Rachel’s Network Member Emily Engel has been deeply involved as a volunteer with the Sierra Club in Santa Barbara for over a decade. Over that time, she has played a key role in successful campaigns to protect the region from corporate polluters. Now a board member of the Santa Barbara-Ventura Chapter and leader of the Santa Barbara Group, Emily shares her inspirations and keys to success.
Several Rachel’s Network members are passionate about marine conservation and oceans funding. We asked three of them—Martha Davis, Laura Francis, and Lisa Holmes—how they got into this issue and what they’re funding.
Native organizers in Minnesota are leading on-the-ground resistance to urge President Biden to revoke permits and halt construction, provide legal support to water protectors, and communicate the threat posed by Line 3. Rachel’s Network provided a grant through the Equation Campaign to support the coalition.
Member Mary Bookwalter is funding a number of dam removals in her home state of Indiana both as an individual and through the Indiana Forest Alliance as a donor and volunteer. Most recently, she helped decommission the Collamer Dam on the Eel River. Mary spoke with us about how she got involved in these projects and what’s next.
Rachel’s Network announced that it has awarded tribal attorney Tara Houska with its inaugural Catalyst Award. Tara (Couchiching First Nation Anishinaabe) is former campaigns director of Honor the Earth, former advisor on Native American affairs to Bernie Sanders, and founder of Giniw collective, a grassroots, frontlines effort led by indigenous women to protect Anishinaabe territory from the destruction of Enbridge’s Line 3 tar sands project.
