May Boeve is an American environmental activist. She is a founder and executive director of 350.org, a climate NGO.[1] [2] [3] The Guardian called her "the new face of the climate change movement."[4]
Boeve attended Middlebury College, where she became involved with environmental and social justice activism. She helped get Middlebury's administration to commit to going carbon-neutral.[5] Boeve then collaborated with Bill McKibben and others to launch the Step It Up initiative, which has hosted thousands of demonstrations and "organized the first open-source, web-based day of action dedicated to stopping climate change." Boeve was a contributor to the 2007 book "Fight Global Warming Now: The Handbook for Taking Action in Your Community," which was published by Holt.[6]
Boeve founded 350.org in 2008 alongside Bill McKibben.[7]
Boeve is among relatively few women leaders of large environmental organizations, and was quoted saying "There's a structural sexism problem, full stop." At 350, Boeve has helped organize climate protests and advocated for fossil fuel divestment and a global Green New Deal.[8] In 2011, Boeve was arrested while protesting the Keystone XL pipeline in front of the White House.[9] [10]
Under Boeve's direction, 350 increased its staff size beyond its budget, leading to reports of turmoil within the organization and 25 people being laid off.
Boeve won a Brower Youth Award in 2006.[11] Boeve was profiled as a "Next Generation Leader" by TIME in 2015.[12] She received a New Frontier Award from the John F. Kennedy Library in 2017 and was a finalist for a Pritzker award from the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability in 2019.[13] [14]
Boeve grew up in Sonoma and resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.[15] She married David Bryson, a consultant, in 2018. Boeve is a direct descendant of William Huntington Russell. She has cited Rebecca Solnit as an influence.[16]