2020 Grassroots Climate Leadership Award
We are always proud of our founder Guadalupe Ramirez, but are especially so with the recent announcement that she is the 2020 recipient of the Grassroots Climate Leadership Award by the Rowan Institute!
The goal of providing this award is to uphold and celebrate public leadership that is stewarding a just and equitable climate transition. Climate leadership has historically been dominated by a very narrow set of identities and perspectives, mainly from white scientists, business leaders and politicians from the global North. This narrowness of focus and gatekeeping produces a climate leadership community that lacks the lived experience, connection to place and community, and movement-building skills that are all necessary to effect change.
The Rowan Institute wrote the following about Guadalupe’s work:
Highland Support Project primarily focuses on their clean-burning stove program in Guatemala, putting climate mitigation in action. Primarily, it greatly reduces the amount of smoke emissions and fuel needed compared to a more traditional stove. They also give each family that receives a new stove 10 trees to plant near their home to improve air quality even further. They are also involved in water access projects in Guatemala, Ecuador, and Arizona. For all of these territories, clean water access is a serious issue for Indigenous communities.
Like most nonprofits, the COVID-19 pandemic has created new challenges for the organization, compounded by Hurricane Eta. All engagement trips to Guatemala- the primary income venture- were cancelled last summer. This created an opportunity to be creative and grow programs, like focusing on communities closer to home base in Richmond, Virginia. They are hosting bi-weekly online lectures from Indigenous scholars and are gearing up to launch a series of virtual engagement experiences for college students. COVID-19 also added a particular urgency to preventing respiratory illnesses through the clean-burning stove program, which they hope will continue to fuel fundraising.
Guadalupe has been working tirelessly to connect with and support Guatemalan immigrant women throughout the pandemic. From connecting them to local food pantries, providing emergency food deliveries, and assisting them with virtual learning for their children, she has been making a huge difference.