David Brower passed away - 5 November

[Guest guest]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:

November 6, 2000 Allen Mattison, 202-675-7903

 

SIERRA CLUB MOURNS DEATH OF DAVID BROWER

 

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Sierra Club today mourns the death of David

Brower, who shaped the face of the modern environmental movement and

helped guide the Club's rise to national prominence. Brower died

Sunday night at his home in Berkeley, California, at the age of 88.

 

Brower, a Sierra Club member since 1933, served as the Club's first

executive director, a position he held from 1952 through 1969. During

his tenure as executive director, the organization's membership rose

from 2,000 to 77,000 members. The Club's membership elected him to

three-year terms on the Board of Directors in 1941, 1983, 1986, 1995

and 1998.

 

" The world has lost a pioneer of modern environmentalism, " said the

Sierra Club's president, Dr. Robert Cox. " Like the California redwoods

he cherished, David towered above the environmental movement and

inspired us to protect our planet. If not for David's leadership, the

Grand Canyon could well have been dammed -- but he led the fight tooth

and nail to preserve that awesome treasure. His colleagues at the

Sierra Club are deeply saddened by his death. We will miss the

Archdruid for both his vision and his courage.

 

" In the last decades of his life, David's passion became restoring the

earth from the damage people had wrought, " Cox continued. " David

spread the gospel of what he called `Global CPR' -- the need for

conservation, preservation and restoration to repair our world. As a

new generation of environmentalists picks up David's mantle and

practices what he preached, restoration well may become David's

greatest and longest-lasting legacy. "

 

" David's passion for protecting wild lands and living sustainably

drove him to blaze a new trail for the environmental movement, " said

Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope. " Today's environmental

movement and landscape have been, in large part, shaped by David's

energy, ideas and leadership. Because of his unrelenting efforts, our

families can explore and enjoy wildlands from the California coast to

Alaska to Cape Cod in their most spectacular, pristine beauty.

David's vision also helped environmentalists embrace the concept of

living sustainably, within the earth's capacity to provide for us.

From family planning to ending commercial logging on public lands,

David's efforts to promote sustainability have made people think

deeply about the long-term consequences of their behaviors. "

 

Perhaps Brower's best-known accomplishment was his success during the

1960s in leading a Sierra Club campaign to block two hydroelectric

dams proposed for the Grand Canyon. Brower took out full-page ads in

the New York Times equating the proposal to flooding the Sistine

Chapel. He also led Sierra Club efforts to pass the Wilderness Act,

halt dam construction in Dinosaur National Monument, and create Kings

Canyon, North Cascades and Redwoods National Parks and Point Reyes and

Cape Cod National Seashores.

 

An avid mountain climber and skier, Brower served in the 10th Mountain

Division during World War II and pioneered 70 first-ascents in an

outdoor adventure career that took him around the globe. In addition

to leading the Sierra Club, Brower was nominated for the Nobel Peace

Prize three times, and he founded the Sierra Club Foundation, League

of Conservation Voters, Friends of the Earth and the Earth Island

Institute. Through Sierra Club Books, Brower also launched the genre

of large-format conservation photo books to heighten public awareness

of wildlands, bringing images of America's landscapes and a strong

conservation ethic into people's homes.

 

The Sierra Club is the nation's oldest and largest grassroots

environmental organization, with over 600,000 members nationwide.

 

# # #

--

Dr. Robert Brulle

Assistant Professor of Environmental Policy

School of Environmental Science,

Engineering, and Policy

Drexel University

3141 Chestnut Street

Philadelphia, PA 19104

Phone (215) 895-2294 Fax (215) 895-2267

email brullerj or rbrulle

Home Page: http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~brullerj/

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Many of us knew David Brower of Friends of the Earth.

Each person will provider her or his own comments.

He did REALLY great work, IMHO.

 

 

GetMelissa <GetMelissa

Monday, November 06, 2000 12:01

[toeslist] David Brower passed away - 5 November

 

 

This is a great loss for the earth. I hope his spirit will remain

with each of us.

 

-Melissa

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FWD:

 

6 November

 

Just a short note to share that David Brower passed away last night.

Even Archdruids don't live forever. Take time this week to reflect

on what incredible things can be accomplished from a vision,

a motivation and leadership to inspire people all over the world

to work together to protect our fragile planet.

 

David E. Ortman

Seattle, WA

Friends of the Earth (1975-97)

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