November 6, 2000 Allen Mattison, 202-675-7903
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@drexel.edu or rbrulle@igc.org Home Page: http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~brullerj/
********************************************************************* 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.
-----Original Message----- From: GetMelissa@USWest.net Date: Monday, November 06, 2000 12:01 Subject: [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 ********************************************************************* 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)
- Robt Mann consultant ecologist P O Box 28878 Remuera, Auckland 1005, New Zealand (9) 524 2949