Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/allisoniris
Excellent Article in Fourpoints Magazine: http://www.serendipitypublishing.com/mags/fourpoints/magazine/article.asp?id=339
Article in the Harvard Crimson: http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=513019
Stop Global Warming marcher page: http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/sgw_marcher.asp?512600
UPDATE 8/1/07: Allison has just been selected to be part of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's "Greening of the Capitol" Team in the new Sustainability Office for the US House of Representatives! Yay Alli!
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Allison Rogers spent her undergraduate years at Harvard digging through trash, greening her campus, and finding creative ways to interest her peers in environmental issues.
She was the Harvard Resource Efficiency Program Co-Captain, co-organizer for the 2004 Climate Campaign Conference, a delegate to the United Nations 13th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development and a National Wildlife Federation Campus Ecology Fellow.
After graduating from Harvard in 2004, Allison received a two year Harvard University Management Fellowship to work at the Harvard Green Campus Initiative, where she coordinated the Green Living Programs for Harvard College, Law School, and Business School. Desiring a way to reach out to new audiences, Allison decided to run for Miss Rhode Island with the platform “Go Green! Global Warming Awareness.” She gave a presentation on the issues of climate change based on training she received from former Vice President Al Gore.
On April 22, 2006 (Earth Day!), Allison was crowned Miss Rhode Island 2006. In January, Allison won the “Quality of Life” award in the 2007 Miss America Competition. She continues to promote global warming awareness as she pursues her M.Ed. at Harvard. Her focus is on environmental sustainability education and institutional change.
“I have a dream that one day we will live in a society that runs on renewable and non-fossil fuels, with low-impact vehicles, where ‘sustainable’ lifestyle choices
are second nature for all of us” – Allison Rogers
Official bio: http://www.chej.org/about_lois.htm
Goldman Environmental award bio: http://www.goldmanprize.org/node/103
Heinz award bio: http://www.heinzawards.net/recipients.asp?action=detail&recipientID=33
The Center for Health, Environment & Justice: http://www.chej.org
A true American hero, Lois Gibbs has been at the forefront of the environmental movement in the United States for nearly three decades. In 1978, Gibbs became concerned about reports of chemical waste in her neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York, and wondered if the unusual health problems in her own children and those of her neighbors were a result of exposure to leaking chemical waste. Upon discovering that her neighborhood sat on top of 21,000 tons of buried chemical waste at the now infamous Love Canal, Lois, with no prior experience in community activism, organized her neighbors into what became known as the Love Canal Homeowners Association and began years of struggle against local, state and federal governments. Eventually more than 800 families were evacuated, and cleanup of Love Canal began.
National press coverage turned Lois into a household name. Her efforts led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "Superfund," still used to locate and clean up toxic sites throughout the United States.
Lois is now the Executive Director for the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice and has been recognized extensively for her critical role in the grassroots environmental justice movement. She has spoken at numerous conferences, been featured in hundreds of newspaper articles, magazines, and textbooks and appeared on many television and radio shows including 60 Minutes, 20/20, Oprah Winfrey, Good Morning America, The Morning Show and the Today Show. CBS produced a 2 hour prime-time movie about Lois’s life entitled “Lois Gibbs: The Love Canal Story” starring Marsha Mason.
Among her many awards are the Goldman Environmental Prize, Outside Magazine’s “Top Ten Who Made A Difference Honor Roll” the Heinz Award and the John Gardner Leadership Award. In 2003 Lois was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She has received an honorary Ph.D. from the State University of New York (SUNY), Cortland College and another from Haverford College.
The title of her speech will be "Dioxin & Love Canal 25 (Plus) Years Later ... What Have We Learned & Where Do We Go From Here."
"Average people and the average community can change the world.
You can do it just based on common sense, determination,
persistence and patience." – Lois Gibbs
