Local high school students catalog abandoned buildings in Jackson

By Pranav Reddy

JA Guest Writer

This summer, the streets of Jackson are receiving closer attention as the lasting effects of environmental pollution become harder to ignore. 

Community Noise Lab at the Brown University School of Public Health has employed eight student interns to investigate the root causes and long-term environmental impacts of illegal dumping in Jackson, Mississippi. As high school students, we interns are gaining insight into the community’s needs and learning how science can help address them.

Since 2022, Community Noise Lab has been active in Jackson, Mississippi, working toward environmental justice. In 2024, it began its long-term project on an investigation into illegal dumping sites. 

“In my opinion, illegal dumping is one of the most pressing environmental issues in Jackson,” states Dr. Erica Walker, founder of Community Noise Lab. “Our research will show not only the prevalence of illegal dumping in Jackson, but also the threat it has to community health and well-being.”

The project on illegal dumping sites aims to find and assess their environmental impact based on noise, air, and soil pollution analysis. During the past year, Community Noise Lab has identified 63 illegal dumping sites and developed a data repository to help community members recognize the scale and impact of the problem. The ultimate goal is to turn this data into actionable insights to inform policy, raise awareness, and support community health.

Let’s take a closer look at the role of the field interns at Community Noise Lab. Six interns have been in the field, playing an essential role in not only collecting critical environmental data but also in processing it for later lab analysis. 

Each day, Clarissa Coleman from Murrah High School works alongside Melissa Khadivi, Olivia Zhou, Jillian Hagerman, Karcher DeVoss, and Adriana Kroeze from St. Andrew’s Episcopal School to collect noise pollution data with a high-accuracy decibel meter; measure air quality for PM10, PM2.5, and air quality index; and gather soil samples from illegal dumping sites.

After samples are collected, field interns assist with preliminary data processing, documentation, organizing results, and recording field notes.

Working under Mississippi’s summer heat, the interns navigated overgrown lots, uneven terrain, and heavily polluted sites. Although their work hasn’t been easy, the interns have remained motivated by the importance of the work.

Back in the lab, two interns are conducting soil sample analyses to make sense of the collected data. Pranav Reddy and Johnny Han from St. Andrew’s Episcopal School serve as laboratory technicians at Community Noise Lab. The analysis for environmental data uses X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) to test soil samples for a variety of heavy metals found at illegal dumping sites. Examples of commonly tested heavy metals are lead, cadmium, arsenic, chromium, zinc, and copper. These heavy metals pose serious health risks to humans and ecosystems as they last a long time in the environment and can enter our food or water supply. 

In addition, Gas Chromatography is used to detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are “forever chemicals” that easily evaporate into the air and pose significant health risks over a long period of time. Some of the most common VOCs tested include benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes, and trichloroethylene.

Together, these analyses help build a clearer picture of the environmental threats posed by illegal dumping in Jackson. Currently, more than 250 soil samples have been tested for heavy metals using x-ray fluorescence, and some preliminary patterns of contamination have been seen through further analysis. The team is now actively working to process additional samples through Gas Chromatography. 

“Working with lab equipment is a learning experience for everyone involved, but we have made significant progress on our data analysis,” says Johnny Han.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done,” says Dr. Cristina Nica. Observations through the environmental and social patterns surrounding illegal dumping in Jackson indicate a large percentage of dumping sites are located at or near abandoned buildings. This insight has prompted a new project. Community Noise Labs, alongside the interns, are now locating and documenting abandoned buildings across Jackson. 

Using Google Street View (GSV) and Google Earth, the interns have been going through each Ward in Jackson to create an abandoned building repository. To date, interns have cataloged 2,449 abandoned properties across Jackson, with Wards 5 and 7 being most impacted. Our heat map shows the density and intensity across the entire city. 

Moving forward, the next phase of the research will be exploration of whether these buildings are currently illegal dumping sites or would contribute to the formation of new sites. In order to effectively inform community members about environmental issues and drive targeted policy change, we must first deepen our understanding of their root causes.