A child of marine biologists, she grew up in Kailua, Hawaii, where she took an early interest in climate change, she explained.“I did my thesis studying the impacts of climate on coral reefs in Hawaii, and from there, I moved into a career in sustainable development,” Bender said.
“We’ve known about global warming for 30 years now,” she continued. “To me, what really led to taking this big swing right now is with this latest [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] report. I started to hear people talking about climate change in a way that I never had before. It had risen to the front, risen to the center, just because of how crystal clear the language was that this is a code read for humanity.
Youth to the People cofounder and chief executive officer Joe Cloyes was the first to join the movement.because action toward slowing global warming and avoiding climate breakdown has never been more urgent,” Cloyes told WWD in an exclusive statement. “This is our call to action. As an industry, we must reduce emissions and energy consumption to protect our planet and all people.”
Milk Makeup was next to sign up. “And when Sephora became aware of it, they started calling their brands,” Bender went on. “Brands started recruiting other folks….I know that we have 13 million people reached through our digital channels every month. If I can get 1 percent of people to pick up the phone and make a call for lawmakers, that matters. Now if I can get 100 other brands with the same reach to do that, that matters. That was really the genesis for it.