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April Lipscomb, 38
Senior attorney, Southern
Environmental Law Center
As a senior attorney at the Southern
Environmental Law Center (SELC), April
Lipscomb gives a voice to organizations
and citizens affected by pollution and
mismanagement of environmental
resources.
“My practice area focuses on clean water
and environmental justice,” said Lipscomb,
a DeKalb County resident who earned her
law degree from the University of Denver.
“I work closely with other environmental
groups and community groups that want
to protect our water resources or clean up
polluted waterways.”
For example, she has represented
Riverkeeper organizations in lawsuits
against industrial and municipal wastewater
dischargers to enforce the Clean Water Act,
and she has helped negotiate settlements
to reduce the amount of pollution in
wastewater going into rivers and streams.
For her work with river groups across
the state, in 2018, the Georgia River
Network awarded Lipscomb as its River
Conservationist of the Year. That honor
also recognized Lipscomb’s role in securing
Georgias first bill governing fracking, which
better protects local communities and
drinking water.
She’s currently representing the Citizens
for a FFealthy and Safe Environment, a
citizen activist group concerned about a
Metro Green Recycling plant built directly
next to Black neighborhoods in the city of
Stonecrest.
The citizen activist group and the city
sued Metro Green and the director of the
state Environmental Protection Division,
claiming the company improperly got
authorization for the solid waste handling
and recycling plant, which could expose
people to pollution as well as excessive
noise, dust, and heavy dump truck traffic.
Last September, a DeKalb County
judge granted Lipscomb’s request to enjoin
Metro Green’s operation while the case is
pending.
“We intervened to protect that
community and to make sure that their
voices were heard,” Lipscomb said. “The
neighbors had no idea this facility had been
approved to crush concrete and handle
solid waste in their backyards, and we’re
doing everything we can to reverse this
environmental injustice.”
Matt Josey, 28
Park planner, Chattahoochee River
National Recreation Area
Matt Josey came to appreciate
the natural world as a kid in Boy
Scouts, especially time he spent
at Philmont Scout Ranch in New
Mexico, backpacking in the Rocky
Mountains.
“It really left me with this
passion to leverage my professional
career ... to protect these special
places so that future generations
can enjoy them,” said Josey, an
Eagle Scout.
FFe landed an internship with
the National Park Service (NPS) his
last semester at Georgia Tech, where
he’s worked permanently since 2015. In that time, he has honed his
skills in strategic planning and building community partnerships.
Some standout moments include working on the 100th anniversary
of the NPS in 2016, along with helping manage a fund source called
the Centennial Challenge, which leveraged funding from Congress
and matching donations from partner organizations to fund priority
infrastructure projects, such as the rehabilitation of Martin Luther
King Jr.’s birth home.
Now, he is a park planner with the Sandy Springs-based
Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area (CRNRA),
which is a National Park Unit that spans 48 river miles along the
Chattahoochee. It includes 15 land units, such as the Palisades.
Josey is actively involved in the CRNRA’s very first trails
management plan, which will provide direction for improving trail
conditions within the park’s more than 5,200 acres. A final draft
plan is being released for public comment in early April.
“This is pretty huge for us, and we’re going to look at how we
can improve our existing trail systems, increase our trail mileage, and
improve the visitor experience on park trails,” Josey said.
FFe also serves as the park representative for the Chattahoochee
RiverLands working group, a regional vision to build a 125-mile
multimodal trail running from Buford Dam to Chattahoochee
Bend State Park. While it is not a NPS project, it would involve
greenway construction on NPS land and requires coordination with
the CRNRA.
Outside of work, Josey is proud to have served on the master
plan advisory committee for Westside Park, Atlanta’s largest park.
Gina Webber, 28
Deputy director, Sierra Club Georgia ChapU
er
Before coming to the Sierra
Club Georgia Chapter, Gina
Webber spent several years
fundraising for local and state
Democratic campaigns.
They served as deputy finance
director for Cathy Woolard
during her 2017 Atlanta mayoral
campaign.
Webber then worked as finance
director for Lindy Miller when
she ran unsuccessfully for Georgia
Public Service Commission in
2018. That experience opened their
eyes to environmental justice issues.
The Public Service Commission
regulates the state’s utility companies.
“I heard so many stories on the campaign trail about people
who have been affected by bad energy policy, by toxic coal ash, by
high energy bills,” said Webber, a native of Dunwoody who earned
a political science degree from Georgia College. “It really made me
realize how much of an economic issue it is and a people issue.”
In that role, Webber helped raise voter awareness around the
Public Service Commission, which is always last on the statewide
ballot.
“Seeing over the past five years, the general public understand
more what the Public Service Commission is and the decisions they
make ... I feel like I’ve had a small part and I feel extremely proud of
that,” they said.
Now, as deputy director of the Sierra Club Georgia Chapter,
Webber is charged with fundraising, grant writing, political strategy,
and programming.
One key issue the Sierra Club is working on is protecting the
Okefenokee Swamp from mining.
Alabama-based Twin Pines Minerals is seeking permits from
the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) to mine
titanium dioxide at a site near the swamp.
At this year’s Georgia General Assembly, the Sierra Club
advocated for a bill that would have protected the Okefenokee from
mining, but it didn’t pass. Now, the Sierra Club is waiting for the
EPD to open up public comment on the mining permits.
“We are really, really working hard to try and protect
Okefenokee Swamp from this mining proposal,” Webber said.
“Once they open up that public comment period about the permits,
we are going to media storm, education storm, advocacy storm all
over Georgia and try and get as many comments opposing it as we
Gabbie Atsepoyi, 27
Community activist
to teach them science in a way that is engaging and fun.”
Through her persistence, Atsepoyi was able to get support from
the principal and school district. She secured grants from Park Pride
and the Children and Nature Network to get a park designed and
fund outreach for the “Greening Columbia” project.
Now, the park project is waiting for funding.
Michael FFalicki, executive director of Park Pride, praised
Atsepoyi’s grassroots efforts, saying she’s “saving the world in her free
time.”
But that’s not all. Last year, Atsepoyi started a farmers market
near Columbia Drive called Sun Market. It was her family’s way
of bringing more fresh food options to their community, as well
as an effort to support and help connect Black farmers to market
opportunities. Atsepoyi was able to secure a grant through Georgia
Organics to start the market.
Sun Market will return May 14 and runs the second and fourth
Saturdays through September 10. The market offers 50% off
produce purchased through EBT.
Atsepoyi hopes to further its impact. “I want to expand
Sun Market to not just be in south DeKalb, but also in other
communities,” she said. “It’s bigger than me. It’s bigger than all of
us. My goal for Sun Market is for it to be like a corner store with
produce that is intentional about partnering with Black farmers and
supporting all local Georgia farmers.”
Gabbie Atsepoyi is passionate
about improving her community.
The resident of Belvedere Park is
working to create park space in her
neighborhood, a part of DeKalb
County severely lacking in access
to greenspace. She felt inspired
while walking her young daughter
around the neighborhood during
the start of the pandemic.
“We couldn’t walk to a park,”
said Atsepoyi, a second-generation
Nigerian American who grew up
in Denver — two places that greatly
shaped her appreciation for nature.
So, Atsepoyi decided to act, seeing the potential for a community
schoolyard at Columbia Elementary School.
“I just started sending emails,” said Atsepoyi, who earned a
degree in environmental studies from Spelman College. “There’s a
lot of opportunity at Columbia to do a lot of things right. Give kids
a place to explore, to give kids a place to learn, to get them outside
AtlantalntownPaper.com
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MAY 2022 | INT0WN 19