Last September, Rick Dulin went to a meeting about a project that promised fresh research and action on air pollution in west Louisville, where he grew up and returned to after retiring, now living in Shawnee.

The project Dulin went to hear about was led by city government, fueled by $1 million in federal money, and would build on the legacy of a community-led study in the early 2000s that revealed dangerous pollution. Especially near the Rubbertown industrial complex, where industrial facilities emit toxic chemicals and residents have higher rates of fatal cancer and hospitalizations for asthma.

What Dulin learned at that meeting about the links between pollution and illness in west Louisville “planted seeds for me,” he said at the time, about the need to advocate for his neighborhood.

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