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Sustainability Scientist & Science Communicator, The Garbage Queen: The SustainabilityX® Magazine's Global 50 Women In Sustainability Awards™ 2024 Awardee
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"Bold leadership in sustainability means embracing resilience. Setbacks are an inevitable part of driving meaningful change, and I would not be where I am today without learning to grow from failure."- Alaina Wood, Sustainability Scientist & Science Communicator, The Garbage Queen, United States & The SustainabilityX® Magazine's Global 50 Women In Sustainability Awards™ 2024 (#SustXGlobal50) Awardee
Alaina Wood, an award-winning science communicator and sustainability leader, has become a powerful voice for climate optimism through her pioneering online platform, The Garbage Queen. Known for her engaging Good Climate News series, Alaina inspires her half a million followers with hopeful updates on environmental progress, transforming eco-anxiety into empowerment and resilience. Her journey from environmental planner to climate communicator has enabled her to use social media as a tool to combat misinformation, promote climate solutions, and advocate for a healthy planet.
Prior to launching her platform, Alaina built her expertise in environmental compliance and waste management, working in the solid waste industry before transitioning to environmental planning for rural communities. This background informs her climate communication approach, ensuring it remains grounded in science and addresses real-world challenges. Now, through @thegarbagequeen on Instagram and TikTok, Alaina debunks myths, advocates for climate action, and brings her audience into essential conversations about sustainability and resilience.
Alaina’s work has earned her recognition across major media outlets, and her dedication to fostering climate optimism has made her a trusted leader in the climate communication space. Embracing boldness in her mission, Alaina creates weekly videos to spotlight individuals, campaigns, and global progress, showcasing that tangible change is within reach. This commitment extends to hosting workshops and panels, where she speaks on overcoming eco-anxiety and promoting activism, inspiring others to take decisive action towards a sustainable future.
Throughout her journey, Alaina has encountered challenges, particularly around sexism and ageism as a young woman using social media to advocate for climate solutions. Embracing boldness has helped her overcome these obstacles and establish her place in sustainability communications. Today, she continues to inspire resilience through her unique brand of climate optimism, encouraging her followers to believe in their collective power to make a difference.
To women in sustainability, Alaina’s advice is simple yet powerful: embrace boldness in both professional and personal spheres. Challenging the status quo requires courage, and by stepping outside of their comfort zones, women can bring essential perspectives to the forefront of climate action. She encourages women to learn resilience from marginalized communities, collaborate with other bold leaders, and remain grounded in their goals, no matter the obstacles.
A defining project for Alaina has been her Good Climate News series, a bold initiative that counters the prevalent narrative of climate despair. For three years, she has shared stories of climate solutions and sustainable innovation, helping her audience manage eco-anxiety and fostering a renewed sense of hope. Her approach has transformed how people engage with climate issues, illustrating that resilience and optimism are key to sustaining action.
Receiving The SustainabilityX® Magazine Global 50 Women In Sustainability Awards™ 2024 is a milestone that validates Alaina’s contributions to climate communication and acknowledges the importance of her work in shifting narratives towards climate optimism. Personally, the award reassures her of the impact of her unconventional path, inspiring her to continue championing climate education and resilience as a foundation for meaningful environmental change.
The SustainabilityX® Magazine Global 50 Women In Sustainability Awards™ 2024
The SustainabilityX® Magazine proudly presents its third edition of the Global 50 Women In Sustainability Awards™ for 2024. This annual recognition celebrates extraordinary female leaders who embrace boldness in their pursuit of groundbreaking sustainability initiatives, reshaping industries, and driving transformative change towards a more just, inclusive, and sustainable future.
This year also marks a broader strategic mission expansion for The SustainabilityX® Magazine, with a stronger focus on aligning with the Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs) in addition to the original foundation of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This evolutionary expansion reflects the magazine’s ongoing commitment to advancing women's leadership in sustainability while championing social equity, environmental stewardship, and inclusive growth.
“Empowering women to lead in sustainability is at the heart of our mission,” says Supriya Verma, founder of The SustainabilityX® Magazine and one of Corporate Knights' Canada’s Top 30 Under 30 in Sustainability Leadership and one of The Peak's Emerging Leaders. “These trailblazers are breaking barriers and redefining what sustainable leadership looks like—showing that it’s about more than policies and practices, but also about social justice, economic resilience, and a regenerative future.”
Rooted in the magazine's guiding pillars of environmental protection, economic prosperity, social inclusion, and ethical governance, The SustainabilityX® Magazine's Global 50 Women In Sustainability Awards™ showcases women from all sectors, industries, and regions, igniting crucial conversations on the intersection of gender equality and sustainable development.
Amidst global challenges and uncertainties, this year’s awards highlight the critical role of women in steering the world towards a more resilient, equitable future. With a continued digital format, the awards amplify voices across borders, bridging the gap between global sustainability efforts and local impact.
As Verma states, “The future of sustainability hinges on bold, inclusive leadership, and these women exemplify the courage and vision needed to transform our world. The SustainabilityX® Magazine remains steadfast in our mission to celebrate and elevate those who are shaping a future where every voice counts and every effort contributes to a thriving, sustainable world.”
View the full list: The SustainabilityX® Magazine Global 50 Women In Sustainability Awards 2024
Read the full press release: The SustainabilityX® Magazine Announces 3rd Annual Global 50 Women In Sustainability Awards™ Under the Theme "Embrace Boldness"
About The SustainabilityX® Magazine
The SustainabilityX® Magazine is an award-winning, digital, female-founded, and female-led non-profit initiative bringing the environment and economy together for a sustainable future through dialogue, and now transforming the environment and economy for a sustainable future through the power of women's leadership. Founded on May 8, 2016, and inspired by the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals by Canada's Top 30 Under 30 in Sustainability Leadership awardee, Supriya Verma, the digital media initiative focuses on approaching the world's most pressing challenges with a holistic, integrated, systems-based perspective as opposed to the traditional and ineffective siloed approach with a single lens on interdisciplinary topics like climate and energy. This initiative ultimately seeks to explore how to effectively bring the environment and economy together through intellectual, insightful dialogue and thought-provoking discussion amongst individuals across sectors taking an interdisciplinary and integrated approach to untangling the intricate web of sustainability while championing women's leadership in sustainability.
The SustainabilityX® Magazine is built upon the four foundational pillars of sustainability: Environmental Stewardship, which emphasizes the importance of improving environmental health; Economic Prosperity, which promotes sustainable economic growth that transcends traditional capitalist models; Social Inclusion, which focuses on equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) for BIPOC, LGBTQ, and other marginalized or vulnerable communities; and Just Governance, which highlights responsible leadership, the equal application of the rule of law, and the creation of fair systems for all.
As we expand our mission to align with the Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs), we continue to explore the diverse and interconnected factors that influence sustainability. By recognizing how these elements interact across local, national, and international levels, we aim to accelerate progress toward sustainability goals. In essence, this aligns with The SustainabilityX® Magazine's vision of integrating environmental and economic progress for a more just, inclusive, and sustainable future through thoughtful dialogue.
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The SustainabilityX® Magazine is a proud member of the Sustainable Journalism Partnership, serves as a cause-based media partner for various events such as WIRED Impact, and officially delivers remarks at international conferences such as UNESCO's annual World Press Freedom Day Conference.
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