Kimberly Wasserman (Kimberly Wasserman Nieto) is an American environmentalist and grassroots leader^[1] As director of the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO), she is a recipient of the 2013 Goldman Environmental Prize^[2] for leading the successful lobbying campaign for the passage of the Chicago Clean Power Ordinance that resulted in the closing of the Crawford and Fisk coal-fired power plants.^[3]

Wasserman was raised in Little Village, Illinois. She entered the world of environmental activism in 1998 after her three-month-old son suffered an asthma attack despite having no family history of asthma.^[4] After researching the connection between asthma and air pollution,^[5] she turned her attention to the coal-fired plants in her neighborhood and became involved with LVEJO. LVEJO is an organization that advocates for environmental justice in Little Village and throughout Chicago.^[6]

Wasserman started as a community organizer for LVEJO for seven years and has been an executive director since 2005.^[7] In 2002, LVEJO first mobilized politically against the emissions coming from the two plants.^[4] They organized the collection of signatures to get a referendum on the 2003 City Hall ballot requiring the two plants to either drastically reduce pollution or shut down.^[4] While they weren't able to get the immediate support from their aldermen, after a ten-year battle to sway their opinion, they were ultimately successful. On February 28, 2012, it was announced that the Fisk and Crawford plants would be permanently shut down.^[4]

References