Over the past decade, most recently as Director of Domestic Programs, Erich Pica has led Friends of the Earth’s efforts to reform U.S. tax and budget policy related to global warming and energy. Erich has been at the core of Friends of the Earth’s fight against nuclear, oil and gas, biofuels and coal subsidies. He has also spearheaded the organization’s advocacy work on global warming legislation over the past two years.
Erich’s experience goes beyond energy and climate policy. He has designed and launched many of Friends of the Earth’s current campaigns including efforts to bring uncontrolled technologies such as nanotechnology and synthetic biology under greater public and regulatory control and efforts to reform how the federal government manages and invests in our transportation system.
As a nationally recognized expert on energy subsidies, Erich has testified before Congress and has appeared on NBC, PBS and the FOX Business Channel. He has been interviewed on National Public Radio and Marketplace and has been extensively quoted in publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, Economist, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, and E/The Environmental Magazine, as well as by wire services including the Associated Press, Bloomberg, and Reuters.
Erich comes from a family of farmers and educators in a conservative part of southwest Michigan. He discovered his passion for the environment while attending Western Michigan University. After school, he moved with his wife-to-be Amy to the Washington, D.C. area. He is a trombonist in the Montgomery County Symphony Orchestra, is an avid golf hacker, and enjoys working in his small chemical-free vegetable garden.