Pretty, yes, but what about the people? Photo: National Park Service. North Americans love their heroes, and environmentalists are no exception. The hall of fame includes some of the biggest hitters from our nation's past: John Muir, David McTaggart, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Paul Watson, David Brower, Rachel Carson, and Edward Abbey, to name just a few. Every Earth Day, speakers invoke these legends, yet there are also the lesser lights of the green pantheon: Alice Hamilton, the scientist who studied industrial lead poisoning and founded the modern discipline of occupational health; Crystal Eastman, the settlement-house worker who brought attention to …
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Matthew Klingle is an assistant professor of history and environmental studies at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, and is a senior fellow and board member of the Environmental Leadership Program. He is the author of several scholarly articles, and is finishing a book tentatively entitled Emerald City: An Environmental History of Seattle and an Evolving Ethic of Place.

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