Isaiah Back-Gaal

Climate and Safe Energy Campaign Manager

10/2/24

Isaiah Back-Gaal joined Waterkeeper Alliance in October 2024 as the Climate and Safe Energy Campaign Manager. In this role, Isaiah galvanizes public support for a just transition and builds the power of Waterkeeper groups around the world fighting dirty, dangerous, and extractive energy projects.

Isaiah grew up in Brooklyn, New York, two miles from the East River and the New York Harbor and spent summers with his family in coastal Maine. For the past ten years, Isaiah has organized with diverse movements fighting for racial, economic, and environmental justice in New York City, Seattle, and in the Midwestern United States.

Most recently, Isaiah organized strategic campaigns with the Sunrise Movement in Ohio, fighting fracked gas plants, building coalitions for energy justice, and contributing to a citywide climate action plan.

A skilled facilitator, Isaiah is committed to building the infrastructure for sustainable movements that empower grassroots leaders and lay the seeds for tangible change. At Waterkeeper Alliance, Isaiah is thrilled to foster deep relationships, exchange knowledge, and support the incredible Waterkeepers building a better world.

In addition to organizing, Isaiah is a writer, editor, and poet, and he completed an MFA in Creative Writing. Isaiah believes in the power of storytelling and has developed and led poetry workshops for climate activists to rest, share stories, and collectively imagine more just futures.

Isaiah now lives in Brooklyn with his partner and their chocolate lab, Petra, who loves the water. He can be found taking salsa classes, exploring new bike routes, and cooking dinner for his friends and loved ones.

“Exploring tide pools, kayaking in Frenchman Bay, and taking environmental excursions to islands brimming with harbor seals and sand dollars taught me the vulnerability and resilience of aquatic ecosystems, and the communities that rely on them. The contradiction of coming of age in the climate crisis is to experience the immense beauty of the natural world while witnessing change in real time.”