Sewage is a problem that few will touch. Catherine Flowers brings civil rights to the fight for environmental justice.
Sewage is a problem that few will touch.
Al Gore's pick
Catherine Flowers brings civil rights to the fight for environmental justice.
Catherine Flowers has been an environmental justice fighter for as long as she can remember. “I grew up an Alabama country girl,” she says, “so I was part of the environmental movement before I even knew what it was. The natural world was my world.”
In 2001, raw sewage leaked into the yards of poor residents in Lowndes County, Alabama, because they had no access to municipal sewer systems. Local government added insult to injury by threatening 37 families with eviction or arrest because they couldn’t afford septic systems. Flowers, who is from Lowndes County, fought back: She negotiated with state government, including then-Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, to end unfair enforcement policies, and she enlisted the Environmental Protection Agency’s help to fund septic systems. The effort earned her the nickname “The Erin Brockovich of Sewage.”
[pullquote share=”true” tweet=”“Catherine is a shining example of the power individuals have to make a difference.” -@algore” hashtag=”Grist50″ image=”364259″ cite=”Al Gore, used to be our next President” link=”https://new-grist-preprod.go-vip.net/feature/an-inconvenient-truth-oral-history/”]“Catherine is a shining example of the power individuals have to make a measurable difference by educating, advocating, and acting on environmental issues.”[/pullquote]
Flowers was continuing the long tradition of residents fighting for justice in Lowndes County, an epicenter for the civil rights movement. “My own parents had a rich legacy of fighting for civil rights, which to this day informs my work,” she says. “Even today, people share stories about my parents’ acts of kindness or help, and I feel it’s my duty to carry on their work.”
Years later, untreated and leaking sewage remains a persistent problem in much of Alabama. Flowers advocates for sanitation and environmental rights through the organization she founded, the Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise Community Development Corporation (ACRE, for short). She’s working with the EPA and other federal agencies to design affordable septic systems that will one day eliminate the developing-world conditions that Flowers calls Alabama’s “dirty secret.”
Former Vice President Al Gore counts himself as a big fan of Flowers’ work, calling her “a firm advocate for the poor, who recognizes that the climate crisis disproportionately affects the least wealthy and powerful among us.” Flowers says a soon-to-be-published study, based on evidence she helped collect, suggests that tropical parasites are emerging in Alabama due to poverty, poor sanitation, and climate change. “Our residents can have a bigger voice,” she said, “if the media began reporting how climate change is affecting people living in poor rural communities in 2017.” Assignment editors, pay attention.
The world feels pretty broken right now. That’s why we need Fixers — bold problem solvers working toward a planet that doesn’t burn and a future that doesn’t suck. For our annual list of emerging green leaders, Grist brings you 50 innovators with fresh, forward-thinking solutions to some of humanity's biggest challenges. Credits
Meet All The Fixers
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Donnel Baird
This Brooklynite retrofits cities.
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Nanette Barragán
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Grist Member pick
Nicole Bassett
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John Bourne
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Rebecca Burgess
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Van Jones' pick
Gilbert Campbell
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Karina Castillo
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Leilani Münter's pick
Chris Castro
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Marianne Cufone
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Carlos Curbelo
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Tom Colicchio's pick
Irving Fain
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Al Gore's pick
Catherine Flowers
This civil rights activist takes on the South's sewage problem.
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Rahwa Ghirmatzion
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Dallas Goldtooth
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Ben Hartman
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Davida Herzl
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David Hochschild
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Tara Houska
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Grist Member pick
Raj Karmani
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Justin Knopf
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L.A. Youth Groups
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Mike Lewis
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Elena Lucas
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Mark Magaña
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Cynthia Malone
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Xiuhtezcatl Martinez
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Ahmina Maxey
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Gavin McCormick
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Lauren McLean
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Sophia Mendelsohn
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Katherine Miller
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Yorman Nuñez
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Kait Parker
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Hari Pulapaka
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George Reistad
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Erick Rodriguez
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Avital Shavit and Rubina Ghazarian
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Nicky Sheats
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Trisha Shrum and Jill Kubit
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Varun Sivaram
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Liz Specht
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Steph Speirs
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Erika Symmonds
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Cameron Russell's pick
Camila Thorndike and Page Atcheson
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Anthony Torres
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Ritchie Torres
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Uma Valeti
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Sean A. Watkins
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Evan Weber
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Jackie Weidman
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