Here we are in March, filled with glorious things as the winter starts to wind down; more sunlight in our days, a Spring Equinox to celebrate, and the many gifts that come with that alone, like the tentative peeking crocuses I see outside. We are truly over the moon to honor this month’s hero, the incredible and dedicated Ellie Andrews!

Ellie is the perfect climate hero for this month of March, especially being Women’s History and Futures Month. If you look up matriarch, this is what comes up – “A matriarch is a willing protector, a nurturer, and a leader of her family and community. She is a role model, particularly for women, and a fierce advocate for causes close to her heart. She is empowered and makes it her job to empower others. She is open-minded and utilizes her wisdom for the good of all.” This is Ellie. Ellie embodies all of these traits, she is a great example of a passionate and compassionate leader.

“I’ve only lived here in Greeley with my husband and kids for three years, but I can see that it’s a special place to be,” says Ellie. “This rich landscape that feels almost limitless, a long history of people cherishing that land and making their livelihoods from it. The rapid growth in this area over the last few decades is testament to those things. But how we use the land and water, where our energy comes from, how choices about such things are even structured–that’s all a part of the climate puzzle and will have a big impact on the quality of our lives in the years to come.”

Ellie got started with 350CO exactly a year ago on March 1st, 2024 when she attended one of the Fracking & Pollution Action Tours we put on with Earthworks and their special OGI camera. We toured multiple oil & gas extraction sites around Greeley and witnessed the invisible pollution that ultimately goes unaccounted for in the state’s inventory of pollution and emissions. And we ended at Bella Romero Academy, where a fracking site is less than 500 feet from the school’s playground.

Thanks to the advocacy and leadership of Patricia Garcia-Nelson and raising the alarm at that site over 6 years ago, the work continues through the Greeley Clean Air efforts that the Northern Colorado Team has been organizing around since July 2024 with the environmental justice grant funding from CDPHE. As our team prepared for the funding cycle, we simultaneously built up a team of people that wanted to contribute, and front and center in that group was Ellie.

As a local Greeley resident, her insight and participation has been integral to the success of this work so far. She jumped right into things by helping with our initial planning efforts and putting on our first grant-official event there, the Greeley Day of Action. Ellie was a fantastic teammate, and provided clear results back to us after completing the canvassing blocks. And afterwards as the team celebrated with food and drinks at WeldWerks Brewery, she brought her family along to join in. Our organizing is strengthened through the relationships and community we create together.

Ellie has consistently showed up time and again, whether in the blazing heat of the day, or the unexpected cold of the evening. She is always willing to throw down on whatever part of the project is in need of help. For example, canvassing is not a fan-favorite in the organizing world. It is easy to show up to canvassing feeling a bit of anxiety and dread. On the two Greeley canvassing days last year, the remedy to these feelings was watching Ellie go door to door with an eagerness to talk to impacted community members in Greeley. Also, Ellie would whip out Spanish that maybe even surprised her! Her willingness to try is part of what makes her so special.

Not only has Ellie canvassed with our team, she has also helped plan events, provided support in setting up beforehand and cleaning up afterwards. She has shared her organizing insights with us as well making local connections and suggestions as to how we could further this work. Just as of a few days ago on March 1st, 2025, Ellie graciously helped provide childcare for participants at our Community Day of Action event. The way she shows up for the community and her can-do attitude is contagious. We always know we can count on Ellie, and we feel so incredibly lucky to have her be such an integral part of the Greeley Clean Air team. To learn more about these efforts visit greeleycleanair.com.

In addition to all of this incredible work, Ellie had stepped up and joined the newly created and launched ZIP Leader program last year! Representing her Greeley zip code is no small thing in the landscape of northern Colorado, but she is perfect for the role.

“I am so incredibly inspired by Ellie. She genuinely cares so much and brings authenticity and heart to every space she is in.” – Sarah Burke, 350 Northern Colorado Team Coordinator

 

 

As a ZIP Leader in Greeley Ellie has exemplified what local organizing looks like. She has supported other activists that are getting started, and held neighborhood gatherings and celebrations to come together and get to know another. She also helps lead efforts within other important issue-based groups too, which is a treat then for us in any instances in which we are collaborating with those groups and get to work together!

And as the ZIP Leader program has gotten off the ground, Ellie has given generously of her time to contribute to meaningful group spaces we come together in, and provide feedback to improve the ways things run. She never fails to bring great ideas and is equally flexible and dynamic to do what is needed and when asked.

“Climate change is a huge threat but it’s also an opportunity. It’s a moment of destruction, yes, but also creation and discovery.” – Greg Jackson, Prayer for a Just War

“To meet this moment, we need wisdom, heroism, we need to do the kind of work that many of us have only read about, that previous generations might have done in very different times.” – Ellie Andrews

“There’s one more thing to know about me. I’m Quaker. Quakers are Christians who speak about the “Inner Light,” the little bit of God in everyone. We are pacifists and have long been involved in social issues like human enslavement and prison conditions and war. Today that means environment and environmental justice concerns as well. And so while my day job is focused on more direct pieces of the climate puzzle, my Quaker identity and faith means that I’m also interested in the layer below that, our value systems, what gives our lives meaning, how all that gets brought to bear as we take part in creating these systems that we live in.”