Elizabeth Ouzts, Environment North Carolina, Executive Director

"Canvassing is absolutely essential to the work that we do. Having tens of thousands of one on one conversations with people about our campaigns ensures that we are rooted in work that the people of North Carolina care about. Funding our organization through thousands of small, individual contributions allows us to be independent from corporations and political parties. Canvassing has not only built up Environment North Carolina from scratch; it has also played an essential role in a host of victories for the environment--from cleaning up coal-fired power plants to protecting our rivers and lakes."  Elizabeth Ouzts

Ms. Ouzts is responsible for coordinating policy development, research, and legislative advocacy for Environment North Carolina. She works to clean up the largest sources of air pollution in the state—automobiles and power plants—and to preserve the state’s forests, farmlands, and natural areas. Elizabeth serves as the organization’s main representative in North Carolina’s General Assembly, and was one of the primary environmental advocates for the state Clean Smokestacks law in 2002. She has appeared on local affiliates of NBC, ABC, and CBS in Raleigh and Charlotte, and has testified before the state legislature on issues ranging from cleaner gasoline to cleaning up factory hog farms. She is on the executive board of the NC Conservation Network and is a steering committee member of the Land for Tomorrow coalition, the statewide effort to create a permanent, dedicated source of funding for protecting forests and farmlands. A graduate of the NC School of Science and Math and Yale University, Ms. Ouzts began her work with the state PIRGs in New Jersey in 1997, where she completed service for NJ Community Water Watch, a project of NJPIRG Law and Policy Center. In 1998, she returned to North Carolina to work with NCPIRG. She became the director of NCPIRG in 2001, and in 2006 assumed leadership of Environment North Carolina.