Carl Pope is the former executive director of the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...

, an American environmental

organization An organization or organisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences) is an legal entity, entity—such as ...

founded by conservationist

John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the national park, National Parks", was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologi ...

in 1892. Pope was appointed to his position as executive director in 1992, and served until January 20, 2010, when he was succeeded by Michael Brune. Pope then served as

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of the

until stepping down from that position in November 2011. He has served as the senior climate advisor to former New York City Mayor and 2020 presidential candidate

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman and politician. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., and was its CEO from 1981 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2023. He served as the 108th mayo ...

since 2017. Pope had worked with the Sierra Club for more than 30 years, and has served as a board member for other organizations, including the National Clean Air Coalition, California Common Cause, and Public Interest Economics Inc. He has served as Political Director for

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. He was a

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volunteer in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

from 1967 to 1969. In 2008, Pope expressed support for the Pickens Plan, an effort by T. Boone Pickens to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil. Pickens, a billionaire oil investor, Republican, and financier of conservative causes, took Pope to his ranch in

west Texas West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the desert climate, arid and semiarid climate, semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Texas, Wichita Falls, Abilene, Texa ...

, where Pickens and a group of investors plan to invest $12 billion in

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...

s. In January 2009, Pope had announced his intention to step down from the post of executive director, effective upon the hiring of a successor. He graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

in 1967.

Bibliography

Pope's first book, ''Sahib: An American Misadventure in India'', was published by Liveright in 1972. In 2004 he published a book with Paul Rauber called ''Strategic Ignorance: Why the Bush Administration Is Recklessly Destroying a Century of Environmental Progress.'' On April 18, 2017, Pope published a book with

on titled '' Climate of Hope: How Cities, Businesses, and Citizens Can Save the Planet''. He appeared on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah with

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician a ...

May 3 to promote the book.

References

External links

Carl Pope Sierra Club papers, 1973-1988
at The Bancroft Library
Carl Pope's weblog, ''Taking the Initiative''Blue/Green Alliance website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pope, Carl Sierra Club executive directors Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American environmentalists American non-fiction environmental writers HuffPost writers and columnists Environmental bloggers Harvard College alumni