. ♪ judy: environmental health advocate katherine coleman flowers has dedicated her life to battling accompany poverty. she's the founder of the center for rural enterprise and environmental justice where she works on multiple fronts to improve public health and economic development. including access to water and sanitation, amid the growing threat of climate change. tonight she gives her brief but spectacular take on fighting america's dirty secret. >> sanitation doesn't get the attention it should because it's generally out of sight, out of mind. as a child in alabama, i had the opportunity to work through corn fields, walk in the woods, to understand how nature and people in rural communities coexist. i also had parents that were activist parents who were very involved in the civil rights movement. i loved lyons downy, that's what motivated me to return home. i thought i'd come back and do economic development and of course i ended up pivoting and becoming more of an activist trying to deal with the sanitation and wastewater problems because without that you can't do economic deve

katherine coleman flowers is the founder of the center for rural enterprise and environmental justice. she is an internationally recognized advocate for the human right to water and sanitation and she works to improve access to clean air, water, and soil in marginalized rural communities. in 2020 ms. flowers received the prestigious fellowship. nicky cooley, interim assistant director for the institute of tribal and environmental professionals at northern arizona university. ms. cooley leads a program to help tribal nations as they prepare for tribal impact. and she works with partners across the united states and alaska on climate change mitigation and resilience planning. ms. cooley is of the navajo nation. derek holly is the president of reaching america, a nonprofit with a focus on the african-american outreach. mr. holly has over 25 years of experiencing in advertising and marketing. dr. park is assistant professor of public policy at ucla's lufkin school. and it's labor economics and public finance. his research focuses on how climate change has economic outcomes and in particul

katherine davis is scared. >> we have nowhere to go. >> reporter: the camp where she and hundreds of other people live is now a target of the federal aviation administration which calls the camp along coleman avenue is not fit for living in and a threat to aviation. for one thing it was built as a buffer in case of a plane crash and another birds gathering at the camp could pose a risk to planes. katherine says she knows what comes next. >> it is very hard because we have to start over. they come and sweep us up and take our tents and our cars. >> why does this keep happening in san jose? >> reporter: local advocate for the unhoused, calling the clearing out inhumane and causing more problems as people lose their places to stay. >> i mean unless alien comes down and beam everybody up or the aliens build housing for everybody, there is no place for anybody to go. >> reporter: san jose international airport sent us a statement about the situation saying the airport understands and sympathizes with the realities of homelessness. we need to find a balance approach between providing safe, reliable air service in accord dance -- >> reporter: scott budman, tbs . >>> the shelter can house up to 50