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The first Gulf War lasted for just a few weeks in early 1991, as American military forces overwhelmed Iraqi troops that had invaded Kuwait.  But, as the Iraq army was driven out of Kuwait, they committed unforgivable large-scale environmental sabotage—they set the Kuwaiti oil fields on fire.

Beginning on January 22, 1991, retreating Iraqi forces set oil wells on fire in Kuwait.  By the time they were done, more than 700 oil wells were ablaze, burning an estimated 6 million barrels (250 million gallons) of oil per day—more than 40 billion gallons of oil were released in total.  A few days later, on January 25, Iraqi forces also sabotaged Kuwait’s coastal oil facilities, causing the release of 8 million barrels (336 million gallons) into the Persian Gulf.

Stopping the fire was a Herculean effort.  Not only did the retreating army start the fires, they also placed land mines around many wells, assuring long delays before firefighters could approach the fires.  Most of the fires were put out in an ingenious way—repairing the oil pipelines that went from the wells to the sea and then pumping water in reverse to the wells so that it could be used to douse the fires.  Other fires were put out by regular oil firefighting companies, like that of the famous Red Adair. The last fires were extinguished in November, 1991, ten months after the conflagration began.

And a conflagration it was.  The entire region was engulfed in black smoke.  Average temperatures fell by 10 degrees Centigrade because sunlight could not penetrate the smoke cloud.  “Black rain” fell for months, as far away as Turkey, Syria and Afghanistan. An estimated 5% of the land surface of Kuwait was covered by thick deposits of oil and soot, forming an asphalt-like layer (termed “tarcrete”) which remains today.  More than 200 oil lakes accumulated spilled oil, some as deep as six feet.  In the Persian Gulf itself, sea birds perished in the thousands, oil coated miles of seashore, and oil slicks developed that were many miles in area.  Humans immediately experienced respiratory distress, and cases of oil-related cancer continued to develop in succeeding years.

A U.S. diplomatic staff member described flying over the site:

“As we approached the fields, even through the thick smoke, you could see the huge tongues of fires burning out of the wells. The starkness of that image became even clearer as we flew between clouds and could see the ground clearly. It looked like the earth had opened up and volcanoes had sprung up everywhere. It was incredible; I have never seen nor hope to see again such horror.”

The cost of the environmental cleanup has been estimated at $40 billion. Time Magazine in 2010 rated the Kuwati oil fires as the third worst environmental disaster in history (exceeded only by Chernobyl and Bhopal).

References:

Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training.  Towering Infernos – The Kuwait Oil Fires.  Available at:  http://adst.org/2016/04/towering-infernos-the-kuwait-oil-fires/#.WmZZtqinFRY.  Accessed January 22, 2018.

Chilcote, Ryan.  2003.  Kuwait still recovering from Gulf War fires.  CNN world.  Available at:  http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/01/03/sproject.irq.kuwait.oil.fires/.  Accessed January 22, 2018.

Counterspill.  Gulf War Oil Disaster.  Available at:  http://www.counterspill.org/disaster/gulf-war-oil-disaster.  Accessed January 23, 2018.

McLaren, Duncan, and Ian Willmore.  2003.  The environmental damage of war in Iraq.  The Guardian, 18 Jan 2003.  Available at:  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jan/19/iraq5.  Accessed January 22, 2018.

PBS.  Gulf War Curriculum Guide.  PBS, Beyond Broadcast Curriculum Guide.  Available at: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/teach/gulfguide/gwtimeline.html.  Accessed January 22, 2018.

The Wilderness Society, America’s largest and foremost advocate for preserving wilderness, was founded on January 21, 1935.  Since then, The Wilderness Society has grown to being the voice for “1 million wilderness supporters.”

The Wilderness Society was the dream of Bob Marshall (learn more), who was the head of recreation and lands for the U.S. Forest Service in the mid-1930s.  He had prepared a draft of his ideas for such an organization and had shared it with several colleagues.  In October, 1934, Marshall and three friends were driving to a Civilian Conservation Corps camp in Tennessee when the talk of the new society grew intense.  They pulled to the roadside and discussed Marshall’s draft in detail, vowing to make this new group happen.

They gathered four more supporters, including Aldo Leopold, and met at Washington’s famous Cosmos Club in January, 1935, to finalize their plans.  After two days of intense discussion, they all agreed, on January 21, to the structure and purpose of the new organization, to be called The Wilderness Society.  They declared:  “All we desire to save from invasion is that extremely minor fraction of outdoor America which yet remains free from mechanical sights and sounds and smells.” Bob Marshall, the original champion of the group, died unexpectedly in 1938 at the young age of 38, but he had prepared well to keep his dream alive—Marshall was a wealthy bachelor, and he left a sizable portion of his estate to support the new society.

Since then, the impact of The Wilderness Society on American conservation has been extraordinary.  They fought continuously for new parks that would include “primitive areas,” long before the concept of wilderness had been codified.  The group’s first and most important victory was passage of The Wilderness Act in 1964 (read more), which established definitions of wilderness and a mechanism for declaring and  managing wilderness areas regardless of which federal agency had ownership of the lands and water. “A wilderness,” the Act states, “in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”  As part of the act’s passage, 54 areas totaling 9.1 million acres were designated as wilderness

Since then, we have never stopped adding more areas.  The U.S. has protected 109 million acres of wilderness—5% of the U.S. land surface.  The total area is dispersed among 765 separate areas in 44 states and Puerto Rico.  The areas are managed by four U.S. land management agencies, including the National Park Service, Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management.

The U.S. has the largest national wilderness program in the world, holding about one-third of the entire globe’s designated wilderness.  The top five countries in the world for wilderness area are, in order, the U.S., Canada, Botswana, Mongolia and Australia.

References:

Aplet, Greg, and Jerry Greenberg.  1996.  The Wilderness Society – Advocating for Wilderness in Changing Times.  International Journal of Wilderness 2(3):31-33.  Available at:  http://www.wilderness.net/library/documents/aplet.pdf.  Accessed January 18, 2018.

Environment & Society Portal.  The Wilderness Society founded.  Available at:  http://www.environmentandsociety.org/tools/keywords/wilderness-society-founded.  Accessed January 18, 2018.

The Wilderness Society,  2017.  For Our Wild, The Wilderness Society’s 2016 Annual Report.  Available at:  https://wilderness.org/sites/default/files/TWS_AR_2016_LowResSingles_0.pdf.  Accessed January 18, 2018.

Who are the comedic stars of the bird world?  Penguins, of course!  Stars of the big screens, they wear tuxedos, wobble when they walk, and their feathers stick out of their heads like clowns.  Today is a good day to think about penguins—Penguin Appreciation Day!

The origin of Penguin Appreciation Day is lost in history, but that hasn’t slowed down the message:  Penguins may be adorable but they are also fascinating examples of adaptation to harsh environments.  So, here’s some information to help you appreciate them more.

All penguins live in the southern hemisphere.  Galapagos Penguins push that definition, living basically on the Equator.  At the tip of the globe, Emperor Penguins live deep in Antarctica, braving temperatures that can fall as low as -40 degrees Centigrade.   Penguins live everywhere in between these extremes and on all the continents of the southern oceans, including South America, Africa and Australia.

The number of penguin species is up for debate among scientists, but 16-19 species is the usual range, distributed among 6 genera.  As more DNA evidence comes in, some species get combined, others get split apart.   At the moment, a big question is whether the Royal Penguin is just a differently colored Macaroni Penguin.  And perhaps the Rockhopper Penguin is actually two or more species.

The largest is the Emperor Penguin, checking in at more than 40 inches tall and weighing as much as 80 pounds.  At the opposite end is the Little Penguin (also known as the Fairy Penguin), weighing less than 3 pounds and standing a diminutive 13 inches tall.

The most common penguin is the Macaroni species, distributed on islands throughout the southern oceans.  More than 11 million Macaroni Penguins exist.  The least common is the Galapagos Penguin—only a few thousand exist, and they are endangered, just as most other species are that live in the Galapagos Archipelago.

Today, all penguins are protected by the Antarctic Treaty, first signed in 1959.   The treaty prohibits harming penguins in any way, including hunting or collecting eggs.  Collection for scientific or conservation purposes is allowed only by special permit(learn more about the treaty here).

Penguins are fundamentally aquatic animals.  They spend most of their time in the water, feeding on invertebrates and small fish.  They generally stay near the surface, where their food also lives.  Their dives are typically short, no more than a minute or two. Penguins come ashore to molt and to reproduce, nesting on land or ice, often in large colonies.

They are expert swimmers, using their adapted wings as flippers to “fly” through the water. Adele Penguins are the sprinters of the clan, reaching speeds of 20 miles per hour.  Unlike most birds, which have hollow bones that make flying easier, penguins have solid bones, which reduce their buoyancy and make diving easier.

But most of all, they are just plain cute!

References:

Penguinworld (website).  Available at:  http://www.penguinworld.com/index.php.  Accessed January 19, 2017.

SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment.  Animal information:  Penguin.  Available at:  https://seaworld.org/en/animal-info/animal-infobooks/penguin.  Accessed January 19, 2017.

Acadia National Park, on the Maine coast, was established on January 19, 1929.  The park, which today covers more than 47,000 acres, covers a substantial portion of Mount Desert Island and a number of islands in the surrounding region.  The park hosted more than 3.3 million visitors in 2017, placing it in the top 10% of all National Park Service units.

Acadia began as Sieur de Monts National Monument, dedicated in 1916, becoming the first national park unit on the Atlantic seaboard.  Unlike many national parks that have always been property owned by the federal government, Acadia started out as private lands.  The park owes its existence to the persistent efforts of George B. Dorr, who fostered the creation, expansion and maintenance of the park for decades.

George Dorr was born to a wealthy Boston family in 1853.  Like many northeasterners at the time, the family vacationed on Mount Desert Island.  The striking beauty of the area had been made famous by the most well-known landscape painters, including Thomas Cole and Frederic Church, attracting big-city residents seeking a peaceful refuge from their hectic lives.  The rounded mountains, carved by the last glaciation, are interspersed with bare rock surfaces and gnarled evergreens.  Native Abnaki Indians called the island “Pemetic,” meaning sloping land.  When French explorer Champlain ran aground in the area in the early 1600s, he called the island “Isles des Monts Desert,” or Island of Barren Mountains.  George Dorr appreciated its singular beauty, as he wrote in 1916:

“There is nothing like it elsewhere on the continent. A noble mass of ancient granite that once bore up a dominating Alpine height on its broad shoulders has been laid bare by time immeasurable and carved into forms of bold and striking beauty by recent ice-sheet grinding. This granite mass, surrounded broadly by the ocean as the coast has sunk, constitutes with its ice-worn peaks and gorges and intervening lakes the national monument.”

Dorr fell in love with the island on childhood vacations and moved there permanently as a young man.  Wealthy and a lover of nature, he never married—dedicating his life instead to the preservation of the land that obsessed him.  Fearing that the island would be overtaken by commercial lumbering and unbridled tourism, he formed a land conservancy in 1913 that bought 6,000 acres.  He donated the land to the federal government, and on July 8, 1916, Sieur de Monts National Monument was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson.  A few years later—spurred by the incessant lobbying of George Dorr—Congress and President Wilson re-designated the monument as Lafayette National Park.  Then, on January 19, 1929, the park was renamed Acadia.  Dorr was made superintendent of the park and worked unceasingly for its benefit until his death in 1944.

Over time, the park has expanded from the original 6,000 acres to its current size of nearly 48,000 acres, all through donations and purchases of private lands.  The park makes extensive use of conservation easements, by which private landowners guarantee that their lands will remain wild and natural.  These easements cover dozens of islands, large and small in the surrounding waters of the Atlantic Ocean, and continue to increase the national treasure of the Acadia region.

References:

Dorr, George B.  1916.  The Sieur de Monts National Monument.  US Government Printing Office.  Available at:  http://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1089&context=mainehistory.  Accessed January 18, 2017.

Hartford, George A.  Mount Desert Island, Maine.  Available at:  http://www.acadiamagic.com/MountDesert.html.  Accessed January 18, 2017.

National Park Service.  George B. Dorr.  Available at:  https://www.nps.gov/people/george-b-dorr.htm.  Accessed January 18, 2017.

National Park Service.  History of Acadia.  Available at:  https://www.nps.gov/acad/learn/historyculture/history-of-acadia.htm.  Accessed January 18, 2017.

My atlas shows a long narrow rectangle in purple, extending from the southern border of central New Mexico to the north for about 150 miles.  The purple rectangle is the White Sands Missile Range, and buried inside it is the White Sands National Monument, a place of natural beauty like none other in the world.

White Sands National Monument was established by President Herbert Hoover on January 18, 1933.  Hoover did so to protect “the white sands and additional features of scenic, scientific, and educational interest.”  He got that right.  The 142,987-acre national monument features a portion of the world’s largest gypsum crystal “sand dune.”  The white sand dune (not sand, but gypsum crystals—the stuff that dry-wall is made of) is 275 square miles in extent; the next largest is 3 square miles!  About half of the dune itself is in the national monument, the rest is in the missile range.

The region has seen waves of habitation for at least 10,000 years.  Nomadic peoples hunted the area when it was covered in grasslands.  When the post-ice-age climate changed, the land dried up, as did human use.  About 1800 years ago, Native American farmers came to the area, only to disappear as had previous inhabitants.  Starting about 700 years ago, Native American Apache groups colonized the arid, unforgiving environment; their descendants remain.

But it is hard to scrape a living from the dry, wind-blown landscape.  Repeated attempts to farm, ranch or mine by Spanish colonists and American pioneers have failed to stake a permanent claim at white sands.  The U.S. government has found a use, however—as a distant, isolated, barely inhabited place to develop and test long-range weapons.  The northern end of the White Sands Missile Range holds the “Trinity Site,” where the first atomic bomb was detonated in tests on July 16, 1945.  The Army tests rockets there to this day, with many successful spacecraft having flown first above these white dunes.

Thanks to President Hoover, a significant portion of the white gypsum dunes are protected as a unique ecosystem and a recreational haven.  More than 800 animal species reside there, most of them nocturnal.  Sometimes called the “Desert Galapagos,” White Sands is home to a variety of white reptiles and insects that have adapted—and are adapting—to the hot, bright days and cold nights of the region.  One unique species is the White Sands pupfish, that survives in four isolated populations in spring-fed ponds and streams.

Most recreation at White Sands is for day use only, as the environment is unrelentingly harsh.  Facilities in the park were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, graceful stone picnic shelters that remind us of the great legacy of conservation that grew from the Great Depression (learn more about the CCC here).  A favorite outdoor activity is sand-dune sledding, with inexpensive saucer sleds for sale in the park gift shop—it is great fun (I’ve done it!).  From an initial annual visitation of 12,000 in 1933, now more than half a million visitors enjoy the park every year.

And, on December 20, 2019, President Donald Trump signed legislation that redesignated White Sands as a National Park.

References:

Block, Melissa, and Elissa Nadworny.  2017.  Photos: The cream, Sculpted dunes Of White Sands National Monument.  NPR special series:  Our Land.  April 9, 2017.  Available at:  https://www.npr.org/2017/04/09/520874659/photos-the-creamy-sculpted-dunes-of-white-sands-national-monument.  Accessed January 17, 2018.

Conrod, William and Erica Bree Rosenblum.  2008.  A Desert Galapagos.  Natural History Magazine, May 2008, pages 16-18.  Available at:  https://www.nps.gov/whsa/learn/nature/upload/Desert_Galapagos_-287KB_PDF.pdf.  Accessed January 17, 2018.

National Park Service.  White Sands National Monument.  Available at: https://www.nps.gov/whsa/index.htm.  Accessed January 17, 2018

Benjamin Franklin was a lot of things—inventor, publisher, scientist, diplomat, framer of the Declaration of Independence.  But, some argue, he was also America’s first environmentalist.  You be the judge.

Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 (died 1790).  He had little formal education, but learned wherever he went.  As an apprentice printer, he learned the business and became a successful publisher in Philadelphia.  He eventually published Poor Richard’s Almanack, filled with pithy quotes and also with astute observations about weather, forests, farms and oceans (Exhibit 1, a fundamental interest in his environment).

As he prospered, he became a leading citizen of Philadelphia.  By the time he was 42, he was wealthy enough to retire and focus on civic matters, science and inventing.  Most famous for his experiments with electricity, he also studied meteorology and the ocean (Exhibit 2, a natural history interest).  His study of the Gulf Stream provided navigators a new strategy for crossing the Atlantic, cutting two weeks off the round-trip.

He is well known for his interest in energy conservation (Exhibit 3).  His invention of the Franklin stove provided more heat while using less fuel.  He also promoted improved chimneys to reduce exposure to smoke within homes.  He invented a four-sided street lamp to replace the spherical lamps that were common.  Spherical lamps had poor air circulation that caused inefficient burning of the oil fuel, leading to soot on the lamps that needed to be cleaned daily and excessive smoke emitted into the air—another contribution to energy conservation and air quality.

To be the nation’s first environmentalist, a person should have an interest in the most fundamental of natural resources—water.  One of his most famous aphorisms is “When the well is dry, we know the value of water.”  Franklin knew the value of clean water and the need for society to protect its purity.  In 1739, along with a group of fellow citizens, he petitioned the Pennsylvania Assembly to stop tanneries from dumping their wastes into public water supplies, asserting the rights of the public over excessive private actions (Exhibit 4, a commitment to public health).  They won their appeal, but, alas, a lack of enforcement allowed the pollution to continue.

In the 1760s, he led a commission in Philadelphia to improve waste collection and reduce water pollution (Exhibit 5, a willingness to perform public service for environmental matters).  Even more generously, he left a substantial amount in his will to build a pipeline to bring clean water into central Philadelphia.  That project led to the creation of the Philadelphia Water Commission.

He didn’t get everything right, but he was sure trying.  For example, while living in England and representing the Philadelphia colony during 1757-1775, Franklin encouraged England to switch fuel to improve the environment.  Forests had largely disappeared in England, due to their overharvest for all manner of use, including burning as fuel.  Franklin promoted the use of coal as a substitute fuel, a dubious strategy today, but then one advanced to save the endangered forest (Exhibit 6, an understanding of biodiversity conservation).

So, is the case convincing that Benjamin Franklin was America’s first environmentalist?  Perhaps not the first, but surely one of them.  More than anything, I believe Frnaklin’s interest in the environment shows that men and women of thought and conscience, today and yesterday, include a healthy environment among our most important and cherished priorities.

References:

Fabricius, Karl.  2008.  Environmentalism in 1739.  Scribol.com.  Available at:  http://scribol.com/anthropology-and-history/cultures/environmentalism-in-1739/.  Accessed January 17,2018.

History.com.  Benjamin Franklin.  Available at:  http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/benjamin-franklin.  Accessed January 17, 2018.

Simenauer, Lauren.  2011.  What Would Ben Franklin Do?  Influences of America’s First Environmentalist.  Science Progress, November 20, 2011.  Available at:  https://scienceprogress.org/2011/11/what-would-ben-franklin-do/.  Accessed January 17, 2018.

So, it’s a stretch.  National Houseplant Day may not be a biggee in the history of conservation.  But just think for a moment what good things houseplants do for us.

Houseplants actually improve your indoor environment, an example of how nature and humans work together.  They absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen, making it easier to breathe (but keep them out of the bedroom, because at night they do the opposite—suck up your oxygen and double down on carbon dioxide).  They are nature’s humidifiers, delivering moisture to the air—especially needed during these cold, dry days of confinement during the winter.  A NASA study has revealed that plants can strip up to 87% of noxious compounds out of the air in a day.

And we can eat them.  We have a large rosemary plant in our house; just break off a sprig and add it to whatever is cooking.  Add a little dill, sage and thyme—and you’ve got a spice cabinet growing in your kitchen (not to mention the stimulus for a Simon and Garfunkel earworm).

But let’s be serious for a moment.  According to the late Yale professor (and my long-time friend) Stephen Kellert, natural elements in the human environment are not only good for us, but essential for us.  We are inherently natural creatures, and our migration into the built environment of cities is too recent to have rinsed away our affiliation with nature.  Biophilia, he called it.  And when we don’t get enough exposure to nature, we suffer from NDD—Nature Deficit Disorder.

And there is lots of proof, summarized by Kellert and colleague Elizabeth F. Calabrese.  Hospital patients get better faster in hospital rooms with windows—or even murals of natural scenes.  Offices of cubicles in windowless rooms reduce productivity; add natural light, views to the outside, windows that open, and productivity soars.  Indoor plants, by themselves, can improve productivity by as much as 15%.   Kellert and Calabrese suggest adding these features to the human environment:  Images of nature, natural materials, natural colors, simulated natural light and air, naturalistic shapes and forms—and several others.  It’s just a more modern form of feng shui and vastu, the Chinese and Indian ideas of designing with nature.

A few years ago, I visited the home of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative in Cambridge, England.  It is a collaborative of the famous university and several conservation groups, including IUCN.  The building itself is interesting, with a four-story green wall in its atrium, an astonishing bit of biophilic design.  What was more astonishing, at the opening of the building, named for renowned British conservationist, David Attenborough, the namesake himself entered the building by rappelling from the top to the bottom (learn more about Attenborough here).

So, on January 10, let’s give it up for the little green botanical pets that grace our homes and workplaces.  And don’t forget to water them!

References:

Calamia, Maureen K.  2011.  Why Plants Make Us Feel Good.  The Huffington Post, Oct 04, 2011.  Available at:  https://www.huffingtonpost.com/maureen-k-calamia/biophilia_b_917161.html.  Accessed January 15, 2018.

Kellert, Stephen.  2015.  Nature by Design:  the Practice of biophilic Design.  Human Spaces, June 2015.  Available at:  http://humanspaces.com/2015/06/01/nature-by-design-the-practice-of-biophilic-design/.  Accessed January 15, 2018.

National Today.  National Houseplant Appreciation Day – January 10.  Available at:  https://nationaltoday.com/national-houseplant-appreciation-day/.  Accessed January 15, 2018.

Dian Fossey, the world’s leading expert on mountain gorillas, was born on January 16, 1932 (died 1985).  She followed her dream to visit Africa as a young woman.  There she discovered an affinity to nature and specifically to mountain gorillas that occupied her entire life and led to her murder in a machete attack in the remote Rwandan wilderness.  Her life was immortalized in the feature film, “Gorillas in the Mist,” starring Sigourney Weaver.

Fossey grew up in San Francisco.  She was always interested in animals, but did not pursue a career related to them.  Instead, she became an occupational therapist, first in California and later in Louisville, Kentucky.  When a friend returned from an African safari filled with stories of the animals and excitement she had experienced, Fossey decided she needed to take a similar trip herself, then, before she grew too old.  So, at age 31, she cashed in her life savings, took out a bank loan and headed to Africa.

The trip changed Fossey’s life.  She met the famous paleontologist Louis Leakey at his camp in Olduvai Gorge.  Leakey told her that in order to understand human behavior, we needed to study our closest relatives—the great apes.  Leakey had begun funding Jane Goodall’s studies of chimpanzees a few years earlier, and he encouraged a similar study of mountain gorillas (learn more about Goodall here).  Later on the tour, Fossey saw her first mountain gorillas, and her fate was determined.  “I believe it was at this time,” she wrote, “the seed was planted in my head, even if unconsciously, that I would someday return to Africa to study the gorillas of the mountains.”

Louis Leakey came to Louisville a few years later to lecture, and Fossey renewed their acquaintance.  Leakey invited her to come to Africa to study gorillas, but insisted that she first have her appendix removed to avoid any problems in the field.  She did so—to Leakey’s surprise, because he claimed this was just his way to test the sincerity of a person’s interest, not intending for anyone to follow through on the idea.  Leakey was obviously impressed and after securing funding, brought Fossey back to Africa in 1966.

She initially set up an observation camp in the Congo, in the Virunga Mountains that are now the only known home of the mountain gorilla.  Fossey spent all her time in the field, watching gorillas and gradually gaining their trust.  In a short time, the animals became habituated to Fossey’s presence so that she could observe them continuously at close range.  She learned to identify individuals from three distinct groups.  From her copious notes, she wrote several articles about the gorillas’ behavior.  He work attracted the attention of National Geographic Magazine, and she appeared on the magazine’s cover—her work and her concern for the conservation of the gorillas was now part of the global consciousness (learn more about the National Geographic Society here).

When civil war made the Congo too dangerous, she moved to neighboring Rwanda.  There she set up a new camp—Karisoke—that became her field home for the rest of her life.  She always felt that her lack of scientific training inhibited her work and the acceptance of it by the scientific community.  So, she began graduate study at Cambridge University, receiving a doctorate in animal behavior in 1974.

But it was her fierce commitment to protecting the mountain gorilla that drove Fossey.  She had a reputation as a difficult personality to begin with, not helped by her alleged heavy drinking. But when gorilla poaching was the problem, she was ferocious.  She adopted voodoo-like techniques to make locals believe she had special evil powers, often pursued and captured poachers and claimed to torture them.  She clashed with other conservationists who promoted education as the long-term solution to poaching, preferring to take the battle directly to any poacher she confronted.

Her attacks on poaching and poachers probably led to her death.  She was discovered murdered in her mountain cabin on December 27, 1985, victim of a vicious machete ambush.  The murder has never been solved, and views differ on who the culprit or culprits might have been—poachers, smugglers, or even some of her own staff.  She is buried at her field station, beside a beloved mountain gorilla, Digit, that was killed by poachers a few years earlier.

Fossey believed that the mountain gorilla was unlikely to survive, but the reality is that their numbers continue to climb today, albeit slowly.  Dian Fossey taught the world that the mountain gorilla was not an evil monster, but rather a gentle, shy, loving creature.  The publicity that she brought to their understanding and conservation has begun to do its work.  Probably because of her efforts, the mountain gorilla looks today like a survivor, not a casualty.

References:

Dian fossey Gorilla Fund International.  Dian Fossey Biography.  Available at:  https://gorillafund.org/who-we-are/dian-fossey/dian-fossey-bio/. Accessed January 15, 2017.

Hogenboom, Melissa.  2015.  The woman who gave her life to save the gorillas.  BBC Earth, December 26, 2015.  Available at:  http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20151226-the-woman-who-gave-her-life-to-save-the-gorillas. Accessed January 15, 2017.

Martin Holdgate, one of the leaders of British conservation during the past half-century, was born January 14, 1931.  He has been part of most of the major environmental and conservation developments in England and around the world dkuring the last half-century.

Holdgate studied biological sciences at Cambidge University, completing a doctorate in insect physiology in 1955.  At the conclusion of his studies, he joined an expedition to the south Atlantic island of Gough, then a poorly known outpost of the British empire (later made an UNESCO World Heritage site) (learn more about UNESCO here).  That expedition spurred Holdgate’s interest in the Antarctic, which continued as he taught courses at Manchester and Durham universities.  Eventually, he joined the British Antarctic Survey, becoming its Chief Biologist within a short time.

He moved more directly into the practice of conservation and environment in 1966.  He joined the British Nature Conservancy then, performing research that informed their decisions about what lands to protect (the organization is now known as Natural England).  Beginning in 1970, he joined the UK Department of the Environment, rising to the position of Chief Scientist and Deputy Secretary prior to his departure in 1988.  His time in these agencies coincided with the growth of the environmental movement in the UK, representing a “major step-change after World War 2.”

Holdgate was among the world’s environmental leaders who espoused the concept of sustainable development, recognizing that economic development and environmental sustainability had to work together. He was a member of many global environmental commissions, representing the British government. “The environment,” he noted, “is not against the economy.”  Understanding that economy and environment need to go together, he introduced the concept BATNEEC as a guiding principle, requiring that industry use the “Best Available Technology Not Entailing Excessive Costs.”  He later apologized for the tongue-twisting acronym.

From 1988 to 1994, he served as Director General of IUCN (the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources).  IUCN is the largest association of governments and non-governmental organizations concerned with the environment, most notably providing the scientific guidance for species in peril (the Red List) and for protection of unique and outstanding ecosystems .

Holdgate has been honored broadly for his work on behalf of the environment.  He was knighted in 1994, holds several honorary doctorates and is a “Global 500” advisor to the UN Environment Programme.  Since retiring, he resides in the English Lake District, where he serves as President of The Friends of the Lake District.

In a recent interview with The Guardian, he succinctly summed up his understanding, after a lifetime of ecological study and public service, of the relationship of humans and nature:  “If we muck our environment about, we muck ourselves about.”

References:

Friends of The Lake District.  President.  Available at:  https://www.friendsofthelakedistrict.org.uk/presidentmartinholdgate.  Accessed January 13, 2018.

Holdgate, Mr.  1988.  Interview profile of Dr. Martin Holdgate.  The Environmentalist 8(2):87-91 (June 1988).  Available at:  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02240273.  Accessed January 13, 2018.

The Guardian.  2012.  Martin Holdgate: reconciling the economy to the environment has been a huge achievement since WW2 (video interview).  Available at:  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2012/jun/13/martin-holdgate-economy-environment.  Accessed January 13, 2018.

United Nations Environment Programme.  Sir Martin Holdgate, CB PhD FIBiol.  Global 500 Advisors.  Available at:  https://web.archive.org/web/20100605000825/http://www.global500.org:80/smholdgate.html.  Accessed January 13, 2018.

She was an African-American opera singer who thrilled European audiences in the 1950s.  But to most in her adopted home on Amelia Island, Florida, she was just the “Beach Lady.”  The lives of music lovers and environmentalists all benefitted from her untiring passion and persistence.

MaVynee Oshun Betsch was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on January 13, 1935.  Her family was part of the African-American elite of Jacksonville.  Her great-grandfather was Abraham Lincoln Lewis, owner of the Afro American Insurance Company, which he founded in 1901.  Lewis was one of the successful businessmen who built the African-American community of Jacksonville, a parallel universe required by the Jim Crow laws that mandated segregation in many southern states.

Coming from a wealthy and cultured family, Betsch had the opportunity to study music at Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio.  After graduating in 1955 with majors in voice and piano, she moved to Europe and studied voice in Paris and London.  She toured Europe as an opera singer for seven years, singing mostly for German audiences.

In the year she was born, her great grandfather made a daring business and social investment.  Using the Pension Bureau of his insurance company, Lewis bought 33 acres of Amelia Island waterfront and established the community of American Beach.  Later he bought more acreage, expanding American Beach to 216 acres.  His idea was to make a place where African-Americans could enjoy the beach—a place for “recreation and relaxation without humiliation.”

American Beach became a destination for African-American vacationers from across the country.  There they could enjoy an outdoor experience without worry of the harassment and violence of the Jim Crow era.  American Beach became the place to go.  The waterfront pavilion welcomed the nation’s most prominent African-American entertainers, including Cab Calloway, Ray Charles and Duke Ellington.

In the mid-1960s, the prominence of American Beach began to decline.  With the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, segregation was outlawed.  African-Americans began vacationing at other beach locations, from Miami to Atlantic City.  Also in 1964, Hurricane Dora tore through the community, destroying homes and businesses, many of which never recovered.

About this time, Betsch tired of the diva’s life and returned home.  She loved American Beach and, from 1975 onwards, made its preservation her life’s work.  She also understood that places like American Beach, a natural haven in an industrializing world, were necessary everywhere.  She became a dedicated environmentalist, donating her entire fortune, estimated at $750,000, to environmental causes.

She was not only dedicated, but also somewhat eccentric.  She gave up her home and began living on the beach, spending her days sitting in a lawn chair and telling her story to passers-by.  She grew her hair long—seven feet long and gathered in a huge bun atop her head and draped over her arm—to demonstrate that nature didn’t need help to grow beautiful things.  She grew the fingernails on her left hand to prove the same point, the nails making an 18-inch spiral at one point.  Her clothes were covered in political buttons that espoused her commitment to the environment and social justice.  She especially appealed to children:  “They come to see my hair, and I give ‘em a little history.”

Her efforts for conservation have paid off.  A portion of American Beach is the NaNa sand dune, the tallest in Florida.  Because of her persistent efforts, the development company that owned the dune transferred it to the National Park Service and it is now preserved as part of the Timucuan Ecological & Historical Preserve.  Another of her dreams was to create a center to tell the natural and human history of American Beach—so future generations would understand the Jim Crow era and what it meant to the lives of African-Americans.  That dream became reality in 2014, when the American Beach Museum opened.

MaVynee Betsch died from cancer in 2005.  She was a unique person, without question, who made significant contributions to conservation.  But she is not widely known, illustrating our need to more fully develop and chronicle the diversity of the environmental movement and the contributions of African-Americans to that movement.  Had it not been for my conversations with noted African-American environmentalist Carolyn Finney (author of Black Faces, White Spaces), I would not have known to include her in this chronology.  But at least one person took note:  The Dalai Lama named her an “Unsung Hero of Compassion” just after her death in 2005.

Betsch once left this message on her voicemail:  “Hello.  This is the Beach Lady.  If you’re getting this message, it may be because I have turned into a butterfly and floated out over the sand dune.”  And that sand dune remains because the Beach Lady made us keep it!

References:

BlackPast.org.  American Beach, Jacksonville, Florida (1936- ).  Available at:  http://www.blackpast.org/aah/american-beach-jacksonville-florida-1936.  Accessed January 12, 2018.

Florida Times-Union.  2005.  MaVynee Betsch.  Available at:  http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/timesunion/obituary.aspx?pid=15022945.  Accessed January 12, 2018.

Gullan/Geechee Nation.  2015.  The Beach Lady MaVynee Betsch:  Gullah/Geechee Sacred Ancestor.  Available at:  https://gullahgeecheenation.com/2015/01/13/the-beach-lady-mavynee-betsch-gullahgeechee-sacred-ancestor/.  Accessed January 12, 2018.

HistoryMakers.  MaVynee “Beach Lady” Betsch.  Available at:  http://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/mavynee-beach-lady-betsch-39.  Accessed January 12, 2018.

National Park Service.  Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve.  Available at:  https://www.nps.gov/timu/learn/historyculture/ambch.htm.  Accessed January 12, 2018.

Rymer, Russ.  2003.  Beach Lady.  Smithsonain Magazine, June 2003.  Available at:  https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/beach-lady-84237022/.  Accessed January 12, 2018.