Author

Ashli Blow

Ashli Blow

Ashli Blow is a freelance writer who covers environmental science and policy. Her stories range from the lives of people in urban watersheds to those who roam the wilderness. She was raised in Memphis and produced breaking news at WMC Action News 5. She has now been working in journalism and strategic communications for nearly 10 years. Ashli lives in Seattle and is a graduate student at the University of Washington, studying climate policy.

"Legislating inequity, economically, is wrong," said Rep. Justin J. Pearson, photographed on March 6, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn. (Photo By Karen Pulfer Focht)

Brownfield bill funnels millions into polluted properties but slights environmental justice needs

By: - March 7, 2023

Tennessee legislative committees are moving forward a bill that would give money to communities that want to clean up abandoned and polluted properties, but not all counties will have the same opportunity to obtain funding from the emerging Brownfield Redevelopment Area Fund and Grant Program.   Across the state, factories, gas stations, dry cleaners and other […]

Kathy Yancey Temple (Photo: Ashli Blow)

Velsicol closed its chemical plant 10 years ago. Memphis still endures its toxic legacy. 

By: and - November 14, 2022

In North Memphis, milk crates and cardboard boxes sit under a pecan tree that doesn’t bear fruit anymore. Kathy Yancey-Temple is building raised beds for a community garden on her street. On a sunny autumn  morning she spends her time buying soil to fill these upcycled planters. She doesn’t trust what’s in the ground.  “It’s […]

Two men remove a tree downed during a Feb. 3 ice storm in Shelby County. (Photo: Karen Pulfer Focht)

Memphis ice storm crystalizes need for resilient, reliant action

By: - February 7, 2022

Heavy ice-encased tree branches crashed onto power lines across Memphis – causing 132,000 people to lose power in the first week of February. Five days later, many of them are still in the dark.   For many, it feels like the same song, second verse. Last February, a winter storm brought about freezing temperatures that caused […]

Satellite image of a portion of the Megasite of West Tennesseee. (Tennessee Department of General Services.)

Ford megasite atop ‘recharge zone’ for underregulated Memphis Sands aquifer 

By: - January 3, 2022

Ford Motor Co. promises a green future at its Blue Oval campus, where it will produce zero-emissions pickup trucks with advanced batteries. But forthcoming plans and actions in the new year will prove whether the company and the state are committed to protecting the existing environment at the megasite – like the Memphis Sands aquifer […]