Candice Youngblood: one of EarthJustice’s ‘Lawyers Giving us Hope’
Candice Youngblood was featured as one of six Earthjustice attorneys sharing their motivations to keep fighting for the planet and its people. The following is an excerpt from the original story here.
“When Earthjustice attorney Candice Youngblood first learned that the area where she grew up has the nation’s worst air pollution, she was angry.
The Inland Empire was once a major hub for the citrus industry. Today, however, this region of southern California serves as the national epicenter of warehouse logistics. Brightly colored orange groves have been replaced by giant warehouses and big-rig semis that discharge diesel pollution into the environment and people’s lungs.
In 2015, Youngblood turned her anger into action. She joined Earthjustice’s nascent Los Angeles office as a litigation assistant working on cases that eventually set the stage for Earthjustice’s Right To Zero campaign. A state-by-state effort, RTZ works to clean up polluted areas like the Inland Empire by electrifying everything, including our transportation. After finishing law school, Youngblood returned to Earthjustice and says she feels lucky to push for policies that clean the air and create good jobs in her community.
“We’re not trying to erase these industries. We’re trying to clean them up,” says Youngblood, whose dad was a long-haul trucker.
In late 2024, community groups in the Inland Empire got a big win after a judge ruled that decisionmakers must take a harder look at a warehouse proposal that would bring 1,300 heavy-duty diesel trucks every day to an already-overburdened, predominantly working-class Latino community.
“Letting our clients know that we won this case was incredible,” says Youngblood. “They expressed such disbelief that justice was served. This is what motivates me to do this work and helps me maintain hope.””
