Darren Riley, co-founder of environmental tech company JustAir, is featured in the documentary “Sure as the Wind.” The film highlights the organization’s work in Dearborn and Grand Rapids. Credit: Mike Ambs and Greg Shewchuk

Republished from BridgeDetroit.

Darren Riley co-founded environmental tech organization JustAir in 2021 with the goal of protecting his community by finding out if the air his neighbors are breathing is safe. 

The 32-year-old is a resident of Southwest Detroit, an area with the highest levels of air pollution in Michigan and that ranks among the top 5% in the country. In 2018, Riley was diagnosed with asthma, a respiratory illness that affects many Detroiters. 

“That opened my eyes to health disparities around the pollution that affects our community,” he said. “But also, in 2020, a lot of research came out that Black and brown communities got hit hard because of diseases like asthma, COPD and heart conditions. It really sparked a will in me to use technology to highlight these disparities.” 

Riley and his small team of tech wizards and community organizers created a platform and text alert system that gives users real-time information about the air quality in their neighborhood. JustAir is also partnering with cities like Dearborn to install air quality monitors. 

The organization’s fight for environmental justice is the focus of the new documentary “Sure as the Wind.” Directed by Mike Ambs and Greg Shewchuk, the 17-minute film follows Riley and the JustAir team as they work alongside the environmental justice organization the Green Door Initiative on air quality projects in Dearborn and Grand Rapids.

Mike Ambs and Greg Shewchuk are the directors of “Sure as the Wind.” The Ann Arbor-based filmmakers plan a series of films on people and places in southeast Michigan. Credit: Micah Walker

The filmmakers hosted a Monday screening of the film for a sold-out crowd at Newlab in Detroit, which included a conversation between Riley and Donele Wilkins, CEO of the Green Door Initiative. The film was made under Gather Around MI, and is the first in a new series of Michigan-based films that aims to share stories of founders, start-ups, investors, artists and more in an effort to change the narratives around Detroit. 

Shewchuk said he and ambs have three things they want to accomplish with the series–elevate storytelling, build community and help reverse population loss in Michigan. 

“A big part of the mission is to look at the incredible community and incredible, unique stories happening here and use that to hopefully inspire kids coming out of high school, kids coming out of college, to know that there’s something to plug into,” Ambs said. “That there’s something to build here that’s pretty meaningful and to start a family and set down roots.” 

Shewchuk said with “Sure as the Wind,” he and Ambs sought to capture how the environmental justice movement in Michigan has been in the making for more than 30 years and how grassroots organizations like JustAir are making progress. 

“And how JustAir is bringing this technology to help answer these problems that have been identified for a long time, to see that change over time and how everything interrelates,” he said. “That’s really a big part of what we wanted to capture, to show the legacy and how these ideas are handed between people and how communities really work; how those ideas, challenges and solutions are carried on over generations. It’s really powerful to see.” 

Bringing light to environmental justice 

Ambs and Shewchuk felt inspired to create the documentary last summer when they attended the Michigan Innovation Summit at Newlab. The two linked up with the Song Foundation, an organization that funds Black, brown, and immigrant-led and serving organizations in southeast Michigan. The foundation connected the filmmakers with JustAir. 

Ambs said the two began filming “Sure as the Wind” last September, shooting footage of Riley and members of the JustAir team for almost three months. Shewchuk said the film focuses on the organization’s installation of air monitors in Dearborn and its community work with residents in Grand Rapids to educate them on air quality. 

The film also features appearances from Riley’s friend and fellow entrepreneur Johnnie Turnage and Wilkins, who talked about more than 30 years of work in environmental justice and her efforts to engage the next generation of leaders, like Riley. 

Tech entrepreneur Johnnie Turnage makes an appearance in “Sure as the Wind,” which was screened Monday at Newlab in Corktown. Credit: Micah Walker

The film closes with Wilkins’ career beginnings at the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in Washington, DC, in 1991. 

“Who knew when I agreed to attend that meeting in 1991, that I would still be in this work, that I remember making a conscious decision to dedicate my life to environmental justice,” she said during the Monday night discussion with Riley. 

“This work matters, our community matters,” Wilkins said. “We need to do whatever it takes until we have a fair and equitable chance as human beings to live like what we were brought into this earth to live and to be able to thrive, so this helps us get to that point.”

During the event, Riley mentioned that his father suffered from asthma as well and discussed his own experience with asthma attacks. 

“You don’t understand the importance of breath until there’s nothing else in your mind to think about other than you can’t breathe,” Riley said. “It’s the most painful experience.” 

Danielle Abrams, an attendee also diagnosed with asthma in 2020, said one thing that stuck out to her when watching “Sure as the Wind” was hearing Riley’s story about being diagnosed. Abrams, who lives in Lafayette Park, used to be Riley’s Southwest Detroit neighbor and said she’s happy to see him making a difference in the community. 

“When creating their own business, a lot of people don’t think about making the world a better place like he does,” Abrams said. 

She is looking forward to seeing the rest of the films in the series, adding “We need to highlight more stories like this one.” 

Highlighting the entrepreneur scene in Detroit 

Beyond Monday’s screening, Ambs and Shewchuk will show “Sure as the Wind” March 11 in Austin, Texas, at the South by Southwest film festival. They also plan to work with local theaters to host screenings and eventually post the film on the Gather Around MI website. The filmmakers said they have also started working with a couple of other companies to film their stories. 

Karrissa Yve thought “Sure as the Wind” was an inspiring take on an important issue that “impacts all of us.”  

Yve’s friend, DaTrice Clark, added the film highlights the environmental racism Black Detroiters have to navigate. As fellow entrepreneurs, Clark and Yve are looking forward to the efforts in Detroit that Ambs and Shewchuk feature next.

“When we’re doing the work, we’re isolated, so I would love to see what everybody else is working on,” Clark said.