I became an environmental advocate in the 1980s. I was at college in New York City when I saw an ad in the Village Voice from New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), looking for activists to fight garbage burning incinerators. Little did I know that the job involved going door-to-door, day after day, for hours on end, attempting to get people to sign petitions and make small donations. Most people didn’t open the door, and several slammed it in my face.

But I loved that job. I bonded with my fellow canvassers over the weirdest responses we received and cheered each other up when we had a bad day. We ate donuts and drank beer after canvassing and rode the Cyclone at Coney Island. Then we crashed at two in the morning and got up the next day to do the same thing again.

The people I talked to were often alarmed by the prospect of giant incinerators being built nearby that would spew pollution on their community and affect their families. They were angry that the incinerator industry claimed burning garbage for energy was a clean energy solution when much of that garbage could be recycled or composted instead. They signed the petitions and donated what they could, and some of those incinerator proposals were defeated as a result.

During the intervening decades, the lessons I took from that early job—be persistent, connect with people where they are at, and take part in a community of activism—are still with me as I continue working to create a greener and more just economy and country.

At Green America, when we reach out to corporations to urge them to green their practices—by ending the use of coal-fired power plants, eliminating toxic chemicals, reducing their paper consumption, and investing in clean energy—the first response is usually a metaphorical slam of the door in our face.

But we keep knocking because what we’re asking those corporations for is entirely doable, and will ultimately benefit their operations, as well as the planet and all of us who live on it. And we know that most people agree with us. According to a 2024 report from the Walton Family Foundation, over 75% of adult Americans support clean air and water and protecting soil health. We see that support whenever we ask Green America’s members to join our demands for companies to act responsibly and sustainably. Thousands of you consistently answer those calls because you know that you, your families, and your communities deserve clean air and water, healthy forests, safe food, and solutions to climate change. You are tired of large corporations profiting at the planet’s expense and your own.

We make it so corporations can’t ignore us, working with allies—other environmental justice organizations, investors, local activists, even employees within those corporations who also want their employers to do better—to increase the pressure. Eventually, those companies respond to our efforts by promising to act. What they do is often not all we’ve asked for and they never credit these collective efforts for moving them forward.

But it’s still a step in the right direction, and we can leverage that progress to get their competitors to follow suit. Sometimes, the people at companies who yelled at us or mocked our dedication to sustainability now ask for our help in making them greener. The results include massive purchases of clean energy, preserved forests, food that is safer to eat, and clothing and electronics that are made without the most toxic chemicals that poison workers and communities.

Those steps toward a greener world are worth protecting.

With this election, we’re getting an administration and Congress hostile to any attempts at creating a more sustainable environment and who are willing to sacrifice the health and future of others for their own short-term gain. What keeps me going is knowing that most people who live in this country want a healthier world for themselves, their children, and their communities. When government fails to create laws and regulations that protect the health of people and the planet, it’s up to us to take our concerns directly to corporations and make them listen to their own customers and investors.

But people are also tired. Many are completely disillusioned by the political system and some may no longer vote. It’s our job to connect with those people and encourage them to use their voice for change by affirming their communities matter, their concerns are included in the policies we advocate for, and if they take action, they won’t be alone. We help them join with tens and then hundreds of thousands of other concerned Americans as they take action with Green America and our allies to urge corporate America to change. Belief in the power of collective action and care for each other is at the heart of Green America’s story.

Green America was founded in the 1980s when the Reagan administration was in power and dismantled environmental laws and regulations—symbolized by immediately ripping off the White House solar panels the Carter Administration installed. As the government moved increasingly to the side of corporate polluters, Green America helped create the green business and consumer movements. We helped launch the socially responsible investment sector and worked with allies to promote the corporate social responsibility movement. Together with our individual members, Green Business Network®, and our allies, we created the green alternatives to business as usual, many of which have been adopted by the mainstream.

Now, we are facing a reinvigorated government backlash against environmental and social justice, intent on rolling back all the progress we’ve made. We need to redouble our efforts to get corporations to commit to and implement clear and actionable progress on environmental justice. We’ve done it before. In the first Trump Administration, after the administration withdrew from the Paris Climate Accords and shredded environmental regulations, renewable energy on the U.S. power grid still increased by nearly 50%—thanks to corporate, state, and local action. States placed restrictions on several of the most toxic chemicals, and we got some large corporations to voluntarily restrict them.

Even in the dark times ahead, if we work together on policies at local and state levels, and keep up the pressure on corporations, we can not only protect the gains that we’ve made, but we can also keep making progress on climate action, environmental justice, and protecting people from toxic chemicals.