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Begin forwarded message: > From: "Ralph Nader" <[email protected]> > Date: October 9, 2012, 9:42:33 AM PDT > To: [email protected] > Subject: The Greatest Environmentalist of the 20th Century > > By Ralph Nader > > Dr. Barry Commoner, equipped with a Harvard PhD in cellular biology, used his > knowledge of biology, ecosystems, nuclear radiation, public communication, > networking scientists, political campaigning, and community organizing to > become the greatest environmentalist in the 20th century. He died on > September 30 at the age of 95, deeply involved in challenging conventional > dogmas in the field of the genetic engineering. > > The range and depth of his work flowed from an integrative public philosophy > of what makes the world work or not work in the interaction between what he > called the “technosphere and the ecosphere.” His best-selling books were > brilliant, clear and motivating. > > In all the years I’ve known him, he maintained his methodical approach to > analyzing problems and recommending superior strategies to achieve superior > solutions. He kept his composure even in the most raucous public gatherings > where others were arguing or shouting at one another. The mainstream media > liked his calm demeanor, conveying a searing evaluation that went to the root > causes of what and how we produce. He made the cover of Time magazine, as a > symbol of the first Earth Day’s activities nationwide in April 1970, was a > frequent guest of network TV shows and wrote for major publications such as > The New York Times. > > A fundamental inquirer, Commoner took on his fellow scientists who seemed > indifferent to the nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union and the > radioactive fallout from A-bomb testing. While working as, in the Times’ > words, a “brilliant teacher and a painstaking researcher into viruses, cell > metabolism and the effects of radiation on living tissue” at Washington > University, he sparked the St. Louis Committee for Nuclear Information, which > in turn mobilized enough scientists around the country to push for the > nuclear test ban treaty that President John F. Kennedy proposed in 1963. > > One of his “laws of ecology” is that “everything is connected to everything > else,” and he wasn’t just referring to natural systems. Wars, corporate power > and greed, injustice, discrimination and poverty connect to what makes people > sick and die. > > He declared that prevention, rather than wrangling over piecemeal regulation, > was the most effective way to protect our air, water, soil and food. He > pointed to lead in gasoline that was prohibited at long last, not gradually > regulated. The banning outright of vinyl chloride was another example of > prevention. > > He told Scientific American: “What is needed now is a transformation of the > major systems of production….Restoring environmental quality means > substituting solar sources of energy for fossil and nuclear fuels; > substituting electric motors for the internal-combustion engine; substituting > organic farming for chemical agriculture, expanding the use of durable, > renewable and recyclable materials – metals, glass, wood, paper – in place of > petrochemical products that have massively displaced them.” > > He told me in the 1980s that he wanted to write a book about the necessity > and practicality of replacing the petrochemical industry. Commoner urged the > Department of Defense in detail to use solar technologies for economic and > environmental reasons and thereby jumpstart an expanding civilian market for > solar. The Navy, where he served in World War II, did install thousands of > photovoltaics at remote locations to save money and cut pollution. > Procurement by government is a great stimulus to innovation and avoids the > regulatory delays by corporate lobbyists. > > Pollution in the workplace attracted his expertise when we needed it in > pressing for the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. When he brought > poverty into his focus, he showed how impoverished racial minorities were > exposed to higher intensities of polluting installations where they lived, > due to their powerlessness. This “laid the groundwork for what later became > known as the environmental justice movement,” as Professor Peter Dreier of > Occidental College recently wrote. > > Always the practical modern Renaissance man, Commoner helped start the > Citizens Party in 1979 and was chosen as the party’s presidential candidate. > He knew how Third Parties are structurally marginalized in the U.S., as > compared with the Green Party in Germany, but he wanted to enlarge the public > consciousness to connect causes and consequences. He later joked about the > time a reporter in New Mexico asked him: “Dr. Commoner, are you a serious > candidate, or are you just running on the issues?” Too bad the media didn’t > heed his clarion calls to action. > > Unperturbed, Commoner applied his knowledge in many other directions, > including a pioneering pilot recycling program in New York City, to show how > most trash could actually be reused or recycled. > > Today’s younger environmental activists hardly know of Commoner and his three > great books – The Closing Circle (1971), The Poverty of Power (1976) and > Making Peace With the Planet (1992), all of which remain unsurpassed and > timely in their integrative frameworks for understanding and leveraged action. > > I called Barry to congratulate him on his 90th birthday. “It happens,” he > replied wryly. For the people, flora and fauna on the planet Earth, it is a > great gift that Barry Commoner “happened.” > > His students, supporters and some wealthy benefactors in this nation should > extend his broad-gauged approach (“the finely-sculptured fit between life and > its surroundings”) by establishing an Institute of Thought and Action in his > name. Those interested in this proposal should contact Barry’s former > colleagues at Queens College or his widow Lisa Feiner. > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > Tell your friends to visit nader.org and sign up for Ralph Nader's weekly > column. > > Follow Ralph on Twitter: twitter.com/Ralph_Nader > > "Like" on Facebook: facebook.com/ralphnader > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] >
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