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28 07, 2022

Humanity Can’t Equivocate Any Longer. This Is A Climate Emergency

2023-03-05T23:40:26-05:00Tags: |

Rebecca Solnit and Terry Tempest Williams invite readers to join them in declaring a climate emergency, arguing that where the people lead, governments will follow. Recent natural disasters, droughts, fires, water contamination, and rising temperatures have shown us that “the future the scientists warned us about is where we live now.” Solnit and Williams explain that the climate emergency requires an immediate transition away from fossil fuels and a commitment to collectively investing in newer, more socially and environmentally just methods of production, consumption, and travel. They urge people to come together in solidarity to save the planet from further destruction for the future generations who will call it home. Photo credit: Frederic J Brown/AFP/Getty Images

27 06, 2022

How Defeating Keystone XL Built A Bolder, Savvier Climate Movement

2023-02-02T16:24:35-05:00Tags: , |

Over ten years of resistance against the Canadian tar sands and the Keystone XL pipeline has reinvigorated the greater climate movement through coordinated strategies of direct action and coalition building. The Keystone XL resistance gained traction in 2006 following the advocacy of three women from the Deranger clan of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation in Alberta in partnership with the Indigenous Environmental Network. The Tar Sands Action sparked new waves of civil disobedience that became common tactics in direct actions to follow. From Maggie Gorry leading a Tar Sands Blockade in northern Texas to Joye Braun fighting for Indigenous sovereignty on her home lands of the Cheyenne River Sioux Nation in South Dakota, these grassroots direct actions were essential to the successful fight against Keystone XL. 

1 06, 2022

Interview: Osprey Orielle Lake, Women’s Earth And Climate Action Network

2023-03-05T23:36:00-05:00Tags: |

In this interview, Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International’s Founder and Executive Director Osprey Orielle Lake discusses WECAN’s goals, the roles of women in movements for climate action, and Stockholm+50 with writer Selva Ozelli. Lake highlights the critical work that is being done by women and feminist leaders around the globe -- work that challenges systems of oppression (patriarchy, colonialism, racism, and capitalism) and aims to create more equitable, sustainable futures for people and planet. She explains that women are at the helm of grassroots and community-led efforts to advance renewable energy, food sovereignty, rights of nature, Indigenous human rights, and feminist economies. They are also fighting back against extractive industries, fossil fuel infrastructure, deforestation, and the destruction of biodiversity. Lake credits the work of these women leaders and organizations like WECAN with advancing toward a just transition. Photo Credit: WECAN

15 02, 2022

Let’s Honor Hazel Johnson’s Environmental Justice Legacy During Black History Month

2023-02-02T15:40:02-05:00Tags: |

Executive Director of People for Community Recovery, Cheryl Johnson, honors the legacy of her mother: Hazel Johnson. As an organizer in the south side of Chicago, Hazel raised awareness about inequities at the intersection of socioeconomic, environmental, and public health factors. She fought against environmental racism, housing discrimination, and toxic waste. After her husband died from lung cancer, she began noticing the high cancer rates in her neighborhood, and she exposed the connection between pollution and health problems through community advocacy. The 17 Principles of Environmental Justice she formulated continue to motivate action today. In this article, Johnson commemorates her mother’s accomplishments as an early leader of the environmental justice movement, while emphasizing the importance of women’s contributions to grassroots initiatives. She also discusses recent efforts to recognize Hazel Johnson, including three federal bills that propose celebrating every April as environmental justice month in her name, creating a memorial postage stamp, and posthumously giving her a Congressional Gold Medal. Photo Credit: People for Community Recovery

2 02, 2022

Permanently Organized Communities.

2023-02-02T16:25:03-05:00Tags: |

In this article Movement Generation founder, Michelle Mascarenhas, details why we need place-based permanently organized communities. Specifically now, the Covid-19 pandemic has offered opportunities to build the types of local systems our movements need, including but not limited to: shifting labor to mutuality and care, creating mutual aid networks, resourcing mutual aid funds, and working towards self-governance. Photo Credit: Brooke Anderson

28 01, 2022

The Young Activist Fighting To ‘Change the Faces of Power’

2023-02-01T23:10:09-05:00Tags: |

Ilona Duverge, a housing justice activist from New York City, experienced housing insecurity as a college student and is now a movement leader for systemic and electoral change. Low-income and public housing, especially in formerly redlined areas, can be inadequate in the winter due to lack of insulation and sufficient heating but dangerous in the summer given suffocating heat. This is exacerbated by the issue of climate change. Duverge has worked at the intersection of these issues, first volunteering with local campaigns and later becoming the deputy organizing director for U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign. She is also the founder of Movement School, which trains working class activists on how they can run for office, as well as a housing and legal fellow who helps tenants of public housing learn their rights. Duverge’s advocacy for the NYC Housing Authority to upgrade their housing with climate action and clean energy in mind inspired Ocasio-Cortez to introduce the Green New Deal for Housing, which would invest in sustainable housing upgrades and create green jobs. Duverge’s vision of the climate-economy link has sparked powerful action against poverty and environmental racism. Photo Credit: Ilona Duverge  

1 01, 2022

Dolores Huerta: Workers Must Unite To Take On Climate

2023-02-02T15:42:00-05:00Tags: |

Yessenia Funes, the climate director of Atmos, interviews labor activist Dolores Huerta on how her fight for justice promotes environmental justice. Huerta discusses ways to unite labor and climate action movements, emphasizing that we need to facilitate a just transition to green jobs so oil workers have alternate employment that pays adequately while being better for the environment. She outlines suggestions for pressuring Congress and local legislatures, expanding labor unions through legal support and movement-building, and supporting workers who are transitioning industries. Above all, Huerta believes that the focus should be on supporting candidates at all levels who will be advocates for environmentally just labor policies.  Photo Credit: Brandon Barela

13 12, 2021

Nurturing Roots, Flourishing Movement

2021-12-13T20:58:40-05:00Tags: |

This webpage introduces us to the ‘memory project’ presented by FRIDA, a youth-led fund exclusively supporting young feminist organizing which was officially set up in 2008. On International Women’s Day 2018, through a collection of stories of innovation and creation; recognition; collaboration and action; and of collective learning, FRIDA acknowledged the individual lives of inspiring women who paved the way for today’s young feminists. Through this recognition, FRIDA asserts that memories are part of their resistance, as each story relates a memory, reveals a symbol, and shares the belief that feminist organising can change the course of history. The project was developed by young feminist consultant Christy Selica Zinn who collected and translated these stories (her work is on women’s rights, youth development and organisation change in Sub-Saharan Africa); and by illustrator and project designer Pearl D’Souza, who is based in Goa, India. Photo Credit: Young Feminist Fund

13 12, 2021

Voices From The Frontlines: Rose’s Story

2021-12-13T20:55:11-05:00Tags: |

Rose Whipple from the Santee Dakota and Ho-Chunk nations is protecting her ancestral lands from pipelines in the Twin Cities area in Minnesota. Whipple describes her recent community organizing against the Line 3 pipeline which would be the largest in North America and run through rare Wild Rice beds in Anishinaabe and Dakota territory. Inspired by the solidarity of Indigenous communities at Standing Rock, Whipple has learned to use the strength of her voice as a youth leader to stand against the corporate greed of fossil fuel companies which harms the health of people and our planet. She continues to fight for community resilience and a full transition to renewable energy. Photo credit: Jaida L. Grey Eagle

13 10, 2021

Food Sovereignty: A Growing Movement

2021-12-13T21:07:14-05:00Tags: |

In this episode of the All My Relations Podcast, idigenous women Matika Wilbur and Adrienne Keene discuss food sovereignty and colonised food systems with Valerie Segrest of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe. A Native nutrition educator, Segrest uses her specialisation in local and traditional foods to touch on topics such as breastfeeding, food sovereignty activism, the issue with the term “food desert,” and systems of colonisation through food. Photo Credit: All My Relations Podcast

13 09, 2021

Stop Ignoring Mothering As Work

2023-02-02T16:26:11-05:00Tags: |

Writer Kimberly Seals Allers believes a major part of feminism is celebrating women as a whole, with mothering as a central and unique role that should be highly valued in society. Allers explores the alarming gender inequities ingrained in social and financial systems in the United States based on the undervaluation of maternal work alongside secular work which impacts women at all levels. She advocates for women to be honored and supported across society for their specific contributions as mothers, nurturers, educators, and other roles that extend far beyond the patriarchal confines of the ability to compete with men in professional roles. Photo credit: 10’000 Hours/Getting Images

13 09, 2021

Eat Your Ethics: Rallying For Food Justice In Supply Chains With Lauren Ornelas

2021-12-13T21:26:52-05:00Tags: |

In this episode of the Amplify Podcast, host Sanchi Singh speaks with food justice activist Lauren Ornelas. Founder of the food justice nonprofit, Food Empowerment Project, Ornelas discusses her path to activism, whiteness in the veganism movement, and the ways in which COVID19 has greatly impacted food labor. Singh and Ornelas discuss the specific impacts of COVID19 food system disruptions in relation to low-income communities in both India and the United States. Video Credit: Amplify Podcast

1 09, 2021

Aurora Castillo Activates East Lost Angeles Mothers For Social And Environmental Justice

2022-05-14T17:06:13-04:00Tags: |

Aurora  Castillo is a Mexican-American activist and one of the founders of The Mothers of East Los Angeles (MELA). With organized action, she was able to stop the eighth prison of the East L.A. from being built, stop an oil pipeline from running through her community, stop a toxic waste incinerator that was being planned for the East L.A. city of Vernon, and  stop a hazardous waste treatment plant close to a high school. With MELA and her activism, companies were brought to justice, environmental responsibility encouraged and others grassroots groups were helped by a series of important legal precedents. Photo credit: Goldman Environmental Prize.

17 07, 2021

The Rebirth Of The Food Sovereignty Movement

2021-07-17T18:50:51-04:00Tags: |

The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked a wave of backyard food planting and production. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of their local and regional food systems, and are taking initiative to support local food sovereignty projects. Doria Robinson of the urban farming project, Urban Tilth, describes the importance of CSAs in this time. Debbie Harris of Urban Adamah in Berkeley, California, points out the vital sense community urban farms create and nurture throughout times of hardship. Food sovereignty activists hope the push for local and equitable food systems continue after the end of the global pandemic. Photo Credit: Wendy Becktold

17 07, 2021

Local Indigenous People Gather To Bring Back Food Sovereignty

2021-07-17T18:33:58-04:00Tags: |

In a recent screening of the documentary “Gather,” a film recounting Indigenous food sovereignty initiatives, members of the Narragansett and Wampanoag tribes described their own local food sovereignty struggles. Hosted by Rhode Island’s first food gleaning project, Hope Harvest Rhode Island, the event featured Narragansett-Niantic speaker Lorèn Spears, the executive director of the Tomaquag Museum. Alongside other tribal members, Spears emphasized the radical power of food sovereignty initiatives to resist oppression by the dominant society through the reclamation of intergenerational Indigenous knowledge. Photo Credit: Gather

6 07, 2021

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Will Be The Leading Democrat On Climate Change

2021-07-06T18:27:01-04:00Tags: |

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, recently defeating 10-year incumbent, Joe Crowley, in the Democratic Party’s primary elections, has put forth an ambitious proposal to address climate change. The objective of her plan is to transition the United States economy into one that runs on 100% renewable energy by 2035. As a means to that end, Ocasio-Cortez is advocating for a “Green New Deal,” echoing President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1930s New Deal program. As part of this program, the U.S. government would be required to invest heavily in the development, deployment and distribution of green energy. Particularly, since Puerto Rico is still struggling to regain reliable electricity after a deadly hurricane in 2017, the new policy could be tested there, says Ocasio-Cortez. Photo credit: Xavier Garcia/Bloomberg via Getty Images

6 07, 2021

When Women Lead: Women’s Environmental Voting Records

2021-07-06T17:48:06-04:00Tags: |

Since 1972 to present day, women in Congress have more often supported environmental protection legislation as compared to their male counterparts. This includes legislation to provide clean air and clean water as well as legislation promoting conservation for future generations. Conversely, women in Congress have also voted more often against legislation that would undo those protections. This trend holds for both political parties, Democratic and Republican, and it also holds for both chambers of Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate. Thus, the track record of women in Congress is a promising one. Still, women are significantly underrepresented in the legislature and so rectifying this situation is necessary. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

6 07, 2021

A Call To Attention Liberation: To Build Abundant Justice, Let’s Focus On What Matters

2021-07-06T17:43:25-04:00Tags: |

Writer, speaker, and social justice advocate Adrienne Maree Brown discusses the power presence and attention as a force for change based on what individuals or groups choose to focus their limited energy on. She explores intentional mindset practices and group efforts that impact social justice work, including the concept of “principled struggle” that brings people closer together by fostering respectful conflict that is generative by nature. Brown also highlights “critical construction” as a key practice of co-creating thoughtful plans that build off of ideas from various perspectives provided within a coalition or group. These practices seek to reach beyond the pervasive mindset of scarcity that often dominates capitalist society to allow for collaborative, holistic methods to approach the fight for justice. Photo credit: Jeff Swensen / Getty Images

6 07, 2021

As Oil Plummets, Climate Activists Say Now Is the Time to Mobilize for a Green New Deal

2021-07-06T17:06:52-04:00Tags: |

Investigative reporter Christine Macdonald covers the 50th anniversary of Earth Day during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as record low oil demand. Macdonald points to this historic moment as an ideal time to topple Big Oil and invest in the green energy sector as cross-sector mobilization increases across interrelated social, economic, and environmental issues. Youth organizers Naina Agrawal-Hardin of the Sunrise Movement and Sarah Goody of Youth Vs. Apocalypse discuss the challenges of moving Earth Day events online but also the enhanced solidarity occurring via online organizing during the pandemic. The Earth Day to May Day Coalition expects a larger turnout this year as COVID-19 forces more workers to see overlaps in issues surrounding public health, human rights, and climate change in a new light. Macdonald champions a Green New Deal as the way forward in this critical time. Photo credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

6 07, 2021

New Fossil Fuel Projects Meet Indigenous Resistance in New Mexico

2021-07-06T17:04:05-04:00Tags: |

Kendra Pinto is a member of the Navajo Nation’s Eastern Agency in the Greater Chaco region of northwestern New Mexico. In response to the rapid changes occurring since the fracking boom of the past decade, she is fighting for greater protection of her lands and community. Pinto plays an active role in the group Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment (Diné CARE) and has testified before Congress to demand justice from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and oil and gas companies who continue to receive new frack well permits. In partnership with the Sierra Club and Earthworks, she is calling for accountability by taking air quality samples to monitor methane emissions violations and other infractions from nearby frack wells. Photo credit: Randall Hyman/Truthout 

6 07, 2021

Women in the Water Sector: Working Together for the Future

2021-07-06T14:57:10-04:00Tags: |

Studies show that there is a lack of women working in the water sector, which includes a lack of women leaders. Specifically, less than twenty percent of water workers are women in the United States. But the water organizations that include female leadership tend to benefit—whether women are included in sustainability, community engagement or economic development roles. Keisha Brown, one such leader, has had extensive experience working in community-based partnerships to improve water quality while remaining accountable to the local communities the work is enacted in. According to her, the lens of social justice must be applied to the infrastructure industry and the impacts of infrastructure on people’s well-being should be carefully assessed. Photo Credit: Storm Water Solutions

6 07, 2021

Meet Your Farmer: Brooklyn Grange, The World’s Largest Rooftop Urban Farm United States

2021-07-06T14:52:59-04:00Tags: |

In Brooklyn, New York, Michelle Cashen and Anastasia Cole Plakias manage and lead Brooklyn Grange, the world’s largest rooftop urban farm. Eleven stories above the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the farm produces greens, fruits, and other edible plants. Cashen and Plakias describe their commitment to urban farming and providing fresh food without using pesticides and herbicides. Photo Credit: Local Roots NYC

13 04, 2021

Women Environmental Defenders Condemn Systemic Abuses Before The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

2021-04-13T17:33:31-04:00Tags: |

This Earth Rights International (ERI) media release summarises the submission of a delegation of women environmental defenders from the Americas who testified before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The delegation condemned widespread and unjust criminalisation and repression against defenders of rights of land, territories, and environmental protection. The testimonies presented in this thematic hearing, which denounced instances of exceptional cases of attacks against environmental defenders, was led by Columbian human rights lawyer Julian Bravo Valencia, ERI’s Amazon Program Coordinator. Several women testified, including two women from Acción Ecológica, Esperanza Martinez Yanez and Ivonne Ramos, whose experiences highlight the sexism disproportionately affecting women defenders in the Americas. At a time when the interests of corporations and their impunity in committing rights violations is rife, the hearing aimed to produce a report which presents extreme examples of human rights abuses in Ecuador, Peru, Honduras, Guatemala, Colombia, Brazil and the United States. Photo Credit: Earth Rights International

13 04, 2021

Panel Discusses Food Sovereignty, Justice

2021-04-13T17:22:41-04:00Tags: |

In Santa Barbara, California, the Santa Barbara County Food Action Network invited local environmental advocates to present a webinar on food sovereignty and food justice. The panel included Santa Barbara City Council faculty member Daniel Parra Hensel, environmental director for the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians Teresa Romero, executive director of Lideres Campesinas Suguet Lopez, Community Environmental Councilmember Alhan Diaz-Correa, former farmworker Andrea Cabrea Hubbard, and Ana Rosa Rizo-Centino, a senior organizer for Food and Water Watch. A majority female panel, the panelists discussed women’s roles in food justice initiatives and local agriculture movements. They expressed gratitude for grassroots efforts and their hope to create institutional change through community organizing. Photo Credit: Courtesy Photos   

13 04, 2021

Sustainable Missoula: Food Sovereignty Is On The Line This Year

2021-04-13T17:20:19-04:00Tags: |

Based in Missoula, Montana, Indigenous ethnobotanist and Salish scientist Rose Bear Don’t Walk describes her personal relationship to Thanksgiving, while imploring readers to bring food sovereignty values to their own plates. She reclaims the settler-colonial notion of Thanksgiving by using the holiday to give thanks, spend time with family, and support her local farms— further forging a connection between herself, her family, and the land around them. Photo Credit: Missoula Current

13 04, 2021

Rebecca Newburn Garden In Richmond, CA

2021-04-13T17:18:26-04:00Tags: |

When she is not teaching middle school science and math classes, Rebecca Newburn tends to her expansive home garden in which she grows a variety of fruits, vegetables, and other plants. The co-founder of the “Richmond Grows Seed Lending Library,” Newburn understands the importance of saving and sharing seed among her close knit community of female gardeners in Richmond, California. She emphasises the stories plant varieties tell and the historical and cultural significance of seeds. Video Capture Credit: Edible East Bay

9 04, 2021

My Year Of No Shopping

2021-04-09T13:25:25-04:00Tags: |

The author Ann Patchett shares the journey to her pledge to stop shopping, inspired by her friend Elissa years earlier. The initial attraction for the idea turned into practice at the end of 2016, when she came up with an arbitrary set of rules for the year to make a serious but not draconian plan. In the article she shares all the “gleeful discoveries” of her first few months of no shopping as well as more long-term positive impacts on her lifestyle. At the end of the year, instead of ending the experiment, she decides to leave her pledge in place. Photo Credit: Wenjia Tang

9 04, 2021

Over 75 Indigenous Women Urge Biden To Stop Climate-Wrecking Pipelines And Respect Treaty Rights

2021-04-09T13:17:36-04:00Tags: |

Prior to inauguration day, over 75 Indigenous women from First Nations across the country call on President-elect Joe Biden to end destructive pipeline projects including Line 3, Keystone XL, and Dakota Access Pipeline. Signatories include Casey Camp-Horinek of the Ponca Nation and the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN), Tara Houska, Couchiching First Nation Anishinaabe and founder of Giniw Collective, and Joye Braun of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) among dozens of other Indigenous leaders. The collective letter shares personal stories as well as research on how these pipeline projects perpetuate violence against Indigenous peoples and lands and violate key treaty rights. Photo Credit: Tiny House Warriors/Facebook

19 02, 2021

‘It’s Cultural Genocide’: Inside The Fight To Stop The Line 3 Pipeline On Tribal Lands

2022-06-27T13:05:38-04:00Tags: |

Indigenous women in Minnesota are leading the fight against the proposed expansion of the Line 3 pipeline through tribal lands and major water sources. Tara Houska, an Ojibwe woman of the Couchiching First Nation, has set up camp for the past three years in resistance. Houska, tribal attorney and founder of Giniw Collective, explains that the pipeline compromises the health of her community and violates treaty rights, perpetuating cultural genocide of Indigenous communities. She is working with congresswoman Ilhan Omar to increase pressure on President Biden to take urgent action to halt the dangerous trajectory of pipeline expansion, including revoking water-crossing permits for future preventative measures. In addition, local organizer and member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, Nancy Beaulieu, calls for tribal leaders to be held accountable for not providing prior informed consent to their members about the pipeline project. Photo credit: Jenn Ackerman and Tim Gruber/The Guardian

18 02, 2021

To Keep Indigenous Women Safe Joe Biden Must Go Beyond Keystone XL

2022-06-24T15:16:54-04:00Tags: |

In this article written by Anya Zoledziowski, Indigenous community leaders call on President Biden to follow the decision to end construction of the Keystone XL pipeline with more direct action to protect Indigenous women. Angeline Cheek, member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes in Montana, is relieved that there won’t be an influx of transient workers or man camps in her community due to the pipeline cancellation. However, Cheek and Carla Fredericks, an enrolled member of Fort Berthold and the executive director of the Christensen Fund, demand President Biden follow his other campaign commitments to protect Indigenous women from high risks of sexual assault and trafficking by reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). They call for safety and accountability measures to end the disproportionate violence which is often inflicted by transient infrastructure workers who are non-Indigenous members. Photo Credit: Kokipasni Youth Group/VICE World News

16 02, 2021

Get To The Bricks: The Experiences Of Black Women Foom New Orleans Public Housing After Hurricane Katrina

2021-02-16T20:43:53-05:00Tags: |

The report explores the experiences of almost 200 black women who were living in “The Big Four”- four large housing projects within the city of New Orleans - when Hurricane Katrina made landfall in 2005. They were displaced from their prior homes due to the hurricane and the closure and demolition of the public housing units. This case shows that the experiences of black women in public housing were not taken into consideration when developing a plan for post-Katrina recovery. U.S. policies were implemented in a manner that took away opportunities, supports, and infrastructures from low-income women and their families most in need of a reliable safety net as they sought to recover from a catastrophic set of disasters and endure the Great Recession. Including the various experiences and voices of these women in the policy discussion going forward will ensure that future disasters do not perpetuate the marginalization of the most disadvantaged members of our communities.

23 12, 2020

Going Viral

2023-02-02T16:00:47-05:00Tags: |

Environmental activist Leah Thomas discusses her experience going viral in May of 2020, when she posted on Instagram calling for solidarity between the environmental movement and Black Lives Matter. Her graphic outlined a vision of “Intersectional Environmentalism” – an approach to advocacy that centers people as well as the planet, acting upon the interconnectedness of injustice and confronting social inequity. Thomas reflects upon the post’s rapid virality and the power that social media has to build movements and motivate collective action. She emphasizes the potential for social media-driven knowledge and empowerment, while showing the power that individuals have to inspire change. Photo Credit: Cher Martinez

20 11, 2020

Jilian Hishaw Wants To Help Black Farmers Stay On Their Land

2020-11-20T17:54:00-05:00Tags: |

Jilian Hishaw’s organisation, Family Agriculture and Resource Management Services (FARMS) is advocating for black farmer rights not only for today, but also for future generations. With only 2% of the country’s farm population consisting of black farmers, the services this organisation provides aids vulnerable farmers who often face discrimination by the USDA and who lose land at a rate of 30,000 acres per year. These services are available for all farmers from historically disadvantaged group in South Eastern states in the United States and their legal and technical assistance, including grant application help, fundraisers, agricultural law and foreclosure help, aid in retaining ownership of their land. Furthermore, the FARMS to Food Bank program aims to support farmers in selling surplus produce and meat at a reduced price to the food banks in their communities, thus also contributing to food insecurity solutions in these areas. Photo credit: Jilian Hishaw

9 09, 2020

Wildfires And Weather Extremes: It’s Not Coincidence, It’s Climate Change

2020-09-09T22:16:53-04:00Tags: |

The acceleration of forest fires in the West has made fire season 2 to 3 months longer than it was just a few decades ago. Climate change and wildfires are linked by mechanisms like higher temperatures, increased aridity, invasive species, earlier melting of snowpack etc. Climate change is not the single responsible factor for these fires and the natural ecosystem drivers of fire should be recognized.

9 09, 2020

Wildfire Smoke Threatens Air Quality Across The West

2020-09-09T22:13:58-04:00Tags: |

In this article, Bonnie Holmes-Gen, chief of the health and exposure assessment branch in the research division of the California Air Resources Board shares the links between health problems and wildfire smoke. During the COVID-19 pandemic, unhealthy air quality is a serious public health emergency. This summer, as California’s coronavirus cases continue to surge and the state struggles to implement safety measures, wildfire season is worsening air quality, complicating evacuation plans, perpetuating unjust impacts on Black, Brown, and Native communities, and further endanger those already at greatest risk of COVID-19.    

8 09, 2020

California Wildfires: Intersecting Crises & How To Respond

2020-09-09T22:23:23-04:00Tags: |

During a public health crisis centered around a respiratory disease, the last thing we need is more pollution that worsens respiratory problems and deepens already disproportionately higher risks of COVID-19 for Black, Brown, Indigenous, and low-income communities. While getting real about the root issues is urgently important, millions of Californians are being forced to deal with the immediate task of safety and survival. Greenpeace created a California Wildfire Crisis Emergency Response Guide to help communities stay safe and healthy during these uncertain times. Photo Credit: David McNew / Greenpeace

8 09, 2020

Earth Defenders Warn Against Democrats Undermining ‘Rights of Nature’ Movement With Watered-Down Approach

2023-01-25T12:37:01-05:00Tags: |

Jessica Corbett explains that although Rights of Nature activists are encouraged by the Democratic Party’s recent acknowledgement of their demands, they are concerned that the policies that follow might be based on “watered down” understandings of the Rights of Nature movement. Because the movement advocates deep system change, it is unlikely that a corporate-friendly DNC platform could align with its aims; in fact, it could potentially undermine the transformative change that activists have worked so hard to enact and marginalize (or ignore) the voices and expertise of Indigenous Nations and grassroots organizations. Corbett mentions the true aims of the Rights of Nature movement will be centered in the upcoming 2020 documentary, Invisible Hand. Executive producer Mark Ruffalo has said that the documentary will demonstrate "how to fight the forces that put profit above all else while addressing the root cause of our flawed system." Photo credit: Invisible Hand/Flickr 

6 09, 2020

In California Wine Country, Undocumented Grape Pickers Forced To Work In Fire Evacuation Zones

2020-10-05T16:49:57-04:00Tags: |

Amid pandemic economic impact, many Latin American Indigenous immigrants have no choice but to do farm work in hazardous conditions during wildfires, increasing their vulnerability to COVID-19 due to their exposure to smoke. Movimiento Cultural de la Unión Indígena, an Indigenous workers’ group, is pushing for appropriate working regulations, in addition to providing economic and social assistance, especially to the undocumented suspicious of federal support. Photo credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.

3 09, 2020

What Should We Know About Wildfires In California

2020-09-09T22:57:12-04:00Tags: |

This Greenpeace article lists trends impacting the occurrence of both forest and wildland fires today and solutions to those trends. The climate crisis is fueling extreme weather events, including an exceptionally dry winter and record-breaking heat waves which leave more dried up wildland vegetation to kindle the fires.  Despite this, the Trump Administration and the logging industry regularly use wildfires as opportunities to make the case for more logging under the guise of fuels reduction and fire prevention. Photo Credit: 2016 Erskine Fire in Central California, © US Forest Service

30 08, 2020

Indigenous Activists Brace For Worsening Wildfires Under Climate Change

2020-11-20T17:37:27-05:00Tags: |

The Three Sisters Collective in Santa Fe, New Mexico is leading local efforts to address climate change impacts in Indigenous communities. Carrie Wood, member of the Navajo Nation, and Christina M. Castro, member of the Taos and Jemez pueblos, are two of the women who have been supporting critical local responses such as making air purifiers for elders in the Nambé, Tesuque and Pojoaque pueblos who have dealt with excessive smoke from the Medio Fire combined with other wildfires in the western US. Their support stems from long-held mutual aid traditions led by Indigenous women, stressing the importance of investing in Indigenous knowledge and tribal fire management techniques for community resilience. Photo credit: Cody Nelson/NM Political Report

13 08, 2020

The Women Battling Wildfires And Breaking Barriers In The American Wilderness

2020-09-09T19:33:02-04:00Tags: |

Hannah Gross is one of 10,000 female wild land firefighters in the United States. In this historically male-dominated field women often face implicit bias, sexism, and gatekeepers who didn’t make them welcome.  Various initiatives have been created to increase the number of women in fire, foster their leadership capabilities, and improve their operational confidence in the field. Thanks to some of these initiatives women are  present in every facet of the wildland fire world. Photo Credit: Alex Potter

10 07, 2020

Water Protectors Celebrate As Dakota Access Pipeline Ordered To Shut Down

2020-10-10T19:55:28-04:00Tags: |

LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, an elder of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and founder of Sacred Stone Camp and Tara Houska, Ojibwe lawyer and founder of the Giniw Collective are interviewed by reporter Amy Goodman after the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is ordered to shut down by August 5, 2020. LaDonna Brave Bull Allard has opened her home in North Dakota to supporters from the beginning of the resistance in order to protect sacred sites, water sources, and the health of her community members. She has joined forces with Indigenous leaders and water protectors from around the world, many of whom have faced similar harms from extractive industry. Tara Houska asserts that the shutdown of this massive pipeline sends a critical message to the fossil fuel industry that these dangerous projects will not be tolerated and that a regenerative green economy is non-negotiable. Photo credit: Democracy Now! (video screenshot)

24 06, 2020

Where Do You Draw The Boundaries Of Home? Understanding Bioregions Might Give You An Idea

2023-03-05T23:49:37-05:00Tags: |

Carlita del Sol explains the concepts of bioregionalism and place-based governance. In pre-colonial times, Indigenous Peoples lived on their ancestral territories for thousands of years, and hyper-localized knowledges of their regions were passed down through generations. These knowledges allowed Indigenous Peoples to live in reciprocal relationship with the land, taking care of the region and its “lifesources,” while also depending on the land, animals, and local food systems for their own survival. del Sol includes a list of steps that people can take to re-orient themselves with the bioregions that they are already in relationship with. Photo credit: Mervin Windsor (Haisla-Heiltsuk), from Decolonial Atlas

9 06, 2020

Unequal Impact: The Deep Links Between Racism and Climate Change

2023-02-02T16:20:34-05:00Tags: |

Elizabeth Yeampierre, the co-chair of the Climate Justice Alliance, is an activist driving climate action that addresses racial and economic inequalities. In this interview, Yeampierre explains the direct link between the historic exploitation of people of color in the United States and the destruction of land and natural resources. She connects legacies of slavery and colonization to persistent environmental injustices, from the environmental health hazards that disproportionately affect Black communities to the devastating impacts of extreme weather on areas that have faced historic neglect and racism. Through examples of local-scale efforts in New York City and beyond, Yeampierre illuminates the importance of a just transition to renewable energy through actionable steps that center those most impacted by climate change. Photo Credit: David Goldman/AP Photos

29 05, 2020

Gardens Have Pulled America Out Of Some Of Its Darkest Times. We Need Another Revival

2021-02-16T20:31:45-05:00Tags: |

As the COVID-19 pandemic ravages the United States’ economy, issues of food security have been magnified. Consequently, the importance of local gardens have been emphasized. From Victory Gardens during the first and second world war, to the emergence of urban vegetable gardens throughout US cities in the 1970s and 1980s, the United States has a rich history of local gardening initiatives. The pandemic has forced Americans to re-evaluate the many way local gardens benefit a community. In Richmond, California, Doria Robinson of Urban Tilth provides 227 families with weekly CSA vegetable shares. Serving low-income residents in a city with only one grocery store per 100,000 residents, Robinson’s work at Urban Tilth makes a great difference in the local community, especially in light of COVID-19. Photo Credit: Karen Washington 

23 11, 2019

Ocasio-Cortez Demands Solar Company Rehire Workers Fired After Unionizing With Green New Deal in Mind

2020-10-23T23:05:45-04:00Tags: |

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the lead sponsor of the Green New Deal, which includes pro-justice and worker provisions in its effort to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energies. The need for these provisions became evident when twelve workers were fired from Bright Power, a solar energy company, after stating their intent to unionize. Ocasio-Cortez demands that Bright Power be held accountable and re-hire these twelve workers. She recognizes the danger of oil barons becoming renewable energy barons and continuing to exploit workers, regardless of the seemingly progressive purpose of their company. The Sunrise Movement and Senator Bernie Sanders also voiced their agreement with Ocasio-Cortez. Photo Credit: Bill Clark

14 10, 2019

On Indigenous People’s Day, Anishinaabeg Leaders March Against Enbridge’s $7.5 Billion Oil Pipeline

2020-11-20T17:50:08-05:00Tags: |

Anishinaabeg leaders march in resistance to the proposed Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline in Clearbrook, Minnesota on Indigenous People’s Day. Tara Houska, member of the Anishinaabeg Nation and Founder of Ginew Collective, leads the march with more than 200 supporters to protect Ojibwe culture and treaty rights along with key water sources that would be compromised in the Great Lakes region with the potential to harm millions. The pipeline construction company, Enbridge, faces several lawsuits after the environmental review was overturned due to high risks to waterways. Houska and other Indigenous leaders continue to garner greater support for resisting construction and protecting their ancestral lands. Photo credit: Amelia Diehl/In These Times

3 07, 2019

Nurdle by Nurdle, Citizens Took on A Billion-Dollar Plastic Company — and Won

2020-11-20T17:34:49-05:00Tags: |

A federal judge recently ruled that Formosa Plastics, a petrochemical company outside Port Lavaca, Texas, can be held liable for violating state and federal water pollution laws. The company could face a penalty of up to $162 million. Thanks to data collected by resident volunteers, the nonprofit San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper brought a lawsuit against the company in 2017. According to the lawsuit, the company violated its environmental permits for years, dumping millions of small plastic pellets - called nurdles - into Lavaca Bay. Among the volunteers is Diane Wilson, a retired shrimper who has been trying to get Formosa to stop dumping in the bay since the early ’90s. Since the trial started, pollution levels haven’t changed, so she keeps gathering evidence with her kayak. Giving up is not an option for her. Photo credit: Wikimedia

11 06, 2019

4 Activists Explain Why Migrant Justice Is Climate Justice

2020-12-02T20:13:50-05:00Tags: |

The four climate justice advocates Maya Menezes, Nayeli Jimenez, Niria Alicia and Thanu Yakupitiyage share their perspectives on the strong connections between the climate crisis and issues of migration and asylum. Drawing from different examples and experiences, they make a strong case to address the climate crisis in the broader framework of anti-capitalist and anti-colonial struggles and to stand in solidarity with movements to protect the rights of indigenous people, migrants and asylum seekers. Photo Credits: Getty Images

16 05, 2019

These Five Black LGBTQ+ Activists Are Literally Saving The Planet

2020-11-07T17:58:13-05:00Tags: |

Explore what the environmental justice movement looks like led by those most impacted. Meet 5 Black LGBTQ+ community organizers and activists Asha Carter (she/her), Dominique Hazzard (she/her), Dean Jackson (they/them), Jeaninne Kayembe (she/her,they/them), and  Rachel Stevens (she/her,they/them). Follow their stories of activism to learn how creative and impactful movements within their communities have responded to healing environmental racism. Photo Credit: Asha Carter

14 05, 2019

How To Craft Climate Financing That Helps Minorities And Lower-Income Americans

2023-02-26T12:42:32-05:00Tags: |

In  this article, Rebecca Stoner highlights a model for non-extractive climate financing that aims to support and serve worker-owned, grassroots-level just transition projects. The Our Power Loan Fund, a Climate Justice Alliance initiative, works at the intersections of economic, racial, and environmental justice through its mission to support sustainable agriculture projects led by people of color from low-income communities. These communities are often the most impacted by social and environmental injustice but are the least likely to receive the necessary financing to implement solutions. The Our Power Loan Fund centers the needs of under-resourced workers by lending technical support and coaching to get projects “loan-ready” before offering loans that do not need to be paid back until the business is profitable. This model empowers local organizing -- rather than exploiting it -- by providing the resources necessary for frontline leaders to create pathways toward place-based environmental justice. Photo credit: Matt Feinstein/Global Village Farms

13 04, 2019

GirlTrek: When Black Women Walk, Things Change

2019-04-13T16:36:26-04:00Tags: |

Morgan Dixon is the co-founder of ‘GirlTrek’, a national help organization addressing the disproportionate effects of the current health crisis in African American women. Starting with 530 women in their first year, the organization has since grown to about 100,000 African American women who walk together every day. Together the women of ‘GirlTrek’ not only boost their own physical health, they also improve the health of their families and communities while reshaping the narrative around health for women of color. Video Credit: National Sierra Club

9 04, 2019

What The Queer Community Brings To The Fight For Climate justice

2020-11-07T17:54:21-05:00Tags: |

To ensure the success of the climate justice movement is to ensure the liberation of Queer Communities. As we move forward in healing the climate crisis, the interconnectedness of Queer and Trans Communities with the Climate Jutsice movement must be realized. Many LGBTQ+ activists are lifting up the environmental movement with resilience and innovation while also participating in the divest movement and bringing equity policies to environmental organizations. Photo Credit: Dylan Comstock

4 04, 2019

How A Female Fast Food Worker Became An Activist

2020-11-20T17:32:47-05:00Tags: |

Shantel Walker is a manager within the fast food industry and an organizer for proper living wages in NYC. After working over two decades at Papa John’s Pizza where Walker was paid a minimum wage of $7.50, Walker started working with organizations such as the Fight for $15, and Fast Food Forward campaigns to champion the 3.7 million Americans working in Fast Food. Walkers advocacy also addresses the disparities in healthcare coverage, workplace and scheduling policies. Photo Credit: Alex Swerdloff

5 02, 2019

Emily Satterwhite of Appalachians Against the Pipelines

2019-04-13T15:55:11-04:00Tags: |

Emily Satterwhite detained the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline for 14 hours by chaining herself to a backhoe. She is an active part of Appalachians Against Pipelines, defending the mountains and forests in West Virginia. In this interview, she discusses the role of lobbyists, the influence of corporate interest, and the struggle to keep fracking pipelines outside of the state. She refutes many myths regarding pipelines, emphasizing that Dominion Energy and it’s investors are profiting, but there is no benefit for West Virginians.Photo Credit: Thunderdomepolitics.com

28 01, 2019

How Three Black Women Use Food As Tools For Resistance

2019-04-13T16:33:22-04:00Tags: |

Monifa Dayo, Carrie Y.T. Kholi, and Binta Ayofemi are three women using food as a vehicle for social change. They are amongst a host of Black women exiting from the restaurant industry after experiencing racism and sexism in the workplace. Monifa Dayo runs her own supper club while consciously incorporating social justice into her business model. Similarly, Carrie Y.T. Kohli’s ‘Hella Black Brunch’ brings people together around food and the African diaspora experience. Binta Ayofemi’s ‘Soul Oakland’ focuses on Black urban sustenance and restoration. Each woman views herown work as a form of resistance to the current political climate, and seeks to inspire communities of color in doing so. Photo credit: Richard Lomibao

16 01, 2019

The Women Fighting A Pipeline That Could Destroy Precious Wildlife

2020-10-05T16:36:38-04:00Tags: |

In Louisiana, the indigenous-led resistance camp “L’Eau est la Vie” fights to put a stop to the construction of the Bayou Bridge pipeline, which is planned to connect the Dakota Access pipeline to a refinery in St. James. The region is known for its swamplands that offer a vast biodiversity, but also has a long history of forced evictions and environmental injustice ever since oil was discovered below a lake. To this day, the water protectors face intimidation tactics and in some cases acts of physical violence in response to their activism. Photo credit: Joe Whittle/The Guardian

11 01, 2019

Air Pollution ‘As Bad As Smoking In Increasing Risk of Miscarriage’

2020-09-02T20:51:19-04:00Tags: |

A recent study, the first to focus on the effects of short-term exposure to pollution by women in urban areas, has found that air pollution is just as bad as smoking for pregnant women when it comes to increasing their risk of miscarriage. The findings of the study mention that air pollution is already known to harm foetuses by increasing the risk of premature birth and low birth weight. But this recent research found pollution particles in placentas. Rising levels of nitrogen dioxide emissions around the world has increased the risk of losing a pregnancy by 16%. Researchers compare it to how the increased risk of tobacco smoke in a woman’s first trimester can result in pregnancy loss. They recommend the best course of action is to cut the overall levels of pollution in urban areas. While they also recommend pregnant women to avoid exertion on polluted days and consider buying indoor filters, they recognize that in the developing countries, these are luxuries many can’t afford. Photo credit: Rex/Shutterstock

4 12, 2018

The Co-op That’s Keeping Community Money Out Of Big Banks

2023-02-02T16:02:50-05:00Tags: |

Me’Lea Connelly is the founder of Blexit, a nonprofit that facilitates boycotts of extractive financial systems that have profited from exploiting Black communities. She also developed the Village Financial Cooperative, a Black-owned credit union that specializes in “regenerative finance,” which gives marginalized groups access to and control of capital. Connelly was inspired by her experiences living in Minnesota, which is the second-most racially unequal state in the United States. She aims to address the economic inequities that have resulted from oppression and help families accumulate generational wealth. The Village Financial Cooperative collaborates with other organizations including the Climate Justice Alliance for its justice-oriented financial services. It also aims to improve financial literacy in Black communities. Photo Credit: N/A

20 10, 2018

The Bearded Seal My Son May Never Hunt

2020-11-07T18:07:29-05:00Tags: |

The author Laureli Ivanoff is an Inupiat, a northern indigenous population with communities from Alaska to Greenland. She reflects on the future of her people who now have to learn to live without the cold: last winter there was less ice in the Bering Sea that any winter since the 1850 when record-keeping started. The Inupiat need the northeastern Bering Sea to stay cold so that the creatures they traditionally rely on can thrive. She particularly thinks about her newly born son Inuqtaq, to whom hunting was going to be an act of intentional decolonization, a way of keeping alive a custom that’s become sacred and of staying connected to his heritage and identity. As she hurts for him and for her family, Laureli hopes the world quickly adapts and also respects the earth as they have for millennia. Photo credit: Ash Adams/The New York Times

18 10, 2018

Why A Farmworker’s Daughter Interrupted Governor Brown At The Global Climate Action Summit

2019-04-13T16:39:10-04:00Tags: |

At the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco California, Niria Alicia stood up and sang out in protest to Governor Jerry Brown’s refusal to take action against oil and gas companies. In this piece, Niria describes why she joined eight other young people in singing the Women’s Warrior Song as an act of resistance at the summit. Niria sites her own identity as an Indigenous woman, and daughter of a farmworker to poignantly explain the consequences of fossil fuel divestment. Photo credit: Niria Alicia

15 10, 2018

Be The Hummingbird, Be The Bear

2020-12-15T21:40:17-05:00Tags: |

In this essay published in the Earth Island Journal, philosopher, writer and climate activist Kathleen Dean Moore calls to action the mothers, grandmothers, aunties, godmothers and all those who love the children. From her cabin in Alaska, she witnessed her a hummingbird saving her nestlings from a squirrel, and a bear saving her cub from wolves. She highlights the power of love, ferocity and responsibility of mothers and grandmothers protecting children and the planet against global warming and ecosystem collapse. She evokes grandmothers Annette Klapstein and her friend Emily Johnston, who shut off the flow of Canadian tar-sands oil by cutting the chain on an oil-pipeline valve in Minnesota. She relates the work of Leatra Harper and Jill Antares Hunker, mothers who devise strategies against fracking from their kitchen tables. This eloquent piece is illustrated by Lisa Vanin, whose work focuses on the magic and mystery of nature. Illustration Credit: Lisa Vanin

15 10, 2018

A Water Walk In New York City

2020-10-07T00:43:14-04:00Tags: |

During the month of July, women and men, engaging in a “water walk,” walked two miles through the streets of New York City carrying empty buckets. Two miles is about the length women and girls walk in developing countries each day to obtain water, so this walk was carried out in order to symbolize their hard work. Moreover, the walk ended at the United Nations Building, so it was intended to remind policy makers about the importance of clean water as well as urge them to consider water a human right. The walk also called attention to the fact that access to water is important but if distance, cost, or other factors make that access prohibitive, then simple “access” is not enough. Photo credit: Water Aid

10 10, 2018

Are Females The Future Of Western North Carolina Farming?

2021-01-27T20:44:10-05:00Tags: |

Women have historically played important roles in the Western North Carolina (WNC) farming industry. In more modern times, many WNC women are pursuing careers in agriculture and continuing the legacy of female farming in North Carolina. Prominent women in the WNC farming agriculture community include Susan English of English Dairy and English Farmstead Cheese, and Annie Louise Perkinson of Flying Cloud Farm. Both of these women manage farms that have been in their families for multiple generations. On the other hand, Gabi White of Patchwork Urban Farm and Lauren Rayburn of Rayburn Farm found careers in farming after studying agriculture-related subjects in college. Although many female WNC farmers hesitate to label themselves as farmers or as primary operators of the farm, together they are reshaping the traditionally masculine “farmer” stereotype. Photo Credit: Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP)

5 10, 2018

Women In The US Food System Are Speaking Up About Domestic Abuse

2020-10-05T21:50:51-04:00Tags: |

From female farmers to female restaurant workers, women are consistently subject to sexual harassment at every level of the US Food System. Mostly depending on immigrant labor, the US Food System workforce is the lowest-paid and most exploited workforce in the country. The workers have little legal protections that are rarely enforced. For women, especially immigrant women, this means that sexual harrasment and unequal treatment on the basis of sex prevail. In recent years, initiatives such as the #MeToo movement, the Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, and the Fair Food Movement, support and encourage women to fight against the patriarchal oppression they face. Photo Credit: Donald Lee Pardue

2 10, 2018

Ouch! Yes, That Glass Ceiling Still Exists In The Environmental Movement

2023-02-02T16:08:36-05:00Tags: |

This op-ed by Zoe Loftus-Farren, the managing editor of Earth Island Journal, discusses the absence of women at the helm of environmental nonprofit organizations. Loftu-Farren argues that women, especially women of color, are at the frontlines of the climate crisis but often trapped behind glass ceilings in the environmental movement. Although women comprise over half the workforce in the field, they are underrepresented in key decision-making roles and often passed over for promotions. By presenting statistics along with observations from her own experiences in nonprofit work, Loftus-Farren makes the case that the environmental movement must undergo reforms related to board selection, employee retention efforts, and policies for equity and inclusion. She also emphasizes the tangible and intangible benefits of women’s leadership in the workplace.

28 09, 2018

Olympia Auset Is Tackling Systemic Racism, One Vegetable At A Time

2020-10-10T19:27:42-04:00Tags: |

Olympia Auset is the founder of SÜPERMARKT, a low cost, organic pop-up grocery store which is addressing food inequality in southern Los Angeles. Auset sees food as a tool for liberation and seeks to free her own community from identifying as a food desert where people statistically live 10 years less than wealthier white communities. This reality steams from a history of white flight after slavery became illegal. Auset’s SUPERMARKT  is changing the local narrative and has plans to expand given her success and demand. Her model is also being replicated in food deserts across the country. Photo Credit: Sara Harrison

28 09, 2018

Olympia Auset is Tackling Systemic Racism, One Vegetable at a Time

2023-02-02T16:18:00-05:00Tags: |

Olympia Auset is the founder of pop-up grocery store SÜPRMARKT, which offers affordable and organic food to the South Los Angeles community. Although California is a major food-producing state, many of its residents live in food “deserts,” where fresh produce is expensive and difficult to access. Noticing that food insecurity persists because of structural racism in local policies, Auset established a supermarket that collaborates with local farms, buys wholesale, offers produce delivery, and regularly pops up in community centers and parks across underserved areas. With a team of local volunteers, Auset is transforming the neighborhood’s food landscape through social entrepreneurship and a community-based model, as well as a 501(c)3 nonprofit called SÜPRSEED that raises awareness about food injustice and raises donations to sustain the pop-up supermarket. Photo Credit: Civil Eats

23 09, 2018

Indigenous Women Rise Against Climate Half-Measures

2020-10-23T22:20:10-04:00Tags: |

Indigenous women organizers lead Solidarity to Solutions Week (Sol2Sol) during the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, CA. Kandi Mossett with the Indigenous Environmental Network grew up in the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota whose community experienced high cancer rates from close proximity to coal plants and uranium mining. Isabella Zizi with Idle No More SF Bay was raised in Richmond, California near the Chevron refinery with accidents disproportionately impacting Indigenous and communities of color. The week of action criticizes politicians who cling to false solutions to the climate crisis that support the fossil fuel industry and market-based solutions while leaving out frontline communities. Mossett and Zizi describe alternative community-based events during Sol2Sol including a People’s Climate March led by the Ohlone people native to the Bay Area, prayer ceremonies on sacred sites, visits to nearby sustainable farms, and educational workshops. Photo credit: Daniela Kantorova/Flickr

1 09, 2018

The Environmental Movement Can Learn From #TimesUp

2019-03-04T01:37:29-05:00Tags: |

Greenpeace USA Executive Director, Annie Leonard traces the intersections between the environmental movement and the #TimesUp and #MeToo movements, calling for more diversity. As more women name their harassers and seek justice, the environmental movement needs to reckon with the growing spotlight on power imbalances across gender, race, and class lines. Leonard, a white woman, writes how these movements have made her reexamine her own privileges and responsibilities within a movement that has been historically dominated by White men. Knowing that the best solutions come from those most affected, she calls for greater representation and meaningful spaces for often marginalized voices to be heard—not to achieve a diversity quota but to ensure deep, lasting change. Photo credit: Tim Aubry/Greenpeace

22 08, 2018

As Climate Scientists Speak Out, Sexist Attacks Are On The Rise

2020-04-24T16:45:46-04:00Tags: |

Female climate scientists face a disproportionate amount of gender-based abuse in comparison to their male counterparts. Through social media, email, and direct telephone calls, women climate scientists report numerous violent threats including rape and death threats from disproportionately male attackers. Although the threats remain written or verbal, many women fear for their physical safety and have taken precautions to reduce their exposure in the media. This form of gender discrimination is one of many on the rise since the 2016 election of Donald Trump, which effectively institutionalized climate denial as well as misogyny. The Climate Science Legal Defense Fund was founded in 2011 to combat harassment against climate researchers, seeing a need to update current laws to protect women in science and academia in particular. Photo Credit: Mandel Ngan

22 08, 2018

As Climate Scientists Speak Out, Sexist Attacks Are On The Rise

2023-02-02T15:55:03-05:00Tags: |

Women in climate science face a dangerous combination of climate denial and misogyny, with many receiving death threats, facing sexual assault, and enduring verbal harrassment. Often, these threats and insults are highly gendered yet anonymous, triggering concerns about safety both in and out of the workplace. This compounds existing pressure that climate scientists face for speaking out about a field of study that is frequently politicized. In this article, women in environmental science-related careers share their stories of harassment, their coping mechanisms and concerns, and their experiences navigating the overlapping challenges they face. They also emphasize the importance of public awareness about sexism in climate science spaces, urging male colleagues to call out discrimination and harassment when they see it. Photo Credit: Mandel Ngan, Getty Images

4 08, 2018

Environmental Toxins Are Seen As Posing Risks During Pregnancy

2020-12-02T21:37:25-05:00Tags: |

In recent years, maternal-fetal medicine has responded to the risk that environmental toxins pose to pregnancy, calling for action to identify and reduce exposure to toxic environmental agents while addressing the consequences of such exposure. However, despite increasing awareness, a recent survey suggests that most doctors don’t discuss exposure to pollutants with their pregnant patients. While chemicals are virtually impossible to avoid completely, people can reduce contact with some of the most harmful and common toxins to prevent harmful consequences on fetal development, a critical window of human development. Initiatives like Project TENDR, Toxic Matters and SafetyNest, offer practical recommendations to prevent exposure. Photo credit: iStock

2 08, 2018

‘You’re The Naive One’: Youth Activist’s Open Letter To A Candidate For Governor

2020-10-13T20:14:56-04:00Tags: |

In this article, young environmentalist Vic Barrett responds to gubernatorial candidate Scott Wagner who dismissed a fellow activist as “young and naïve” when asked about his campaign donations from the fossil fuel industry. Barrett cites the urgency of a climate crisis that is already impacting the lives of many, and the fact that youth will have to pay for the apathy and greed of individuals like Wagner. While Wagner and others choose to demean and undermine the youth’s vision for a healthy and sustainable earth, she argues that youth will continue to hold politicians accountable and build a better future. Photo credit: Handout

21 07, 2018

Meet the Teenagers Leading A Climate Change Movement

2023-03-19T08:00:42-04:00Tags: |

In this article, writer Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks features six organizers of the youth-led climate justice coalition, Zero Hour. Jamie Margolin, the founder of Zero Hour, is a 16-year-old organizer from Seattle, WA who began her advocacy work by writing op-eds on climate justice and has since formed the coalition to connect youth leading the climate movement in the U.S. Other lead organizers interviewed include Kallan Benson from Crownsville, MD, Madelaine Tew from Teaneck, NJ, Iris Fen Gillingham from Livingston Manor, NY, Nadia Nazar from Baltimore, MD, and Zanagee Artis from Clinton, CT. Each of these climate activists bring unique passion to their collective efforts ranging from art, to fundraising, to event organizing as they collaborate to fight for a safe and sustainable future for their generation and those to follow. Photo credit: Erin Schaff/The New York Times

13 07, 2018

These Young Climate Justice Advocates Say It’s Time For A Revolution

2020-10-23T23:31:05-04:00Tags: |

Youth activists Jamie Margolin and Nadia Nazar mobilised a youth march in Washington DC on 07/21/20 and co-founded Zero Hour, a volunteer-based organisation focused on climate change. With a diverse group of students, they created a platform highlighting the relationship between climate change, consumerism and systems of oppression, and their adverse impact on the natural world, animals and marginalized communities (indigenous, homeless, LGBTQ, different abilities and people of color communities). The organization is part of a global youth movement actively marching, lobbying, suing and engaging with local communities and state officials to find climate solutions. Zero Hour advocates for the power of young people to act, generate human change and cultural shifts without delay. As 350.org’s executive director May Boeve stated, we have the responsibility to stand with the youth fighting to protect our collective future whose voice should be at the center of the global conversation. Photo CHERYL DIAZ MEYER FOR HUFFPOST

5 07, 2018

Activist Jamie Margolin Organizes Teen Climate Change March In Washington

2023-02-26T12:50:57-05:00Tags: |

This video highlights the work of teen climate activist Jamie Margolin. As the founder of Zero Hour, Margolin’s work aims to make young people's voices and perspectives heard, bringing public awareness to the urgency of their climate concerns and advocating commonsense climate change laws. In the video, Margolin asserts that climate change is the most pressing issue of our time, and her work is dedicated to demanding action from political leaders who have often prioritized their partnerships with fossil fuel companies over the people they serve. In 2018, she worked with Mrinalini Chakraborty, the head strategist of the Women’s March, to organize a Youth Climate March at the National Mall in Washington D.C. The march was followed by two days of lobbying and activism, all of which centered the voices of youth whose futures will be directly impacted by politicians’ inaction. Margolin hopes that this collective organizing will inspire politicians to take the necessary measures to secure a livable world and viable future for the next generation. 

3 07, 2018

Mom Confronts EPA Head Scott Pruitt At DC Restaurant: I Want You To Resign

2020-12-15T21:35:05-05:00Tags: |

Kristin Mink, a mother and a teacher at Sidwell Friends School, confronted Scott Pruitt, head of Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency, at a restaurant both were dining at. During the confrontation, Mink urged Pruitt to resign, saying that his scandals are numerous and that his environmental policies are inadequate. She referenced her son, who she was holding at the time, implying that Pruitt was directly threatening his future by attempting to remove many environmental regulations that were implemented to protect water and air quality. According to Mink, Pruitt did not respond, and left the restaurant shortly afterwards. Photo credit: AFP/Getty images

15 06, 2018

Immigrant Women Are Providing A Taste Of Oaxaca In California’s Central Valley

2020-10-05T16:55:59-04:00Tags: |

In Madera, California, Sylvia Rojas and Rosa Hernandez own Colectivo Sabor a Mi Tierra, a restaurant that offers traditional Oaxacan dishes such as tamales, picaditas, pozole, and mole. Many of these dishes have indigenous roots and reflect the migration from indigenous Mexican communities to the United States. Formerly farmworkers, Hernandez and Rojas opened up the restaurant with support from organizations such as the Pan Valley Institute, a group that focuses on uplifting women and building inter-ethnic relationships amongst rural Californian farming communities in the Central Valley. Photo Credit: Lisa Morehouse

8 06, 2018

Pipeline Protester Removed From Perch On Excavator

2019-01-21T19:26:30-05:00Tags: |

Emily Satterwhite, an Appalachian Studies Professor at Virginia Tech, blocked the Mountain Valley Pipeline crossing through Brush Mountains for 14 hours. She used a sleeping dragon to lock herself 20 feet off the ground to the excavator but was later lowered down by law enforcement. With this technique, her arms were inserted at each end of an elbow-shaped piece of pipe, and her hands chained together inside the pipe, making it difficult for her to be removed from the equipment. She chose to protest the pipeline because it threatens the nearby environment. Photo Credit: Heather Rousseu/The Roanake Times

4 06, 2018

A Woman’s Reparations Map For Farmers Of Color Seeks To Right Historical Wrongs

2020-04-24T16:12:49-04:00Tags: |

Leah Penniman and her organization Soul Fire Farm have developed a new mapping and reparations resource for black and brown farmers. Launched via Google Maps, the reparations map identifies over 52 organizations, their needs, and how to contact each farming operation. The project is an extension of a global movement for food justice, and the return of stolen lands and resources to Indigenous and black farmers. Consequently, the project directly addresses the significant wealth gap between farmers of color and white farmers. The site has had over 53,000 visitors to date. Photo Credit: Jonah Vitale-Wolff

4 06, 2018

A Reparations Map for Farmers of Color May Help Right Historical Wrongs

2023-02-02T16:10:54-05:00Tags: |

Leah Penniman is the founder of Soul Fire Farm in New York, which aims to dismantle racism and injustice in the food system not only through sustainable farming, but also through reparations. Centuries of slavery and racism left many Black Americans uncompensated for their agricultural labor, and this is directly connected to the persistent racial wealth gap we see today. Penniman has created an online mapping tool to connect donors with farmers of color who seek financial payments to compensate for past and present inequities. She is also training farmers to speak up through advocacy and storytelling, while writing a “Definitive Guide to Liberation on Land.” This article delves into the history of the movement for reparations, which dates back to the Civil War, and the work Penniman is doing to advocate for system and policy change. Photo Credit: Soul Fire Farm

31 05, 2018

Marion Nestle Looks Back At 30 Years Of Agitating For Better Food

2020-09-02T22:31:18-04:00Tags: |

Marion Nestle, an NYU professor in nutrition and an influential voice in food advocacy, has been working in changing the landscape of the food system for the past thirty years. A pioneer of the Food Studies program at NYU, this interdisciplinary field looks at food through a political lens throughout its course of production, consumption, and waste. For her, there exists so much confusion about what people should eat because of the power dynamics at play with agribusiness aiming to sell as much as possible at the lowest cost. Despite the consumer ‘movement’ influencing what companies put into their foods, top-down change is required to deal with systematic issues such as hunger. It is this sort of regulation that is extremely lacking in the Trump administration’s food policies. Whilst the food movement is fragmented in terms of goals and issues at stake, Nestle is optimistic with the role that young people can play in food advocacy, especially at a local level. Photo Credit: Bill Hayes.

31 05, 2018

Jaylyn Gough Asks: Whose Land Are You Exploring?

2020-10-07T01:10:59-04:00Tags: |

Jaylyn Gough, a Diné outdoors woman, is addressing and changing colonial narratives of the outdoor industry. In 2017, Gough launched Native Women’s Wilderness. What began as a platform for Native girls and women to share photos of their outdoor experience has since morphed into a movement. One of Native Women’s Wilderness’ key initiatives is growing awareness around whose land is being explored and addressing the exclusivity and white centric culture of the outdoor industry. One idea is a symbolic reclaiming of the ancestral Paiute trade route, today known as the 210-mile John Muir Trail. Gough is optimistic that the shift towards reconciliation of the genocidal history of the United States can begin with the outdoor industry. Photo credit: Jayme Moye

30 05, 2018

Mother Justice Is Environmental Justice

2019-04-13T15:42:56-04:00Tags: |

Low to moderate income families and families of color often take on a disproportionate energy burden, sacrificing funds that would otherwise be used on food or medical expenses, to pay for utility bills. Energy companies do little to nothing to help ease this burden. And more time than not, these communities are in areas that are poorly maintained and plagued by pollution. In fact, studies have shown that 71% of African Americans live in counties with federal air violations, compared to 56% of the overall population. 70% of African Americans live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant, which generated 30% of the U.S. electricity in 2016 and discharged millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions into the environment. African Americans face the brunt of the health impacts associated with long-time exposure to toxins emitted at plants; children and the elderly are especially sensitive to such risks. These long lasting impacts take many forms, resulting in emotional, psychological and economic costs for these communities. Photo Credit: NAACP