| Tamara Toles | |
| Alma Mater: | Vermont Law School City University of New York |
| Birth Place: | Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Website: | https://www.tolesolaughlin.com |
Tamara Toles O'Laughlin is an environmental activist, climate strategist, CEO and president of the Environmental Grant makers Association (EGA).[1]
Toles is from Brooklyn, New York.[2] She is an environmental activist focused on people, the planet and it resources.[3]
Toles was an undergraduate student at the City University of New York, where she majored in political science. She earned a Juris Doctor[4] from Vermont Law School and a Masters Degree in Environmental Law and Policy.[5]
As a City College student, she interned at the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and the Environmental Protection Agency. During graduate school at Vermont Law School she interned at the Center on Race, Poverty and Environment, and fulfilled a summer law fellowship at the Natural Resources Defense Council.[6]
After school, Toles worked for the Maryland Energy Administration and District Department of Energy and Environment in Washington, DC. She served as the Senior Law Clerk to the Honorable Douglas A. Brady, and the Senior Sitting Judge Julio A. Brady at the Superior Court of the US Virgin Islands on St. Croix.[7]
In 2014, Toles was appointed to the Executive Board of EcoWomen.[8] [9] During her tenure, she held several positions, including Vice President of Professional Development, during which she produced the organization's signature salon and monthly educational forum, EcoHour. She closed her term as the Board Chair during the final two years.
She served on the board of the Maryland Climate Coalition.[10]
In February 2017,[11] Toles was appointed as Executive Director of the Maryland Environmental Health Network, where she worked to eliminate environmental threats to human health.[12] She created the Baltimore City Climate Resolution, which upholds the Paris Agreement and calls for 100% renewable energy use in Baltimore by 2050.[13] [14] It encourages the development of wind technology and disincentivizes incineration. The resolution was passed in June 2017. In 2018 she was awarded the Vermont Law School Social Justice Scholars Alumni Award. She also co-founded the Healthy Green Maryland Amendment Initiative to define healthy communities and provide multi-generational protections to defend against disproportionate climate impacts in the Maryland constitution.[15]
In 2019, Toles joined 350.org as its North America Director, making her the first African-American woman to hold this position in an environment or climate organization.[16]
In 2021, Toles joined the EGA as its CEO and President.[17] That same year Toles launched Climate Critical, a global support intervention for workers in environment and climate.[18]
Toles has written for Rolling Stone,[19] The Nation,[20] Yes! magazine[21] and Grist.[22] She is a contributor to Politico‘s Long Game Forum[23] on issues[24] of environment, equity, energy access and climate justice.[25]