Social Seminar Series: The Ongoing Threat of Lead Exposure in the Era of Climate Change

Lead poisoning disproportionately affects children in urban areas, especially those living in poverty, due to exposure from deteriorating housing, contaminated soil, and aging pipes. Historic discriminatory practices like redlining concentrated these hazards in poor and minority communities, creating long-lasting health disparities. Yet, lead poisoning
can also be linked to climate change: a warming climate can exacerbate lead exposure by drying soils and increasing the mobility of lead dust.

This talk by Matthew H. McLeskey, PhD., assistant professor of criminal justice at SUNY Oswego explores this connection with an eye towards what this increasing threat means for the future of environmental justice.

This event is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the social science departments: anthropology, criminology and sociology; economics; political science; and psychology.