Stanford Bright Award for Environmental Sustainability Celebration 2026
You are welcome to join us in person or via livestream. Registration is encouraged.
In recognition of her advocacy, Promise Mabilo was selected as the 2026 recipient of the Bright Award for Environmental Sustainability.
5:00 pm – Reception
5:30 pm – Award Presentation and Remarks
6:00 pm – Panel Discussion: Deadly Air: Community Organizing, Litigation, and the Fight for Environmental Justice
In 2019, South African communities and NGOs brought the landmark “Deadly Air” case, arguing that decades of unchecked industrial pollution in the Highveld region violated the constitutional right to an environment not harmful to health and well-being — a claim that was upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2025. Join Stanford experts and two of the case’s key architects — Promise Mabilo, 2026 Bright Award winner and founder of the Vukani Environmental Justice Movement in Action, and Palesa Madi, Deputy Director at the Centre for Environmental Rights — to discuss how grassroots organizing and legal strategy combined to secure this historic ruling, what’s happening on the ground now, and what this all means for environmental justice movements worldwide.
Panelist:
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| Precious Mabilo Environmental Activist and 2026 Bright Award Winner |
Palesa Madi Deputy Director at the Centre for Environmental Rights |
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| Maxine Burkett Stanford Professor of Climate, Environment, and Society |
Joel Cabrita (Moderator) Stanford Professor of History and Director of the Center of African Studies |
