mark! Lopez took on one of the biggest manufacturers of industrial and lead batteries in the world after it polluted his community in Los Angeles’ Eastside for more than 30 years.

Exide batteries had operated a lead and industrial battery smelter in the heart of mark!’s community, earning multiple health and safety violations along the way. Neighbourhood dust samples contained more than 50 times the acceptable levels of lead and arsenic, posing dangerous health risks to the local community.

mark!’s incredible organizing work eventually forced the plant to close, leaving an important question unanswered: who would clean up the heavy metal contamination in LA’s Eastside?

After tireless door-knocking and outreach, mark! built so much popular support that the Governor of California was forced to commit $176.6 million to decontaminate homes, one of the largest environmental cleanups in California history.

Please send him a personalized message to him for his victory against the battery smelter and forcing the cleanup to decontaminate homes.