Discussion Questions
The following questions are designed for discussion of the overall Polluted by Design film series. For episode-specific discussion questions, navigate to individual episode resource pages.
- What patterns do you see across all four films in terms of who and what is being sacrificed? What patterns do you see in terms of resistance and demands for justice?
- In what ways do forgotten places like Hawkins Point and Fairfield make environmental harm easier to justify politically and economically?
- What is a “sacrifice zone,” and in what ways do Hawkins Point, Fairfield, Westport, and Curtis Bay fit the definition?
- How did waste management in Baltimore become such a complicated, contested issue?
- How does knowing the history of industrial expansion in Hawkins Point, Fairfield, Westport, and Curtis Bay affect how you understand South Baltimore in the present? What policies or decisions from the past have contributed to the current state of these neighborhoods?
- What actionable lessons can we learn from the histories of Hawkins Point and Fairfield to ensure other communities are not similarly erased?
- What role has the City of Baltimore played in the environmental injustices that occurred in these four neighborhoods? What role might they play going forward?
- What kinds of accountability—legal, political, financial—are necessary to repair the harm experienced in Curtis Bay and the rest of South Baltimore?
- What would a “just transition” away from toxic industry look like in Baltimore? Who must be involved? And who should get the final say?
- Is a zero waste transition for Baltimore possible? Why is it so desperately needed?
