From 2010 to 2022, Denise Fairchild served as the inaugural President and CEO of
Emerald Cities Collaborative, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to greening cities across the US, building resilient local economies, and ensuring equity and inclusion in both the process and outcomes of a green and healthy economy.
In this role, she built community-led partnerships with labor, environmental, and business organizations to increase energy efficiency, clean energy, sustainable foods, and clean water, focusing on low-income and communities of color.
Prior to joining Emerald Cities, Denise was on the faculty of Los Angeles Trade-Technical College for 15 years, where she founded and led the Community Planning and Economic Development Program, training community residents in real estate, organizing, and economic development skills to revitalize their neighborhoods.
Denise holds a B.A. from Fisk University, a master’s degree in city planning from the University of Pennsylvania, and a PhD in urban planning from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She has received numerous academic distinctions, including serving as a senior fellow at UCLA and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Denise Fairchild doesn’t think of herself as an environmentalist. “My sense of who I am, my grounding, is in social justice,” she said. “I think about community economic development and how to ensure the health and well-being of low-income communities of color.”
She first saw the connection between environmental destruction and social justice in 1987 when city officials proposed building a municipal incinerator in South Central Los Angeles, close to homes and schools. It took activists two years of tireless campaigning to defeat the project. Denise emerged from the fight with a heightened awareness of environmental racism and the links between social and environmental justice.
She first saw that connection starkly when, in 1987, city officials proposed building a municipal incinerator in South Central Los Angeles, close to homes and schools. It took activists two years of tireless campaigning to defeat the project. Denise emerged from the fight with a heightened awareness of environmental racism and the links between social and environmental justice.
Her 2017 book,
Energy Democracy, connects the climate and social justice movements, arguing that the global fight to save the planet must fully engage communities and change the larger economy to be sustainable, democratic, and just.
