An Environmental Brain Drain to D.C.

During the Bush administration, environmentalists wandered in the wilderness. Now that Washington has suddenly become the promised land, many are leaving their groups and heading to jobs in policy. Among the moves: # Jonathan Pershing, formerly the director of the Climate, Energy and Pollution Program at the World Resources Institute, has been tapped to become the State Department’s deputy special envoy for climate change. # Van Jones, the green jobs guru and founder from Green for All, was named last month as special adviser for green jobs, enterprise and innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. # Cathy Zoi, the former chief executive of the Alliance for Climate Protection, is moving to the Department of Energy to become assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy. # Cynthia Giles, the vice president and director of the Conservation Law Foundation’s Rhode Island Advocacy Center, is headed to the E.P.A., where she will serve as the assistant administrator for enforcement and compliance. # Finally, our colleagues at Greenwire reported last month that “the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the country’s most influential environmental groups, has sent at least a half-dozen former employees into prime government positions tasked with writing U.S. climate and energy policies.”...NY Times