Kirk Weinert is a liberal environmentalist activist and writer who has staffed and led numerous left-of-center non-profits throughout his career, many of which are or were affiliates of the controversial Public Interest Network. Weinert attended Tufts University. He is married and has one daughter. ¹

Career

Weinert’s activist career began at Tufts University where he joined the Tufts Political Action Coalition to oppose nuclear energy and support divestment from South Africa in response to apartheid. ²

In 1979, Weinert began working with the Public Interest Network (PIN), a national affiliation of over one hundred left-wing activist organizations. Weinert works as a senior writer and advisor for PIN in the “Development” and “Editorial and Creative” departments, where he is described as “the in-house expert on polling, data analysis and reporting, small donor fundraising strategy, ballot measures and democracy issues.” Weinert also co-founded PIN’s departments of publications, direct mail, telephone outreach, and membership services. ³

Weinert has worked for numerous organizations under the umbrella of PIN. He was the president of the environmentalist group 2030 Fund until it went inactive in 2009. ⁴ He also served as director of the Fund for the Public Interest, a political activism group that targets environmental issues, from 2008 until 2013. ⁵ Concurrently, Weinert was the director of Environment Massachusetts from 2008 until 2010. ⁶

Writing

Weinert has written dozens of articles for numerous publications, mostly on environmental consumption issues.

From September 2018 to September 2019, Weinert wrote 57 articles on Medium.com, a popular blogging platform, on topics ranging from the impact of pesticides on bee colonies to the hunting of pangolins. ⁷

Weinert has published similar articles at Environmental Action, another environmentalist advocacy group affiliated with PIN. ⁸

1. “Our Staff: Kirk Weinert.” Public Interest Network. Accessed December 18, 2019. https://publicinterestnetwork.org/our-staff.html.
2. “Pam Gilbert: Public Interest Attorney.” SPAN – State PIRG Alumni Network. Accessed December 18, 2019. http://www.pirg.org/alumni/newsletters/SPAN_Fall10%20NSL_Print.pdf.
3. “Kirk Weinert.” Public Interest Network. Accessed December 11, 2019. https://publicinterestnetwork.org/our-staff.html.
4. “909 Finder.” Candid.org. Accessed December 11, 2019. https://990finder.foundationcenter.org/990results.aspx?990_type=&fn=2030+fund&st=&zp=&ei=&fy=&action=Search.
5. “Fund for the Public Interest: Board Members.” Open Secrets. Accessed December 18, 2019. https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/political-nonprofits/board-members?cycle=2013&id=042762647.
6. “Environment Massachusetts: Board Members.” Open Secrets. Accessed December 18, 2019. https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/political-nonprofits/board-members?cycle=2010&id=208180281.
7. “Kirk Weinert.” Medium.com. Accessed December 18, 2019. https://medium.com/@kirk.weinert.
8. “Jumbo the Elephant has Some Advice for President Trump.” Environmental Action. Accessed December 18, 2019. https://environmental-action.org/blog/jumbo-the-elephant-and-president-trump/