Climate Hero of the Month – May 2019 – Barbara Donachy
Secretary, 350 Colorado Board of Directors; Semi-Retired Studio Artist and Arts Activist; Climate Activist and public health worker
We are extremely pleased to announce that Barbara is our Climate Hero of the Month at 350 Colorado!
Barbara has been a resident of Colorado for 44 years. She lives in Denver as do her three children and two grandchildren. Like her, they all love our beautiful rivers, mountains, forests, plains, and climate. Barbara spent 25 years as a studio artist and arts activist, another seven as a nonprofit coordinator, and five as a residential counselor with the Coalition for the Homeless while studying for a master’s degree in public health. She is co-chair of PSR/Colorado Working Group and serves on the board of 350 Colorado.
She is a Quaker and practicing Buddhist and greatly supported in her activism by Eco-Dharma teachings and the community of activists caring for Earth and all its beings. About seven years ago she was awakened to climate change as an extreme crisis after watching Chasing Ice. Since then she has devoted her time to trying to put the brakes on climate change through working on ballot initiatives, lobbying, doing research, organizing, distributing flyers, and showing up.
One particular campaign she has been especially passionate about is the Denver divestment campaign where she has co-led 350 Denver’s Divestment Campaign for the past three years… Just this week Denver we learned that the City of Denver had divested some $180 million from fossil fuel holdings. Those holdings make up about 3% of Denver’s $6 billion General Funds’ portfolio. The announcement by the Mayor that the City was in the process of looking at divestment came at the March 15, 2019 Denver Mayoral Candidate Forum. 350 Colorado/Denver were co-sponsors and Barbara volunteered as one of the Forum organizers. All Mayoral candidates responded enthusiastically when asked if they would divest the City from fossil fuels.
We are always humbled by Barbara’s dedication and thoughtfulness and we are so proud of our 350 Denver team and this huge win!
“Our 350 Denver members, especially those who have worked on calling for Denver City divestment over the past years, are heartened to learn of Denver’s decision to divest its fossil-fuel holdings including Exxon-Mobil and Chevron. This is a powerful statement to our children, grandchildren and future generations that we care about them and want to invest in their future. We are grateful to Mayor Hancock for this bold step. We at 350 Denver want to encourage even bolder steps that would include divesting our holdings in the banks, currently JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, that are key funders of fossil fuel infrastructure projects that are fueling the climate crisis and infringing on indigenous rights.” – Barbara