Heidi Kritz, Brower Youth Awards 2016
For nearly half her life, Heidi Kritz has been working to protect Alaska’s Bristol Bay from the Pebble Mine project. The proposed copper and gold mining project threatens the bay, which is the largest salmon fishery in the world and is critical to the local economy, ecological stability, and native peoples way of life. Kritz and her community have fought tirelessly against the project both within Alaska and the Lower 48 states. She has helped organize rallies, worked on a massive letter writing campaign against the mine project that ultimately gathered more than 6,000 voices, and has helped mobilize a new generation of regional activists by working with high school students in tribal schools. Kritz’s leadership has added momentum to a decade-long fight to protect the Bristol Bay watershed, and she plans keep up the fight to defend the land and her home.

Testimony from the Bayou, Clarice Friloux - Keep It In The Ground
Watch this amazing video featuring an Indigenous woman from the bayous of Lousiana talk about how the leasing of more public federal lands for oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico would affect this beautiful ecosystem and the Native people who live here! On March 23rd, hundreds of local leaders disrupted a BOEM land lease auction at the Superdome in downtown New Orleans. Clarice Friloux is a Houma citizen of the Grand Bois community in Louisiana and community organizer. The Obama adminstration has stated it wants to ‪#‎ActOnClimate‬ by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and yet it is still leasing millons of acres of land in the Gulf to Oil & Gas development. This is not climate leadership. We need to ‪#‎KeepItInTheGround‬. We need ‪#‎JustTransition‬ for the Gulf Coast. We need ‪#‎NoNewLeases‬! ‪#‎IndigenousRising‬ [The video features aerial footage produced by the Louisiana Bucket Brigade]

Jess Grady-Benson, Brower Youth Awards 2015
Going to school in Southern California, Jess Grady-Benson had witnessed first-hand the stark connection between racial and economic injustice and environmental degradation. That drove her to organize students to take collective action for climate justice. In 2012, she co-founded the Claremont Colleges Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign. As one of the lead organizers of the campaign, Grady-Benson helped guide it to victory at Pitzer College — in 2014 the college board agreed to divest from fossil fuels. Though she graduated last year, Grady-Benson has remained dedicated to building the youth climate justice movement through the Fossil Fuel Divestment Student Network — a national youth-led network which seeks to strengthen student campaigns for fossil fuel divestment and press for a just transition from the extractive economy. As a member of the network’s coordinating committee, her work focuses on planning the strategic direction of the organization and training young divestment leaders to become organizers for the long haul. To this end, Grady-Benson has designed and led trainings for students and young alumni across the country. In the coming year, she will continue working to develop the network’s long-term strategy and leadership development programs as the Director of Training.

Ogichi Tibakonigaywin, Kihche'othasowewin, Tako Wakan, The Great Binding Law
By Elders Oshoshko Bineshiikwe - Blue Thunderbird Woman, Osawa Aki Ikwe (Florence Paynter); Zoongi Gabowi Ozawa Kinew Ikwe - Strong Standing Golden Eagle Woman (Mary Maytwayashing); Nii Gaani Aki Inini- Leading Earth Man (Dave Courchene); Giizih-Inini- (Dr Harry Bone); Zhonga-giizhing - Strong Day (Wally Swain); Naawakomigowiinin (Dennis White Bird); Kamintowe Pemohtet- Spirit Walker (D'Arcy Linklater); Mah Pe Ya Mini (Henry Skywater). At Turtle Lodge (Sagkeeng First Nation, Manitoba) on November 28 2015. The Great Binding Law was presented by Anishinabe, Nehetho (Cree) and Dakota Knowledge Keepers on November 28, 2015 from their place of strength, the Turtle Lodge, in response to the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs' request for them to offer guidance and leadership in response to the National Energy Board's request for input on possible pipelines entering their territory. Here is the video of part of their presentation (the sacred ceremonies which preceded this presentation were not recorded on film). Filmed by Symon Ptashnick

An Interview with We Mean Business' Nigel Topping at the BSR Conference 2015
We sat down with Nigel Topping, CEO of We Mean Business, to discuss climate leadership and why collaboration ensures resilience.

An Interview with The Rockefeller Foundation's Judith Rodin at the BSR Conference 2015
We sat down with Judith Rodin, president of The Rockefeller Foundation, at the BSR Conference 2015 to talk about resilient leadership in communities, cities, nations, and businesses.

The Road Through Paris: Business Leadership and Collaboration on Climate
A panel discussion at the BSR Conference 2015 on the role that business can play in shaping a low-carbon future. The panelists are Edward Cameron, Managing Director, Partnership Development and Research, BSR; Nigel Topping, CEO, We Mean Business; Hannah Jones, Chief Sustainability Officer and Vice President, Innovation Accelerator, NIKE, Inc.; and moderator Joel Makower, Chairman and Executive Editor, GreenBiz Group Inc.

JP Viñals, Brower Youth Awards 2015
In 2013, JP Viñals joined Activists Coming To Inform Our Neighborhood (ACTION), a leadership group in the Hunts Point neighborhood of South Bronx, NY. His aim was to further his knowledge about the environmental and social issues facing his neighborhood. Hunts Point houses New York’s largest food distribution center. This means an average of 15,000 trucks ply its expressways and streets on a daily basis, making the streets unsafe for local residents and causing immense air pollution. The neighborhood has some of the highest asthma rates in the country. Viñals was especially interested in creating green spaces to alleviate air pollution and in teaching youth how grow their own food. A year into his time with ACTION, he was voted president. He then focused the group’s work on championing a campaign to transform the defunct Sheridan Expressway into a vibrant boulevard. The 1.25-mile expressway restricts access to the revitalized Bronx River, new parks and the South Bronx Greenway. It forces trucks to drive through neighborhood streets and cars to idle in traffic, harming pedestrians and restricting safe biking. A long-running campaign, spearheaded by the Southern Bronx River Watershed Alliance, seeks to demolish the expressway and replace it with affordable housing, hospitals and green open space. Viñals’ group has been supporting the campaign by leading presentations about it at various South Bronx schools, attending town hall meetings, and organizing a first-of-its-kind youth summit focused on educating local youth and their parents about the environmental issues facing South Bronx.

Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership
Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (Paris Pledge)

Making Societies & Journalism Sustainable (panel)

Making Societies & Journalism Sustainable: UNESCO World Press Freedom Day Conference | Supriya Verma founder of Sustainability magazine. 

Our founder Supriya Verma spoke about "Making Societies & Journalism Sustainable" alongside industry leaders in sustainability and media:

? Lars Tallert is the initiator of the Sustainable Journalism Partnerthip, Head of Policy & International Development at Fojo Media Institute, and Sweden’s representative to UNESCO’s IPDC Intergovernmental Council and GFMDs representative to ECOSOC. He has 30+ years of journalism and development cooperation experience including advisory functions and consultancies for various groups like the Swedish Prime Minister’s Office, the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs & OECD - OCDE.

? Dr Yemisi Akinbobola is an award-winning journalist, academic, consultant and co-founder of African Women in Media (AWiM). AWiM’s vision is that one-day African women will have equal access to representation in media. Joint winner of the CNN African Journalist Award 2016 (Sports Reporting), Yemisi ran her news website IQ4News between 2010-2014 and holds a PhD in Media & Cultural Studies from Birmingham City University, where she is a Senior Lecturer. She has published scholarly research on women’s rights, African feminism, journalism and digital public spheres. In 2021 she was recognised as one of the 100 Most Influential African Women.

? Guy Berger is Director for Freedom of Expression and Media Development at UNESCO. He is responsible for the Organization’s global work on press freedom, safety of journalists, internet freedom, media pluralism and independence, gender and media, media and information literacy, and journalism education. Before joining UNESCO, he headed the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University, South Africa, and was the deputy chair of the South African National Editor's Forum. He holds a PhD from Rhodes University, has published extensively, and has won several awards.

? Supriya Verma, WELL AP is an award-winning changemaker, citizen journalist, global sustainability advocate, and social entrepreneur. She is the founder of The SustainabilityX® Magazine, bringing the environment and economy together for a sustainable future through dialogue since 2016. She has written and published various thought-provoking pieces on sustainability featuring international executive leaders in business, design, politics, and science. In 2019, she was recognized internationally as one of Canada’s Top30Under30 in Sustainability Leadership and awarded McMaster University’s prestigious Alumni Arch Award in 2021 for her unique contributions to society.