Gaya Herrington

Gaya Herrington (née Branderhorst; born 1981) is a Dutch econometrician, sustainability researcher, and women's rights activist. Herrington is best known for being the founder of the project and foundation Stop Straatintimidatie, an initiative seeking to criminalize street harassment in the Netherlands, and for her activism and research on sustainability issues.

Herrington has worked in senior sustainability-related positions for De Nederlandsche Bank, KPMG US and Schneider Electric and holds master's degrees in both econometrics and sustainability studies. In 2021, her study on the projections made in the 1972 sustainability report The Limits to Growth was widely publicized internationally.

Career Herrington studied mathematics and econometrics at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. After obtaining her master's degree in econometrics, she initially worked in the financial sector before becoming disillusioned she instead became the executive director of StoereVrouwen, Dutch women's movement promoting sustainable economic policies through "fresh and hip" activism. During her work for DNB, Herrington worked to strengthen global banking standards in an effort to prevent further recessions She has also worked as an actress and a model.

In 2014, Herrington moved to New York City to pursue a job as Director of Sustainability Services of KPMG US. From 2016 to 2017 Herrington wrote articles for Vileine, a Dutch-language feminist platform for media, political and cultural analysis, detailing her personal experiences in the United States. and was an analysis based on the 1972 sustainability report The Limits to Growth in Yale University's Journal of Industrial Ecology. Herrington's study, Update to Limits to Growth, assessed whether, given key data known in 2020 about factors important for the Limits to Growth report, the original report's conclusions are supported. In particular, the 2020 study examined updated quantitative information about ten factors, namely population, fertility rates, mortality rates, industrial output, food production, services, non-renewable resources, persistent pollution, human welfare, and ecological footprint, and concluded that the Limits to Growth prediction is essentially correct in that continued economic growth is unsustainable under a "business as usual" scenario. The study found that current empirical data is broadly consistent with the 1972 projections, and that if major changes to the consumption of resources are not undertaken, economic growth will peak and then rapidly decline by around 2040.

Her study made headlines around the world in July 2021, being publicized in major newspapers in the United States and in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Greece, China, Sri Lanka and other countries. Herrington was surprised by the sudden surge in attention and by the news headlines used,

As of 2022, Herrington presently works as the Vice President of ESG Research (environment, social and governance research) at Schneider Electric and is a member of, and advisor to, The Club of Rome's Transformational Economics Commission. as well as at events hosted by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the United States Department of Commerce. In the Netherlands, such an initiative requires 40,000 signatures to be considered by the House of Representatives. but engagement then tapered off. By 2016, they had reached over 19,000 signatures. Herrington initially surrounded herself with a small number of supporters, including a social media manager, an attorney who authored the proposed bill, Cees Flinterman (a professor emeritus of human rights) and (a famous Dutch comedian). Straatintimidatie was re-organized into a foundation in 2016 under the name Stop Straatintimidatie and continues to operate as such to this day. Stop Straatintimidatie continues to advocate for the criminalization of street harassment and publishes relevant research and investigations. In 2018, Herrington's initial goal began to be achieved as street harassment started to be fined in the cities Amsterdam and Rotterdam, with other cities later following suit.

Personal life Herrington is married and has a daughter.