We nurture creative activism and leadership among local partners and their many community volunteers in the Pacific Rim. With every local win, we build people power to pressure for national and global action on today’s most pressing environmental challenges.

Communities Win International Protections for the Arctic Ocean

Blog Post | May 25, 2018 | Kevin Harun, Arctic Program Director
Reporting directly from London, I’m excited to tell you that yesterday was a big day for Arctic waters and wildlife. Indigenous leaders and environmental activists like me convinced the...

Trash Talk: Community Leaders Are Fighting Ocean Plastic Trash

Blog Post | December 17, 2017 | Nicole Portley, Marine Campaigner
Plastic trash is choking our oceans. Meet Dr. Xuan Thi Quach, who is cleaning up one of the world’s top ocean plastic polluters: Vietnam. Vietnam has a rapidly growing...

This Chinese “Environmental Grandma” Fights Rampant River Pollution

Blog Post | November 30, 2017 | Deng Ping, China Program Consultant
Last year, I accompanied Yun Jianli on a surprise visit to a wastewater treatment plant in her hometown Xiangyang in Hubei Province. We were investigating river pollution and asked...

Indigenous Leaders Need a Seat at the U.N. Table

Blog Post | December 23, 2016 | Kevin Harun
“The anticipated increase in ship traffic in the Arctic is second in magnitude only to the initial arrival of European settlers on our shores.” When my friend Austin Ahmasuk,...

Mobilizing Chinese Citizens to Clean Up Pollution

Blog Post | December 19, 2016 | Kristen McDonald
Imagine: A local villager admitting that she accepted a color TV from the owner of a factory that is polluting a nearby river. Environmental officials questioning pollution data presented...

A Story of Grasslands Villagers Designing Their Own Development

Blog Post | December 9, 2016 | Zhao Zhong
A few months ago, the people of Karlsi, a small village high in China’s Tibetan Plateau, refused a lucrative offer from a construction firm eager to build roads and...