Check out Detroit’s environmental voter guide

‘Your vote can power a healthier future for Detroit,’ say 25 local nonprofits

At the confluence of a climate crisis and one of the most pivotal Detroit elections in years comes a voter guide to help residents better shape their city.

The 25 local nonprofit members of the Detroit Environmental Agenda, or DEA, released its 2025 voter guide for mayoral and city council candidates on July 10, a month ahead of the Aug. 5 primary election.

Get the voter guide

The DEA was founded in 2012 to put environmental justice, public health and sustainability at the heart of Detroit’s future. Its latest voter guide—its most comprehensive, holistic and accessible to date—is that mission put to practice.

“Our goals for this guide are to inform voters and to get candidates thinking about climate change and environmental justice,” said Ellen Vial, Detroit program manager for the Michigan Environmental Council and co-organizer of the DEA. “The path to a healthy and vibrant Detroit is inextricably linked to climate resilience, and we want the next administration to be equipped to deliver on these issues.”

Each of the 37 candidates for city council and mayor were asked to provide their top three climate priorities, top three budget priorities, short answers to pressing questions and their positions on top issues.

The issues represented go beyond traditional assumptions of what “environment” means. Topics range from land management to waste management, from flooding to safe streets, and from public engagement to public health.

“Our neighborhoods are tired of pollution and empty promises,” said Deborah Stewart Anderson, executive director of Zero Waste Detroit and DEA member. “Detroit needs leaders who will fight for clean air, good green jobs and zero waste solutions that work for us. So we’re asking every candidate, ‘What will you do to build a green, zero-waste future for our city starting now?'”

The Detroit Voter Guide will be distributed physically and digitally in the weeks ahead of the Tuesday, Aug. 5 primary election. The DEA will follow up with a climate- and health-focused candidate forum between the primary and general elections.

The Detroit Environmental Agenda (DEA) was founded in 2012 to put environmental justice, public health and sustainability at the heart of Detroit’s future. Its local nonprofit members build a more just, healthy and livable Detroit for all through relationship building, policy advocacy and organizing work.

Its members are: Breathe Free Detroit, Community Action to Protect Healthy Environments, Center for Urban Responses to Environmental Stressors (Wayne State), Detroit Food Policy Council, Detroit Greenways Coalition, Detroiters Working For Environmental Justice, Eastside Community Network, Ecology Center, Elevate, FoodPLUS Detroit, Green Living Science, Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, Henry Ford Health Center, Live 6 Alliance, Michigan Environmental Council, Michigan League of Conservation Voters, Planet Detroit, Sierra Club, Smallville Farms, Southwest Detroit 48217, Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision, Southwest Detroit Community Benefits Coalition, Transportation Riders United and Zero Waste Detroit.