350 Colorado has been so fortunate to have 3 fantastic interns working with us this past Spring who we would like to recognize as our July Climate Heroes of the Month!
Our first July Climate Hero is Gabrielle Cooper, a legal intern this past Spring, who worked alongside our staff attorney, Bobbie Mooney, and our Climate Policy Analyst, Heidi Leathwood.
A personal statement from Gabrielle:
Gabrielle is a current law student at the University of Colorado and a legal intern with 350 Colorado. She is interested in environmental law, especially issues relating to public lands, water quality, and hazardous materials. As an intern at 350 she has especially enjoyed the opportunity to gain experience in climate law and policy as an advocate and to work with so many wonderful people in the Colorado area. Working with 350 has been such a meaningful opportunity to ground her concern for the climate in purposeful local action and community and she looks forward to continuing this work during the next academic year.
From Bobbie: Gabrielle has been a wonderful helper as we researched legal action issues and prepared legal documents. Gabrielle asked good questions, dug deep to find needed research, and collaborated smoothly through twists and turns in the legal projects we’re working on. Gabrielle supported important next steps on our Clean Air Act litigation against the Mustang Booster Station and Magellan Pipeline Terminal, two large midstream oil and gas facilities that dump toxic air pollution and climate pollution onto Coloradans living in disproportionately impacted communities in Adams County and Aurora. We were so grateful to have Gabrielle on our litigation committee this spring and thrilled she could join us for observing the oral arguments before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals for our case against the Suncor oil refinery brought in partnership with the Sierra Club, GreenLatinos, and Earth Justice. Fingers crossed for a good decision on that case later this year!
From Heidi: On the policy side, Gabrielle was a big help with the volunteer Xcel work group, while at the same time doing research on data centers – an issue that quickly became front and center of many environmentalists’ focus this spring, both in Colorado and across the country. 350 Colorado was working on statewide legislation, but what communities were learning the hard way is that data centers were being approved locally, without any public notice. Gabrielle researched the issue of local zoning for data centers, and quickly came up with some recommendations for specific legal changes we could ask for to make zoning codes more protective. She created a toolkit which was very helpful for our members, and her recommendations were used in a coalition toolkit for residents of Weld County to comment in a hearing on zoning ordinance regulations for data centers in Weld County. The Commissioners did end up adopting a few of Gabrielle’s recommendations! After the Weld County hearing, Gabrielle continued her data center work by researching Denver zoning regulations in preparation for the public to have input on Denver’s plan to convene a working group on data center regulation, and she plans to carry on the research into other Denver metro area counties. Gabrielle was such a pleasure to work with – her presence in committee meetings was warm and supportive of volunteers, her legal research was thorough and insightful, and she had a great knack for explaining legal concepts in a way that lay-people could understand. It was great to have someone so responsible, committed, and knowledgeable to help us with this important work. I look forward to working with Gabrielle more in the future and seeing where she takes her advocacy in the future as an attorney!
Brooke Hobbs is our third climate hero of the month! Brooke joined 350 Colorado as our Communications Intern during the spring of 2026. Her creativity and passion for climate action made an immediate impact on our team. Throughout her internship, she brought fresh ideas and thoughtful storytelling that helped strengthen our communications and connect more Coloradans with our work.
Brooke played an important role in shaping and elevating our brand, creating engaging digital content, supporting campaigns, and helping tell the stories that inspire people to take action. She also wrote letters to the editor and op-eds, helping amplify the voices of our movement and bring critical climate issues into communities across Colorado. Her attention to detail and willingness to jump into every project made her an invaluable member of our communications team.
We’re incredibly grateful for everything Brooke contributed during her time with 350 Colorado. Her talent, hard work, and commitment to building a more just and sustainable future have left a lasting mark on our organization. Thank you, Brooke, for all you’ve done. We can’t wait to see where your passion for climate advocacy takes you next!