When my daughter was born I suddenly became concerned with making a safe place for her to live. I began buying organic food and cooking from scratch. I’d read about toxic chemicals being allowed, unrestricted, in our products and baby products so I started reading labels and shopping at alternative grocery stores.
But then in 2007 after a move forced by the economy I had to fight for the right to breathe clean air and had to fight to protect my daughter’s health.
We’d moved into a home rental community that used to be base housing. Protective, organic, me had moved my baby into a massive three year re-roofing project that was exposing every man, woman, and child to toxic fumes from asphalt roofing tar on a daily basis.
Soon after, I began to have symptoms like a sore throat, nose sores, and twitching lungs and was diagnosed with intermittent asthma. I had to put a mask over my daughter’s nose and mouth and leave the area to breathe. We’d go to the mall or the park and just wait until the workers stopped slathering hot tar on the homes all around ours so we could come back. But even then the smoldering tar kettles kept the air tainted all around us.
At first I felt like a victim. I thought I must be the only person who was sick because of the constant roofing tar fumes but then one day my daughter told me she was getting a sore throat too. Panicked, because her symptom was the first one I experienced too, I began a fight that would include the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Sacramento Air Quality Management District, and Senator Darrell Steinberg’s office.
I passed out flyers, talked to my neighbors, started a petition, and stood up to threats of eviction, threats of being arrested for passing out flyers on private property, and even to a cease and desist letter meant to keep me from sharing my story, advertising for the community meeting, or even speaking to the media. But I refused to give up.
At first I was able to halt the roofing project for the winter, but the following spring the corporate owners started trying the alternatives to hot tar roofs and have agreed to tirelessly investigate all of the alternatives to hot tar, such as TPO cool roofs, singly ply mambrane roofs, or metal roofs, rather than try to barrel through the remaining roofs and make their residents sick.
My story went public when I was named the first ever Mom on a Mission from Healthy Child Healthy World. The day after the HCHW gala in Beverly Hills, my story was in People Magazine; and shortly after, I was included in Lifetime’s Remarkable Women series. Now, I am interested in taking my No More Tar Roofs Campaign national in order to educate the public about the alternatives to hot tar roofs especially in residential areas and on or near schools.
Hot tar and asphalt is the forgotten pollutant, but it does contribute to the heat island effect and has dangerous side effects for anyone near a roofing project. I hope that by sharing my story I can influence someone’s decision about using alternatives to flat or low sloped roofs. Remember, one person armed with determination and persistence can make a difference. Just don’t give up.
Shelby Rodriquez
Antelope, California
