Latest news with #BenJealous
E&E News
14-07-2025
- Business
- E&E News
Sierra Club boss is out after years of drama. What's next?
Ben Jealous is on leave from his job as Sierra Club's boss after a tumultuous stretch leading the organization. The green group informed staff in a cryptic message Friday that Jealous was on leave and that an acting boss would be filling in. But the group didn't provide details about the cause of Jealous' leave or how long it would last, raising questions internally and externally about the long-term leadership of the iconic environmental group as it faces off against the Trump administration. Jealous' leave follows years of discord within the Sierra Club as employees and volunteers grew increasingly frustrated with his leadership and repeated rounds of staff layoffs on his watch. Advertisement Longtime Sierra Club leader Loren Blackford, who has previously served as interim executive director, will serve as acting executive director while Jealous is out, Sierra Club Chief Operating Officer Michael Parrish told staff Friday in an email.
E&E News
12-07-2025
- General
- E&E News
Embattled boss Ben Jealous on leave from Sierra Club
Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous is on leave from the organization, the green group told staff Friday. 'We have heard a number of questions come up and appreciate you seeking answers. Ben Jealous has gone on leave,' Sierra Club Chief Operating Officer Michael Parrish told staff Friday in an email obtained by POLITICO's E&E News. 'While he is out, Loren Blackford will serve as our acting executive director,' Parrish added. Advertisement Blackford has previously served as interim executive director and as chair of the Sierra Club Foundation board of directors.
New York Times
11-07-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Sierra Club's Executive Director Is on Leave After a Rocky Tenure
Ben Jealous, the executive director of the Sierra Club, is on leave as of Friday afternoon, the organization confirmed, after less than three years leading the environmental nonprofit group. The Sierra Club has announced several rounds of layoffs since he joined and this move comes after simmering tensions among local chapters and complaints from a group of managers as well as its union. Loren Blackford will run the organization as interim executive director, according to the Sierra Club website. Last month, a group of more than 100 employees sent a letter to the group's board of directors expressing concerns that Mr. Jealous was not prepared to shepherd the 132-year-old organization through a second Trump administration. 'Mr. Jealous failed to articulate any concrete strategy or theory of change for how we will effectively fight the Trump administration's dismantling of decades of hard-won environmental protections,' they wrote. They also accused him of failing to gain the trust of funders and said they felt the Sierra Club has been in a 'downward spiral.' A spokesman for the Sierra Club said the organization did not comment on personnel matters and declined to specify the nature of the leave. Mr. Jealous did not immediately respond to request for comment. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Fox News
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Left-wing critics blame Texas flood devastation on 'climate denialism,' warn more to come unless inaction ends
While debate over why the Texas floods were so deadly has centered around President Donald Trump's cuts to key weather agencies, left-wing critics have also complained that policy inaction and "climate denialism" were major factors. As search and rescue efforts continued after the devastating storm swept through Texas on the July Fourth holiday, former Democratic presidential candidate and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg penned an op-ed arguing that the Texas floods "were made worse by climate denialism." "The latest episode of horrific flooding isn't just about a natural disaster in one state. It's also about a political failure that's been happening in states across the country, and most of all in Washington," Bloomberg wrote. "The refusal to recognize that climate change carries a death penalty is sending innocent people, including far too many children, to early graves." "We are at a crossroads," Ben Jealous, former candidate for Maryland governor andexecutive director at the Sierra Club, wrote in his own op-ed following the tragedy in Texas. "We can double down on denial and let superstorms, heatwaves, droughts, floods and fires determine our fate. Or we can lead — with science, resilience, courage, and a recommitment to our values," Jealous said. Meanwhile, Will Bunch, a national opinion columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer, said that "so many more lives would have been saved if leaders dropped climate denial and believed in government for the public good." In response to these arguments, Steve Milloy, a senior policy fellow at the conservative-leaning Energy and Environment Legal Institute, said it was "sad" to see folks politicizing the tragedy in Texas to advance their agenda. "Just for the record, this area of Texas is known for flash floods," Milloy added. "Extreme rainfall is not correlated with emissions and there hasn't even been any 'global warming' over the past five days." The climate advocacy group Climate Central also added that "it is difficult to directly attribute specific rain events to climate change" in an assessment about understanding the link between the Texas floods and climate change. Milloy said that while the National Weather Service was "sufficiently staffed" in his view, he thinks a preliminary investigation will show the warning system in place needs improvements. In a statement to Fox News Digital, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson called it "shameful and disgusting" to see that in the wake of the environmental tragedy in Texas, people were politicizing it. "The Texas officials who say, 'We couldn'tqaa [sic] see this coming,' are totally oblivious that they should have seen climate change coming, and done something about it. Climate change denial means more torrential rain for Texas, and more flash flooding," former Washington State Democratic Governor Jay Inslee wrote on social media. "North Carolina. Texas. When will floods finally wash away the climate change denial in DC that is now washing away America's economically productive clean energy industries?" Inslee asked in a separate post. One climate group, World Weather Attribution, told Axios it was so confident climate change is what caused the deadly flooding that it does not even plan to study the natural disaster to better understand what caused it. Fox News Digital reached out to the group to understand better why it is so certain of the cause, but did not receive a response. The group investigated the climate change impacts of a July heat wave in Europe as recently as this month, according to the New York Times.
