“All of the communities and activists I accompanied had lost loved ones to paramilitary and state violence related to land and resource control, and I realized that there is an inextricable link between racist, neocolonial patterns of exploitation and the climate crisis.”

Pendle Marshall-Hallmark is earning her master’s degree at U-M’s School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) after nearly a decade working in the field of social, economic, and environmental justice advocacy. As an undergraduate studying sociology and Latin American literature, Pendle received a fellowship to work as a legal assistant for undocumented immigrant women survivors of domestic violence on the U.S.-Mexican border, where her mother’s family is from. Her interest in understanding the drivers of migration and inequity motivated a career in human rights and environmental advocacy. Among other experiences, she has worked in refugee resettlement as an AmeriCorps VISTA Fellow, studied social entrepreneurship in Mexico as a Fulbright Garcia Robles Scholar, accompanied threatened human rights activists in conflict zones in Colombia, and organized oil and gas divestment campaigns with an organization dedicated to defending Indigenous territories in the Amazon rainforest.

Pendle’s time as a human rights accompanier in Colombia was particularly impactful. They reflect, “All of the communities and activists I accompanied had lost loved ones to paramilitary and state violence related to land and resource control, and I realized that there is an inextricable link between racist, neocolonial patterns of exploitation and the climate crisis.” Now, Pendle is pursuing a deeper theoretical and historical understanding of the environmental justice movement as a graduate student at SEAS, with a continued commitment to putting theory into practice and foregrounding the voices of frontline communities. Building on her fluency in Spanish, she is also studying Portuguese to better support environmental justice work in Latin America. She has been supported in her work at U-M with funding from the Sustainable Ecosystems Fellowship, the Tischman Center, and the SEAS Annual Fund.

Beyond their studies and continued activism, Pendle broadcasts a weekly student-run radio show, “It’s Hot in Here with Silver Lining,” which covers regional and international environmental justice campaigns. Her mentors and professors, past and present, remark that Pendle is an unparalleled “energetic and creative thinker” who is “deeply committed to equity and justice.”

CEW+ applauds Pendle’s ambition to advance environmental justice and names her the Collegiate Sorosis Foundation Scholar.