The World We Need offers a vivid look at the people protecting America’s communities against environmental degradation and racism. Their strategies for saving lives, protecting land, and creating opportunities provide a model for activists everywhere.
Mapping the movements
Activists from the Arctic to the South Side of Chicago to Vieques, Puerto Rico, are fighting rampant environmental destruction and injustice. Use this map to discover the collectives defending and nourishing communities in your area and creating a more equitable world for all.
National Nurses United
Oakland, CA
National Nurses United, with more than 175,000 members nationwide, is the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in U.S. history. NNU members are renowned as leading advocates for Medicare for All, negotiating strong RN contracts, and sponsoring innovative legislation/regulatory protections for patients and nurses.
Donate
Join the Medicare for All movement for a single-payer health care system. https://medicare4all.org/ Donate to RNRN to send nurses to disaster-stricken areas worldwide. https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/rnrn-disaster-relief-fund
Jean Ross, RN
Mountain Association
Berea, KY
The Mountain Association invests in people and places in Eastern Kentucky to advance a just transition to a new economy that is more diverse, sustainable, equitable and resilient.
Amplify
Follow and share our stories and blog posts to help more people understand how they can be part of a just transition to a new economy!
Peter Hille
Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice (CREEJ)
Montgomery, AL
CREEJ works to reduce health and economic disparities and improve access to clean air, water, and soil in marginalized rural communities by influencing policy, inspiring innovation, catalyzing relevant research, and amplifying the voices of community leaders–all within the context of a changing climate.
Contribute
Have you or someone you know experienced wastewater inequality? Let us know here.
Catherine Coleman Flowers
Harambee House / Citizens for Environmental Justice
Savannah, GA, USA
Our Mission is to educate, inspire, organize, and build the capacity of African Americans and other communities of color to create and sustain safe, economically vibrant, healthy neighborhoods that promote healthy living, wellness, environmental justice and green sustainability.
Donate, Supporters / Volunteers
We work with southeast communities that suffer with environmental injustice and issues related to climate change, goods movement, and energy burdens. Visit us at https://www.theharambeehouse.net/.
Dr. Mildred McClain
UPROSE
Sunset Park, Brooklyn, New York
We are an intergenerational, multi-racial, nationally-recognized, women of color led, grassroots organization that promotes sustainability and resiliency through community organizing, education, leadership development and cultural/artistic expression in Brooklyn, NY.
Donate, Amplify
Make a financial contribution to us at paypal.me/UPROSE. Amplify our message on social media. Support Black, Indigenous, and other people of color leaders.
Who to follow?
Elizabeth Yeampierre
Adan Palermo Rojas (former)
White Earth Land Recovery Project (WELRP)
Callaway, MN / White Earth Reservation
The mission of the White Earth Land Recovery Project is to facilitate the recovery of the original land base of the White Earth Indian Reservation while preserving and restoring traditional practices of sound land stewardship, language fluency, community development, and strengthening our spiritual and cultural heritage.
Donate, Amplify
Facebook Niijii Radio Website Website
Who to follow?
Winona LaDuke (founder)
Margaret “Maggie” Rousu
GrowingChange
Wagram, NC
The US has the largest prison population in the world. We are transforming a closed prison in Scotland County, NC, into a sustainable farm and community resource to serve as a national model showing how these sites can create jobs, provide services and help keep young people out of prison.
Donate, Amplify
Please share our vision and donate to help us answer the new question of what to do with old prisons.
Noran Sanford
The Natural History Museum
Vashon, WA
NHM collaborates with frontline communities, artists, scientists, and scholars to create new narratives about our shared history and future. We develop award-winning exhibitions, films, advocacy campaigns and public scholarship with the goal of educating the public, measurably influencing public opinion, and inspiring action to protect natural and cultural heritage.
Donate
The Natural History Museum develops award-winning environmental justice exhibitions, advocacy campaigns, alliance-building events, and public scholarship to shift narratives and inspire action. Support our work at http://thenaturalhistorymuseum.org/donate
Beka Economopoulos
Louisiana Bucket Brigade
New Orleans, LA
When Louisiana’s fenceline communities need an action-driven ally, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade is there. Since 2000, we’ve worked in the places most impacted by pollution: towns and neighborhoods next to petrochemical infrastructure. We partner with residents to amplify their voices, challenge industry’s expansion, and build a better future.
Amplify, Petition
Ask President Biden to use his authority as commander-in-chief to reject the Army Corps permit and #StopFormosaPlastics once and for all – Link: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/president-biden-stop-formosa-plastics
ArtSpot Productions
New Orleans, LA
We create original, multidisciplinary performances that illuminate the painful truths and joyful triumphs of the underheard in order to catalyze collective healing and a more just society.
Donate, Amplify
Visit our website to donate and to help FreeMamaGlo!
Kathy Randels
La Colmena Cimarrona
Vieques
La Colmena Cimarrona (Maroon Hive) practices community based agroecology and beekeeping growing food sovereignty in the archipelago of Puerto Rico.
Grow community and food sovereignty in the archipelago of Puerto Rico
https://www.hasercambio.org/en/colmenacimarrona/
Ana Elisa Pérez Quintero
Resurrection Group / Mothers of East LA
Historic Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, Califonia
The Resurrection Catholic Church was formed in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, in 1923, and its history of environmental justice organizing spawned the Mothers of East Los Angeles around 1985. In the 90’s Resurrection Group and Mothers of East LA joined to combat the environmental racism and injustices in our communities.
Get Involved
Check in with your state agencies to make sure that you don’t have a battery recycling plant operating negligently like Exide in your neighborhood.
Terry Gonzalez-Cano
Los Jardines Institute
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Los Jardines works to build intergenerational consciousness and movement through argricultural, environmental and economic justice, study and action.
Donate, Supporters / Volunteers
You can make a financial donation to Los Jardines Institute, 803 La Vega Dr. SW, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87105. losjardinesinstitute.org
Gwich’in Steering Committee
Fairbanks, Alaska
In 1988 the Gwich’in gathered, for the first time in 150 years, to defend the calving grounds of the porcupine caribou herd, who they are spiritually and culturally connected with, from an oil and gas development threat. The Gwich’in span throughout northeast Canada and northwest Alaska representing 15 communities.
Supporters / Volunteers
Follow ourarcticrefuge.org and contact your congressmen/women
Bernadette Demientieff
Yurok Tribe
Klamath, CA
The Yurok Tribe is currently the largest Tribe in California, with 6,300 members. The Tribe provides numerous services to its citizens and the community. The Tribe’s major initiatives include: fisheries restoration and protection, Klamath dam removal, condor reintroduction, holistic forest management, cultural preservation, sustainable economic development and land acquisition.
Donate
Please support the Yurok Tribe’s effort to remove the Klamath dams and restore the Klamath River. https://www.patagonia.com/actionworks/grantees/yurok-tribe/donate/
Lavina Bowers
Amy Bowers Cordalis
Turner Station Conservation Teams, Inc.
Turner Station, Maryland 21222
Turner Station Conservation Teams has partnered with many local community groups, Baltimore County, local businesses, churches, and environmental groups and we all work together to connect residents with services—connect children with sports and opportunity—act on environmental oversight and health disparities–connect our faith to community action. –our website–Turnerstation.org
Donate
Our PayPal donation link is on our website – https://turnerstation.org/
Larry Bannerman
TRUE Skool
Milwaukee, WI
TRUE Skool is Milwaukee’s Center for Transformative Creative Arts and Hip Hop culture serving youth, families, and communities since 2004.
Donate
You can make your TRUE GIVING donation at www.trueskool.org
Shalina S. Ali
Toxic Taters Coalition
Callaway MN 56521
Toxic Taters Coalition brings together rural farmers and the native community members to address direct health and enviromental effects from pesticide exposure. We organize communities to fight for our health, for corporate accountability and promote sustainable farming practices.
Campaign and Support
Calling for Safer Potatoes www.toxictaters.org
Toledoans for Safe Water
Toledo, Ohio
Toledoans for Safe Water is a grassroots organization in the Toledo area working to establish a Bill of Rights to protect Lake Erie and the communities that rely on its health and viability.
Amplify
We would like to help spread information about Rights of Nature and Community Rights.
The Center for Cultural Power
Oakland, CA (Huichin Territory)
The Center for Cultural Power is a women of color, artist-led organization, inspiring artists and culture makers to imagine a world where power is distributed equitably and where we live in harmony with nature. Together with allies, we are co-creating a field of cultural strategy with organizations and practitioners through convenings, design teams and strategy tables.
Amplify
Join us in igniting change where art, culture and social justice meet.
Sogorea Te’ Land Trust
Oakland, CA Territory of Huichun
Sogorea Te’ Land Trust is an urban Indigenous women led organization returning Indigenous land to indigenous hands.
Donate
Wherever you are, recognize the land you are on protect the sacred, and support Indigenous land return.
Corrina Gould
Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science
New Orleans, Louisiana
Public Lab advances community science and open technology in the pursuit of environmental justice around the globe. We believe that the best ideas and solutions come from collaborations with communities with deep local knowledge in close, equitable, and sustainable partnerships that bring skills, capacity, science, and technology to bear.
Donate & Amplify
Become a supporter of Public Lab at https://publiclab.org/donate
Join the Public Lab community at https://publiclab.org and follow environmental topics that interest you!
Jeffrey Yoo Warren
Pesticide Action Network North America
Berkeley, California
For too long, pesticide and biotech corporations have dictated how we grow food, placing the health and economic burdens of pesticide use on farmers, farmworkers and rural communities. Pesticide Action Network (PAN) North America works with those on the frontlines to reclaim the future of food and farming.
Supporters / Volunteers
Join us! Visit our website to sign up for our email list. You’ll receive calls to action supporting our campaigns, and the latest food and farming news.
Willa Childress
Mondo Bizarro
New Orleans, LA
Mondo Bizarro Productions is a New Orleans-based company that works for a more beautiful and equitable world through the creation and presentation of live performances, digital media, training programs and cultural organizing events.
Donate
Make a financial contribution at mondobizarro.org
Nick Slie
Mobile Environmental Justice Action Coalition
Mobile, Alabama
Formed in 2013 with the mission to engage and organize with Mobile’s most threatened communities, MEJAC works to defend the inalienable rights to clean air, water, soil, health, and safety and to take direct action when government fails to do so, ensuring community self-determination.
Supporters / Volunteers, Amplify
MEJAC enjoys working with collaborators in research and legal support and welcomes all to share the story of resistance to industrial trespass along the Gulf Coast.
Major Joe Womack
Ramsey Sprague
Milwaukee Water Commons
Milwaukee, WI
Milwaukee Water Commons is a cross-city network that fosters connection, collaboration and broad community leadership on behalf of our common waters. We promote stewardship of, equitable access to and shared decision-making for our common waters.
Donate & Amplify
Like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram or Twitter, support us with a donation at https://www.milwaukeewatercommons.org/
Kentuckians For The Commonwealth
Kentucky, USA
Kentuckians For The Commonwealth is a community of people, inspired by a vision, building New Power and a better future for all of us. Together, we organize for a fair economy, a healthy environment, new safe energy and an honest democracy. Member-led. Formed in 1981. “We Are Kentuckians. We Choose Each Other.” kftc.org
Donate & Amplify
kftc.org/donate
Beverly A. May
Cassia Herron
Kaʻala Farm, Inc.
Waiʻanae, Hawaiʻi
Kaʻala Farm, Inc. is a non-profit organization that provides cultural and environmental educational programs in the upper Waiʻanae valley for wide audiences. The organization grew out of a community vision of transforming Waiʻanae Valley into a place where ancestral knowledge and tradition is perpetuated to promote holistic wellness.
Donate
To make a donation, visit our website at kaalafarm.org, and select the donate button.
Eric Enos
Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative
Pittsburgh, PA
Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative is a group of politically engaged artists whose members live and work across North America. Justseeds artists produce graphics and artistic materials in collaboration with social and environmental movements, create portfolios of prints addressing key issues, and run a worker-owned art distribution center.
Get in touch
If you have a campaign that needs art, we can help!
Roger Peet
Ironbound Community Corp. (Organizing wing)
Newark, NJ
The Environmental Justice Team of ICC is a grassroots hub for organizing and advocacy that addresses the multi-dimensional pressures facing our community, we’ve expanded from our origins of fighting toxic waste into a more holistic and comprehensive team addressing planning, zoning, housing justice, urban farming, and envisioning, planning and taking community control.
Donate
http://ironboundjustice.org/
Who to follow?
Maria Lopez-Nuñez
Joe Della Fave (former ED)
Incinerator Free Brown County
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Incinerator Free Brown County formed to oppose a proposed trash incinerator in Green Bay, Wisconsin. After its permit was rescinded, the project relocated to the Oneida reservation, where Oneida citizens joined the resistance and shut down the company before it was able to find a new site for its project.
Amplify
Help educate about the perils of solid waste incineration, as chronicled in our book about how allied groups defeated the project (Red Herrings: A Cautionary Journey for Citizen Opposition Groups).
Finca Conciencia
Vieques, PR
Finca Conciencia is a sustainable farm in the maroon mountains of Monte Carmelo, dedicated to beekeeping and food production in the island of Vieques.
Amplify
We want more people to support Finca Conciencia, you can reach Jorge 787-423-8039
Jorge Cora
East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice
Tongva Ancestral Homelands - Eastside (Los Angeles), Southeast LA, Long Beach, CA
East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice is a community based intergenerational movement fighting for the self determination of our communities in East LA, Southeast LA and Long Beach. We build community to defend the land, water, air and each other. #FightingForLife #WeAreJustTryingToBreathe
Build the movement!
Reach out, connect, and build the movement. info@eycej.org
mark! Lopez
East Michigan Environmental Action Council/Cass Commons
Detroit, MI
With members and partners the East Michigan Environmental Action Council empowers Detroit’s communities:
• to nurture the Cass Commons as a needed community space
• to protect, preserve and value our land, air and water
We build community power through environmental justice education, youth development, collaborative relationship building, and the Cass Commons.
Donate
http://www.emeac.org/
Owólabi Aboyade
Creative Action Network
Sacramento, CA
The marketplace for social impact art & design, powered by a global community of artists & designers.
Shop
Shop at https://creativeaction.network. Every purchase supports an independent artists & worthy social cause.
Patrick Hershberger
Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
Mercersburg, Pennsylvania
CELDF works in multiple states with community groups and coalitions pegging ongoing fights (fossil fuel extraction, houseless rights, industrial farming, minimum wage) with challenges to bedrock oppressive structures within our system of government and law. How can we fight for immediate wins and long term systemic change, simultaneously? With integrity.
Tell us about your municipal campaign!
Learn more and reach out at CELDF.org.
Simon Davis-Cohen
Coming Clean
Brattleboro, Vermont
At Coming Clean, hundreds of organizations, in strategic partnership with the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform, work in a unique, collaborative effort to create a world without toxic chemicals, where no community’s health, safety, or well-being is considered an ‘acceptable’ sacrifice in energy and commodity production lifecycles.
Donate
We all have a role in building the world we need. By contributing to Coming Clean at https://comingcleaninc.org/donate you stand with on-the-ground environmental groups challenging the chemical and energy industries.
Judy Robinson
CERO Cooperative, Inc.
Boston, MA
Founded in 2012, CERO is more than just a compost hauler. We are built on the mission to improve our communities while doing right by the environment. We use composting to create sustainable jobs that support the green economy. We live where we work, and we believe in Boston’s thriving local communities.
Amplify
Website Instagram Facebook
Who to follow?
Josefina Luna
Casa Pueblo
Adjuntas, Puerto Rico
Casa Pueblo is a community-based organization responsible for protecting the central region and its critical watersheds from an open pit mining proposal and later from a massive gas pipeline. Instead, Bosque del Pueblo and Bosque La Olimpia, were designated and have been ever since managed by the community initiative.
Donate
Donate or buy Café Madre Isla to support of community initiatives here.
Who to follow?Arturo Massol-Deyá
Campaign for Healthier Solutions
San Diego, California
Environmental Justice Markets Based Campaign
Donate & Amplify
https://ejforall.org/campaigns-and-activities/campaign-for-healthier-solutions/donate
José Bravo
Asian Pacific Environmental Network
Richmond, CA
APEN is an environmental justice organization with deep roots in California’s Asian immigrant and refugee communities. Since 1993, we’ve built a membership base of Laotian refugees in Richmond and Chinese immigrants in Oakland. Together, we’ve fought and won campaigns to make our communities healthier, just places where people can thrive.
Donate
Donate to stand with immigrant and refugee communities on the frontlines of the struggle against climate change: Donations
Who to follow?
Torm Nompraseurt
Pam Tau Lee (co-founder and former board chair)
Another Gulf Is Possible Collaborative
New Orleans, LA
Another Gulf Is Possible Collaborative is a women-of-color led, grassroots collaborative of ten members from Brownsville, Texas to Pensacola, Florida. We are built upon decades of organizing resulting in a strong and rooted ecosystem of relationships.
Amplify
Visit our website – anothergulf.com
Jayeesha Dutta
Yudith Azareth
Monique Verdin
Ramsey Sprague
Agri-Cultura Network
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Amplify and donate to our food access project, La Cosecha CSA
Make a financial contribution at agri-cultura.org
Who to follow?Helga Garcia-Garza
Watch the stories
Eric Enos' Story
We were seeds for a new land and water movement: Revitalizing taro farms in Wai’anae, HI.