Honoring and Remembering Linda DeStefano

We write to share the sad news that on June 10, 2020, Linda DeStefano died in a tragic accident in Syracuse, New York. Linda was a co-founder and guiding light of Alliance for a Green Economy. We send our love and our condolences to Linda’s family and to all of her friends and comrades far and wide whose lives Linda changed. 

As we mourn Linda and struggle to cope with this sudden loss, we know that we are not alone.  Linda was involved in so many organizations, so much advocacy, so much social change work. She is and will be dearly missed as we go on to build the world she helped us envision. 

Our organizing, education, and advocacy work for a nuclear-free and carbon-free world would not be possible without Linda’s 10 years of contributions as a co-founder and Steering Committee member of AGREE. She pushed us, shaped us, assisted us, and supported us. She connected us to many other organizations in her network and helped mobilize people to our cause. She cared about the details, and held us accountable at every turn. Her mark on AGREE is indelible, and her work will live on through those of us who were recruited by her, mentored by her, and guided by her. 

To honor and remember Linda, we will hold her convictions and lessons in our hearts. Linda’s environmentalism and empathy were expansive. She fought for the rights of all living things -- from the people on this planet suffering under corporate pollution, to the animals abused for human benefit, to the butterflies mutated by radiation at Fukushima. She reminded us each of our responsibility to conserve energy, transform our diets, and reduce our impact in this world, just as she helped build our organization to take on entire industries and systems of harm. 

As one of our Steering Committee members put it, “Linda redefined the word steadfast.” 

May we all be as faithful and outspoken in our work as she, and may her life’s work continue to blossom in the hands of all who knew her. 

In caring and solidarity,

The Staff, Board, and Steering Committee of Alliance for a Green Economy

Some of our fondest photo memories of Linda:


August 1, 2016: Linda DeStefano, center, solemnly witnessing and opposing the Public Service Commission approval of Zero Emission Credits (nuclear bailout) in Albany, NY.



July 22, 2016: Press conference asking for details about the proposed Zero Emission Credit (nuclear bailout) part of NY's Clean Energy Standard in Albany, NY. (L to R: Jessica Azulay, Linda DeStefano, Manna Jo Greene, Blair Goodman, Richard Weiskopf)



March 6, 2017: Submitting testimony at the NYS Assembly hearing on New York's Zero Emission Credits (nuclear bailout) in Albany, NY. (L to R: Linda DeStefano, Manna Jo Greene, Andra Leimanis, Margrit Diehl, Diane Swords)


February 21, 2019: Senator Rachel May's public hearing on the Climate and Community Protection Act at SUNY ESF's Gateway Center, Syracuse, NY. (L to R: Linda DeStefano, Yvonne Chu, Lindsay Speer)