A sleeping couple shuts their blinds. Although it’s the dead of night, the fire burning above the neighboring refineries casts near daylight through their window.  On her daily commute, a school teacher holds her breath past the seven miles of chemical plants to avoid their stench.  A blue-collar man gets a cancer diagnosis at age 42.

1.6 million people live and work in Cancer Alley, a 100–mile stretch of Louisiana from New Orleans to Baton Rouge (Ellis, 2024). In Cancer Alley, there’s no border between industrial and residential, and the citizens pay dearly.