A MESSAGE FOR YOU
This year marks a significant milestone — Food & Water Watch turned 20! This special issue of Livable Future NOW celebrates incredible people like you who have joined us over the last two decades to build a future where everyone has access to safe food, clean water, and a livable climate.
It’s such an honor to work with you! I devoted my life to these issues because I know what it means to live without. Many people are surprised to learn that I lived without indoor plumbing until I left home for college. Growing up poor in rural Virginia, I remember carrying water from a spring to the house. You develop a deep respect for water when you do this every day. Having worked as a waitress to support myself and pay my way through college, my empathy for people scraping to get by grew deeper. On top of these experiences, the social and political upheaval of the 1960s and early ‘70s shaped my worldview profoundly — doing all I can for envi- ronmental, economic, and racial justice became core to who I am. I founded Food & Water Watch because I saw the need for an organization that would be a thought leader in the progressive community; that would not be afraid to call for the bold solutions we need to protect our most precious resources; that would organize people from all walks of life to get involved, advocate for themselves, and pressure our elected leaders to deliver on these issues; and that would take on the biggest corporate polluters. For twenty years, caring people like you have powered our work. Together, we’ve won over 50 campaigns against water privatization, won billions of dollars for public water infra- structure, won critical regulations of factory farms, and blocked dozens of dirty fossil fuel projects.
As we celebrate these 20 years, we also see what the Trump administration is doing to dismantle basic protections for people and the environment. I’m thankful that you’re with us as we work to beat back these massive threats and safeguard our food, water, communities, and democracy. With you, I know we’ll be able to overcome these current pressing challenges and move towards the future we all deserve. I’m so grateful for your dedication to protecting the health of our families and our communities from climate change, industrial pollution, and corporate greed and recklessness. Despite moneyed interests working against our movement, your passion shines bright. Whether you joined us in 2005 or 2025, I thank you for never giving up on our planet! I believe each of us must do what we can in our lifetime to create a fair and just world, the kind of world that we want to live in. Thank you for working alongside Food & Water Watch to shape the environmental movement and protect our food, water, and climate. Onward,
Wenonah Hauter Founder & Executive Director
1 | SPECIAL 20TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE: WINTER 2025
Cover photo and photo above by Abby Greenawalt
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