Chicago RN Rolanda Watson wants the pollution to stop.  

Earlier this month, she spoke out at the Climate March rally against petroleum coke piles that are poisoning residents and polluting her city’s South Side – all while corporations profit.

“As nurses, we work very hard to keep our communities healthy! We make sure mothers deliver healthy babies, and work to guarantee that those children are able to grow up healthy and whole.  But, the wrong-headed policy of this government undoes everything we do.  So, this is why I am here today, demanding something is done NOW!” she told the crowd of more than 300 gathered at Daley Plaza.

Chicago is one stop on the 3,000-mile Great Climate March across the country. It started in Los Angeles in March and is one of the biggest coast-to-coast marches in history.

National Nurses United RNs know firsthand how attacks on our environment threaten public health. That’s one reason why NNU members from across the country are speaking out for environmental justice and joining the Sept. 21 climate march in New York City.

In Chicago, Naomi Davis, the founder and director of Blacks in Green (BIG), an African-American environmental group, emceed the rally, which included Watson and a number of other speakers

The next day, the climate marchers walked through the South Side of Chicago to bring awareness of the fight nurses, residents and fellow activists are raging against the poisonous pet coke storage.  Watson’s clinic was once evacuated after a six-story high pet coke pile blew a huge dust cloud over the area.

In May, nurses held a protest to demand city officials declare an immediate moratorium on pet coke to protect city residents.

The marchers left sidewalk chalk messages in front of Alderman John Pope’s office. Next, they headed to the KCBX Terminal Co. gates where huge exposed pet coke piles are stored on the company’s property along the Calumet River. While holding a “die-in” at KCBX, an unauthorized train approached. The marchers took over the tracks, preventing the train from passing for about an hour.

Afterwards, the marchers proceeded to a neighborhood church, where they were hosted for the night. The group spoke with neighborhood activists and leaders about the work they’re doing to educate people about the dangers of pet coke and why it must be banned.