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Brower Youth Awards Set for October

Now in its 23rd year, the New Leaders Initiative of Earth Island Institute looks forward to honoring six young environmental changemakers at its annual Brower Youth Awards on October 18 at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, California. After running the awards ceremony virtually for the past two years, Earth Island is thrilled to once again hold the event in person. We’ll also be holding our leadership week workshops for the winners to help them scale the impact of their extraordinary work. The winners will be announced in early September. Save the date and stay tuned for more information on tickets to the ceremony.

Building an Equitable Food System

In a country known for its abundance, millions of Americans have disproportionate access to the opportunities, resources, and distribution of benefits offered by our food system. Acknowledging and addressing the systemic inequities that cause this is the first step to creating a more just food system while also developing solutions for food waste, a major contributor to climate change. At the recent Food Waste Solutions Summit in Minneapolis, Yuka Nagashima, executive director of Earth Island’s Food Shift, participated in a panel on this issue. Food Shift regularly hosts interactive, virtual workshops to help others name and address the realities of social inequities. To join Food Shift’s next session, email info@foodshift.net.

Equitable Food System Fellowship

At Earth Island’s Castanea Fellowship, new patterns of a just, healthy, and equitable food system are championed by centering leaders of color. Through its fellowship program, Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) are provided the space to source new ideas, engage in peer-to-peer learning, forge alliances, increase resilience, and generate a renewed sense of purpose. By giving these food system leaders opportunities to rejuvenate, Castanea Fellowship helps combat the erasure of knowledge, priorities, and practices of BIPOC communities, which is so essential to creating the conditions for a more just and equitable food system for all. The fellowship program is now accepting applications. Learn more here.

New Report: The Plastics Plague

Plastics are choking our oceans and harming many species of whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions, and other marine mammals. Earth Island’s International Marine Mammal Project recently issued a new report on the topic, The Plastics Plague: Marine Mammals and Our Oceans in Peril. The report reveals the names of plastics manufacturers and proposes bold solutions for reducing plastics in our oceans. Read about the report here and download the report here.

Advocating for America’s Wolves

Through its Protect America’s Wolves campaign, Earth Island’s Project Coyote is driving the public to demand protections for our nation’s most vulnerable wolves. In Michigan and Minnesota, Project Coyote and advocates rallied public comments on the wolf management plans in those states, urging officials to consider science and prioritize ethical animal-human coexistence in their decision-making. There are two more opportunities to howl for wolves. By August 21, advocates are asked to submit comments on the plans for Colorado’s reintroduction of wolves. And on August 25, the public is asked to attend a Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting on the 2022-2023 wolf hunting and trapping season. More information here. Photo by Franz Camenzind.

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Women's Earth Alliance Announces 2022 National Cohort of Women Environmental Leaders

Earth Island’s Women's Earth Alliance (WEA) is honored to introduce a powerful and diverse group of 28 women leaders who are joining WEA’s U.S. Grassroots Accelerator this fall to exponentially scale the reach and impact of their critical initiatives. From reforesting land through traditional ecological knowledge practices in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, to protecting sacred sites in the Iss’Awe territories of the Pit River Nation in California, these leaders are drawing from their lived experiences and devoted activism to create intersectional, long-lasting, and just solutions for our communities and the world.