Legacy Toxins

Seedlings Growth Children’s Hands Seed

Strengthening Our Common Ground: Lead in Soil in Greenpoint

Topics
Environmental Justice & Health

Elevated blood lead levels are serious health risks for children. In recent years, the city has worked to reduce the number of children with high blood lead levels, there are still far too many children in Brooklyn at risk of lead exposure. Most people are familiar the risks of lead in paint and water, but few have heard of lead in soils. Urban soils may have high levels of lead due to past industrial activities.

Since 2016, NBN has been working to identify problem areas and raise awareness about the widespread problem of lead in North Brooklyn soils. We especially aim to promote simple solutions for ensuring that you and your children are protected from the effects of lead when playing, gardening, and living in our neighborhood. NBN hosts workshops which allow participants to bring in soil samples to be tested for lead and other heavy metals. Along with this information, we teach participants how to stay safe from lead in soil, how to identify areas that are more likely to be contaminated, and how to modify garden space to reduce the risk of exposure.

Check out our Lead in Urban Soils: Safety Basics brochure [Spanish|Polish]

NBN-Safety-Basics

Check out our Lead in Urban Soils: Greenpoint’s Lead (Pb) History brochure [Spanish|Polish]

NBN-Greenpoint-Lead-History-Final-v3

TAGS