April 19, 2016

Destiny Watford a 2016 Goldman Prize winner

"In a community whose environmental rights had long been sidelined to make room for heavy industry, Destiny Watford inspired residents of a Baltimore neighborhood to defeat plans to build the nation’s largest incinerator less than a mile away from her high school."

_{http://www.goldmanprize.org/recipient/destiny-watford/}

The 17 year old activist had never heard of the Goldman 'alternative Nobel Prize' widely known internationally as an important honor, recognition -- and sometimes also means of protection -- for key environmental activists worldwide. The Prize was not enough to protect the recently assassinated Honduran indigenous and environmental organizer Berta Cáceres but did contribute to awareness of her work and community's struggles.

Destiny Watford deserves the prize for her determined community organizing against a trash incinerator that would have added to the already intense pollution in her Baltimore neighborhood. Congratulations, Destiny! May you be destined to continue your important work!

See the other recipients in 2016.
The Goldman Prize announcement on Destiny's work:

"The folly of burning trash for clean energy

Curtis Bay is a highly industrialized community in south Baltimore with a history of displacing people to make room for oil refineries, chemical plants, sewage treatment plants, and other facilities that emit pollution. Those left to live within breathing distance of industry have long suffered from respiratory problems such as asthma and lung cancer. In fact, a 2013 study on emissions-related mortality rates found Baltimore to be the deadliest city, with 130 out of every 100,000 residents likely to die each year from long-term exposure to air pollution.

Despite this, in 2010, the state approved plans for the nation’s largest trash incinerator to be built in Curtis Bay with promises to bring “clean” energy to the state. In reality, the developer’s proposal would have the plant burning 4,000 tons of trash—brought in from outside the city—every day. Environmental studies project that burning this much trash would release more mercury than the dirtiest coal-powered plants—less than a mile away from two public schools.

From shy teenager to determined activist

Destiny Watford grew up in a tight-knit neighborhood in Curtis Bay, visiting her grandmother, going to school, and hanging out with her friends at the local public library. During her high school senior year, Watford attended a play called “Enemy of the People.” Set in a small community that was being poisoned by a polluted hot spring—a major tourist attraction for the town—the play raised questions about government’s role and moral responsibilities when people’s health and lives are at risk. The play struck a chord with the shy young teenager, and after discussing it with a school advisor, she co-founded Free Your Voice, a student organization dedicated to community rights and social justice.

With plans for the trash incinerator moving ahead, Watford and Free Your Voice (FYV) decided to take on the campaign to protect their community from the plant’s pollution and create a pathway to a truly clean energy future for the state."...
Read full posting here

See also: This Baltimore 20-year-old just won a huge international award for taking out a giant trash incinerator
The Washington Post By Darryl Fears April 18, 2016