Inspirational Conservationists
John Muir [1838 – 1914]
A conservation activist (ecological thinker and political spokesman)
who was instrumental in saving the wilderness of Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park
and the western forests of the Giant Sequoia, California, United States.
To this aim, he founded the Sierra Club in 1892.
“An immigrant who had been raised on a Wisconsin farm and educated at the University of Wisconsin, Muir had arrived in California in 1868 planning to stay only a few months before setting off to study Amazon botany. Virtually penniless, he hired on as a shepherd’s assistant, a job that took him to Yosemite Valley–and ultimately changed his life. “I have run wild,” he later wrote of the effects of Yosemite’s rugged grandeur. “As long as I live,” he wrote, “I’ll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing. I’ll interpret the rocks, learn the language of flood, storm, and the avalanche. I’ll acquaint myself with the glaciers and wild gardens, and get as near the heart of the world as I can.”
[Source: The Sierra Club website, ‘History: Origins and Early Outings’, quoted from ‘The History of the Sierra Club: 1892-1970, by Michael P. Cohen, published by Sierra Club Books in 1988, ^http://www.sierraclub.org/history/origins/].
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A tribute to inspirational conservationist: Sir David Attenborough
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“The money that is given to the World Land Trust, in my estimation, has more effect on the wild world than almost anything I can think of.”
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~ Sir David Attenborough speaking at a lecture entitled Biodiversity and Business: The Cost of Life on Earth in January 2012.
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World Land Trust
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The World Land Trust (WLT) is an international conservation charity that takes direct action to save rainforest and other wildlife habitats.
Sir David has supported World Land Trust (WLT) since it was founded in 1989; one of the founders being John Burton (WLT’s CEO). John’s creative and innovative approach to raising funds to save rainforests and other important wildlife habitats was one of the main reasons that Sir David became WLT’s official Patron in 2003 and he has been supportive of the aims and objectives of the Trust ever since.
..”I realised that John was someone who got things done“, said Attenborough. “When he and his trustees launched the World Land Trust in 1989, I believed that John would get funds to where they were most needed in the race to save habitats and their wildlife.” Sir David recommends that others support the charity because of its mission, ethos and principles. He said: “The support that is given to the World Land Trust is support that goes directly to the place where it’s needed.”
As the world’s greatest natural historian, Sir David is much more than just our Patron – he is our inspiration and we thank him for his continued support.
[Source: World Land Trust, ^http://www.worldlandtrust.org/about/patrons/david-attenborough].
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Inspirational Conservationists Database
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In the table below, the ‘Conservationist‘ column lists the conservationist’s full name, sorted by surname A-Z.
The ‘Country‘ column is the name of the country that the conservationist was mainly involved in campaigning in. It is not necessarily the birth place of that campaigner. This is because the focus of this website is primarily about the campaigning effort, moreso than the participants. But this table is to respect those participants.
The ‘Contributions & Campaigns‘ column lists the contributions of that person to conservation and short common name of the environmental campaigns that the conservationist has been involved, along with the date range of the entire campaign.
The ‘Born‘ column shows the birth date of the conservationist. [Note: We have not shown the date of death because many are thankfully still alive and it would be a distractive sad burden to have to keep updating deaths.]
The ‘Details‘ column provides a hyperlink to an internal webpage on this website which provides an outline of a short biography, campaign background and references to further related information.
If you consider that a conservationist should be included in this table please let us know!
Email us at: info At habitatadvocate.com.au
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Inspirational Conservationists
| Conservationist | Country | Contributions & Campaigns | Born | Details |
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| Edward Abbey | United States | Glen Canyon Dam, ‘monkeywrenching’ (eco-sabotage), | 1927 | |
| Ansel Adams | United States | Sequoia National Park, Kings Canyon National Park, Sierra Nevada, Glazier National Park, The Tetons and the Snake River | 1902 | |
| Anthony Ashley-Cooper | United Kingdom | former president of Sir David Attenborough’s British Butterfly Conservation Society | 1938 | |
| David Attenborough | United Kingdom | Sir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA (born 8 May 1926[1]) is a British broadcaster and naturalist, best known for writing and presenting the nine Life series, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit.His many other documentaries include 253 episodes of the BBC’s Wildlife on One, which its peak drew a weekly audience of 10 million viewers, 50 episodes of Natural World, as well as The World About Us, Frozen Planet, the 10 part series Life, narrated Nature’s Great Events, State of the Planet, The Truth about Climate Change, How Many People Can Live on Planet Earth?, Saving Planet Earth, Flying Monsters 3D, The Bachelor King 3D. Attenborough, has also contributed to environmental musicals, and serves on the advisory board of BBC Wildlife magazine.Environmental Causes: Impact of human society on the natural world, backing BirdLife International project to stop the killing of albatross by longline fishing boats, public support to WWF’s campaign to have 220,000 square kilometres of Borneo’s rainforest designated a protected area, and launchingd an appeal to create a rainforest reserve in Ecuador.He also serves as a vice-president of BTCV, vice-president of Fauna and Flora International, president of Butterfly Conservation and president of Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, patron of the World Land Trust, patron of Population Matters, ETC! | 1926 | |
| Vica Bayley | Australia | Tasmania’s Tarkine Wilderness, Styx Valley, Upper Florentine Valley conservation campaigns, President of The Wilderness Society in Tasmania | ||
| Frances Beinecke | United States | President of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a leading US-based not-for-profit environment action organisation | 1960 | |
| Isobel Bowden OAM | Australia | Blue Mountains conservationist, schoolteacher, local historian and botanical illustrator, who spent most of her life in the Blue Mountans where she developed an abiding interest in local and natural history and bush walking and a concern for the environment. Active in the local community, Isobel was a foundation member of the Pioneer Way Association and the Blue Mountains Flora and Fauna Association and active in the Blue Mountains Conservation Society. | 1908 | |
| Bob Brown | Australia | Inaugural Parliamentary Leader of the Australian Greens, (current Senator) who from 1978-1983 successfully led direct action to Save the Franklin River (1983) and to protect SW Tasmania’s wilderness. Continues to play an instrumental in many conservation campaigns. | 1944 | |
| David Bellamy | Britain | 1933 | ||
| Simon Cherriman | Australia | Environmental biologist, consultant and Wildlife film maker researcher, photographer and film maker particularly of wedge-tailed eagles in the wild. Films: ‘A King on Outstretched Wings (2008) | ||
| Galen Clark | United States | Lifetime protector of the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoia trees in Yosemite Valley (1864- 1905). | 1814 | |
| Peter Dombrovskis | Australia | Tasmanian wilderness photographer, Save the Franklin campaign | 1945 | |
| Tim Flannery | Australia | Mammalogist, palaeontologist, environmentalist, activism against population levels and carbon emissions, Australia’s Climate Commissioner, accomplished non-fiction writer (over 15 books) | 1956 | |
| Helen Gee | Australia | Tasmanian Environmental Activist, including Lake Pedder from 1967, Farmhouse Creek Blockade 1982, for Douglas-Apsley National Park in 1989, Gunns 20 | 1950 | |
| Miranda Gibson | Australia | Forest activist campaigner with Still Wild Still Threatened. Tree Sit protestor in Tasmania at ObserverTree.org | 1981 | |
| Dr Jane Goddall | United States | Primatologist who founded not-for-profit organisation Save the Chimps, that provides the world’s largest sanctuary for captive chimpanzees, rescued from biomedical research, from the entertainment business and from the US Air Force in early space programmes. Three locations are at Fort Pierce (Florida), Alamogordo (New Mexico), and Chimfushi Wildlife Orphanage (Chingola, Zambia). | 1949 | |
| Steve Irwin | Australia | 1962 | ||
| Richard Kingsford | Australia | Environmental scientist and aquatic ecologist Professor Richard Kingsford has spearheaded water management for Australia’s rivers and wetlands, particularly the Murray Darling basin | ||
| Romeo Watkins Lahey | Australia | Lamington National Park (Qld) declaration (1912-15); National Parks Association of Queensland formation (1930); | 1887 | ^Details |
| Aldo Leopold | United States | 1886 | ||
| John Martin | Australia | Blackheath artist, photographer and framer who produced countless photographs and artwork of Nature. Some of John’s works are proundly held in collection by The Habitat Advocate | 1943 | |
| John Muir | United States | Giant Sequoias National Park(1895-1905), Yosemite National Park (1895-1905), National Park Bill (1899); Sierra Club (1892) | 1838 | |
| Keith Muir | Australia | Save (Mount) Colong, Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage listing, Gardens of Stone, NSW Wilderness Act, Save Kosciusko National Park, Alp-South East Forests World Heritage Campaign, Save Sydney’s Water Campaign, amongst others | ||
| Olaus Murie | United States | 1889 | ||
| Theodore Roosevelt | United States | 1901 | ||
| David Suzuki | Canada | 1936 | ||
| Olegas Truchanas | Australia | 1923 | ||
| Haydn Grinling Washington, Ph.D | Australia | Passionate wilderness advocate throughout his shortened life, joint founder of The Colo Committee (1974-1979) (a campaign project of Milo Dunphy’s Total Environment Centre in Sydney’s CBD); campaigned to protect the Colo River and Colo Wilderness and driving force behind the establishment of the Wollemi National Park (Blue Mountains, New South Wales), The Gardens of Stone National Park (Blue Mountains, New South Wales), The Gordon (below) Franklin River (South West Tasmania), career as an environmental scientist with CSIRO, later an environmental science adjunct professor at University of New South Wales, lifetime environmental activist, prolific ecological poet, ecological author of six documentary/scholarly books. Author of The Wilderness Knot as a thesis that earned him a Ph.D at the University of Western Sydney in 2006) which was published as a book in 2009. | 1955 | >Details |
| Jenny Weber | Australia | Huon Valley Environment Centre, campaigning to save Tasmania’s old growth native forests | ||
| Dr Mary E White | Australia | Paleobotanist, curator, author | 1926 | |
| Tim Winton | Australia | Winton is actively involved in the Australian environmental movement. He is a patron of the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) and is passionately involved in many of their campaigns, notably their work in raising awareness about sustainable seafood consumption.He is a patron of the Stop the Toad Foundation and contributed to the whaling debate with an article on the Last Whale website.He is also a prominent advocate of the Save Moreton Bay organisation, the Environment Defender’s Office, the Australian Wildlife Conservancy and the Marine Conservation Society, with which he is campaigning against shark finning.
In 2003, Winton was awarded the inaugural Australian Society of Authors (ASA) Medal in recognition for his work in the campaign to save the Ningaloo Reef (A coral reef, famed for whale sharks, 200km north of Carnarvon, West Australia). |
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Giant Sequoia
