Climate activist Xiye Bastida has been making headlines for turning to some of the wealthiest people on the planet in pursuit of climate solutions, appearing in Forbes-related forums around the Under 30 circuit to pitch collaboration between youth activists and billionaires. Her presence at Forbes events underscores a striking trend: instead of building broad-based popular coalitions, much of today’s climate movement is cozying up to the elite.
Bastida’s biography makes clear she is more than a viral protester — she is an organizer and the face of Re-Earth Initiative, a youth-led group that frames environmentalism in terms of justice and intergenerational stewardship. Her résumé — time on global stages and recognition from mainstream outlets — has opened doors in rooms where real money is made, and that access is exactly what has allowed these “partnerships” to form.
Meanwhile, Forbes and similar platforms have been fertile ground for wealthy investors and philanthropic heavyweights to talk green tech, policy, and rapid scaling — creating a seamless bridge between woke activism and billionaire capital. Those same summits routinely host the kind of wealthy donors and influencers who can bankroll high-profile climate startups and initiatives, which is why we’re watching elites write the agenda under the guise of urgency.
Conservatives should be blunt about what this dynamic really is: elite capture and virtue-signaling dressed as problem-solving. When climate activism migrates from grassroots pressure to VIP panels and private investment decks, it risks becoming a marketing operation that rewards insiders while handing ordinary Americans higher energy costs and fewer choices. This isn’t accountability; it’s crony environmentalism masquerading as moral leadership.
There is, of course, a real market for climate technologies and venture capital loves a narrative that promises outsized returns while scoring woke points. Early-stage funds and climate VCs pitch fast fixes and scalable projects at events aimed at young founders — but speed and scale for investors don’t automatically equal solutions for working families who need reliable, affordable energy. The mechanics of venture-backed “solutions” often prioritize exits over resilient, nationwide infrastructure.
The right answer isn’t to demonize genuine concern for conservation, but to insist on common-sense, market-driven innovation that protects jobs and energy security without surrendering policy to billionaire whims. We should demand transparency about who benefits from these public-private partnerships, insist on measurable outcomes, and favor technologies that actually lower costs and increase American industrial competitiveness rather than serve as PR for powerful donors.
Xiye Bastida has been rewarded with mainstream accolades and appearances inside elite circles, including recognition at Forbes platforms, which proves the point: influence flows to those who can play the lobby-and-gala game. Americans who work hard and raise families deserve to know whether these flashy alliances will produce tangible benefits or simply redistribute influence upward. It’s time conservatives hold both activists and their billionaire partners to account — for the planet and for the prosperity of everyday citizens.
