Diane Wilson

Diane Wilson (born October 17, 1948) is an American environmental activist, an anti-war activist, and an author. She is known for her work protecting her local environment from pollution by Formosa Plastics.

Activism In 1989, she was a shrimp boat captain in Calhoun County, Texas, and she saw an Associated Press article saying that the county had the most toxic waste disposal of all counties in America. Texas produces the most chemical waste than any other state in the United States, with the majority of the pollution concentrated on the state's Gulf Coast. Wilson began a campaign against Formosa Plastics, a Taiwanese chemical company then building a PVC (polyvinyl chloride) facility near her town, with tactics including several hunger strikes and sinking her own boat to draw attention to the matter. In 1994 she won "zero discharge" agreements (meaning no liquid effluent discharge into the environment) from Formosa and Alcoa.

She is a co-founder of the anti-war organization CODEPINK. Wilson was charged with unlawful entry and handed over to local authorities.

In 2019, she was a plaintiff to a suit, Waterkeeper v. Formosa, against Formosa Plastics for violations of the Clean Water Act resulting in discharges of pollution along the Texas coast. Along with other volunteers, she collected millions of nurdles that served as evidence in the case. The suit was settled for $50 million in October 2019.

Selected awards In 2005 a documentary was made about her, titled Texas Gold. It won several awards, including "Best Documentary" at the New York City Short Film Festival.

She has received the "Hellraiser of the Month" award from Mother Jones magazine,

In 2006, she was honored with the Blue Planet Award from Ethecon Foundation, one of the comparatively very few 'grass-root' foundations for "more than 20 years of commitment to environmental issues, even putting her life at risk."

In 2023, Wilson was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for North America.

Books 2005: Nobody Particular: One Woman's Fight to Save The Bays by Molly Bang 2006: An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters and the Fight for Seadrift, Texas by Diane Wilson 2008: Holy Roller: Growing Up in the Church of Knock Down, Drag Out; or, How I Quit Loving a Blue-Eyed Jesus by Diane Wilson 2011: Diary of an Eco-Outlaw: An Unreasonable Woman Breaks the Law for Mother Earth by Diane Wilson