May Boeve
{{Short description|American climate movement leader}}
File:May Boeve 2013 Institute for Policy Studies.png in 2013 alongside Ai-Jen Poo, Jamie Raskin, Barbara Ehrenreich, and Robert Greenstein.]]
May Boeve is an American environmental activist. She is a founder and executive director of 350.org, a climate NGO.{{Cite web |title=The group that brought down Keystone XL faces agonies of its own |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/20/350org-mckibben-boeve-keystone-00009866 |access-date=2022-05-13 |website=POLITICO |date=20 February 2022 |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2022-04-07 |title=The Forgotten Climate Crisis? |url=https://www.project-syndicate.org/onpoint/the-forgotten-climate-crisis |access-date=2023-10-16 |website=Project Syndicate |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=May Boeve on inequality and climate change |url=https://www.fordfoundation.org/news-and-stories/big-ideas/inequalityis/may-boeve-on-inequality-and-climate-change/ |access-date=2023-10-16 |website=Ford Foundation |language=en-US}} The Guardian called her "the new face of the climate change movement."{{Cite web |date=2015-04-08 |title=May Boeve: the new face of the climate change movement |url=http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/08/may-boeve-new-face-of-climate-change-movement-350-org |access-date=2022-05-13 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}
Career
Boeve attended Middlebury College, where she became involved with environmental and social justice activism. She helped get Middlebury's administration to commit to going carbon-neutral.{{Cite news |last=Shear |first=Leanne |date=2009-04-08 |title=Youth in Action: May Boeve, Climate Change Activist |language=en-US |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/youth-action-may-boeve-climate-change-activist/|magazine=The Nation|access-date=2022-05-13 |issn=0027-8378}} Boeve then collaborated with Bill McKibben and others to launch the Step It Up initiative, which has hosted thousands of demonstrations and "organized the first open-source, web-based day of action dedicated to stopping climate change." Boeve was a contributor to the 2007 book "Fight Global Warming Now: The Handbook for Taking Action in Your Community," which was published by Holt.{{Cite news |date=2018-09-23 |title=May Boeve, David Bryson |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/23/fashion/weddings/may-boeve-david-bryson.html |access-date=2022-05-13 |issn=0362-4331}}
= 350.org =
Boeve founded 350.org in 2008 alongside Bill McKibben.{{Cite web |date=2019-07-15 |title=May Boeve (finalist) |url=https://www.ioes.ucla.edu/person/may-boeve/ |access-date=2023-10-16 |website=Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA |language=en-US}}
Boeve is among relatively few women leaders of large environmental organizations, and was quoted saying "There's a structural sexism problem, full stop." At 350, Boeve has helped organize climate protests and advocated for fossil fuel divestment and a global Green New Deal.{{Cite news |last=Times |first=The New York |date=2019-10-07 |title=Climate and Energy Experts Debate How to Respond to a Warming World |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/07/business/energy-environment/climate-energy-experts-debate.html |access-date=2022-05-13 |issn=0362-4331}} In 2011, Boeve was arrested while protesting the Keystone XL pipeline in front of the White House.{{Cite web |date=2021-06-10 |title=In a Major Victory, Keystone XL Pipeline Canceled |url=https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/major-victory-keystone-xl-pipeline-canceled |access-date=2022-05-13 |website=Sierra Club |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2018-02-13 |title=May Boeve: How Sonomans can get involved in climate change action |url=https://www.sonomanews.com/article/news/may-boeve-how-sonomans-can-get-involved-in-climate-change-action-on-a-gras/ |access-date=2022-05-13 |website=Sonoma Index-Tribune |language=en-US}}
Under Boeve's direction, 350 increased its staff size beyond its budget, leading to reports of turmoil within the organization and 25 people being laid off.
= Recognition =
Boeve won a Brower Youth Award in 2006.{{Cite web |date=2006-10-23 |title=May Boeve |url=http://www.broweryouthawards.org/winner/may-boeve/ |access-date=2022-05-13 |website=Brower Youth Awards |language=en-US}} Boeve was profiled as a "Next Generation Leader" by TIME in 2015.{{Cite magazine |title=Meet the Woman Taking on the Fossil-Fuel Industry |url=https://time.com/collection/next-generation-leaders/3896409/ngl-may-boeve/ |access-date=2022-05-13 |magazine=Time |language=en}} She received a New Frontier Award from the John F. Kennedy Library in 2017 and was a finalist for a Pritzker award from the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability in 2019.{{Cite web |title=May Boeve (2017) {{!}} JFK Library |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/events-and-awards/new-frontier-award/award-recipients/may-boeve-2017 |access-date=2022-05-13 |website=www.jfklibrary.org}}{{Cite journal |last=Colgan |first=David |date=2019-08-20 |title=2019 Pritzker finalists: May Boeve, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Varshini Prakash |url=https://www.ioes.ucla.edu/article/2019-pritzker-finalists-may-boeve-hindou-oumarou-ibrahim-varshini-prakash/ |language=en-US}}
Personal life
Boeve grew up in Sonoma and resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.{{Cite web |date=2019-07-15 |title=May Boeve (finalist) |url=https://www.ioes.ucla.edu/person/may-boeve/ |access-date=2022-05-13 |website=Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA |language=en-US}} She married David Bryson, a consultant, in 2018. Boeve is a direct descendant of William Huntington Russell. She has cited Rebecca Solnit as an influence.{{Cite web |date=2018-09-17 |title=A Conversation about Climate Activism with May Boeve, Executive Director of 350.org |url=https://bioneers.org/bioneers-interview-may-boeve-zmbz1809/ |access-date=2022-05-13 |website=Bioneers |language=en-US}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Wikiquote inline}}
Category:American climate activists
Category:American women environmentalists
Category:American environmentalists
Category:Middlebury College alumni
Category:American nonprofit chief executives
Category:People from Sonoma County, California
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