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The articles, events, projects, and repositories from Fall 2020-Spring 2024 that best encapsulate my dedication to the stories, shared histories, and legacies of Black land stewards, environmental justice communities, and nature-based scholars.

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Cameron Oglesby is an environmental justice advocate, oral historian, and journalist who is dedicated to re-centering the voices, narratives, and knowledge of historically disinvested communities in conservation, environmental policy, storytelling, and corporate decision-making. 

 

She is a double alum of Duke University, receiving a Master of Public Policy (2023) concentrating in environmental policy, corporate sustainability, and environmental justice, and receiving a Bachelors in Environmental Science and Policy (2021) concentrating in Ecology.

 

Cameron spent her seven years in North Carolina working with university and community leaders to establish climate education initiatives, leverage institutional power to foster longstanding relationships, and report on the intersection of environmental racism, infrastructure and policy, and land and agriculture. She is the founder of the Environmental Justice Oral History Project – a storytelling repository documenting environmental racism in the U.S. South; an Advisory Board Member for the Rural Beacon Initiative – a North Carolina-based social enterprise attempting to connect disinvested, rural, and BIPOC communities to renewable energy and regenerative agriculture; as well as a Member of the Warren County Environmental Action Team's Strategic Planning Team.

 

Among other accolades, Cameron is a National Geographic Young Explorer, a 40 Under 40 Awardee with Young, Gifted, & Green, a Future Leader Climate Fellow with the Aspen Institute, an EE 30 Under 30 Leader with the North American Association of Environmental Education, and a Public Voices Fellow on the Climate Crisis with the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the Op-Ed Project. Her written and audio journalism has appeared in The Nation, The Margin, Atmos Magazine, The Assembly NC, Grist, Southerly, Scalawag, Environmental Health News, Yale Climate Connections, Earth in Color, and INDY Week.

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In her capacity as a storyteller, she has spoken on environmental justice policy for the EPA, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, and NATO; is featured in an internationally viewed documentary about the birth of the EJ Movement; gave a lecture for the Chisholm Legacy Project's Black Liberation and Just Transition Certification program on the importance of narrative building in environmental justice communities; and wrote a chapter on the modern environmental justice movement for the Radical Communications Network/New Press's forthcoming anthology on 21st-century movement building (launching May 2025). In collaboration with Rev. Dr. Benjamin Chavis, she is currently writing her first book: a primer on the layered history of environmental racism and the under-covered history of Black land ownership, health disparities, and nature access in the U.S.

Her work is inspired by her own connection to ancestral farmland in Maryland that’s been in her family for almost 100 years.

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**Click to Read**


 

Journalistic Highlights

Journalism
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2023 Covering Climate Now Student Journalist of the Year Awardee

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Article language contributed to legal complaints filed against the landfill in early 2024. Has garnered significant attention for the Snow Hill community including follow-up articles and offers of support from external sources.

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2nd place in The Ubuntu Climate Initiative's 2024 Film Contest for associated mini-documentary. 

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Selected for 2024 "Journey of a Story" Exhibition in NOLA.

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Spring board for coverage of the hidden community of Piney Woods Free Union community and their fight for economic investment.

For The Margin: 2nd Annual Anthem Awards Silver Medal for Sustainability, Environment, & Climate.

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Incorporated into syllabi at Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Appalachian State University. 

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Incorporated into syllabi at Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Appalachian State University. 

Storytelling

Expanded Storytelling Projects

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Over 300 copies distributed with support from Environmental Justice Community Action Network

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200 copies distributed thus far with support from Concerned Citizens for Sampson County and local NAACP.

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Facilitated hiring of Dr. Benjamin Chavis at Duke, creating a new faculty position: Environmental Justice and Racial Equity Fellow.

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Over 2,000 visitors in one week from around the world and hundreds of artworks representing every continent except Antarctica.

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2023 iteration collected over 40 oral histories, produced 12 podcast episodes, and organized 10 regionally-scoped events reaching approximately 600 people.

Scroll or click HERE to engage with the Great Dismal Swamp story map. 

Cataloging the cultural, historical, and natural significance of the Great Dismal Swamp as a wildlife refuge, Underground Railroad site, and haven for formerly enslaved folk, free people of color, and numerous Indigenous tribes.

For the best experience, view on Esri site at the link above.
**Click to Read**


 

More Journalism

Journalism

Yale Climate Connections

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Earth in Color

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Grist

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Society of Environmental Journalists 2022 First Place Award for Outstanding Student Journalism

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Incorporated into syllabi at Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Appalachian State University. 

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Pushed the Waterkeeper Alliance to fast track adoption of DEIJ standards.

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Environmental Health News

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College Highlights

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Remains top search result for information about the Braggtown community; served as resource for community advocacy during municipal meetings.

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Durham can't achieve a carbon-free future alone.
The City Council passed a 
renewable energy resolution that said by the end of 2020, the city would develop an action plan to transition government-run trucks, police cars and buildings, to renewable energy sources.
 Now, coming up on that 2020 deadline, the city has to figure out how to make this goal happen.
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National Associated Collegiate Press 2021 First Place Individual Award: Multimedia Story Podcast Category

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Student Press Law Center: Featured as 2021 Example of Excellent Student Journalism Nationwide

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Duke Dewitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy 2020 Third Place for Melcher Award for Journalism Excellence

Features & Engagements

Features
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Start Video at 41:52
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