As the biomass industry continues to expand across the Southern US, so does the growing movement of people opposed to the devastation that this industry brings to our communities, our environment and our climate. At the heart of this growing movement over the past few months has been a team of Greencorps organizers.
From all of us at Dogwood Alliance, we send a big thank you to Katya English, John Qua and Rita Frost!!!
Katya, John and Rita have been huge assets to the Our Forests Aren’t Fuel campaign. Between the three of them, they collected 2,834 SOS messages to Save Our Southern forests, turned out 500 people at 5 different visibility events and generated 31 total media hits, like this one. Their passion and dedication to forest protection sparked a growing movement in the cities where they worked – Baton Rouge, Wilmington and Savannah. In these port cities, where our Southern forests are exported away to be burned as fuel, residents are standing up to send a clear message to policy makers and industry leaders: Our forests aren’t fuel.
The leadership and energy of these three organizers was instrumental in growing a movement that will protect our southern forests now and long into the future.
When asked what was the best part of working on the Our Forests Aren’t Fuel campaign, all three organizers highlighted their involvement with the local communities.
“I learned so much from the community there, and I have a much deeper appreciation for the culture and specific challenges in the South than I ever had before. I am deeply grateful for the people I work with and learned from in Baton Rouge,” said Katya.
In Wilmington, John reflected, “I loved my people. I had incredible volunteers of all ages and backgrounds who cared deeply about the environment for different reasons and put a lot into the campaign. It was great working with them and getting to learn more about developing leaders in this work.”
From Savannah, Rita said, “I loved working with the creativity of Savannah and getting the chance to work on a community campaign.”
We can’t express how much we appreciate the hard work and dedication of these three organizers. We are so grateful for all you have done to help protect the forests of the South.
We wish you the best in your future careers, and we know all of you will go on to do great things.
