Image by courtesy of erin schrode

By Josefin Dolsten May 24, 2016

Environmental advocacy pioneer Erin Schrode started her community involvement as a 13-year-old, when she co-founded nonprofit Teens Turning Green after discovering that many commonplace cosmetics contain cancerous and other harmful ingredients.

Her work earned her wide recognition — CNN named her one of the “leading lights in the environmental movement,” and the White House featured her in its “Women Working to Do Good” initiative.

The Forward profiled Schrode in 2011 as one of ten young Jews making a difference, for her work with Teens Turning Green and The Schoolbag, a project that provided provided sustainable and ethically produced school supplies to nearly 15,000 Haitian students in need.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Now she’s running for Congress in her hometown district of Marin County, California against three male candidates, including incumbent Jared Huffman, a fellow Democrat, for the congressional seat representing her California hometown district, Marin County.

“A country where a young woman is dissuaded from running for office because she is young or because she is a woman is not one in which I desire to live,” Schrode wrote.

If elected, Schrode, who is Jewish, will stand out from the the average House member, who is 57 years old and male. Currently women make up only a fifth of Congress.

Safety First: Erin Schrode testifies, above, at a California Congressional hearing for a bill sponsored by Teens Turning Green to ban lead from lipstick.

Schrode’s platform emphasizes environmental protection, education reform and human rights, including women’s reproductive rights and workplace equality.

Contact Josefin Dolsten at [email protected] or on Twitter, @JosefinDolsten

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re near the end of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 21.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Make a Passover Gift Today!

$90 $180

$360

Other amount