Nalleli Cobo is an environmental justice activist, storyteller, and a co-founder of the South Central Youth Leadership Coalition. In March 2020, at the age of 19, she led a grassroots campaign to permanently shut down a toxic oil-drilling site in her community that caused serious health issues for her and others.
Her organizing against urban oil extraction led to the definitive closure of the AllenCo drilling site across the street from her childhood home, and yielded major policy movement within the Los Angeles City Council and Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, which voted unanimously on bans of new oil exploration and phasing out existing sites.
Cobo also co-founded People Not Pozos, which aims to secure a safe and healthy neighborhood. Diagnosed with cancer at the age of 19, she was declared cancer-free after three surgeries and medical treatment. Nalleli won the 2022 Goldman Environmental Prize and was named on the 2022 Time 100 Next list.
