page_title: Phil Radford
hierarchical_section_title: Phil Radford
caption_attribution_description: Phil Radford, Executive Director of Greenpeace USA, is Arrested in front of White House WASHINGTON, DC-- Phil Radford, Executive Director of Greenpeace USA, was arrested in front of the White House, in an effort to urge President Obama to reject the Keystone pipeline. She was arrested along with 139 others who also engaged in civil disobedience on August 29th, 2011. From August 20th-September 3rd, hundreds of people are sitting-in at the White House to tell President Obama to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Visit http://www.tarsandsaction.org for more details. Photo Credit: Josh Lopez
context_page_description: Philip David Radford is an American activist who served as the executive director of Greenpeace USA. He is the founder and President of Progressive Power Lab, an organization that incubates companies and non-profits that build capacity for progressive organizations, including the Progressive Multiplier Fund and Membership Drive. Radford is a co-founder of the Democracy Initiative, was founder and executive director of Power Shift, and is a board member of the Mertz Gilmore Foundation. He has a background in grassroots organizing, corporate social responsibility, climate change, and clean energy.
  Radford's theory of change shifted from viewing governments as arbitrators between public and private interests on environmental issues, to finding that most governments are captured by industry. Rather than fighting first for new laws, which could be blocked by industries, he has focused on pressuring large companies to change their practices and enlisted them as allies in pushing for strong environmental protections.
context_section_description: Philip David Radford (born January 2, 1976) is an American activist who served as the executive director of Greenpeace USA. He is the founder and President of Progressive Power Lab, an organization that incubates companies and non-profits that build capacity for progressive organizations, including the Progressive Multiplier Fund and Membership Drive. Radford is a co-founder of the Democracy Initiative, was founder and executive director of Power Shift, and is a board member of the Mertz Gilmore Foundation. He has a background in grassroots organizing, corporate social responsibility, climate change, and clean energy.
  Radford's theory of change shifted from viewing governments as arbitrators between public and private interests on environmental issues, to finding that most governments are captured by industry. Rather than fighting first for new laws, which could be blocked by industries, he has focused on pressuring large companies to change their practices and enlisted them as allies in pushing for strong environmental protections. Examples include Greenpeace campaigns that convinced Apple Inc. and other tech companies to shift to 100% clean energy and lobby utilities and regulators to make that possible, as well as work to protect both the Indonesian rainforest and the Bering Sea Canyons. Radford argues that the combination of creating industry champions and "outside pressure" focused on the government are the keys to passing new laws to protect the environment. However, Radford has also been a vocal leader calling for the United States to pass campaign finance reform and respect all Americans' voting rights to shift power in politics from corporations towards people and fulfill "the promise of American democracy."
caption: Radford as Greenpeace's executive director (2012)
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