Written by Office of Sustainability student associate, Meghan Jachna, Class of 2027.
We are highlighting five prominent women who have positively shaped the environment and have inspired sustainability in profound ways. March is Women’s History Month, and we want to share the stories of women who have played an influential role in creating policies and programs centered around sustainability. They encouraged dialogue around environmental responsibility that continues to guide environmentalists, scientists and policymakers. Through learning about the lives and work of these impressive trailblazers and innovators, we can find ways to join their pursuits for a flourishing future for the natural world.
Leah Thomas
Leah Thomas, also known as “Green Girl Leah,” grew up in St. Louis and is a well-known environmentalist who brings an insightful perspective to the field. Thomas emphasizes that her environmental work began because of the events and uprising in Ferguson in 2016. The catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement was also Leah’s inspiration for bringing light to the need for more social justice within the environmental movement. She has highlighted that too often, Black and Brown people have been left out of dialogue around environmental efforts and her work is centered around how “environmental history is also Black history.” She works to bring light to concerns around environmental racism pointing out the high levels of pollution and other inadequate environmental conditions in many primarily Black communities in St. Louis and other cities around the nation.
Furthermore, she has dedicated much of her time to environmental communication work as an enthusiastic content creator and author of the book, The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet. Thomas started the nonprofit, Intersectional Environmentalist, and is committed to getting the word out about the most pressing environmental concerns and agendas through her blog and podcast. She currently works as an “eco-communicator” and works diligently with groups such as the Daughters For Earth Campaign to build a platform for marginalized voices to find their way in the environmental community. She has received numerous awards and recognitions from Forbes 30 Under 30 2024, TIME100 Next, Insider’s Climate Action 30, and more.
Xiye Bastida
At just 22 years old, Mexican climate justice activist and Indigenous rights advocate Xiye Bastida is certainly an inspirational figure within environmental advocacy. She is the co-founder and executive director of the Re-Earth Initiative, an international organization focused on amplifying the voices of youth involved in frontline communities and those involved in the fight for climate justice. Her organization has mobilized thousands of people to participate in global digital climate protests and includes a grant program to rebuild natural ecosystems in communities facing environmental challenges. In 2023 alone, the program awarded $250,000 in grants to 45 different restoration projects in 26 different countries. She grew up in the Otomi-Toltec Indigenous community in Central Mexico and has been living in New York City since 2015 where she works as an enthusiastic activist, author, and organizer in collaboration with the People’s Climate Movement in the city.
She attended the United Nations climate conference in 2017 and won the Sprint of the UN award in 2018. She is one of the lead organizers for Fridays For Future NYC and facilitated a climate protest with 300,000 people in the streets of New York City. She participated in four UN Climate Change Conferences (COP), gave a TED talk in 2020, and spoke at the Biden Climate Summit in 2021. In 2024, she received the Forbes Changemaker Award and remains a passionate environmental leader, serving as an influential representative for Gen Z climate activists.
Wangari Maathai
Wangari Maathai was an empowering Kenyan environmental activist as well as the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize which she received in 2004. She also made history as the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate, obtaining her PhD from the University of Nairobi. Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental organization dedicated to tree planting, women’s rights, and conservation. Through this initiative, over 51 million trees have been planted across Kenya, and countless women and girls have been empowered to drive climate resilience and environmental solutions. Through this program, her profound legacy and work will continue to improve the lives of thousands.
Additionally, she was a prolific author and wrote four books including The Green Belt Movement, Unbowed: A Memoir, The Challenge for Africa, and Replenishing the Earth.
At WashU, the Wangari Maathai Award for graduate student community service honors students who, like Maathai, advocate for Black cultural expression, foster community through service, and strive for academic excellence. It recognizes students who work to improve the quality of life for Black individuals at WashU and beyond which was a cause that Maathai dedicated her life to.
Her legacy is also honored in Schnuck Pavilion, home to WashU’s Environmental Studies Program and the Office of Sustainability. One of her well-known quotes is proudly displayed on a wall.
Rachel Carson
As the figure known for catalyzing the modern environmental movement, Rachel Carson truly is a phenomenal environmental leader and a beacon of inspiration for women everywhere. She was a dedicated marine biologist and her most famous work, Silent Spring, exposed the dangers of pesticides such as DDT on a wide scale, prompting the entire US public to rethink the current use of these toxic chemicals. Her work led to a nationwide ban of DDT, inspiring grassroots groups that fought for the eventual creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Throughout her career she battled the influence of powerful chemical companies that worked to deny the dangers of their products, and despite overwhelming resistance she remained committed to her work with steadfast pursuit to provide widespread education about the too-often misunderstood topic of agricultural environmental pollutants. In line with her dedication to education about her research findings, she wrote numerous other books about her marine biology findings such as The Sea Around Us which won a US National Book Award. She received medals from the National Audubon Society, the Geographical Society, as well as being posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter.
“Underlying all of these problems of introducing contamination into our world is the question of moral responsibility — responsibility not only to our own generation but to those of the future.”
– Rachel Carson
Sylvia Earle
As the first female chief scientist of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as well as the first female explorer in residence for National Geographic, Sylvia Earle is certainly an important leader in the field of marine biology. Her early work involved her impressive dissertation looking at over 20,000 aquatic plant samples in the Gulf of Mexico which earned her a PhD in botany from Duke University. She credits Rachel Carson as inspiring many of her passions for the sea through Carson’s best-selling book, The Sea Around Us. Through her involvement in marine science projects, she has been scuba diving in all five of the world’s oceans and has set numerous records for her deep-sea diving. In fact, she has logged more than 7,000 hours underwater during which she has contributed to understanding the mysteries of the ocean through collecting data that has been incorporated into Google Earth displays. Her organization called Mission Blue is committed to ocean advocacy and works to establish marine protected areas (MPAs) which are hot spots for ocean biodiversity.
Earle has been nicknamed “Her Deepness” for holding a record for the deepest solo dive which she completed in 1979 and explored the ocean floor at a depth of 1,250 feet for two hours. Over and over again she has defied all expectations of what men in her field have believed her capable of. For instance, she led an all-female team as part of the Tektite II experiment through the Smithsonian Institute during the 1970s when women were just beginning to enter the field of marine biology. Her team made equal contributions to that of the all-male teams in working to understand the effects of pollution on coral reefs. She will forever serve as a guiding figure for women in the environmental field.
The dynamic women highlighted above are only a handful of the remarkable leaders who have shaped the environmental field into the movement that exists today. As the world faces escalating ecological crises, the leadership of women in environmental advocacy remains an essential priority. Their efforts inspire future generations to take action, ensuring a more sustainable and resilient planet for all. In the WashU community and beyond, we should draw inspiration from these industrious women, not just during Women’s History Month, but every day, as we pursue our goals and shape our future.