Created by our friends at The YEARS Project, Small Town Explosion shines a light on what happened when residents in the small town of East Palestine, Ohio were shaken awake by a massive chemical train derailment last winter. Five of the Norfolk Southern train cars that derailed were carrying the chemical vinyl chloride, a known human carcinogen that's used to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic.

Officials made the unfortunate decision to drain the toxic vinyl chloride into a ditch and light it on fire, resulting in an enormous plume of hazardous black smoke, which spread for miles into Ohio, Pennsylvania, and beyond. Shortly afterwards, residents began to feel sick and experience health problems that are ongoing, despite being told just two days later that it was safe for them to return to their homes.

The film was recently released and is a rallying point for the movement to convince the US EPA to ban vinyl chloride.

We need all hands on deck this fall to let the EPA know that Americans everywhere want this known human carcinogen banned ASAP before any more harm is done to communities like East Palestine or those where this toxic chemical is produced and transported.

You can watch the trailer here.>>

Our post-screening Zoom Q&A will give you an opportunity to get answers to any questions that may pop up for you while you're watching the film as well as give you the tools you need to help convince the EPA to take the critical first step in banning vinyl chloride.

Register now for the panel with the filmmaker and East Palestine residents advocating for action on vinyl chloride on November 14.>>

And please feel free to invite others to join you for this event, too.

Cheers,

www.beyondplastics.org