“… the arc of the moral universe is long,
but it bends toward justice.”
– Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., 25 March 1965 speech delivered on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery at the end of the march from Selma
Mission & Goals
The MISSION of Bend the Curve is to transform the petrochemical industry so that it no longer harms people and the planet. We envision a just transition to sustainable production that protects human health, racial justice, and climate progress. To bend the curve and reverse harmful trend lines requires radical optimism fueled by persistent will.
Our GOALs are to:
- Slash the use and production of petrochemicals and petrochemical plastics
- Ensure a just transition for workers and communities whose prosperity’s at stake
- Advance market adoption of safer, more sustainable materials, products and solutions
We must take the long view. The industry began turning oil, gas and coal into chemicals and plastics more than 100 years ago. It will likely take a 100-year campaign to transform the petrochemical industry to sustainable production. Compare this challenge to other historic transformative campaigns. It took more than 200 years to end slavery in America. More than 80 years of organizing finally won women’s right to vote in the United States.
“… to ameliorate the intense and socially unrewarding impact of the petrochemical industry on the environment, on health, and on society generally will require that the rapid and continuing growth of this industry be substantially curtailed – a process which will be as difficult as it is important to environmental survival.”
Dr. Barry Commoner, “The Impact of Chemical Technology,”
presented at the American Chemical Society Southeastern Regional Meeting, Charleston, SC, 8 Nov. 1973
Barry Commoner’s call to action more than fifty years ago places us about halfway through the 100-year campaign. Or perhaps it began shortly thereafter, when federal agencies finally cracked down on cancer-causing vinyl chloride used to make PVC plastic. In 1974, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ordered a 500-fold reduction in allowable worker exposure to vinyl chloride. In 1976, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) required a 95% reduction in vinyl chloride air emissions under the Clean Air Act.
Strategy
Our STRATEGY relies on the power of people, science, and markets. We’ll never convince ExxonMobil, Dow, or other chemical manufacturers to voluntarily reduce their production of petrochemicals and plastics. But the companies and institutions that use plastics are persuadable. And when market leaders move so do policy makers at the local, state, and eventually federal level. That’s why Bend the Curve advocates a demand-side strategy—to increase market adoption of safer solutions.
“It will take a massive effort to move society from corporate domination, in which industry’s rights to pollute and damage health and the environment supersede the public’s right to live, work, and play in safety. This is a political fight. The science is already there, showing that people’s health is at risk. To win, we will need to keep building the movement, networking with one another, planning, strategizing, and moving forward. Our children’s futures, and those of their unborn children, are at stake.”
Lois Marie Gibbs, founder of the Center for Health, Environment & Justice, from Learning from Love Canal: A 20th Anniversary Retrospective, 1998
LEADERSHIP FOR IMPACT
Our Founder
Our Founder, Mike Belliveau, has advanced strategic campaigns for environmental health and justice for more than forty years. His work has engaged impacted communities and workers in shaping public and corporate policies across the United States. He’s helped major corporations in the retail, food, and beverage industries to phase out chemicals of high concern and slash plastic pollution. He’s a consummate research analyst, policy advocate, issue campaigner, science translator, nonprofit leader, coalition builder, social entrepreneur, writer, and strategist.
Mike was the founding executive director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center, now known as Defend Our Health, where he set the pace for state-based chemical policy reform to replace mercury, brominated flame retardants, BPA, phthalates, and PFAS with safer alternatives. He co-founded Safer States to drive similar reform nationwide.
strategic advice, shared experience and expertise
Our Advisory Board
Yvette Arellano
Yvette Arellano is a Mexican American Gulf Coast organizer based in Houston, Texas who works on toxics, right-to-know, and human rights issues. They are the founder and executive director of Fenceline Watch, an environmental justice organization dedicated to the eradication of toxic multigenerational harm on communities living along the fenceline of industry. Yvette led a 2015 campaign against H.R.702, which opened the floodgates to U.S. crude oil exports. They contributed to the Center for International Environmental Law report ‘Plastic & Health: The Hidden Cost of a Plastic Planet’. Yvette has testified before EPA, and state and federal legislative bodies about public health impacts from toxic exposure and solutions. Their advocacy aided crisis response after chemical disasters and efforts to stop fossil fuel expansions, new export terminals and offshore drilling. Yvette graduated from University of Houston with a degree in political science.
John Beard, Jr.
John Beard, Jr. is the founder, president, and executive director of the Port Arthur Community Action Network (PA-CAN), serving the Port Arthur/Southeast Texas area as a community advocate, focusing on environmental issues and community development. He is an active member of his community and has dedicated his life and career to serving the public. He has over thirty-two years of public service as an elected official, nine as city councilman and mayor pro-tem, with current and previous service on numerous boards and commissions with the City of Port Arthur. John worked thirty-eight years in the petrochemical industry, with practical training and experience in maintenance services, process operations; health, safety and environmental issues; and emergency management and incident command systems. He was educated in the Port Arthur public school system and studied political science and economics at Lamar University.
Linda Birnbaum, PhD, DABT, ATS
Dr. Birnbaum, a certified toxicologist, served for ten years as Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the National Toxicology Program (NTP). In those roles Birnbaum oversaw federal funding for biomedical research to discover how the environment influences human health and disease. She’s a Scholar in Residence at Duke University. Birnbaum has authored more than 600 peer-reviewed publications. Her research interests include pharmacokinetic behavior of environmental chemicals, mechanisms of actions of toxicants, including endocrine disruption; and linking of real-world exposures to health effects. She was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 2010 and as a Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science in 2022. She earned a PhD and MS in microbiology from University of Illinois and a biology degree from University of Rochester.
Ken Geiser, PhD
Dr. Geiser is an internationally recognized expert on pollution prevention, clean production, green chemistry, and industrial chemical policy. He’s a Professor Emeritus of Work Environment and past Distinguished University Professor at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. He co-founded the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Institute and the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production. He’s authored two books, Materials Matter: Toward a Sustainable Materials Policy and Chemicals without Harm: Policies for a Sustainable World. Dr. Geiser is one of the primary authors of the United Nation Environment Program’s Global Chemicals Outlook and has served as a Project Coordinator for the United Nations Environment Program’s Chemicals in Products Project. He has advised many government agencies and nonprofit organizations. Dr. Geiser earned his PhD and master’s degree in urban planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a degree in architecture from University of California, Berkeley.
Lani Graham, MD, MPH
Dr. Graham is a retired family physician who serves on the Public Health Committee of Maine Medical Association and the board of Maine Physicians for Social Responsibility. She is the former Director of the Maine Bureau of Health, where she issued the first-in-the-nation statewide health advisories for mercury contamination of fish caught in lakes and rivers. Her work has focused on several environmental health hazards, including dioxin from paper mills, the pesticide daminozide (alar), radon testing in water, and childhood lead poisoning prevention. Dr. Graham was appointed by Maine Governor Janet Mills to serve on Task Force on the Threats of PFAS Contamination to Public Health and the Environment. Lani is a tireless policy advocate for solutions to toxic chemicals, environmental health, climate change, tobacco use, gun violence, criminal justice, and other public health and medical issues.
Muhannad Malas, MPH
Muhannad Malas is the director of law reform at Ecojustice, the largest environmental law nonprofit in Canada. As an environmental justice campaigner, he seeks system change to undo decades of environmental racism and government inaction. Most recently he helped the Aamjiwnaang First Nation halt health-threatening benzene emissions from a petrochemical plastics plant in the Chemical Valley of Sarnia, Ontario. He previously worked as a senior climate campaigner at Stand.earth where he worked to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the fashion sector supply chain. Before that he directed the toxics program at Environmental Defence where he worked to strengthen corporate and government policies to reduce the use of toxic chemicals. Muhannad earned a BSc in human biology and a Master of Public Health degree from University of Toronto. He teaches global health governance and advocacy courses at McMaster University.
Roger McFadden, MS
Roger McFadden is a scientist, technical trainer, and business leader who has helped the cleaning industry and retail sector to reduce their use of toxic chemicals in favor of safer, more sustainable alternatives. As chief science officer of McFadden and Associates, Roger teaches professional green cleaning, environmental health and safety, and green chemistry to public agencies, nonprofit institutions, and private companies. He formerly served as vice president and senior scientist at Staples, Inc. where he led chemical policy development. Prior to that he held positions as chief scientist for office supplies wholesaler Corporate Express, senior scientist and R&D director for Coastwide Laboratories, and as a consulting chemist and product engineer for several chemical manufacturers. In 2023, Roger was awarded Safer Choice Partner of the Year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in recognition of his contribution to green cleaning.
Anne Rolfes
Anne is the founder and Director of Louisiana Bucket Brigade, which uses grassroots action to hold the petrochemical industry and government accountable for the true costs of pollution. Anne began her career in Nigeria, collaborating with local communities to address oil companies’ destruction of the Niger Delta. She returned to Louisiana to collaborate with women along Cancer Alley on environmental justice. Anne was born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana where many people made their fortunes from the oil industry. She has seen the wealth and the poverty created by oil production and seeks a phase-out of fossil fuels in her lifetime. She has a master’s degree in international development from Tulane University and has twice testified before Congress. She has received the Jane Bagley Lehman Award for Public Advocacy and the Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leader Award.
Our Team
We’re recruiting! The following positions are open:
Director of Communications & Digital Strategy
We’re looking for a highly-experienced persuasive communicator who’s an activist at heart, a clear thinker, and tech-savvy to boot. Here’s your chance to advance environmental justice while protecting human health and climate progress. The successful candidate will have a proven track record across multiple communication strategies and tactics aimed at winning hearts and minds and persuading decision makers.
Working for an organization dedicated to system change, you’ll articulate and advocate solutions through framing and messaging that resonates with targeted audiences. You’ll help press levers of change based on strategic analysis of vulnerabilities. We need someone who can creatively break down the complexity of the science and technology and translate our vision into short-term action opportunities to which everyone can relate.
Required experience:
- Minimum of ten years of professional work experience across a variety of communications strategies and tactics with prior success in persuasion campaigns as an advocate, campaigner, organizer or team member
- A directly relevant graduate degree may count as two years of experience
- A demonstrated commitment to social justice
Salary range: $125,000 to 150,000 annual
Benefits: Fully-paid health insurance, generous paid time off, employer-contribution to retirement, and much more, provided through Tides Center, our fiscal sponsor
APPLY HERE: https://jsco.re/ha8sm
More details on the position:
Essential Duties & Responsibilities
- Digital campaigns – Lead our online advocacy to persuade brand-owners to reduce their use of harmful plastics and toxic chemicals.
- Social media – Manage our social accounts to help maintain fresh relevant content and boost engagement.
- Boost content – Help draft, edit and amplify written and visual production of information and materials, including monthly newsletter.
- Web sites – Maintain our web site and campaign microsites to optimize functionality and freshen content.
- Media advocacy – Help pitch stories and content placement to editors and reporters in mainstream and online media outlets.
- Manage contractors – Supervise communications-related contracts with vendors and consultants to ensure quality strategic and timely work product.
- Planning – Develop project plans and budgets, and contribute to program planning and broader strategy development
Other Duties & Responsibilities
- Networking – Assist in publicly representing the organization in allied networks, and at conferences, meetings and other public gatherings.
- Fundraising – Assist the Director in preparing proposals and reports to funders
- Administrative – Effectively and timely engage with Tides Center, our fiscal sponsor, on their policies and procedures
- Other – Carry out other duties as assigned from time to time
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
Knowledge: Must know the field of persuasive communication and be familiar with the changing media and social change landscape. Some knowledge of environmental public health, climate change, and/or environmental justice issues is needed or quickly grasped.
Skills: Must have truly outstanding writing, editing and storytelling skills; strong oral communications skills, and a very good graphic sensibility regarding effective visual media. Must be tech savvy on a variety communications-related programs and platforms and practiced at the art of persuasion.
Abilities: An ability to be personable but persuasive, to promote with humility, and to build relationships with people on the basis of where they’re at, not where we want them to be. Ability to plan and organize work, ability to listen and understand information that is presented, ability to solve complex problems, and think critically. Ability to effectively translate complex issues, including those steeped in science and technology, into relatable stories and actionable bites.
Organizational Relationships
The Director of Communications and Digital Strategy reports to the Director & Founder and works collaboratively with contractors, strategic partners, and advisers on a weekly or monthly basis to ensure effective persuasive communications across the organization.
Physical demands
- Must be able to travel domestically to meetings, conferences or other events by airplane and other means of transportation about 6 to 10 times per year
- Must be able to write and speak to be understood on various devices several times per week and occasionally in-person
- Occasional light lifting of documents, office supplies, and other material goods as necessary to maintain an effective office environment
Work environment
- This is a full-time remote position with an expectation that the incumbent will maintain an adequately equipped home or other office
- Core operating hours are from 9 am to 5 pm eastern time but may be adjusted by agreement to accommodate time zone differences or family schedules
- Active online communications must be maintained on a daily or weekly basis as needed with travel for in-person meetings required on about a quarterly basis
- Occasional evening or weekend work may be required when traveling or as necessary to accommodate external partner schedules
Bend the Curve, a project of Tides Center, is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage and seek applications from women, people of color, and bilingual and bicultural individuals, as well as members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. Applicants shall not be discriminated against because of race, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, color, marital status, veteran status, or medical condition including acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-related conditions. Reasonable accommodation will be made so that qualified disabled applicants may participate in the application process. Please advise in writing of special needs at the time of application.”
APPLY HERE: https://jsco.re/ha8sm
Student Interns.
We are looking for a few high-performing scholars for the fall and spring semesters with interest and capacity in the following areas:
- Market & Corporate Research – ideal for an MBA or sustainable business student
- Environmental Justice – document and help correct disproportionate impacts
- Science & Technology – research chemical and climate impacts and solutions
- Public & Corporate Policy – research and help advocate necessary changes
Serious student intern queries only are welcome at recruitment@bendthecurve.org.
