Eco-heroes

Note: New content tends to appear in gold font. See also UCSC green folk, Activism, System Thinkers and Entrepreneurship.

Greta Thunberg—Swedish Teen who Inspired School Climate Strikes—Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize 3/19. Wins Alternative Nobel, Right Liveilihood Award 9/19

Powerful video: She's Alive... Beautiful... Finite...Hurting...Worth dying for. More Than 900 Environmental Advocates Slain In A Decade As Concern For The Planet Grows. 4/14

Historical

See also History page

Eco-Elders (our historical and theoretical roots) ***

Earth Days is a fantastic history of the American Environmental Movement. ****

Slideshow of the American Environmental Movement.

Info on historical environmentalists (Note: links at the top of each entry lead to more specific info). Interactive Timeline. Another good timeline.

"A Fierce Green Fire" video documentery traces the history of the modern environmental movement, chronicling dramatic battles like the Sierra Club's fight against dams in the Grand Canyon, Greenpeace's campaign to save whales and recent efforts to combat climate change. San Francisco-based director Mark Kitchell, who also made the Academy Award-nominated "Berkeley in the Sixties," (audio interview).

History of US environmental movement.

Adam Rome’s “The Genius of Earth Day: How a 1970 Teach-in Unexpectedly Made the First Green Generation” (review with some history).

The Man Who Planted Trees is about the unique achievement of Elzéard Bouffier, a Provençal shepherd who patiently reforests a barren piece of land.

Presidents Who Shaped the U.S. Food System (for Better and for Worse) 2/18 see Food.

Awards, Lists and Books

Goldman Prize is considered the Nobel prize, given to grassroots organizers. Site lists by region, also by issue , includes video and email contact and ways to take action. 2015 winners Goldman's YouTube channel also 2010 winners (local radio interview with Arauz, who is saving turtles) see also Audio interview with four 2008 winners 2012 winners from China (Apple) and Russia****. The American, fighting mountaintop removal in Appalachia, was recently harrassed by Republican House members for showing a picture of a bathing toddler. 2013 three winners interviewed, fighting fracking, wetlands degradation, and powerplants near poor neighborhoods in Chicago (audio).

14 Notable Climate Influencers of 2017 includes Attenborough who told Greenpeace of the "heartbreaking" footage he recorded of mother birds feeding their babies plastic, an iconic moment for him that pushed him to speak up about plastic pollution in oceans.12/17 See Plastic.

Right Livelihood Award, sometimes called the Alternative Nobel Prize, often recognizes green people. Greta Thunberg—Swedish Teen who Inspired School Climate Strikes—Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize 3/19 Wins Alternative Nobel, Right Liveilihood Award 9/19 Other Examples: 2015: Tony de Brum & the People of the Marshall Islands, Sheila Watt-Cloutier (Canada), Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera (Uganda) and Gino Strada / EMERGENCY (Italy), ; 2013 Hans Herren / Biovision Foundation (Switzerland). 2012 Hayrettin Karaca (Turkey) "...for a lifetime of tireless advocacy and support for the protection and stewardship of our natural world, combining successful entrepreneurship with effective environmental activism." “...for his expertise and pioneering work in promoting a safe, secure and sustainable global food supply”. 2011 Huang Ming (China) "...for his outstanding success in the development and mass-deployment of cutting-edge technologies for harnessing solar energy, thereby showing how dynamic emerging economies can contribute to resolving the global crisis of anthropogenic climate change." Also GRAIN (International) "...for their worldwide work to protect the livelihoods and rights of farming communities and to expose the massive purchases of farmland in developing countries by foreign financial interests."

Island Press (eco books, started by a Slug!) summer e-books, for example Nature’s Allies, Larry Nielsen uses the stories of conservation pioneers to show that through passion and perseverance, we can each be a positive force for change: John Muir, Ding Darling, Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, Chico Mendes, Billy Frank Jr., Wangari Maathai, and Gro Harlem Brundtland. 7/18.

17 Food Heroes Who Are Making the World a Better Place 3/17. see Eco-heroes and Food.

Grist 50 (2016) Grist Magazine's 40 People Who Are Redefining Green includes lots of Bay Area folks. 5/10

MacArthur "Genius" Award: 2013 David Lobell, Agricultural Ecologist Climate change affect on food; 2012 Nancy Rabalais is a marine ecologist who is dedicated to documenting and mitigating the effects of hypoxic zones—aquatic areas with low dissolved oxygen levels commonly known as “dead zones”—that have expanded dramatically in the Gulf of Mexico and many other coastal systems around the globe. Past environmental winners include Lester Brown, Dana Meadows.

Peter Dreier is a professor of politics and chair of the Urban & Environmental Policy Department at Occidental College. His most recent book is The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame (Nation Books).

Eco-Pioneers: Practical Visionaries Solving Today's Environmental Problems 1998.

Utne Reader List 2008. and 2009. (not all green, but all interesting).

Natural Heroes PBS TV series includes Temple Grandin.

Time Magazine's Heroes of the Planet 2009 includes UC's own Stephen Chu . See also Time Magazine's 2008 picks and 2007 picks

Heinz Award winners 2012 winner finds connection between chemicals and obesity.

Betterworld.net list

Top 100 according to the Guardian UK. 2006, but contains historical people such as #8 William Morris, who advocated simple DIY design, still influential. Remembered by environmentalists for his pioneering predictions of the problems caused by unsustainable industrialization. His utopian view of a society in harmony with nature still inspires generations of sustainable-living advocates.

AlterNet grassroots

Youth award, includes Palo Alto student

American environmentalists subset Goldman Prize winners

List by country on Wikipedia

Fifty Key Thinkers on the Environment By Joy Palmer, David Edward Cooper, Peter Blaze Corcoran

National Geographic Explorers.

Ten Black eco-heroes from Planet Harmony.

Brower Youth Awards, see winners past and present, even apply! Video of 2008 winners, 2009, 2010.

My Hero Earthkeepers, a more democratic approach.

Eco Barons: The New Heroes of Environmental Activism by Edward Humes.

Eco-Pioneers: Practical Visionaries Solving T… by Steve Lerner 1998.

People

Greta Thunberg—Swedish Teen who Inspired School Climate Strikes—Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize 3/19. Giant Greta Thunberg / Mural of Swedish activist to watch over San Francisco's downtown 11/19 (see below).

Dakota Access pipeline’s private security unleashed attack dogs and sprayed mace on protesters. 9/16 see Native Americans.

Global Witness report documents surge of killing of green activists, particularly in Global Witness report documents surge of killing of green activists, particularly in South America South America. 4/14. F Listen to the Land, a book of interviews with eco-heroes by Derrick Jensen, eco-philosopher. Interview on activism.

Women play a huge role in the green movement.

Images and short bios of the most important environmental leaders of the twentieth century.

Legacy: Portraits of 50 Bay Area Environmental Elders text by John Hart images by Nancy Kittle UCSC Sci Library S&E Stacks GE55 .K58 2006

Will Allen, son of a sharecropper, former professional basketball player, ex-corporate sales leader and now farmer, has become recognized as among the preeminent thinkers of our time on agriculture and food policy. The founder and CEO of Growing Power Inc., a farm and community food center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Will is widely considered the leading authority in the expanding field of urban agriculture. MacArthur Genius recipient.

Randall Arauz led the campaign to halt the practice in Costa Rica, drawing international attention to the inhumane and environmentally catastrophic shark finning industry and making his country the international model for shark protection.] also radio interview 4/10 30 min. 2010 Goldman Award winner.

Lee Myung Bak is transforming Korea.

Judi Bari: "Twenty years ago on May 24, 1990, a bomb planted in the car of Earth First! activist Judi Bari exploded, sending her and fellow activist Darryl Cherney to the hospital in Oakland--Judi with life-threatening injuries, since the bomb had been hidden directly under her driver's seat. Judi and Darryl were on their way to a music and speaking event on the UC Santa Cruz campus, part of an organizing tour for Redwood Summer. That explosion, and the subsequent attack on Earth First! as well as Judi and Darryl by the FBI and Oakland police, would forever change the face of forest activism in the redwoods and elsewhere. The bomber was never found, because the FBI never conducted a serious investigation, choosing instead to blame and harass Earth First! activists. But a lawsuit filed by Judi against the FBI for violation of Constitutional rights was ultimately successful in 2002, vindicating Darryl and Judi, but coming five years after Judi's untimely death from breast cancer at the age of 47. BBC profile (audio). A new documentary (3/12)

Nnimmo Bassey is and activist and poet, the executive director of Environmental Rights Action (ERA), Nigeria and elected chair of Friends of the Earth International. He is one of Time Magazine's Heroes of the Planet 2009 and co-winner of the 2010 Right Livelihood Award (the Alternative Nobel Prize). His books include To Cook a Continent (excerpt), Oilwatching in South America and Genetically Modified Organisms: the African Challenge. video interview. (See also Africa Page).

Wendell Berry. video interview 10/13, (remarks on captialism); audio interview 10/12 see Eco-Elders.

Stewart Brand is a systems thinker par excellence. Brand, the center hub of the human network, has a new book, Whole Earth Discipline. here's a video overview. He's putting the whole book online for free, with annotations and a reading list link. He makes some stands that are heretical to mainstream greens (pro-nuke and GMO). radio interview 2/10Those who heard Fred Turner's plenary talk last year will have some sense of how important Brand has been and continues to be generally book. He lobbied to get NASA to release the first picture of Earth from space, predicting its iconic power to unite and inspire. Because of his work with Gov Brown, CA uses half the energy per capita as the rest of US (comparable to EU). A new book traces the importance of Brand's work on green thinking: Counterculture Green: The Whole Earth Catalog and American Environmentalism. To get people to think about long term consequences, he's working on an amazing 10K year clock. about clock). On De-extinction 3/13. LongNow talk on rewilding short rewilding overview.

Erin Brockovitch, see Chromium-6 Taints Water Supplies Around the CountryChromium VI: EPA Contaminated by Conflict of Interest. The 2000 movie "Erin Brockovich" chronicled the struggles of the small town of Hinkley, Calif., against the monumental Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), who was polluting their water with the toxic substance chromium-6. However, more than ten years later, Hinkley is still dealing with dangerous levels of the chemical in its groundwater. Brockovitch.

David Brower Executive Director of the Sierra Club, he had a significant impact on green history in the US. Video biography Monumental can be seen on PBS. (short excerpt). An earlier biographical video is For Earth's Sake: The Life and Times of David Brower and is also the name of a book of his essays. Brower is the subject of the classic biography Encounters with the Archdruid by John McPhee. One of his last interviews (video) tells us all we need to know, including the role of corporations. New bio: David Brower: The Making of the Environmental Movement author interview.

Lester Brown, founder of the Worldwatch Institute, and founder and president of the Earth Policy Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C. BBC Radio commentator Peter Day calls him "one of the great pioneer environmentalists." Brown is the author or co-author of over 50 books on global environmental issues and his works have been translated into more than forty languages. His most recent book is Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization text interview and links, Video of talk at Google (1/2006), free download of new book. "Saving Civilization Is Not A Spectator Sport"audio Recorded Nov 10 2009in San Francisco, Commonwealth Club (Realaudio). "World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse" (video interview) 6/11.

Robert Bullard (bio), sociologist widely regarded as the first to articulate the concept of environmental justice. Dumping in Dixie (excerpt) Most recently has been writing about Hurricane Katrina as the latest environmental sacrifice zone. In this interview Bullard explains why the environmental justice movement is different than mainstream environmental organizations. See A Fierce Green Fire ***excerpt.link.

Wang Canfa, director of the Beijing-based Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims.

In 1962, Rachel Carson published “Silent Spring,” her groundbreaking exposure of the environmental harms posed by the mosquito-killing pesticide DDT. Informed by her alarm over the atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, Carson’s work challenged prevailing assumptions about chemical safety and helped birth the modern environmental movement. A new PBS documentary premiering on January 24 examines Carson’s writing, research and the challenges she faced as a woman taking on one of the country’s most powerful industries. Interview with William Souder (audio), author,"On a Farther Shore: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson." Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson (video) episode of Bill Moyer's Journal (includes play, "A Sense of Wonder" based on her life). Rachel Carson's Silent Spring Excellent PBS documentary McHenry Library VT2457 . Newer 2010 documentary Sense of Wonder another link. Essay on Rachel Carson's influence. questions to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Silent Spring. NYT's Revkin on influence (many good links) 10/12. Frank Graham, editor with the Audubon Society, wrote follow up to Carson’s work, “Since Silent Spring” his reflections on her legacy (audio and text). Carson's letters (audio). Silent Spring’s lost legacy, told in fifty parts by Sandra Steingraber, published in the September/October 2012 issue of Orion magazine. 11/12. On a Farther Shore: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson by William Souder video interview also he is the author of Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of 'The Birds of America,' a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize. Nice web bio 9/14. 12/17 UCSC talk on Under the Sea Wind. Under the Sea Wind

Majora Carter video ***** Environmental Justice 11/09 audio interview

David "Gypsy" Chain was killed defending old growth forest.

Lipo Chanthanasak, arguably the greenest man in America. As leader of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), a group coordinating refugee and immigrant communities around Richmond and Oakland, Calif., the 73-year-old Laotian immigrant fights for clean energy and environmental justice. Lipo and the APEN team work, Avengers-style, to create green jobs and block the dumping of toxic and dirty facilities in their neighborhoods like Chevron refinery.

Tim DeChristopher, a student, bid up BLM oil lease auction, monkey-wrenching to protect our land from our companies, for which he will probably face charges. His statement on why he did it, with a link to his legal defense fund. Facebook page. Powershift 2011 talk (video excepts). UPDATE: he's been put under harsh conditions 3/12. Indepth interview by author Terry Tempest Williams 4/12. New video documentary 6.12. Extensive article at Outside Mag.

Barry Commoner best known for the Four Laws of Ecology. Grist remembrance. and another.

Tim DeChristopher, a student, bid up BLM oil lease auction, monkey-wrenching to protect our land from our companies, for which he will probably face charges. His statement on why he did it, with a link to his legal defense fund. Facebook page. Powershift 2011 talk (video excepts). UPDATE: he's been put under harsh conditions 3/12. Indepth interview by author Terry Tempest Williams 4/12. New video documentary 6.12. Tim DeChristopher,(profiled in the recent documentary, Bidder 70), famously bid on public lands in Utah to prevent their sale to gas and oil companies, and served two years in federal prison for his actions. His civil disobedience, though spontaneous, ultimately caused the cancellation of the auction sales.

Sylvia Earle is an American oceanographer. (short video bio and longer bio video). She was chief scientist for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from 1990-1992. She is a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, sometimes called "Her Deepness" or "The Sturgeon General." video TEDtalk Prize also 2011 Smith College talk.

Gail A. Eisnitz (San Rafael, CA), winner of the Albert Schweitzer Medal for outstanding achievement in animal welfare, is the chief investigator for the Humane Farming Association. Humane Farming Association, P.O. Box 3577, San Rafael, CA 94912

Corneille Ewango, as a botanist at the Okapi Wildlife Reserve in the Congo basin, has faced down poachers and soldiers who threaten this delicate and vital ecosystem (Tedtalk video).

Pablo Fajardo and Luis Yanza are fighting for justice after what has been called one of the most catastrophic environmental disasters in history. They leading an unprecedented community-driven legal battle against a global oil giant. According to the plaintiffs, beginning in 1964 and through 1990, Texaco dumped nearly 17 million gallons of crude oil and 20 billion gallons of drilling wastewater directly into the Ecuadorian Amazon. Attacked by same PR hacks who made fake newspaper to shill for Chevron in Richmond CA. See Public Relations.

Dian Fossey was a pioneering gorilla researcher video. Her life was depicted in the movie Gorillas in the Mist. 20 year BBC retrospective. see Primates. Virunga is a 2014 British documentary film directed by Orlando von Einsiedel; it focuses on the conservation work of rangers within Virunga National Park, and the activity of a British company, Soco International, which began exploring for oil within the UNESCO World Heritage site in April 2014. The film has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

John Francis has been a planetwalker, for almost three decades, traveling the globe by foot and sail with a message of environmental respect and responsibility (for 17 of those years without speaking). A funny, thoughtful talk with occasional banjo. TEDtalk video. Hertsgaard in Salon.

Terry Freitas, UCSC grad student killed trying to stop Indigenous people from being harmed by oil company.

Buckminster Fuller, see Eco-Elders. (short video bio) New documentary, The Love Song of Buckminster Fuller.

Jihan Gearon, Navajo and African American, has been diligently working to introduce the idea of renewable energy systems to tribal members. 1/16 Grist 50. See Native Americans

Lois Gibbs is a pioneering environmental activist who discovered that her son’s elementary school was built on top of a toxic waste dump in Niagara Falls, NY. Upon subsequent investigation she discovered that her entire neighborhood was built on the same dump, known as the Love Canal. (short video) Gibbs now runs The Center for Health and Environmental Justice. CHEJ can help citizens understand the technical issues and how to get support in fighting environmental injustice. Recent interview (text) with UCSC alum.

Jane Goodall legendary primatologist and environmental educator (TEDtalk video). She is the subject of a new feature film Jane's Journey. Chimps in trouble 3/12.Google Street View Takes You To Gombe National Park, Home Of Jane Goodall's Chimpanzees see Primates.

Al Gore "There is no prior period of change that remotely resembles what humanity is about to experience," writes Al Gore in his new book "The Future." And he's not just talking about climate change. Gore explores the six forces he says will reshape our world in the years to come. The former vice president, Nobel Peace Prize-winning environmentalist and entrepreneur joins us in the studio. 25 min audio interview. Global Warming Rolling Stone update 6/14. An Inconvenient Sequel Former Vice President Al Gore talked about his book in which he looks at the effects of climate change around the world. *** 10/17.

Saul Griffith is doing some of the most interesting work around energy. In this webcast, he'll take a scientific look (physics and chemistry based) at all of the earth's energy resources, both stored (nuclear and fossil fuels) as well as renewable (solar, wind, wave, geothermal, tidal, wave, photosynthetic). Looking at the sizes of each of these resources and comparing them to humanity's energy consumption is far from depressing. Although humanity uses a lot of energy, there are very large sources of non-carbon producing energy that can be tapped to meet our needs.this is a brilliant and funny 60 minute talk, plus 30 Q&A) at LongNow 9/15 update. Saul has multiple degrees in materials science and mechanical engineering and completed his PhD in Programmable Assembly and Self Replicating machines at MIT. He is the co-founder of numerous companies including: Low Cost Eyeglasses, Squid Labs, Potenco, Instructables.com, HowToons, Makani Power, and WattzOn, a free online tool to quantify, track, compare and understand the total amount of energy needed to support all of the facets of your lifestyle. Saul has been awarded numerous awards for invention including the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Collegiate Inventor's award, and the Lemelson-MIT Student prize. In 2007 he received a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant." fantastic TEDtalk on high altitude wind. Another TEDtalk on bio-mimicry, or actually, working from first principles, as did Bucky Fuller. At X Prize, he calls for a systems science for design, Terrarium Science (video). PARC talk video **** 9/12 ; LongNow and Climate Change 2015.

West Virginia coal activist Maria Gunnoe is used to intimidation. Gunnoe has been an activist for years, in 2009 winning the Goldman Environmental Prize (video} for her work trying to stem mountaintop-removal mining. The prize came with a $150,000 award – money she planned to use modestly: to extend the city water system to her house. But she was recently threatened with child porn charges by Republican legislators. She is in the documentary Burning the Future.

Jim Hansen at NASA risked his career by refusing to be muzzled on climate change by the Bush Administration. He has a new book, Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity, reviewed here. Extensive UCSB 2008 talk. He has also recently come to the defense of Tim DeChristopher above. New TEDtalk video 3/12. (See also Mann below.) James Hansen 2008 Q&A. 60 Minutes interview on being gagged by Bush Admin. he's been arrested multiple times trying to stop mountaintop removal for coal and the XL p[ipeline, which he declared would be "game over" for the climate. Remarks when receiving the Ridenhour Courage Award 6/13. amplifying feedback loops 9/15.

Paul Hawken. He has created a database (you can search it sadly now gone) of many thousands of organizations who are working on social and environmental justice, as well as related concerns (short video explain this ***). He thinks these constitute a new kind of social movement. The book Blessed Unrest is the result. video of a talk at Google HQ based on the book. short video overview from Bioneers( alt link) ;whole 2004 talk, Introduction "Emerson's Savants" explores Emerson, Thoreau and Gandhi. Talk at Longnow.org (audio) June 19, 2007 "The New Great Transformation." 2014 Bioneers Project Drawdown, 30$ solar panels for 3rd World. 2012 Bioneers on how his career began. Drawdown book: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming (2017) He is a brilliant and eloquent systems thinker.

NEW BOOK ON THE CLIMATE CRISIS MAKES THE PERSUASIVE CASE THAT WE’RE NOT DOOMED Drawdown, a new compendium of climate-stabilization tools and solutions edited by the versatile Paul Hawken, has an impressive subtitle: “The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming.” http://www.drawdown.org/ 4/17.

Family farmer and activist Lynn Henning exposed the egregious polluting practices of livestock factory farms in rural Michigan, gaining the attention of the federal EPA and prompting state regulators to issue hundreds of citations for water quality violations. 2010 2010 Goldman Prize winner.

Mark Jacobson: Barriers to 100% Clean Energy are Social and Political, Not Technical or Economic Stanford. Nat Geo article; interactive map from the Solutions Project. See Energy.

Julia Butterfly Hill see movie Resistance On Dec. 10, 1997, a 23-year-old woman named Julia "Butterfly" Hill climbed into a 55-meter (180 foot) tall California Coast Redwood tree. Her aim was to prevent the destruction of the tree and of the forest where it had lived for a millennium. Butterfly Hill worked in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi, putting her own life on the line to save the life of a forest that was under immediate threat of destruction. She stayed for two years, including through big storms. The New College of California awarded her an honorary doctorate for her tree sit-activism. Read Grist interview to learn where Butterfly-Hill derives her inspiration. In CNN interview Butterfly Hill explains her involvement in transnational environmental movements after being deported by the Ecuadorian government for protesting an oil pipeline through the rainforest. Various videos. Treesit: the Art of Resistance

Van Jones (Oakland CA Environmental Justice). Jones, civil rights leader and founding and executive Director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. Jones has made a name for himself linking prisons and environmental injustice, working in a pro-active way to ensure that marginalized inner city youth will not miss out on the next wave of “green capitalism.”In this short one page article Van Jones argues against the environmental limits idea, but showing that the damage from Hurricane Katrina was not just the force of nature, but the negligence of the U.S. government. Good simple article for considering how environmental justice gets defined. A better sense of his ideas are in Ec0-Apartheid on green collar economy.Interview 2008 book on greening the economy. Book Excerpt. Here is an Oct 2008 interview (audio). 5/09 audio interview 5/10 audio interview, including how he got attacked and forced to resign from Obama administration). His blog. extended 2010 interview. Powershift 2011 talk (video). New book Rebuild the Dream (2012) audio interview. Videos on BigThink. Tedtalk on plastic 2010.

Dean Kamen video profile) (alt link) is best known for trying to solve the last mile problem and thus revolutionize transportation with the electric Segway, which began as a wheelchair to make people whole. SlingShot (article) is intimate and inspirational portrait of Segway inventor (by Paul Lazarus), Dean Kamen, and his 15-year quest to solve the world’s safe water crisis. Also founder of First robotics competition. Innovation: Past, Present and Future. BigThink interview.

Robert Kennedy Jr was named one of Time magazine's "Heroes for the Planet" for his success helping Riverkeeper lead the fight to restore the Hudson River. He serves as Senior Attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council,and has worked on environmental issues across the Americas and has assisted several indigenous tribes in Latin America and Canada in successfully negotiating treaties protecting traditional homelands. He is credited with leading the fight to protect New York City's water supply, regarded as an international model in stakeholder consensus negotiations and sustainable development. Among Mr. Kennedy's published books are the New York Times' bestseller Crimes Against Nature (2004)text interview, and video talk. also The Riverkeepers (1997). audio interview on mountaintop removal 5/11. 6/11 Bay Area talk (video), part of Climate One Series (audio version).

Naomi Klein’s new book, This Changes Everything, excerpt, reviewed by Sandra Steingraber. Colbert interview; extensive interview(2 parts) 9/14. Bioneers 2014 includes TCE trailer. [extensive talk 2014. See Green Films. Forged in Fire: California’s Lessons for a Green New Deal by Naomi Klein 11/19.

James Howard Kunstler has done several interesting TEDtalks (video). He wrote The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century. A World Made by Hand is his novel of America's post-oil future. recent interview 3/11

The first Earth Day, 1970, 15-year-old Andy Lipkis was enjoying another summer at a pine forested summer camp in the San Bernardino Mountains. But he stopped feeling so carefree when a naturalist told his group that the forests in the mountains surrounding them were dying, victims of the air pollution creeping up from the sprawling city below. Andy took up the challenge to save the forests, even though he was “just” a teenager. That summer, he organized fellow campers to plant a grove of smog-tolerant seedlings in what had been a dirt lot. Along the way, they planted the seeds of an organization that grew into TreePeople.

Winona LaDuke Native American activist. article on native rice and GMO's.2/10 talk about food and energy (video). On Green economy (video) 09. See also Native American page

Sam LaBudde When biologist Sam LaBudde learned about the slaughter of millions of dolphins by tuna fishermen, he drove across the border to Mexico and managed to get hired by the owner of a Panamanian fishing boat. Once aboard he surreptitiously videotaped the dolphin slaughter. LaBudde's footage provided the first graphic evidence that tuna fishermen were indiscriminately slaughtering dolphins and mobilized action.

Jaime Lerner is renowned as an architect and urban planner, having been mayor of Curitiba, capital of Paraná, interview. Here is a TEDtalk. A Convenient Truth is a documentary about Curitiba.

Aldo Leopold Aldo Leopold's "The Land Ethic" (from Sand County Almanac) 1948 Link. quotes.

Thomas Lovejoy, "the Godfather of Biodiversity", is a Senior Fellow at the United Nations Foundation and University Professor in the Environmental Science and Policy department at George Mason University. His work in the Amazon Rainforest, see Bio-Diversity.

James Lovelock is creator of the Gaia Hypothesis (the earth as self-regulaing superorganism) is author of The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning, video of talk. 9/10 (radio interview).

Amory Lovins TEDtalk video on the Oil Endgame, a TEDtalk. See also www.oilendgame.com Interview on Charlie Rose. 2007 talk on Oil Endgame. Co-author of Natural Capitalism here's (video of Google HQ talk based on the book) The End of the Conflict-Creating Oil Age Is Coming Into View -- Here's What the Future Looks Like 11/13.

L. Hunter Lovins was named by Time a Hero of the Planet. Her new book is Climate Capitalism. The Business Case for Protecting the Climate (video of talk at Google HQ 2008). She is co-author with Paul Hawken and Amory Lovins of Natural Capitalism.

Prof. Michael Mann’s new book, “The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars,” S&E Stacks QC903 .M36 2012 is part of a series of attempts to answer the question of why global warming has become a political flash point. Mann has devised an analogy “the Serengeti strategy,” he and others have become targets because their findings challenge the entrenched fossil-fuel industries. review, audio interview, student interview (text), video interview. Overview TEDtalk 12/1. The Madhouse Effect by Michael Mann : The award-winning climate scientist Michael E. Mann and the Pulitzer Prize–winning political cartoonist Tom Toles have witnessed the manipulation of the media by business and political interests and the unconscionable play to partisanship on issues that affect the well-being of billions. The lessons they have learned have been invaluable, inspiring this brilliant, colorful escape hatch from the madhouse of the climate wars.(video talk). See Global Warming. 1/17.

Wangari Mathai First environmentalist to win the Nobel Peace Prize. 11/06 Interview (audio). 2007 audio interview. A new documentary shown on PBS Taking Root, trailer )(UCSC owns it: McHenry Media Center DVD6865 and DVD7441) Living on Earth series including her history. Video of 2009 talk "Challenge for Africa." Sadly, she recently passed away at age 71.

Bill McKibben author of classic End of Nature, which provided an important wake-up call on global warming. In TIME magazine, journalist-turned-climate-activist Bill McKibben describes how the world could look by mid-century if the collective we confront climate change head-on in the next few years. While we’re not “getting out of this unscathed,” McKibben describes paths forward after 2020 that are just as potentially politically achievable as doing nothing or not doing enough.

McKibben’s vision of the positive and possible is a welcome change from recent, despairing climate forecasts by public intellectuals — from David Wallace-Wells’ book “The Uninhabitable Earth” to Jonathan Franzen’s “What If We Stopped Pretending” (that “the climate apocalypse is coming”) in The New Yorker. see Cl-Fi U/dystopias. see also Global Warming 9/19 New book Enoughon GMO's audio interview (excerpt) The Bill McKibben Reader "Bill McKibben has been among America’s most impassioned and beloved writers on our relationship to our world and our environment. His groundbreaking book on climate change, The End of Nature, is considered “as important as Rachel Carson’s classic Silent Spring” and Deep Economy, his “deeply thoughtful and mind-expanding”(says Michael Pollan) exploration of globalization, helped awaken and fuel a movement to restore local economies." 2008 video interview. UCTV 2010 interview His latest book is Eaarth: Making a Life on a Hot New Planet Review and excerpt Letterman interview. longer talk based on Eaarth; audio interview on using Gulf spill as turning point. 6/10 A A great talk by 350.org founder Bill McKibben on how he and some writer friends and six students built the movement (starts 14:30-31:00). Do the Math Tour takes on the energy companies head on in a fight to the death. Students will be key 12/12.*** See Activism. Bill McKibben talk 6/12. **** Lauded by Time Magazine as the planet's best green journalist, McKibben, founder of 350.org movement, is the author of dozens of books about the environment brings deep insight into the human dimensions of climate change. 60 min. PowerShift 2011. Bill McKibben vs. Epstein, Debate on Fossil Fuels good update on global warming 11/12. This American Life host Ira Glass tells the story of writer turned activist Bill McKibben. McKibben is trying to create a divestment campaign modeled after the successful campaign against apartheid in South Africa. The campaign is designed recast the discussion of climate change with fossil fuel companies as the villains. alt link audio) 5/13. 8/13 update (time to step up pls). Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org. (see Eco-heroes) has a new book Oil and Honey:the Education of a Unlikely Activist (video talk), (review), see also excerpt on bees, drawing on Honeybee Democracy, NPR story audio, excerpt, a better one that explains how he became an activistvideo talk by author. “Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?” by McKibben, an environmentalist and author, as well as the founder of 350.org, a campaign group working to reduce carbon emissions. 11/19.

William McDonough (co-author of Cradle to Cradle) is leading a design revolution. See Sustainability page excellent TEDtalk video ***. 2008 presentation (video) to the California Dept. of Fish and Game. See also film Food=Waste. Bioneers 2000 talk still relevant, provocative and moving (other videos also). indepth 2009 talk

Chico Mendes was killed protecting the Brazilian Rain Forest. Sadly, activists there are still in danger. Recently two Mexican eco-journalists were also killed audio text. A new report (6.12) from international NGO Global Witness suggests that, in the past decade, 711 individuals have been killed while defending land and forest rights. 106 of these deaths allegedly came in 2011, with the number killed almost doubling over the past three years. According to the report, these deaths include "those killed in targeted attacks and violent clashes as a result of protests, investigating or taking grievances against mining operations, logging operations, intensive agriculture including ranching, tree plantations, hydropower dams, urban development and poaching." His cousin carries on the fight 8/14. see Forests.

David Milarch, a man who made a mission of trying to clone the oldest trees on the planet. The Man Who Planted Trees, by Jim Robbins, video interview*** an environmental science journalist for the New York Times article Tree archive.2013 extensive talk video.

Elon Musk(TEDtalk) has made huge contributions as a designer and entrepreneur because he imagined what was inevitable and caught the wave to that early: Tesla electric cars, private sector spaceflight and solar energy. extensive bio interview 1/13 The Future of Energy and Transport Oxford 2012. He promises to share the technology, 9/15 Colbert interview. See also Electric cars. SpaceX will carry people. See Solar; critique on Hydrogen fuel. 2/15. Hype(r)loop, Elon Musk mass transit concept PBS video. 5/16. See Transit. Tesla Flips Switch on Gigafactory to Accelerate World's Transition to Renewable Energy :Elon Musk's Tesla and Panasonic have officially kicked off the mass production of lithium-ion battery cells at the massive Gigafactory outside Sparks, Nevada. 1/17. Mars mission undercuts green?

Kumi Naidoo of Greenpeace puts it all on the line.bio see activism, arrested by Russians on an arctic oil rig.

The democratically-elected president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, has emerged as an international leader on climate change issues, since the low-lying island nation is particularly vulnerable to sea level rise. But public protest and police mutiny linked to his predecessor forced Nasheed out of office in February. audio interview with documentarian.

Penny Newman, CA Executive Director for the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ), a non-profit organization working on environmental justice issues. The Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice is one of the oldest and most accomplished environmental justice/health organizations in the nation. CCAEJ’s believes the key to effectively solving community problems lies in bringing the diverse segments of the community together in democratically based, participatory organizations and networks in ways that empower. Penny Newman has gained wide recognition for her work on Environmental Justice issues with the emergence of toxic waste sites in the early 80’s. Her activities at the Stringfellow Acid Pits, California’s top priority Superfund site, led to extensive public policy changes on the state and federal level. Penny’s primary expertise on public participation methods and community organizing has made her a highly sought speaker on environmental health and justice issues.

Raj Patel ([personal site]) (10/17 audio alt link)A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things: A Guide to Capitalism, Nature, and the Future of the Planet (excerpt intro) & 4 min video overview. see Food.

Enrique Peñalosa, (longer bio) mentioned in Majora Carter's TEDtalk, "Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, was responsible for numerous radical improvements to the city and its citizens. He promoted a city model giving priority to children and public spaces and restricting private car use, building hundreds of kilometers of sidewalks, bicycle paths, pedestrian streets, greenways, and parks...Peñalosa also led efforts to improve Bogotá’s marginal neighborhoods through citizen involvement; planted more than 100,000 trees; created a new, highly successful bus-based transit system; and turned a deteriorated downtown avenue into a dynamic pedestrian public space. He helped transform the city’s attitude from one of negative hopelessness to one of pride and hope, developing a model for urban improvement based on the equal rights of all people to transportation, education, and public spaces. video. See Latin America.

Living under the constant threat of assassination, Francisco Pineda courageously led a citizens' movement that stopped a gold mine from destroying El Salvador's dwindling water resources and the livelihoods of rural communities throughout the country. Learn more at goldmanprize.org.

Michael Pollan is the author of a number of brilliant books on food. TEDtalk video, author of Omnivore's Dilemma (Ch 1. online free). Video of debate with John Mackey, founder of Whole Foods Video link (Realplayer required). Their correspondence, which has explored such issues as organic and local food, animal agriculture, and the role of Whole Foods, is available at Whole Foods site and Michael Pollan site. His new book is In Defense of Food see also audio interview on NPR 12/24/08 and short excerpt. The Politics of Food: Changing the Way the World Eats 06/16/09 (audio and video). 6/09 LongNow talk on re-solarizing the farm. 2013 interview Nantucket Pjt. Why Did the Obamas Fail to Take On Corporate Agriculture? 10/15.

Rosa Hilda Ramos turned personal tragedy into a positive outcome for people and the planet (environmental justice).

Michael Reynolds fights to build off-the-grid self-sufficient communities. Garbage Warrior is the epic movie of this radical Earthship eco architect.Colbert Report. Building with recycled materials Earthship Biotechture 9/09 PBS segment with images.

Jeremy Rifkin wrote The Green New Deal: Why the Fossil Fuel Civilization Will Collapse by 2028, and the Bold Economic Plan to Save Life on Earth audio interview 9/19.

Marina Rikhvanova works to protect Lake Baikal, the world’s oldest and deepest lake, is known as the “Galapagos of Russia.” It holds 20 percent of the world’s unfrozen freshwater reserve. Its age and isolation have created one of the world’s richest and most unusual collections of freshwater flora and fauna, including 1,700 endemic plant and animal species.

Anita Roddick, social entrepreneur, founder of The Body Shop, one of the first and most successful socially conscious businesses.

Joan Root was killed by poachers. Decades before wildlife films such as March of the Penguins, Joan and Alan Root pioneered filming animal migrations without interference from human actors. Wildflower: An Extraordinary Life and Untimely Death in Africa by Mark Seal.

Yacouba Sawadogo, a peasant farmer in Africa, has succeeded where international agencies failed. Over the last 20 years he has successfully battled against nature and man, to become a pioneer in the fight against desertification. The subject of a new film

Vandana Shiva is a physicist, ecofeminist, environmental activist and author. Shiva, currently based in New Delhi, is author of over 300 papers in leading scientific and technical journals, very involved in water and agricultural issues. Shiva participated in the nonviolent Chipko movement during the 1970s. The movement, whose main participants were women, adopted the tactic of hugging trees to prevent their felling. Video of discussion about granting rights to the earth. Everything I Need to Know I Learned in the Forest. Vandana Shiva: ‘All Life Depends on Soil’ 2/15. Olmeca hip-hop tribute. GMO's and climate 11/15. 2/15 audio interview ORIGIN:The Corporate War on Nature and Culture. See also India and GMO's.

Karen Silkwood a whistle-blower on industry practices that could have endangered millions of Americans was the portrayed by Meryl Streep in Silkwood VT6062 clip.

Gus Speth, elder environmental statesman, author of the acclaimed books Red Sky at Morning (2003) and The Bridge at the Edge of the World (2008), has grown ever more convinced that our politics and our economy are so corrupted, and the environmental movement so inadequate, that we can no longer hope to address the climate crisis, or our deep social ills, by working strictly within the system. The only remaining option, he argues in his forceful new book, America the Possible: Manifesto for a New Economy overview, (interview) 4/12 video. Article overview. 11/12 Bay Area talk (video). See also Economics Page. He spent the night in prison will Bill McKibben, where many great people have strategized.5/15 update

Sandra Steingraber is internationally recognized authority on the environment links to cancer and human health. Steingraber’s highly acclaimed book, Living Downstream: An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment presents cancer as a human rights issue.Pledge to Resist Fracking.Steingraber, Sandra Living Downstream explores the role of chemicals in cancer Time Pt 1 (C8 login required)Time Pt 2. (audio interview) She also traces their military origins of petrochemical industry in "War". A film is being made based on the book. Here's an interview with her about that (audio 5/10). Video documentary (trailer). Sandra Steingraber Issues Statement Before Being Led to Jail: "Act of Civil Disobedience Is a Last Resort for Me" 4/13. Writing From Jail on Earth Day Extended interview with Bill Moyers (video) 4/13. Fracking talk at Bioneers(2012).

Kierán Suckling, Peter Galvin, and Todd Schulke met while surveying owls for the U.S. Forest Service and were fired for trying to save them. They formed the Center for Biological Diversity. See also Eco-Barons

David Suzuki has a new book (audio interview) "a, brief, astonishingly readable and uplifting book called The Legacy: An Elder's Vision for our Sustainable Future." From Ecosystems to Species to Cultures, Diversity Is Key to Survival 8/16. See also Systems Thinking.

Greta Thunberg—Swedish Teen who Inspired School Climate Strikes—Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize 3/19 Wins Alternative Nobel, Right Liveilihood Award 9/19 Greta Thunberg’s speeches: No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference. UK: Penguin Books, 2019. Background/Overview Find text of speeches, videos and other material at Fridays for the Future. Giant Greta Thunberg / Mural of Swedish activist to watch over San Francisco's downtown 11/19 See also #fridaysforthefuturesee Greta Thunberg. (she's also a time traveler)

Stuart Udall (bio). Stewart L. Udall represented Arizona’s second district in the U.S. Congress from 1954 until 1961, when President John F Kennedy appointed him Secretary of the Interior. During his four terms as a Congressman and eight years of service as Interior Secretary, Udall worked tirelessly to promote just labor laws, cooperation with Native American communities and environmental conservation. In 1969, Udall retired from government service, but has continued to make invaluable contributions as an author, environmental advocate, lawyer and historian.

Virunga is a 2014 British documentary film directed by Orlando von Einsiedel; it focuses on the conservation work of rangers within Virunga National Park, and the activity of a British company, Soco International, which began exploring for oil within the UNESCO World Heritage site in April 2014. The film has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Wang Yongchen, a journalist with China National Radio, co-founded Green Earth Volunteers, one of China's first environmental NGOs.

Ka Hsaw Wa co-founder and executive director of EarthRights International (ERI) and a member of the Karen ethnic nationality, was one of the student leaders in the 1988 Burmese student democracy uprising and has been a human rights activist ever since, working to document and resist human rights and environmental abuses within Burma (and around the world). Ka Hsaw Wa has been awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, Reebok Human Rights Award, Whitley Fund for Nature/Sting and Trudie Styler Award for Human Rights and the Environment, and the Conde Nast Environmental Award. alt link.

Kimberly Wasserman, a Chicana born and raised near Chicago won the Goldman Prize for shutting down two dirty coal plants. In 1998, then a single mother, she rushed her 3-month-old baby to the hospital when he started gasping for air.

Alice Waters sparked California Cuisine, but more importantly a food revolution. Time Magazine top 100 of 2014 UCSC's own Alan Chadwick (see Slugs in Action) was her first produce provider. A new biography.

Captain Paul Watson tells how he became a defender of whales (and currently bluefin tuna off Libya). (TEDxsf video). (inspiring but possibly disturbing). See Whales.

Terry Tempest Williams Ups the Ante on the ‘Crime of America’s Lands Being Sold to the Highest Bidder’ 1/16. see By Author page.

Diane Wilson, a fourth-generation fisherwoman, leads a one-woman crusade against Dow and other petrochemical plants, which create 17% of America’s pollution from her Texas town of 1,352. These factories have turned Seadrift from a traditional fishing port into a massive chemical cocktail that poisons the surrounding air, earth and waters, sardonically dubbed Texas Gold, video excerpt. From Texas to Wall Street to the front lawn of former Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson's multi-million dollar mansion on Long Island -- all the while chased by Texas Rangers charged with bringing her to justice -- Diane pursues a reckless industry with a soft drawl, dogged determination and her own special brand of Southern bad-ass fisherwoman humor. In the 16 years since she began her fight, Diane has received death threats and suffered intimidation tactics; shots were fired at her house from a helicopter and her dog was poisoned.Democracy Now interview Wilson's book, An Unreasonable Woman Beyond Organic Interview BP protest video. her new book is Diary of an Eco-Outlaw.

E. O. Wilson biologist TEDtalk video Audio: wonderful interview 11/08). Video of 2009 talk. "The Social Conquest of Earth" (video) 2012 LongNow talk.the Importance of Biodiversity (video). wikipedia, his TEDwish is the Encyclopedia of Life. Smithsonian talk 2016.

Ken Saro-Wiwa (1941-95) was executed by the Nigerian government during his fight to prevent the further exploitation of his Ogoni people by the Shell Oil Company. book devoted to him and his writings. A video remembrance. His daughter has a new book.

Muhammad Yunus founder of the Grameen Bank, which makes micro-loans all over the world, empowering people in many ways, not least of which to give them the option on not exhausting their local habitats in order to survive in the short term. Yunus was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. See also Social Entrepreneur.Muhammad Yunus: Building Social Business Ventures video preview (Amazon preview) is third book by Professor Yunus, following Banker to the Poor and Creating a World Without Poverty, and is dedicated solely towards the concept of social business, its implementation, and its maintenance.(preview). See related videos on right. He has a new book, and a new initiative to bring microlending to the US in order to wipe out predatory payday loans. sort video and 2005 MIT lecture video 2009 talk at Google (video).

Lest We Forget / In Memoriam

Global Witness report documents surge of killing of green activists, particularly in Global Witness report documents surge of killing of green activists, particularly in South America South America. 4/14.

These 2 heroic scientists died while studying the climate 5/15.

Judi Bari: "Twenty years ago on May 24, 1990, a bomb planted in the car of Earth First! activist Judi Bari exploded, sending her and fellow activist Darryl Cherney to the hospital in Oakland--Judi with life-threatening injuries, since the bomb had been hidden directly under her driver's seat. Judi and Darryl were on their way to a music and speaking event on the UC Santa Cruz campus, part of an organizing tour for Redwood Summer. That explosion, and the subsequent attack on Earth First! as well as Judi and Darryl by the FBI and Oakland police, would forever change the face of forest activism in the redwoods and elsewhere. The bomber was never found, because the FBI never conducted a serious investigation, choosing instead to blame and harass Earth First! activists. But a lawsuit filed by Judi against the FBI for violation of Constitutional rights was ultimately successful in 2002, vindicating Darryl and Judi, but coming five years after Judi's untimely death from breast cancer at the age of 47. BBC profile (audio). A new documentary (3/12)

Bertal Cáceres (Lenca) was a Honduran environmental activist, indigenous leader, and co-founder and coordinator of the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). She won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2015, for "a grassroots campaign that successfully pressured the world’s largest dam builder to pull out of the Agua Zarca Dam" at the Río Gualcarque. She was assassinated in her home by armed intruders, after years of threats against her life. A former soldier with the US-trained special forces units of the Honduran military asserted that Caceres' name was on their hitlist months before her assassination. As of February 2017, three of the eight arrested people were linked to the US-trained elite military troops of which two had been trained at Fort Benning, Georgia, USA, the former School of the Americas (SOA). Presente! see Latin America.

David "Gypsy" Chain was killed defending old growth forest.

Terry Freitas, UCSC grad student killed trying to stop Indigenous people from being harmed by oil company.

Dian Fossey was a pioneering gorilla researcher video. Her life was depicted in the movie Gorillas in the Mist. 20 year BBC retrospective. see Primates. Virunga is a 2014 British documentary film directed by Orlando von Einsiedel; it focuses on the conservation work of rangers within Virunga National Park, and the activity of a British company, Soco International, which began exploring for oil within the UNESCO World Heritage site in April 2014. The film has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Wangari Mathai First environmentalist to win the Nobel Peace Prize. 11/06 Interview (audio). 2007 audio interview. A new documentary shown on PBS Taking Root, trailer )(UCSC owns it: McHenry Media Center DVD6865 and DVD7441) Living on Earth series including her history. Video of 2009 talk "Challenge for Africa." Sadly, she recently passed away at age 71.

Chico Mendes was killed protecting the Brazilian Rain Forest. Sadly, activists there are still in danger. Recently two Mexican eco-journalists were also killed audio text. A new report (6.12) from international NGO Global Witness suggests that, in the past decade, 711 individuals have been killed while defending land and forest rights. 106 of these deaths allegedly came in 2011, with the number killed almost doubling over the past three years. According to the report, these deaths include "those killed in targeted attacks and violent clashes as a result of protests, investigating or taking grievances against mining operations, logging operations, intensive agriculture including ranching, tree plantations, hydropower dams, urban development and poaching." His cousin carries on the fight 8/14. see Forests.

Joan Root was killed by poachers. Decades before wildlife films such as March of the Penguins, Joan and Alan Root pioneered filming animal migrations without interference from human actors. Wildflower: An Extraordinary Life and Untimely Death in Africa by Mark Seal.

Karen Silkwood a whistle-blower on industry practices that could have endangered millions of Americans was the portrayed by Meryl Streep in Silkwood VT6062 clip.

Ken Saro-Wiwa (1941-95) was executed by the Nigerian government during his fight to prevent the further exploitation of his Ogoni people by the Shell Oil Company. book devoted to him and his writings. A video remembrance. His daughter has a new book.