighborhood. Garcia chimed in to tell them about the high amounts of lead concentration in soil samples taken from their frontyard. They arrived in California in the 1970s from Jalisco, Mexico, and raised five children in the Huntington Park home.Īfter the zeolite was applied, Jimenez’s mother, Micaela Jimenez, told her daughter she thought her plants and flowers in the backyard would not have been affected by the lead contamination. Many community members and advocates were unsatisfied with the pledge, with one resident dismissing it as ‘another DTSC world apology tour.’ That stops the lead from seeping back up into the air or breaking away into the soil, rendering it safe for plants, animals and humans, Celestian said.Ĭalifornia State officials ‘vow to do better’ on Exide lead cleanup. The porous mineral, often used in agricultural products, detergents and cat litters, acts like a sponge, trapping lead atoms when it’s sprinkled on the contaminated lawns. Zeolite is naturally adsorbent, meaning it can collect other substances on its surface. ![]() ![]() “It’s 20 minutes of work, and it’s a lifetime of lead remediation for a person’s backyard,” said Aaron Celestian, mineral sciences curator with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and lead scientist with the Prospering Backyards project. The dusting of zeolite doesn’t take long, but it could be key to mitigating a disaster that has festered for decades across southeast Los Angeles County: lead contamination in the soil around thousands of homes. Under the watchful eyes of neighbors, scientists in white lab coats knelt to spread a flour-like mineral over a lawn in Huntington Park.
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