John Passacantando, Executive Director; Greenpeace USA

John Passacantando, Executive Director of Greenpeace USA, has been instrumental in guiding a tremendous shift in public awareness and concern about the conditions of our planet. A one-time political conservative and supply side economics disciple, he was converted to the environmental cause in 1987. Mr. Passacantando, who holds degrees in economics from Wake Forest and New York University, previously served as Executive Director of the Florence and John Schumann Foundation, awarding grants for campaign finance reform and environmental issues. He went on to found Ozone Action, an anti-Global Warming group before moving to Greenpeace in 2000. Mr. Passacantando is vested in working with government and industry, but finds that that is not always possible and explains that there are multiple tactics and approaches to address the many different situations facing environmentalists today. He advocates that each lobbying, letter writing, petition-signing, consumer boycott, public protest, and even civic disobedience, all have their place. This is, after all, a fight for survival.