On September 7, 2026 the green movement lost one of our finest champions. David Cobb was an activist, organizer, leader, mentor, friend, loving husband, and as he described himself, “I’m a straight-up revolutionary, y’all.”
David identified as a revolutionary because he knew that our current society is fundamentally racist, sexist, classist, imperialist, and leading to the destruction of the natural world. Therefore, he believed that the system can’t just be reformed, it must be transformed. He dedicated his life to fight for an ecological future in which all people have their basic needs met and have the opportunity to achieve their desires and aspirations.
Watch David’s talk at the Institute for Social Ecology’s 2026 intensive Land and Liberation.
I first met David in 2022 in Vermont at the Ecosocialism From Below event put on by his organization the People’s Network for Land and Liberation (PNLL) in collaboration with Cooperation Vermont and the Institute for Social Ecology. One afternoon, David sat out outside with a group of young activists (including myself) in our teens and twenties and answered every single question we excitedly threw at him about capitalism, socialism, the Left, tactics and strategy, cooperatives, and more. What struck me was not only his ability to communicate complex ideas in simple language with his folksy flair, but also that he treated all of us newcomers to the movement with such a high degree of respect and humility. He made us feel like we were worth his time and that he believed that each one of us had the potential to sit where he was sitting one day, teaching the next generation.
A couple of years later he became my mentor. David saw potential in me and wanted to foster my growth as an organizer and revolutionary. He mentored dozens of others over the years as well, knowing that revolutions are made not by great leaders but by collective movements. He put the time in to share his knowledge and wisdom because he believed in our ability to make a difference. Over the course of this mentorship relationship, I gained more and more respect and affection for David. Of course he was very accomplished. He was the 2004 Green Party presidential candidate, a key figure in countless left-green causes from the 1980’s – 2020’s, and more recently the co-coordinator of the US Solidarity Economy Network and key leader in the People’s Network for Land Liberation. But what mattered more to David than these accomplishments was the cause for the free and ecological future that we all deserve. He dedicated his life to the movement because he believed that a revolution is both possible and necessary. He was the most genuine and caring person I ever met.
In his many speaking engagements about his work with PNLL, David would say that their five point plan was “the special sauce, not the secret sauce.” He wanted to set an example for people to create change in their own communities, because he knew lasting social change must come from the bottom-up. He inspired literally thousands of people to follow in his footsteps and become straight-up revolutionaries. Over the years David utilized many organizing strategies including elections, ballot initiatives, solidarity economy projects, mass demonstrations, and most recently, land based prefigurations of community ownership. Through all this work he demonstrated flexibility and commitment to a dialectical approach to social change. Being an electoral green in the 1990’s and 2000’s David had conflicts and debates with social ecologists, as social ecologists were some of the most prominent anti-electoral greens. But despite these occasional disagreements about strategy, David shared the underlying vision for revolutionary transformation and has thus remained in unity and struggle with social ecologists over the years.
When I think about David, I think about someone who wore his heart on his sleeve. When speaking about the future we are fighting for, he would get teary eyed and choked up because he felt so deeply the wounds inflicted on our beautiful planet by the capitalist system. This love of beauty was reflected in this importance he gave to the place of art and culture in the movement. One of his favorite stories to tell was of one of his “mentors”, a five year old child who reminded him despite his lack of drawing skills, “everyone’s an artist, David.” He would bring this up in almost every single one of his talks because he knew that centering creativity and expression is central to the revolutionary project.
For me and for hundreds of others, David was a sounding board, and confidant, a mentor, and a friend. He was someone you could call when times got tough or you needed some inspiration and advice. He opened up so many opportunities as he was always willing to put his expansive network to use for projects he believed in. For example, the ISE’s 2026 intensive Land and Liberation organized in collaboration with Native Roots Network was in part born out of an introduction email that David sent. Check out his talk at the intensive here.
David left us too soon. Like so many others, I was utterly shocked and devastated when I heard the news of his passing. I was expecting to be able to lean on David for years to come. My heart especially goes out to his loving wife and partner Ruthi.
David was not just a builder and fighter for social change, he was also a loving husband and son. He leaves behind a wife and elder mother who need care. David touched many people in his life with his work. This is our opportunity to give back to David by supporting his family care needs. Please donate what you can to support David’s closest loved ones.
I miss you so much David. We honor you by fighting like you did!
Onward to the future that we deserve!
Rob Persons
ISE Development Director
