Destiny Watford wins 2016 Goldman Environmental Prize

The Goldman Environmental Prize, world’s largest award for the grassroots environmental activists of six continents each year, was announced to be given to Destiny Watford as the recipient for North America.

Destiny is a 20-year-old college student and native of Curtis Bay which is a highly industrialized and polluted neighborhood in a Southern part of Baltimore. She initiated her activism as the co-founded Free Your Voice (FYY), an organization advocating for the rights of the local community and social justice, with other students when she was in high school.

The country’s largest trash incinerator plant was planned to be built in 2010 with a capacity of burning 4,000 tons of trash each day. Destiny and the members of FYY launched various activities in the neighborhood and her school to resist the construction of the plant. Destiny’s efforts produced results and Baltimore City Public Schools, which had already signed a contract with the plant to purchase energy, terminated its contract in February 2015. Consequently, In March 2016, the Maryland Department of the Environment declared the incinerator’s permit invalid. Destiny and her community now are looking for clean energy alternatives.

Here’s their call to action:

1. FMC, Free the Land!

2. End Public Subsidies for Trash Incinerators!

3. Support Development without Displacement!

Relevant twitter handles 

Destiny’s Personal Twitter handle: @WatfordDestiny

Organizations: 

Free Your Voice: @FreeYourVoiceUW 

United Workers: @unitedworkers

Goldman Prize: @goldmanprize

Sources and further information:

http://www.goldmanprize.org/recipient/destiny-watford/

http://www.unitedworkers.org/take_action

http://www.unitedworkers.org/united_workers_youth_leader_receives_goldma...

http://zerowasteworld.org/environmental-justice/destiny-watford/