By: Sofia Medina 10 A
If we went back in time, we would be able to see how men have always had the lead
role in history. Even though men have been the protagonists, women have also done a lot of
things without getting much recognition for them. It is time to remember some of the
women that deserve acknowledgment for their actions that have been unnoticed through
time - people who dedicated their lives to take care of the world.
Sometimes, we just think that the world will always be there for us no matter if we
take care of it or not, but everything has an end; if we don’t take care of the place we live
in, that end will be closer than we expect. Here are ten women that dedicated their lives to
saving the plants and animals that live in our planet:
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1. Wangari Maathai
In the 1970s, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, encouraging
Kenyans to replant trees that had been cut down for firewood, farm use or
plantations. Through her work planting trees, she also became an advocate for
women's rights, prison reform, and projects to combat poverty. In 2004, Maathai
became the first African woman and the first environmentalist to win the Nobel
Peace Prize for her efforts to protect the environment.
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2. Rachel Carson
Rachel Carson was an ecologist before the word was even defined. In the
1960s, she wrote a book on environmental protection. Carson's book, Silent Spring,
brought national attention to the issue of pesticide contamination and the effect it
was having on the planet. It spurred an environmental movement that led to
pesticide-use policies and better protection for many animal species that had been
affected by their use. Silent Spring is now considered a required reading for the
modern environmental movement.
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3. Vandana Shiva
Vandana Shiva is an Indian activist and environmentalist whose work on
protecting seed diversity changed the focus of the green revolution from large
agribusiness firms to local, organic growers. Shiva is the founder of Navdanya, an
Indian non-governmental organization that promotes organic farming and seed
diversity.
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4. Marjory Stoneman Douglas
Marjory Stoneman Douglas is best known for her work defending the
Everglades ecosystem in Florida, reclaiming land that had been slated for
development. Stoneman Douglas' book, The Everglades: River of Grass, introduced
the world to the unique ecosystem found in the Everglades -- the tropical wetlands
located in the southern tip of Florida. Along with Carson's Silent Spring, Stoneman
Douglas' book is a keystone of the environmental movement.
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5. Sylvia Earle
For the past several decades, Sylvia Earle has played a large role in fighting
for ocean protection. Earle is an oceanographer and diver who developed deep-sea
submersibles that could be used to survey marine environments. Through her work,
she has tirelessly advocated for ocean protection and launched public awareness
campaigns to promote the importance of the world's oceans. "If people understand
how important the ocean is and how it influences our daily lives, they'll be inclined
to protect it, not just for its sake but for our own," said Earle.
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6. Gretchen Daily
Gretchen Daily, a professor of Environmental Science at Stanford University
and the director of the Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford, brought
together environmentalists and economists through her pioneering work developing
ways to quantify the value of nature. "Ecologists used to be totally impractical in
their recommendations to policymakers, while economists totally ignored the
natural capital base upon which human well-being depends," she told Discover
magazine. Daily worked to bring the two together to better protect the environment.
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7. Majora Carter
Majora Carter is an environmental justice advocate who founded Sustainable
South Bronx. Carter's work has led to the sustainable restoration of several areas in
the Bronx. She was also instrumental in creating the green-collar training program
in low-income neighborhoods throughout the country. Through her work with
Sustainable South Bronx and the non-profit Green for All, Carter has focused on
creating urban policies that "green the ghetto"
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8. Susan Solomon
In 1986, Dr. Susan Solomon was a desk-bound theoretician working for
NOAA when she embarked upon an exhibition to investigate the possible ozone
hole over Antarctica. Solomon's research played a vital role in ozone hole research
and the understanding that the hole was caused by human production and use of
chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons.
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9. Terrie Williams
Dr. Terrie Williams is a professor of Biology at the University of California
at Santa Cruz. Throughout her career, she has focused on studying large predators
both in marine environments and on land. Williams is possibly best known for her
work developing research and computer modeling systems that have allowed
ecologists to better understand dolphins and other marine mammals.
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10. Julia "Butterfly" Hill
Julia Hill, nicknamed "Butterfly" is an environmental scientist best known
for her activism to protect an old-growth California Redwood tree from logging.
From December 10, 1997, to December 18, 1999—738 days—Hill lived in a Giant
Redwood tree named Luna in order to prevent the Pacific Lumber Company from
cutting it down.
We can see how each one of these ten women left a mark in world’s history
through their environmental efforts. They deserve their thinking to be heard because if
everybody took a little bit from each one of them and applied it to his or her daily life, we
would definitely make the world different. It is now or never: if we don’t start the change
immediately, we will never be able to go back.