Right on the heels of the column by Rick Casey comes this editorial cartoon by Nick Anderson. It isn't the first time his cartoons have tackled the subject of pollution, but this one strikes a cord with me. 

I live in a very industrialized area of our region, and grew up thinking of these metal monstrosities as just another part of my landscape. I just assumed that everyone who lives in Houston area felt the same. But I was recently told that a large segment of our population (those living the farthest from the Houston Ship Channel) may have never visited our side of town or seen the scale of our petrochemical industry.

On Friday, January 26, blogger/painter/journalist Ashley Cecil will be visiting GHASP's offices, and I'll be taking her around Houston in search of images that tell the story of our city's struggle with air pollution. Ashley's work focuses on organizations that are working for social change, and though she's based in Louisville, Kentucky, she travels considerably in search of interesting subject matter.

Since GHASP focuses on industrial air pollution, our short road trip will definitley take us to the area around the Houston Ship Channel, and possibly to my hometown of Baytown. The view of all the petrochemical facilities from the Fred Hartman bridge is pretty amazing, and helps show the scale of our concerns.