California is officially known as the “Golden State." One hundred and seventy years after the Gold Rush, the environmental legacy of gold mining is still with us and rarely acknowledged. Mercury which is a deadly neurotoxin, was elemental to the process of gold mining. Today large quantities of mercury from the Gold Rush are still polluting California - posing a risk to every kind of living organism, including us. I talk with Izzy Martin, a community organizer and environmental advocate who leads the Sierra Fund and has worked for the last decade to bring attention to gold’s dark shadow.

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