Volunteer Profile: Rob Campbell
By Trump’s second inauguration on January 20, 2025, Rob Campbell had already gained years of professional experience working alongside politicians, civil servants, non-profits, and business leaders to promote environmental conservation. A clean energy policy analyst for EQ Research, Rob knew the right people to call and the right things to do to influence decision making with hard data and passionate persuasion.
Rob’s love of nature brought him to a career in renewable energy and environmental health activism. It also brought him to Western North Carolina, where for eight years he has enjoyed activities that keep him close to the outdoors: beautiful hiking and biking in our mountains; paddling in our beautiful streams and rivers.
Rob’s professional training and experience, coupled with his love for the natural world, somewhat prepared him for what a second Trump term could mean for the environment. Better than most of us, he could see the hazards in the road ahead.
And yet, on January 20 Trump surprised everyone with the speed and depth of his slash and burn approach to the environment. Trump removed the U.S. from the Paris Agreement to signal his administration’s disinterest in international efforts to combat global warming. He declared a National Energy Emergency, effectively subjugating anything that safeguards our public lands and water, individual health, or the protection of endangered species and habitats to the promotion of fossil energy production. In case we were not clear just how much fossil energy production would be favored by the administration, additional missives among Trump’s Day #1 orders crippled clean energy initiatives.
These devastating orders were a handful among the 54 Trump signed on January 20, 2025. Like many of us, on that day Rob was introduced to how quickly Trump 2.0 would not only eviscerate our environmental protections but would also reject the rights of immigrants, upturn our guarantee of birthright citizenship, jeopardize our health, strip federal workers of their dignity and employee rights, establish a “two-gender” lens through which to govern, and test the bounds of free speech and thinking from inside the government itself.
Rob found this onslaught both professionally and personally repulsive. He began seeking opportunities for activism that could both build community coalitions and address a variety of concerns from under a pro-democracy umbrella. Through a “Turning Anger into Action” forum held by the Buncombe County Democratic Party in February, he found Indivisible Asheville/WNC.
As a volunteer, Rob has been able to put his considerable advocacy skills and experience to work for the people, associations and issues that the Trump administration seems determined to destroy. He soon joined Indivisible Asheville/WNC’s State Watch Action Team, which monitors state legislators and legislative activity, in order to oppose attacks on democracy and to support voting rights, healthcare, the environment, and other critical issues. Before long, Rob also also assumed leadership of our Communications Team and now serves on the Board of Directors.
Indivisible Asheville/WNC’s broad pro-democracy focus appeals to Rob, and to others who recognize that our best defense against the policies of the Trump administration is to work in concert with one another and across any number of progressive issues.
“It’s easy to feel powerless right now,” Rob observes, “but individual actions do add up. It’s important to realize that there are many more of us than there are of them. Our actions do have an impact, and every little bit helps.”
Indivisible Asheville/WNC routinely posts specific volunteer needs, and we welcome the vast amount of skill and experience our community has to bear. To not feel benched at this critical time, taking a cue from Rob and getting involved in tangible ways may be just what’s needed to reclaim a personal sense of agency and power. We hope you’ll consider volunteering with us, too!