Hugo Neu Corporation Sustainability Seminar Series: Poisoning the Well: How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America

A field of windmills against a hazy blue sky.

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Ocean Engineering


Speaker: Sharon Udasin, Author

ABSTRACT

This is the shocking true-life story of how PFAS—a set of toxic chemicals most people have never heard of—poisoned the entire country. Based on original, shoe-leather reporting in four highly contaminated towns and damning documents from the polluters’ own files, Poisoning the Well traces an ugly history of corporate greed and devastation of human lives.

We learn that PFAS, the ‘forever chemicals’ found in everyday products, from cooking pans to mascara, are coursing through the veins of 97% of Americans.

BIOGRAPHY

Sharon Udasin.

Sharon Udasin is an environment reporter and co-author of Poisoning the Well: How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America. Born and raised in East Brunswick, New Jersey, and now based in Boulder, Colorado, she has been delving into water contamination and conservation issues for 15 years. Sharon was first introduced to the PFAS problem by colleagues in 2019-2020 as a Ted Scripps Fellow in Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder. Since completing the fellowship, she has covered US West climate issues for The Hill. A graduate of both the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia Journalism School, Sharon also received a SEAL Environmental Journalism Award in 2023 and has reported numerous publications throughout her career. [She got her start as an environmental journalist during her many years covering the subject at The Jerusalem Post in Israel].

Zoom Link:

https://stevens.zoom.us/j/93829898400

Website:

https://www.stevens.edu/sustainability-seminar-series

Jointly Sponsored by:

HUGO NEU Corporation
WSP
NOMADICS
Brown and Caldwell
H2M Architects and Engineers
Dewberry
HDR

Contact:

Dr. Dibs Sarkar

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