St. James Parish environmental activist has been added to Time magazine's list of the 100 "most influential people" worldwide for 2024 and is expected to be feted next week in New York City along with other honorees.
Over the past several years, Lavigne, a former public school teacher from western St. James, has helped lead the resurgence in activism and opposition to new polluting industrial projects in her parish and others in the Mississippi River corridor between Ïã¸ÛÁùºÍ¿ª½±ÀúÊ·¼Ç¼ and New Orleans.
Leaning on her Roman Catholic faith and a calling she says she has for this activism, she founded Rise St. James in 2018.
The group has aligned with other environmental groups locally and nationally to oppose projects in the political and regulatory arenas and in the courts on the grounds they would disproportionally affect Black communities already dealing with high levels of pollution.
Lavigne said on Thursday that she was "deeply humbled to receive this honor."
"Our small but dedicated team and partners strive daily to empower our historically disadvantaged communities and envision a future greater than we currently witness," Lavigne said in a statement. "My vision from God helps me continue to fight for communities that are overburdened by pollution. We must prioritize listening to the voices of Cancer Alley until we can drink clean water and breathe clean air to ensure our lives are extended and leave the world better than we found it."
The honors people across a variety of categories from the arts and sports to politics and culture, and, in its 2024 listing, the magazine includes short explanations about the winners from the persons who nominated them.Â
Other honorees include singer-songwriter Dua Lipa, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, novelist James McBride and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.Â
Lavigne is most know for her work fighting a $9.4 billion chemical complex that Formosa Plastics has been trying to build for several years in a rural part of western St. James populated primarily by Black residents, where cancer risk from air pollution is already among worst in the nation.Â
The TIME100 honor is only the latest for Lavigne. She was given the prestigious in 2021 for her activism in opposing the Formosa complex, which has been stalled through lawsuits and other actions pursued by Rise St. James and other groups.
In 2022, the University of Notre Dame gave her the , which the university calls the oldest and most prestigious honor for American Catholics, over her work on Formosa and environmental justice.
Lavigne was nominated for the TIME100 honor by the Rev. William Barber II, a pastor and anti-poverty and civil rights activist who says he met Lavigne when she invited him to stand with her during the fight against Formosa several years ago.Â
"She has taught us that we must listen to the people of Cancer Alley, and she continues fighting for them every day. I thank God for her," wrote Barber, president of Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.
The venerable news magazine, started in 1923, plans to celebrate the TIME100 honorees at a summit on April 24 and a gala the next day in New York City.
The gala will air as a prime-time television special on May 12 on ABC, according to a .
