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Larry Fahn

Mill Valley, California
Former Sierra Club President

Larry Fahn is in animated phone conversation at his desk, piled high with papers, in the San Francisco offices of As You Sow, a non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting corporate accountability. It's the week before the 2005 Sierra Summit, and Fahn—an attorney and executive director of As You Sow—is trying to nail down Al Gore's appearance. (He succeeded.) It was he who first approached Gore last year about appearing at the Summit.

Fahn, who as Club president delivered some 300 speeches across the country, says the best part of the job was visiting the favorite places of local leaders and meeting like-minded people from coast to coast. "I got to see grizzlies in the wild, saw a pair of wolves chase a grizzly from a kill, watched manatees browsing on marsh weeds just 20 yards from where I was hiking. Those kinds of experiences made the hectic travel schedule more than worthwhile."

Another highlight, he says, was addressing 1.2 million people on the Washington Mall on the occasion of the March for Women's Lives. Among Fahn's priorities as Club president was collaborating with non-traditional allies, including the women's movement, labor, hunters and anglers, the faith community, and communities of color. "It's vital that we reach out to more diverse communities, especially in the South and the Midwest," he says. "Our issues resonate across the political spectrum."

In spite of the prevailing climate in Washington, D.C., Fahn is upbeat. "There's great reason for hope at the state and local level, there are exciting developments in energy and hybrid technologies, and young people are getting active on public lands and trade issues. If we just get through the next three years, we'll be OK."

[Editor's note: The "prevailing climate in Washington, D.C.," has changed considerably since this interview was conducted, bearing out his statement that "there's great reason for hope."]

Published: February 27, 2007