Interview: Tough Talk on Strategy From New Chief of the Sierra Club

In March, 38-year-old environmental activist Michael Brune took over as the unlikely head of the the Sierra Club, the largest conservation organization in the United States. Now, as the group works to wean the country off fossil fuels, Brune says it’s time to move beyond the overly accommodating strategy that failed to win passage of climate legislation in the U.S. Senate. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Brune — who once worked for Greenpeace and most recently ran the Rainforest Action Network — says he’s willing to work with oil and coal companies to devise strategies for a transition to a renewable energy economy. But he believes that, in the recent, failed campaign to put a price and a cap on carbon emissions, the mainstream environmental community made too many compromises with the fossil fuel industry. “We need to bring the stick back,” says Brune, “but we don’t want to put away the carrot either.”

Read the interview