David R. Brower
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David Ross Brower (July 1, 1912 – November 5, 2000) was a prominent environmentalist and the founder of many environmentalist organizations, including the Sierra Club Foundation, the John Muir Institute for Environmental Studies, Friends of the Earth (1969), the League of Conservation Voters, Earth Island Institute (1982), North Cascades Conservation Council, and Fate of the Earth Conferences. From 1952 to 1969 he served as the first Executive Director of the Sierra Club, and served on its board three times: from 1941-1953; 1983-1988; and 1995-2000. He also served on the Board of Directors for Native Forest Council from 1988 through his death in 2000.
During the 1960s Sierra Club campaigns against the building of dams in Grand Canyon National Park, Brower played a central role. He was essential in recruiting a number of activists and central Sierra Club figures such as Martin Litton into the Sierra Club during this time. However, conservative forces within the club organized to remove Brower from his position as Executive Director in 1969.
Brower was deeply concerned about issues of overpopulation and immigration - which was a major factor leading to his resignation in protest from the Sierra Club Board of Directors in 2000[1]. "Overpopulation is perhaps the biggest problem facing us, and immigration is part of that problem. It has to be addressed.".
Brower was born in Berkeley, California. He was married to Anne Hus Brower (1913 – 2001). As a skilled mountaineer, he made the first ascent of seventy peaks in Yosemite and elsewhere in the western United States. During World War II he was an officer in the 10th Mountain Division, training its soldiers in mountaineering and cross-country skiing. Brower's role in the 10th Mountain Division is featured in the documentary Fire on the Mountain.
Encounters with the Archdruid (1971), by John McPhee, profiled Brower in a few of his conservation battles. One of his adversaries, developer Charles Fraser, derided environmentalists as "druids." McPhee commented that, with Brower on the scene, Fraser was now confronting the Archdruid. Brower later used the term in his e-mail address.
[edit] Bibliography
- David Brower, For Earth's Sake: The Life and Times of David Brower (Salt Lake City: Gibbs-Smith, 1990). ISBN 0-87905-013-6
- David Brower with Steve Chapple, Let the Mountains Talk, Let the Rivers Run (New York: HarperCollins, 1995). ISBN 0-06-251430-X
- John McPhee, Encounters with the Archdruid (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1971). ISBN 0-374-14822-8
