Justin Nobel Book Signing & Discussion

Join us on May 21st at 7pm at Wooden Shoe Bookshop in Philadelphia for the book launch of the new fossil fuel industry exposé Petroleum-238, by Justin Nobel.

Petroleum-238 is an acclaimed science journalist's seven-year investigation into how the U.S. oil and gas industry has created a public health crisis through unregulated, radioactive waste.

Nobel discovered that radioactive waste has been spilled, spread, injected, dumped, and freely emitted across Pennsylvania and the rest of the US, shielded by a system of lax regulations and legal loopholes. He relies on oilfield workers, community activists, a century of academic research, and a trove of never-before released industry and government documents to lay out a series of game-changing revelations into the world's most powerful industry. None have been more deceived than the industry's own workers, who are suffering mysterious health maladies and dying from unexplainable cancers.

Justin Nobel will be joined by Jamar Thrasher, a former press secretary and deputy communications director at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and a key source for the book. Thrasher, also a fiction and essay writer, is a 2024 Periplus Collective fellow and a 2024 participant of the Center for Black Literature’s Wild Seeds Retreat for Writers.

Justin Nobel writes on science and environment for US magazines, investigative sites, and literary journals. He has been published in Best American Science and Nature Writing and Best American Travel Writing. A book he co-wrote with a death row exoneree, The Story of Dan Bright, was published in 2016 by University of New Orleans Press. His 2020 Rolling Stone magazine story, "America's Radioactive Secret," won an award from the National Association of Science Writers and inspired his latest book, "Petroleum-238: Big Oil's Dangerous Secret and the Grassroots Fight to Stop It." Justin's writing has helped lead to lawsuits, public dialogue, academic research and been taught at Harvard's School of Public Health.

Jamar Thrasher is a writer and editor based in Pennsylvania. He received his undergraduate degrees in political science and communication from the University of Pittsburgh. Thrasher received his graduate degree in public policy and management from Carnegie Mellon University. He has worked as a business reporter and opinion commentator, with his writing appearing in several outlets, including PennLive, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and the Cortland Standard.

In 2012, while still in graduate school, he founded Kennedy Blue Communications, a public relations firm affectionately named after his daughter, Kennedy. Thrasher was formerly a communications consultant at Deloitte and a press secretary and deputy communications director at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Jamar is also a fiction and essay writer. He is a 2024 Periplus Collective fellow, mentored by novelist and short story writer Laura van den Berg, and a 2024 Center for Black Literature’s Wild Seeds Retreat for Writers of Color participant (author Breena Clarke was his instructor). He has an essay forthcoming in Sampsonia Way Magazine.