By MAGGIE JARUZEL POTTER Brent Blackwelder grew up in the 1950s while
Erich Pica is a Generation X-er, but the two men have bridged their age divide with a shared interest in the same environmental organization.
Pica is smart, energetic and passionate, says Blackwelder, describing the man who has followed him into the president’s job at
Friends of the Earth (FOE) in Washington, D.C.
Although he has been in the top spot for only a few months, Pica has worked at FOE for 10 years, directing the organization’s domestic energy program, which aims to end federal subsidies to oil, gas, bio-fuel, nuclear and coal companies. He also has led FOE’s national initiatives related to global climate change.
Brent Blackwelder retired after serving 15 years as FOE’s leader. |
The two men are from different backgrounds and different generations, but each speaks his mind freely. Like Blackwelder before him, Pica does not mince words when it comes to environmental issues, publicly stating that the December 2009 climate negotiations in Copenhagen yielded a “sham agreement” and that U.S. President Barack Obama’s suggested future actions are “extraordinarily inadequate” because they don’t force rich nations to change their emissions reduction plans.
“Erich brings fresh vision and leadership to the environmental movement,” said Blackwelder, referring to the Michigan native who now heads the nonprofit organization with a $4-million annual budget and a network of groups in 77 countries.
FOE is a Mott grantee and has received
34 grants, totaling $5.3 million, since 1990 for general purposes and specific projects, including advancing sustainability in development finance.
Blackwelder, 66, retired after serving 15 years as FOE’s leader, but his relationship with the organization dates back to when he started volunteering at FOE almost four decades ago.
In addition to being a founder and the first chairman of the board of
American Rivers, the nation’s leading river protection organization, Blackwelder was also a founder of
International Rivers. (Both river groups are Mott grantees.)
As a current board member of the latter organization, he vows to continue donating his time to the California-based organization. The self-proclaimed “philosopher at heart” also plans to keep teaching a university course one night a week.
Brent Blackwelder (at right), immediate past president of Friends of the Earth (FOE), shares the limelight with Erich Pica, FOE’s new president. |
His wildflower walks will continue, too, with Blackwelder leading groups and pointing out the 100-plus varieties that grow along the Potomac River. Hopefully, he says, retirement will allow him more time to canoe the country’s rivers, many of which are protected because Blackwelder helped lead the drive to expand the
National Wild and Scenic Rivers System from eight rivers in 1973 to more than 250 today.
He is a respected elder statesman in the environment field, one who remembers celebrating the nation’s first Earth Day in April 1970. On the other hand, Pica wasn’t yet born when 20 million Americans marked the event that is commonly regarded as the start of the modern environmental movement. Still, Blackwelder says, the 35-year-old Pica is a perfect pick for the president’s position at one of the nation’s largest grassroots environmental organizations.
“Erich has shown incredible courage,” he said. “It’s time for new leadership, new energy and new dynamics.”
With deep admiration for both Blackwelder and his track record, Pica says his eyes are focused on the future of the field.
For him, the environment is about more than nature. He says it includes people and other living creatures that need a healthy planet in which to live.
“We need real changes, not window dressing only, which means holding our decisionmakers accountable,” Pica said.
Erich Pica is the new president of FOE. |
His top agenda issues include:
- helping ensure adoption of sustainable-growth policies and practices that recognize many of Earth’s resources are finite;
- reducing and then eliminating lending for fossil fuel projects at multilateral development banks, including the World Bank Group and the U.S. Export-Import Bank; and
- transforming the energy markets to use renewable energy, such as wind and solar power.
Around the globe, countries have been following the Western world’s path to marketplace economies, Pica says, but there could be a better way.
“What if there were opportunities for developing countries to leapfrog past the dirty industrial revolution? What if countries could go straight to using wind and solar power?”
Seeking lasting changes and posing nontraditional questions indicates his strong commitment to the major issues that will affect his life and the lives of others his age and younger, Pica says.
“We need the generation that will be most impacted by the decisions being made to be at the discussion table, not just the ‘old school’ interests,” he said.
“You can be sure I will be looking for the very best possible solutions to these problems – especially climate change and energy issues – because I will be around to live with the results.”