Lois Gibbs

...

in the TV movie Lois Gibbs and the Love Canal.

Not as gnarly as it sounds.

No. [laughs]

...

in the, in the early, early '80s.

And there was a, a woman named Lois Gibbs, uh, who went about, um, you know, suing the federal government to-

Oh, so this is like an Erin Brockovich style-

Yeah, go ahead.

Talk about Lois Gibbs.

That's a great example of a campaigner right up from the grassroots in Niagara Falls.

It really is.

And ultimately, that campaign got the EPA to actually abolish the use of those where they're

unnecessary for the products.

So, you know, people like Lois Gibbs, yourself, put in motion a number of different groups that ultimately grow past them and continue their work and to amplify it as well.

They start many rivers of change.

The women start uproaring and they start bringing it, trying to bring it to officials attentions.

And that's where Lois Gibbs comes in.

Lois Gibbs was an activist back then.

I don't think she intended to be.

She was a stay-at-home mom at the time, but she ended up attending meetings and out speaking because she's saying, this is what I'm experiencing and my neighbor's experiencing this.

Exactly.

Yeah.

And so, you know, and plus Lois Gibbs' son attended the elementary school that was built on top of the chemicals.

Niagara Falls, New York, Spring 1978 Lois Gibbs is 26 years old.

She has a husband, two small children, and a three-bedroom house in a neighborhood she thought was perfect when they moved in.

The neighborhood has a smell.

A reporter at a local paper began investigating.

A state health survey found elevated levels of toxic chemicals in soil and air samples throughout the neighborhood.

And then Lois Gibbs started knocking on doors.

The homeowner who became an activist.

Lois Gibbs was not an environmentalist.