09/03/2026
In celebration of Latino Conservation Week, Free Third Thursdays at MOCA Tucson, and the Living With Injury closing reception, Green Drinks, Sonoran Institute, and the Ecologies Lab invite you to:
Tucsonans for a Clean Environment, 2026
Thursday, September 17, 2026
6pm-9pm @ MOCA
Free, family-friendly, w/ food!
Many people in Tucson have, unfortunately, heard of TCE (or Trichloroethylene), the industrial solvent. But we are inviting you to gather, as community members who care about water in the Sonoran Desert, and to honor the other TCE–Tucsonans for a Clean Environment! Started on Tucson’s Southside in 1985, TCE contributed to one of the most successful environmental justice movements in the United States!
Join Us to Connect the Dots:
As a borderlands community, the people, animals, and ecology of Southern Arizona knows how precious water is. Local organizations will table at this free, community event in the spirit of education and making connections with diverse people in the region who share a common goal: keeping the people, animals, and water safe for the next seven generations. Every organization will have 2-4 minutes on the mic to share what they do, why they do it, and how to connect with community efforts.
The Background of Living With Injury Exhibit:
In May 1985, environmental journalist Jane Kay broke the story of Trichloroethylene (TCE) pollution’s sweeping impacts on Tucson’s southside. Her investigation sent shockwaves through Tucson, and made the effects of pollution on the southside impossible for local and federal agencies to ignore.
Months after Kay’s articles, Melinda Bernal, Eduardo Quintana, and Marie Sosa founded Tucsonans for a Clean Environment, which with later member Rose Agustine, ultimately helped spur a historic and groundbreaking environmental justice movement on Tucson’s southside.
Tucson’s TCE history is not only a story of loss; it is also a story of how a community fought back against racism, unjust polluting of their neighborhoods, and neglect that left people having to deal with severe illnesses and diseases without support. Tucsonans for a Clean Environment did not act alone. In 1957, the Tohono O’odham San Xavier District warned of the future damage to life that would happen if the pollution was left unchecked. Other people and organizations, like Manuel Herrera and Lorainne Lee, helped strengthen this movement. To this day, groups like Las Aguas and the Unified Community Advisory Board (UCAB) continue the fight to protect the water, people, plants, and animals from pollution.
YOU are part of this legacy of activism! Invite your community, come together and connect with others who care about water in the Sonoran Desert.
As community advocate Yolanda Herrera reminds us, “Safe, clean water is life.”
