Blog Archives

Water pollution group meets this day in 1911 at Johns Hopkins University. The National Association for Preventing the Pollution of Rivers and Waterways was led by Charles E. Winslow of Yale University. The group’s main object was to push for legislation compelling all towns and cities to purify sewage before dumping it in the rivers. The group also called for a federal board “to assist in adjusting interstate sanitary matters.” (Dec. 7, 1911, Washington Post.)

Florence Kelley born on this day in 1859. One of the country’s leading public health advocates in the Progressive Era, Kelley founded the National Consumers League in 1899 to fight against child labor and for 8 hour workdays and safer working conditions. She was also instrumental in bringing the case of the “Radium Girls” to light and ensuring that they had proper medical and legal help.

Vandana Shiva born this day in 1952 in Dehra Dun, Uttarakhand, India. Shiva is a philosopher, environmental activist, author and eco feminist whose work has exposed injustices in the green revolution and the corporate takeover of water supplies in the developing world. She received the Right Livelihood Award in 1993, and numerous other prizes. She has also been influential in the Chipko movement.

Brown dog riots One thousand “anti-dogger” medical students take to the streets of London on this day in 1907 to oppose animal rights groups who, they feel, are opposed to science and progress. The animal rights groups (“doggers”), on the other hand, are incensed that dogs are dissected while living (“vivisection”) in the medical students’ anatomy classes. One incident in particular has led to libel suits and a statute commemorating a small brown dog with the phrase “Men and women of England, how long shall these Things be?” The statue becomes the focal point of frequent conflicts, and the “anti-vivisection” debate is the central point of tension in a broader debate about ethical treatment of animals. During the Brown Dog riots, the animal rights groups are joined by suffragettes (women who demanded the vote) and some labor unions. The riots lead to only minor injuries but show some of the social divisions of the day and the problems involved in the maturing of humanity.

Russian activists arrested Russian police arrest leaders of an environmental protest against timbering of old-growth forests in the Utrish Nature Reserve in Krasnodar Territory on this day in 2010. Increasingly brutal tactics against environmentalists and environmental journalists have led to even more protests, according to the Biodiversity Media Alliance. Altogether, at least 52 Russian journalists have been murdered in two decades, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Denis Hayes One of the founders of Earth Day in 1970, director of the Solar Energy Research Institute in the Carter administration, and author of Rays of Hope, Hayes is born on this day in 1944. Hayes is currently director of the Bullitt Foundation.

Goldman Prize founder Richard Goldman is born this day in 1920. The Goldman prize he founded in 1990 honors seven international enviornmental leaders and pioneers each year.

Chico Mendes killed The leader of Brazil’s rubber tappers (Taperos) movement to save the Amazon rain forest is killed by Brazilian ranchers on this day in 1988. Like Vincente Cañas (murdered in 1987) and Wilson Pinheiro (murdered in 1980), Mendes stood in the way of Amazon developers. US Catholic nun Dorothy Stang was assassinated under the same circumstances in 2005. An extensive list of environmental assassinations is provided at this site.

Barbara Ward a British economist devoted to sustainable development was born on this day in 1914.

First Greenpeace ship the Phyllis Cormack, leaves Vancouver on this day in 1971 to oppose the Amchitka nuclear tests by the US. The organization originally called the “Dont make a Wave Committee” becomes Greenpeace, and within a few years it raises street theater and protest tactics to a new level using global media. The effect, according to Greenpeace co-founder Robert Hunter, was a “mind bomb” – that is, an action that would create a dramatic new impression to replace an old cliché. Greenpeace overturned the image of heroic whalers with a counter-narrative image of heroic environmentalists who risked their lives by sailing in between harpoons and whales. This approach caught the world’s attention and dramatically changed the political terrain for conservation and environmentalism in the 1970s. A video of a concert to help fund the launching of the Phyllis Cormack is available on YouTube.