Tennessee Voices, Episode 335: Jake Smith, executive director, Blood:Water
The linkages between environmental crises and health outcomes have become more acute over the years as evidenced by wildfires, drought, flooding and more intense hurricanes.
Whether it's clean air or clean water, these factors have a direct effect on quality of life, and these are issues that are global and also local.
Jake Smith, executive director of the Nashville-based Blood:Water, was my guest on this episode of the Tennessee Voices video podcast to discuss these topics.
His organization partners with African community-driven groups to end health disparities caused the HIV/AIDS and water crises.
In a recent guest opinion column, he brought the issue home by talking about the water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi.
"The water crisis affects about four out of every 10 people globally: 2.1 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking-water sources, and 4.5 billion lack well-managed sanitation services," he wrote. "And while many of us here in the U.S. see this as a foreign problem, the truth is that crises like what is happening in Jackson and has happened in Flint are more likely than not to continue if we don’t open our eyes to the true cause."
We also discussed the need for more investment in communities, climate change mitigation and more sustainable gardens.
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About Tennessee Voices
The Tennessee Voices videocast is a 20-minute program, which started in March 2020 and invites leaders, thinkers and innovators who have written guest columns for a USA TODAY Network Tennessee publication to share their insights and wisdom with me and our viewers.
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David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network - Tennessee. He is of Colombian and Cuban descent, has studied or worked in several Spanish-speaking countries, and was the founding editor of Gaceta Tropical in Southwest Florida. He has lived in Tennessee since 2014. Call him at (615) 259-8063, email him at [email protected] or tweet to him at @davidplazas.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Video podcast: Jake Smith, executive director, Blood:Water
