Abby Reyes is an author, climate justice advocate, and systems thinker dedicated to advancing community-led solutions to environmental and social challenges. She serves as Director of UC Irvine Community Resilience Projects, where she supports leaders from climate-vulnerable communities and their academic partners in developing locally driven climate resilience and just transition initiatives. Beginning Fall 2026, she will also be a Visiting Scholar at Brown University’s Swearer Center for Public Service and an external affiliate of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society.

Abby began her environmental advocacy work supporting legal assistance to rural communities in the Philippines and later worked alongside the Indigenous U’wa people of Colombia in their efforts to protect their territory from oil development. These experiences helped shape her lifelong commitment to environmental justice and are chronicled in her acclaimed memoir, Truth Demands: A Memoir of Murder, Oil Wars, and the Rise of Climate Justice (2025), which explores the intersection of personal loss, human rights, and the global climate movement.

Earlier in her career, Abby clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and subsequently served as a Staff Attorney. She is a frequent speaker and commentator on climate justice, community resilience, and systems change, and has been featured by organizations and media outlets including TEDx, NPR, BBC, Bioneers, and Yale Climate Connections.

Abby earned a B.A. in Human Biology with a concentration in Environment and Community Development from Stanford University and a J.D. from University of California, Berkeley School of Law.