Episode 5: The Flint Water Crisis with Dr. Benjamin Pauli

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Benjamin Pauli, Associate Professor at Kettering University and longtime environmental justice advocate, to unpack the Flint water crisis: what caused it, who was responsible, and how the people of Flint fought back. Dr. Pauli shares his insights as a researcher, activist, and Flint resident, tracing how unelected emergency managers made top-down decisions and how those decisions led to widespread water contamination and a breakdown in public trust. He also discusses the critical role grassroots activism and community organizing played in exposing the crisis. 

Dr. Pauli is the author of Flint Fights Back: Environmental Justice and Democracy in the Flint Water Crisis, president of the board of the Environmental Transformation Movement of Flint, and acting chair of the Flint Water System Advisory Council and vice-chair of the EPA’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council. 

Learn more about Dr. Pauli’s work here.

Check out his book, Flint Fights Back: Environmental Justice and Democracy in the Flint Water Crisis, here.