How Two Teens in Niagara Falls Are Confronting Pollution and a Mental Health Crisis

Inside Climate News · By Jennifer Wybieracki · last updated February 4, 2026 – 12:05 AM

Finding hope and resilience in a city burdened with environmental pollution and generational trauma.

By Jennifer Wybieracki

Julissa Hernandez was at work when she saw the news, in 2024, that a young mother, Chianti Means, had jumped to her death at Niagara Falls State Park, taking her two young children, a 9-year-old and 5-month old baby, with her. When Hernandez called her dad later that day, she realized that Means was a second cousin who used to babysit her.

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