Mourning the Loss of Renowned Environmental Leader Rebecca Tarbotton of Rainforest Action Network

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http://www.alternet.org/environment/stunned-community-mourning-loss-renowned-environmental-leader-rebecca-tarbotton



Rainforest Action Network released news today of the unexpected death of Executive Director Rebecca “Becky” Tarbotton, one of the country’s most renowned environmental leaders and the first woman executive director in the organization’s 25-year history. A statement from RAN described Tarbotton, 39, as a “self-proclaimed ‘pragmatic idealist,’” and said she “was admired by environmentalists and climate change activists for her visionary work protecting forests, pushing the nation to transition to a clean energy economy and defending human rights.”

Sierra Club’s Executive Director Michael Brune said, “Becky reshaped Rainforest Action Network, and was a force against deforestation and corporate greed. She was a rising star. We need more women to be leading environmental organizations, and losing a leader and friend like Becky is especially painful."

Just after being selected as ED AlterNet interviewed her in 2010. AlterNet’s Don Hazen described Tarbotton as, “Charismatic, articulate and straightforward, and seemingly possessing the infamous RAN chutzpah gene.” She “seems the perfect person to grapple with the conflicting needs and aspirations of environmentalists who may be feeling on the edge of despair.” wrote Hazen. “She has the intellectual chops to take on major policymakers and corporate leaders, while she is hip and crunchy enough to be a role model for the idealistic young RAN campaigners.” (Read the whole interview here.)

An already successful organization, Tarbotton helped lead RAN to even greater heights in the last few year. "Becky was a leader's leader. She could walk into the White House and cause a corporate titan to reevaluate his perspective, and then moments later sit down with leaders from other movements and convince them to follow her lead,” said Ben Jealous, Executive Director of the NAACP and a close friend. “If we had more heroes like her, America and the world would be a much better place."

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1. Damn. Sorry to hear this. She was the kind of person we need.

We can't afford to lose people like her.