‘‘Planting little seeds’ to resist big oil: women’s critical environmental justice action against petro-hegemony

In Commerce City, Colorado, the Suncor Oil Refinery routinely releases pollutants that disproportionately impact the community surrounding the facility. In the absence of state intervention, women-led organizing has mobilized, calling for justice and accountability. Cultivando, an Indigenous women-led grassroots organization serving Latine and Indigenous migrant communities in Adams County, facilitates activism and advocacy efforts. Drawing on 53 in-depth interviews with community members, this article examines: (1) the roles women play in organizing intersectional EJ activism in communities impacted by the Suncor refinery; (2) how their multi-scalar activism embodies Pellow’s critical EJ pillars; and (3) how this activism advances community care and procedural and restorative justice, while challenging petro-hegemony. We argue that the organizations and systems of community care that women build and sustain facilitate multiscalar, critical EJ action. Cultivando’s strong community presence, commitment to procedural and restorative justice, and role in inspiring sustained women-led activism for EJ exemplifies CEJ and offers a model for other community-based organizations.