Diane Wilson is a fourth-generation fisherwoman and a lifelong resident of Seadrift, Texas. Wilson has become a global folk hero over the course of her epic, decades-long journey from shrimp boat captain and mother of five to social and ecological justice warrior who took on a multibillion dollar corporation polluting the bays along her beloved Texas Gulf Coast. But the fight to save her home from industrial pollution is far from over. On March 2, Wilson began a hunger strike outside the Dow Chemical Company / Union Carbide plant in Seadrift. “I have a tent and am camping out 24 hours, 7 days a week,” Wilson wrote in a letter to Dow CEO Jim Fitterling, “to impress upon Dow/Union Carbide our intense dislike and frustration of decades of plastic pollution being discharged into our bays and waterways.” In this episode of Working People, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with Wilson as her hunger strike enters its third week.

Guest:

Diane Wilson is a fourth-generation shrimper, boat captain, mother of five, author, and an environmental, peace, and social justice advocate. During the last 30 years, she has launched legislative campaigns, demonstrations, hunger strikes, sunk boats, and even climbed chemical towers in her fight to protect her Gulf Coast bay. She is a co-founder of CODEPINK, the women’s anti-war group based in Washington, DC, and co-founder of the Texas Jail Project, which advocates for inmates’ rights in Texas county jails. Since 2012, Wilson has been executive director and waterkeeper of San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper (SABEW) on the Texas Gulf Coast. Wilson is the author of numerous books, including: An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters, and the Fight for Seadrift, Texas; and Diary of an Eco-Outlaw: An Unreasonable Woman Breaks the Law for Mother Earth.

Additional links/info:

Follow updates on Diane’s hunger strike here
Diane Wilson website
Diane Wilson, “Letter to DOW CEO Jim Fitterling”
San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper (SAWBE) website, Facebook page, TikTok, and Instagram
Plastic Pollution Coalition, “Diane Wilson launches hunger strike after Dow requests legalization of microplastics discharge in Texas”

Featured Music:

Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song

Credits:

Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

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Fourth-generation fisherwoman goes on hunger strike against Dow Chemical