The Derrick Crowe for Congress Committee today announced that world-renowned environmental leader Bill McKibben has endorsed Crowe’s run for Congress in the 21st Congressional District of Texas. Crowe is running in a crowded primary for the Democratic nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, a 30-year incumbent with deep ties to the fossil fuel industry.

“Derrick Crowe has long been active in the fight for a working environmental future, and now it’s very good to see him enter the political arena,” McKibben said. “We badly need people like him who are willing to stand up to climate denial and help us forge a clean and prosperous future.”

McKibben is an author and environmentalist who in 2014 was awarded the Right Livelihood Prize, sometimes called the “alternative Nobel.” His 1989 book The End of Nature is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change. He is a founder of 350.org, the first planet-wide, grassroots climate change movement. Foreign Policy named him to their inaugural list of the world’s 100 most important global thinkers, and the Boston Globe said he was “probably America’s most important environmentalist.” A former staff writer for The New Yorker, McKibben writes regularly for Harper’s and The Atlantic Monthly, among other publications, and is the author of 10 books. (Click here for a high-resolution photo of McKibben.)

Crowe is a former congressional staffer, small business owner, and nonprofit professional. He was part of the core team that established 350 Austin, the Austin-based chapter of 350.org. He has gained national notoriety as a “science nerd” taking on “Congress’s most detested climate change denier,” according to Mother Jones. His platform includes support for real climate change action, Medicare For All, a $15/hour minimum wage, and tuition-free college. Learn more: https://electcrowe.com.