Welcome back to Woman Crush Wednesday! I hate to be the bearer of alarming news, but we’re past the halfway point of 2015. Check in: How are we all doing on those New Year’s resolutions? (Me too — really, don’t feel bad.) For everyone currently in a summer heat wave slump — who can use their brains when it’s 98 degrees in the shade? — we’ve gathered together some inspirational ladies to give you a little boost toward accomplishing your goals for this year.
Here’s who we’ve been crushing on this week:
- Senator Fran Pavley (D-Calif.), the woman behind California’s new landmark legislation to regulate fracking with some of the strictest guidelines in the country. Thanks to her initiative, oil companies are required to make more information about their work publicly available, like the makeup of the slurry of chemicals used in the fracking process. Upholding stricter water quality monitoring and more comprehensive studies into the ties between fracking and earthquakes are included in the mandate, too. (Los Angeles Times)
- Elizabeth Hausler Strand, founder of Build Change, a nonprofit that retrofits and rebuilds homes following natural disasters. Strand was inspired to start Build Change following a 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Gujarat, India that killed more than 20,000 people. (Grist)
Build Change
- Anita Beaty, executive director of the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless. In addition to being the city’s largest homeless shelter and the largest shelter in the southeastern U.S., the Georgia-based organization houses an impressive organic rooftop garden for its residents. (MUNCHIES)
- Michelle Ou, lead author of a critical new study indicating that our oceans aren’t the only bodies of water becoming more acidic — our freshwater is, too. That’s pretty frightening news for keystone species like young pink salmon — and our hearty appetite for them. (Grist)
Stay tuned for next week’s roundup!
