Celebrating Women’s History Month with Five Environmental Leaders

March 22, 2022 Tania Roa

The poster child for modern-day environmentalism is often a white male. The misconception that the environmental movement was created by and for white communities neglects the majority of the people who make up Earth leaders, defenders, and protectors. Women of color have taken to the streets, community organizing, governmental proceedings, and more with the goal of advancing the preservation of the environment. As communities of color are disproportionately affected by climate change and biodiversity loss due to centuries of racist policies and practices, women in these communities have been and continue to fight back.

This Women’s History Month, let us support and uplift the messages of women of color in environmental spaces. To combat the oppressive systems these women and others speak out against, we can follow their lead and join their acts of resistance.

Nemonte Nenquimo

Waorani leader Nemonte Nenquimo brought her people’s message to the world through her inspirational Ted Talk. She advocates for the preservation of nature for its own sake and the sake of humanity. Nemonte was born and raised in the jungle. She has witnessed the decline of her home territory as the Amazon rainforest continues to be capitalized on by the local Ecuadorian government and international parties. As mining and logging destroy her homelands, she joins the struggle of fellow Indigenous peoples across the globe. Nemonte co-founded Amazon Frontlines to drive more support for people like her on the forefront of ecosystem degradation. Her activism represents the needs of her tribe, the many species living in the Amazon rainforest, and all of humanity - because we all depend on the biodiversity held within the forest.

Leah Penniman

Farmer and activist Leah Penniman is redefining the meaning of agriculture and one’s connection to the land. As a Black Kreyon educator, Leah has experienced the intergenerational trauma many Black Americans can relate to after centuries of forced labor, land theft, and discriminatory governmental policies. Black Americans account for merely 1% of today’s farming workforce. In response to food apartheid in her community, Leah founded Soul Fire Farm with her husband to provide nutritious food to her family. The farm now feeds over 100 families in the area with quality produce - impossible to find at any nearby store. Through educational programs, the farm transforms narratives founded upon suffering and illustrates what a healthy relationship with nature can look like, providing a space for collective healing. By exemplifying the meaning of food sovereignty and community-based systems, Soul Fire Farm inspires People of Color to pick up a shovel and return to their agricultural roots.

Juliana Pino

Colombian-American Juliana Pino exemplifies the meaning of intersectionality. Through her work with the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Juliana advocates for changes in environmental policy. She addresses topics ranging from energy, water quality, air quality, land use, and transportation. Her work touches every aspect of sustainability while emphasizing the need for anti-racism and communal autonomy. Juliana investigates, analyzes, and promotes environmental justice at local, state, and federal policy levels. Anti-oppression is the heart of Juliana’s work, and it’s why she makes sure community leaders are involved in the policymaking process. She pushes for a more democratic decision-making process and highlights the connections between dominant systems and environmental devastation. Juliana’s cross-cultural background and interdisciplinary work demonstrate the importance of inviting diversity and inclusivity into the environmental field.

Andrea Chu

Taiwanese American Andrea Chu organizes with Chicago Asian Americans for Environmental Justice and Asian Americans Advancing Justice. Based in Chicago, Andrea focuses on environmental justice issues affecting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) in her city and relates these problems to the wider AAPI community. In the areas of Chicago where most AAPIs live and gather, industrialization contributes to unhealthy soil, poisonous fish, and polluted rivers. With highways running across town and factories lining the neighborhoods, there is little to any space where clean air and water exist. Andrea emphasizes the three main pillars leading to injustices impacting the AAPI community: “language access, the model minority myth, and invisibility.” To address these various issues, Andrea hosts workshops to educate community members and strengthen the Asian American environmental justice movement, with hopes that other communities will begin to listen to their urgent concerns.

Precious Brady-Davis

A Chicago transgender activist, as well as author of new book ‘I Have Always Been Me’, which goes into her life of being a biracial Trans women. Brady-Davis is also the Associate Regional Communications Director of the environmental non-profit Sierra Club. She specializes in LGBTQIA+ and diversity advocacy among being a public speaker as well. She has also served for a few years as the Youth Outreach Coordinator at the Midwest’s largest LGBTQ community resource center, where she helped bring to life programs like HIV prevention, transgender advocacy, and LGBTQIA+ leadership development. Brady-Davis has been fighting for and speaking on the intersections of being Trans and part of the LGBTQIA+ and how it correlates to the climate crisis

The importance of women of color in environmentalism

While environmental icons such as Jane Goodall and Rachel Carson have heavily contributed to sustainability, women of color do not receive as much recognition for their equally important work. Environmentalism is no longer - and never was - exclusive to white communities. Every community, every person, relies on a healthy environment for their basic human needs. Everyone depends on functioning ecosystems, so we should all have a say in policies and practices that impact natural resources.

Those named in this piece are merely a fraction of the numerous incredible women dedicating their lives and careers to protecting people and planet. Every month, not just Women’s History Month, we should celebrate their tenacity and accomplishments. Women in environmentalism don’t do this work for praise or acknowledgments because many know they may never receive them. They are in this movement to give back to their communities and improve the places they call home. By doing this work, they contribute to a world where future generations of all genders can experience a flourishing, sustainable Earth.

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