Career & Advocacy

As Founder and CEO of Nature Is Nonpartisan and United By Nature, Benji Backer is rebuilding America’s environmental movement and aiming to bring millions of new voices into it. He believes the path to real, lasting progress will be powered by innovative grassroots engagement, unified support, and depolarizing partisan politics. His movement is dedicated to reigniting a unifying, cross-partisan effort that delivers the greatest environmental achievements in history — while benefiting all of America.

He also founded the American Conservation Coalition (ACC) during his freshman year of college.

Benji is one of the leading environmental voices in the country and serves on multiple boards and commissions, America’s Rural Future, the Brookings Institution, and AEI Commission on U.S. Rural Prosperity.

Author & Recognition

A best-selling author of The Conservative Environmentalist: Common Sense Solutions for a Sustainable Future, Benji has been named a NYTimes Changemaker. He has also been honored on the TIME 100 Climate list, and awarded the Fortune 40 Under 40, Forbes 30 Under 30, GreenBiz 30 Under 30, and Grist 50.

Background

Benji proudly grew up in Wisconsin, where he fell in love with the state’s natural beauty and its sports teams. Above all, Backer is an avid hiker & skier who spends most of his free time in the mountains out West. He’s a proud graduate of the University of Washington and currently resides in Arizona with his wife, Zayna.