APES Historical/Current Environmental Figures 2015-2016

APES Historical/Current Environmental Figures 2015-2016

Alisha Agarwal

Franny Armstrong: An Environmental Activist

Franny Armstrong was born on February 3rd, 1972, in her hometown of London, England. Being a documentary filmmaker and director of her own company, Spanner Films, Armstrong has proved successful in actively fighting climate change to this day. Her career began in the late 1980’s when she starred in the film, Mclibel recalling the largest Mcdonalds court case in history followed by her second movie, Drowned Outtelling the story of an Indian family’s life when their home is threatened by a large scale Narmada Dam Project.Armstrong’s third film, by far the most popular and most funded by the sponsors of her company, had sparked her indulgence in the environment. Her film, The Age of Stupidmixes documentaries and facts as well as post-apocalyptic events to caution future conditions of the world if global climate change continues to intensify. Continuing in her efforts, the film was played in in a solar paneled theater that had reported to emit only one percent of the carbon emissions released from a regular showing.

Thereafter, Franny continued in her efforts of abating climate change by commencing her 10:10 campaign that encourages people to cut their carbon emission by ten percent each year. Since its launch in September 2009, the campaign has expanded to forty one other countries than England and has gained support from transnational corporations such as Adidas and Microsoft. Her efforts have helped cut 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions in total.Personally, in the past dozen years, Armstrong and her family have resorted to renewable forms of energy, sustainable agriculture, solar-heated water, and use of bicycles rather than cars for transportation in hopes for lowering her carbon footprint.

Armstrong’s contribution to lessening environmental climate change is vital particularly in this time. Increased combustion from the driving of automobiles as well as the burning of fossil fuels has been especially alarming in the late 20th century as these past decades have been the most influential in the global temperature rise. Franny Amrstrong’s ability to foresee the possible decimation of Earth by human detriments has dignified herself in being just one of the many environmental beacons of the century to conserve our world whole-heartedly.

"We wouldn't be the first life form to wipe itself out. But what would be unique about us is that we did it knowingly."Spoken by Franny Armstrong in reflection to her film, The Age of Stupid, Franny depicts herself as one who can’t remain silent in something she knows she can benefit. Franny values most the idea that even if the end of the world is inevitable, she can be proud to say that the end will carry with it all the efforts of the Earth’s people. Unlike other species who become extinct either through catastrophic events or poor biological makeup, humans can at least end with a closure of the reason.

Sources:

Rebecca Choi

Franny Armstrong

Franny Armstrong was born in 1972 as the world was beginning to discover the issues of climate change. Growing up in the United Kingdom, Armstrong was surrounded by many “highly” developed country characteristics. There is high meat consumption, high income rates, and high energy usage. She quickly became an environmental activist and expressed her opinions through film at first. She directed and wrote three documentaries. Drowned Out was her first film, and it shows a poor family in India that has to move from their home due to a dam being built. McLibel addressed a legal case against McDonalds for inaccurate advertising and health concerns in their food. Her most famous film was The Age of Stupid which was the bases of her belief in the environmental world. In the film, a future archivist looks into the past to understand why humans didn’t address climate change while they could still improve the environments condition. With this idea, in September 2009, Armstrong founded the 10:10 climate campaign. She proposed that the UK should cut 10% of their carbon emissions during 2010. Over 50 countries took part in the campaign, and it was supported by large corporations like Microsoft and Adidas.

While Armstrong was growing up, people were beginning to understand climate change. There were many theories on how to fix the issue, and some people didn’t believe in climate change. More recently, scientists have been studying climate change and associating it with increased carbon dioxide amounts in the atmosphere. In order to prevent further climate change, the present generation must reduce their carbon emissions. Previous generations have overcome slavery, apartheid, and women’s rights. Now, people are becoming more educated and morally inclined to help the environment. Armstrong asked the question “Is the human species suicidal?”. Like yeast, many species thrive and reproduce quickly, and then they die because of their own waste or running out of resources they use. Humans, very similarly, are reproducing and thriving very quickly. Because of the exponential population growth, humans stress the environment in increasing their population and they may drive themselves to extinction.

Citations

Emily Fisher

John James Audubon

Significance to Environmental Movement:

John Audubon is best known for his book, Birds of America. The book contains 435 images of birds—paintings of every bird discovered in the United States at the time of publication. As a scientist, Audubon was elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Linnaean Society, and the Royal Society of London. His participation on these prestigious scientific boards further allowed him to voice his environmental concerns.

Biography:

John James Audubon was born in 1785, in the French colony now known as Haiti. Although he was born in Haiti, he explored America for most of his life. Throughout his life, he discovered twenty-five new species of birds, and he became one of the most notable advocates of environmental preservation of the nineteenth century. In his free time, Audubon lived with his wife, Lucy Bakewell and played with his two sons. After completing his noteworthy book, Birds of America, he began compiling a collection of paintings of mammals. Unfortunately, he never finished the book due to failing eyesight.

Time Period:

Audubon was born during the late eighteenth century. During this time period, most of society was embracing a utilitarian conservation mindset, in which resources seemed inexhaustible and should be used freely.

Quote:

“A true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children”

Source:

Edison Kim

Rachel Carson

1907 - 1964

“If we are going to live so intimately with these chemicals – eating and drinking them, taking them into the very marrow of our bones – we had better know something about their nature and their power.”

-Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson was born in Springdale, Pennsylvania. Rachel studied marine biology at the Pennsylvania College for women and graduated in 1929. She received her master’s degree in zoology from Johns Hopkins University in 1932. She began to work for the for the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries where she wrote radio scripts, but then eventually became the editor in chief for all of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service. She originally wrote pamphlets on resource conservation, then moved over to writing books and articles for the public. Horrified by the U.S.’s and other countries agricultural practices, she wrote Silent Spring to inform the public about the atrocities of using mass amounts of pesticides. She was constantly attacked by the chemical industry and even some government officials, but still held her ground. In 1964, Rachel Carson died after a a lengthy battle against breast cancer.

During her time with the Bureau of Fisheries during the 1930s-1940s, she was one of two female employees. During World War II she assisted the U.S. Navy in an investigation of undersea sounds, life and terrain in an attempt to detect German submarines. She lived in a time where the dangers of pesticides and pollutants in the oceans were unknown, so it was her job as junior aquatic biologistat the Bureau of Fisheries and at her new job as the editor-in-chief at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service tocreate a series of seven-minute radio programs on marine life called "Romance Under the Waters" as well as to continue to submit writings on conservation and nature to newspapers and magazines.

Rachel Carson was important to the environmental movement not only because of her public awareness campaign on the little known topic of ocean pollution, but for what she did outside of her work which was writing books on those topics which got much more attention on the New York Times Bestseller’s list then it did in science magazines. She also widened her field from marine biology to the dangers of pesticides when the chemical DDT was introduced in 1945. She left her job at the Fish and Wildlife service to write Silent Spring but carried the information about DDT over to her book. While she work at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service she was able to see the negative effects pesticides and herbicides had on the fish and wildlife.

Alex Keane

Jacques Cousteau

1. He was a French undersea explorer and scientist who invented scuba and deep sea diving equipment (including the Aqua Lung and waterproof camera) opening the doors to underwater archeology.
2. Cousteau was born in Saint-André-de-Cubzac, which is a town in southwestern France, on June 11, 1910. When the Nazi’s took over France, Cousteau quietly continued his underwater experiments. During this time, underwater compressed air cylinders were invented. He met a fellow engineer, Emile Gagnan, who shared his passion for discovery and they experimented with snorkels, body suits and breathing apparatuses. Eventually, Cousteau joined the French resistance movement as a spy, documenting the movement of Italian troops. He was a part of the French navy and helped to clear underwater mines during this time. He hosted a tv specials to increase awareness of the state of the ocean and why underwater exploration was so important.
3. World War II was taking place around the time that Cousteau was 25-30 years old. The sea was in a dire state of pollution and exploitation of marine life. There was an increase in interest in marine conservation during the 1970’s with the start of some organizations such as The Marine Conservation Institute (1978) and the Ocean Conservancy (1972). Cousteau’s work definitely contributed to the increase in awareness and action (through organizations) that has benefitted the ocean for generations.
4. “The sea, the great unifier, is man's only hope. Now, as never before, the old phrase has a literal meaning: we are all in the same boat”
5. 
   Works Cited

Sarah Son

Silvia Earle

Sylvia Earle is known for her research on marine documentaries and her books. She has raised awareness of the threats that overfishing and pollution have caused. She has led over a hundred expeditions and has logged more than 7,000 hours underwater. Her research consists of marine ecosystems to exploration, conservation and the use of new technologies for easy access and effective operations in the deep sea and other related environments. Sylvia was born in the 1930’s and is still currently living. Since the 1930’s, many environmental, political and societal occurrences have happened. Many include the ending of the Great Depression, World War II, Vietnam War, the assassination of Martin Luther King, the Dust Bowl and many more.

Sylvia was born in Gibbstown, New Jersey. When she was young, she always loved exploring the outdoors. She earned her Master’s and Ph. D from Duke University. She was a field research scientist, government official, oceanographer, undersea explorer, author and lecturer. She is the founder of Deep Ocean Exploration and Research Inc., the founder of Mission Blue and SEAlliance and chair of the Advisory Councils of the Harte Research Institute and the Ocean in Google Earth.

“With every drop of water you drink, every breath you take, you’re connected to the sea.”

Maddie Williams-Koester

Silvia Earle

Sylvia Earle was born in New Jersey, where her parents worked as farmers in Camden. Her parents taught Sylvia to explore her surroundings and to embrace the unknown instead of fear it. When Sylvia was thirteen, she moved with her family to Clearwater, Florida. Sylvia, being a dedicated student, won a scholarship to Florida State. At school, Sylvia learned how to scuba dive, and found it an immediate fascination. She decided to study botany to better understand the ecosystem. Sylvia earned her masters at Duke University, but then took time away from her studies to start a family. She married Jack Taylor and they had two children, Elizabeth and John. She struggled to maintain her life at home and at work. In 1969, she earned her Ph.D. from Duke. She has spent thousands of hours underwater in her life time. During the 1940s and 1950s, the United States did not have many laws regulating pollution coming from industries. In 1972, the amendments to the “Clean Water Act” came out in response to the pollution. It made more specific laws and regulations regarding wastewater and its disposal. From 1646 to 1658, the government tested atomic bombs in the Pacific Ocean. This disrupted aquatic organisms similar to the ones Sylvia saw when under water.

Sylvia does not eat seafood. She has seen them in their natural habitat and cannot imagine seeing them swimming in butter instead of water. She would like people to consider not eating seafood, especially those who are vegetarian but still eat fish because fish are meat. Sylvia wants there to be areas of the ocean that are protected, like how there are forest reserves. This, she hopes, would provide a safe habitat for some struggling species and help combat the strain humans are putting on the environment. Sylvia believes that we need to care for the ocean because it is responsible for all life, “No water, no life. No blue, no green”. The land needs the water to sustain life, so people need to stop considering it an endless resource and take care of it.

Paul Ehrlich Matt DeFusco

Significance to the Environmental Movement:

●Author of the book “The Population Bomb” which provided controversial insight into the dangers of the human population growth.

Biography:

●Ehrlich was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 29th, 1932

●Paul studied at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Kansas, earning a bachelor's degree in zoology and a PH.D.

●He went on to become a professor at Stanford University, specializing in Population Studies and Biological Sciences.

●Ehrlich is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a recipient of the Crafoord Prize, the Blue Planet Prize, and several other international honors.

●He wrote the best seller “The Population Bomb” in 1968 to voice his concern for the negative consequences that coincided with the dangerous population trends in the mid 1900’s.

Time Period (mid 1900’s)

●About half the world’s tropical forests were destroyed after 1950. In West Africa three-quarters of all forests had been destroyed by the end of the century.

●About two-thirds of the effect of global warming comes from the emission of carbon dioxide derived from the burning of fossil fuels. Over half the total increase in carbon dioxide levels between 1750 and 1990 occurred after 1950.

●In 1950, the world's population was 2.5 billion people (This number has nearly tripled in the past 60 years - 7.2 billion 2015)

Quote:

●“The National Academy of Sciences would be unable to give a unanimous decision if asked whether the sun would rise tomorrow.”

Kaylen Louie

Denis Hayes

Dennis Hayes was the coordinator for the first Earth Day that took place on April 22, 2015. On Earth Day, public awareness was made on environmental problems, such as global warming and clean renewable energy sources. On April 22nd 1990, Denis Hayes helped to organize the first Global Earth Day, which 200 million people participated in.

Denis Hayes was born on August 29th, 1994 in Wisconsin. Growing up, he loved nature. His father worked in a paper mill, which showed Hayes the lack of worker protection and the impact of industrialization on people and the environment. In 1964, Hayes graduated from Clark Community College. Afterwards, he took his undergraduation at Stanford University, then went to Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In 1979, Denis Hayes was hired to direct the Solar Energy Research Institute. In 1992, he was named president of the Bullitt Foundation, which was an environmental organization. Then in 1996, he became one of the 130 founders of the campaign for America’s future. Currently, Hayes still remains president of the Bullit Foudation.

In the time period that Hayes spent most of his life in, was the time where the industry started blooming. So sadly, there were many pollutants in the air and more pesticides were being used since the agricultural businesses started to bloom too. A quote that represents Denis Hayes is, “we’ve made some heroic efforts, but Earth as a whole is in worse shape today than 30 years ago… 30 more years of greenhouse gases, species extinctions, and population growth.”