This is a list of groups in Alabama working on the climate crisis and/or environmental justice issues. It is a reposting of the appendix from another post “I live in Alabama. Can I do anything about climate change?” I will keep this list updated as new groups and new websites arise. I have not listed the dozens of other environmental groups in Alabama that do not work specifically on these topics. They are also doing essential work, but I’ve created this list to draw attention to the topics of climate change and environmental justice.
Some of these groups have a local focus, others are part of a national or international organization. The list is alphabetized.
Please send information about any Alabama groups I missed to sduncan@bsc.edu.
Alabama for a Green New Deal. “Alabama for a Green New Deal is a network of individuals and organizations united under a common banner of social, environmental, and climate justice.” This group is the local chapter of the Gulf South for a Green New Deal which is listed below.
Alabama Rivers Alliance. “Alabama Rivers Alliance is a statewide network of groups working to protect and restore all of Alabama’s water resources through building partnerships, empowering citizens, and advocating for sound water policy and its enforcement.” ARA does significant advocacy for climate wise policies and adaptations throughout the state.
Alabama Interfaith Power and Light. “The mission of IPL is to be faithful stewards of Creation by responding to Climate Change through the promotion of environmental justice, energy conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy from a faith perspective.” Interfaith Power and Light is a national organization with chapters throughout the US.
Black Belt Citizens Fighting for Health and Justice. Based in Uniontown, AL, BBCHJ advocates for social and environmental justice throughout the Black Belt region.
CHESS. “Africatown-C.H.E.S.S. exists to ensure that the Africatown community, in Mobile, Alabama is Clean, Healthy, Educated, Safe, & Sustainable. Through our partnership with the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ), the HBCU-CBO Gulf Coast Equity Consortium, and the Kellogg Foundation, we will implement strategies and the best practices to improve the quality of life in our regions most underserved areas.”
Citizen Climate Lobby. An international organization, CCL “is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots advocacy climate change organization focused on national policies to address climate change.” There are 5 chapters in Alabama.
Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice. CREEJ works to “reduce health and economic disparities and improve access to clean air, water, and soil in marginalized rural communities by influencing policy, inspiring innovation, catalyzing relevant research, and amplifying the voices of community leaders, all within the context of a changing climate.”
GASP, Greater-Birmingham Alliance to Stop Pollution. “Our mission is to advance healthy air & environmental justice in the greater-Birmingham area through education, advocacy, and collaboration. We envision a healthy, just, and sustainable Alabama for everyone who lives, works, learns, and worships here. We strive to reduce air pollution, to educate the public on the health risks associated with poor air quality and to encourage community leaders to serve as role models for clean air and clean energy development.” GASP recently launched a new campaign, Birmingham for a Green New Deal.
Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy. “GCCLP advances structural shifts toward ecological equity and climate justice in Gulf South communities of color on the frontline of climate change.”
Gulf Coast Creation Care. GCCC’s mission is “to focus the Gulf Coast community’s moral attention on our ecological crisis and to mobilize all people toward bold and just action. We are an organization based on volunteerism and a consensus process for decision-making, that works collaboratively to provide a place for those in our community for whom faith and environment are intimately braided.”
Gulf South for a Green New Deal. “Gulf South for a Green New Deal (#GulfSouth4GND) is a regional formation of more than 200 organizations advancing long-existing work towards climate, racial, and economic justice in five states across the Gulf South: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida.”
Hometown Action. “We envision inclusive, revitalized, and sustainable communities built through multiracial working class organizing and leadership development at the local and state level to create opportunities for all people to thrive. We will do this by: fighting corporate power, developing small town and rural leaders, and transforming politics for our movement.”
Mobile Environmental Justice Action Coalition. “The Mobile Environmental Justice Action Coalition was formed in 2013 with the mission to engage and organize with Mobile’s most threatened communities in order to defend the inalienable rights to clean air, water, soil, health, and safety and to take direct action when government fails to do so, ensuring community self-determination.”
People Against Neighborhood Industrial Contamination. “The purpose of PANIC is to bring relief from the contamination of our communities – Fairmont, Harriman Park, Collegeville and North Birmingham.”
Sierra Club, Alabama Chapter. “Alabama Sierra Club’s 3500 members have helped fight for clean water, for Forever Wild and to make Alabama a cleaner, safer place for all of us. And we hike, and bike and bird-watch. Join us to help clean up Alabama and to get outside and enjoy nature.” There are six groups in the Alabama chapter.
Southeast Climate and Energy Network. SCEN’s “mission is to confront the climate crisis by creating strategic alignment, growing capacity, and building power among member organizations and their communities in the Southeastern United States.”
Southern Environmental Law Center. SELC’s mission is “to protect the basic right to clean air, clean water, and a livable climate; to preserve our region’s natural treasures and rich biodiversity; and to provide a healthy environment for all.”
Sunrise Movement-Huntsville Hub. “The Sunrise Movement is a youth movement to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process. We’re building an army of young people to make climate change an urgent priority across America, end the corrupting influence of fossil fuel executives on our politics, and elect leaders who stand up for the health and wellbeing of all people.”
The Nature Conservancy Alabama Chapter. “The mission of The Nature Conservancy is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. Our vision is a world where the diversity of life thrives, and people act to conserve nature for its own sake and its ability to fulfill our needs and enrich our lives. The vision for the Nature Conservancy is a world in which people and nature thrive.” Adapting and mitigating climate change is a central focus of the work done by the Alabama Chapter.
The People’s Justice Council. TPJC’s vision is to “create a just world one corner at a time – a world that is equitable and sustainable, with a just economy, that is harmonious with people, planet and profit.” To accomplish this they “engage and equip communities with tools to fight for justice. Alabama is the launching point for our work and initiatives.”
Waterkeepers Alabama. “Waterkeeper Alliance works to ensure every community worldwide has drinkable, fishable, swimmable water. Waterkeepers Alabama, a Regional Entity of Waterkeeper Alliance, launched in 2018 to further connect and support Waterkeeper organizations on waterways that flow through and across Alabama.”