Fangirl Friday: Green Gals
Updated more than a week ago
In celebration of Earth Day, we’re gushing over some super inspiring green gals. These women have dedicated their work and their lives to the protection and preservation of the environment.
Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking book Silent Spring, published in 1962, awakened countless people to the harsh realities of pesticides and their detrimental effects on the environment. Chemical companies were rampant in their opposition of the book, but its publication inspired a reversal on national pesticide policy and led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Jane Goodall Dame Jane Goodall is the world renowned primatologist, ethologist and anthropologist. She is also a UN Messenger of Peace. Goodall was one of the first people to observe and document chimps in the wild. Through the establishment of the Jane Goodall Institute, she has devoted her life to the conservation of chimpanzees in the wild and is a champion for better conditions for primates in zoos and research facilities.
Wangari Maathai was a Kenyan activist and the founder of the Green Belt Movement. The Green Belt Movement is an environmental, non governmental organization that is focused on conservation, the planting of trees, and women’s rights. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her contributions to sustainable development, making her the first African American woman to win a Nobel Prize.
Vandana Shiva is an Indian scholar, author, and environmental activist. Her fierce opposition to globalization and genetically modified crops have made her a hero to G.M.O. activists across the globe. A champion of women’s rights and the global food supply, she has spent her life fighting for the environment.
Marina Silva is an environmentalist and politician, known as an “Amazonian Legend” because of her work protecting the Brazilian rainforests. In 2007, the United Nations Environment Program named her one of the Champions of the Earth. A stanch advocate for human rights, she created the first worker’s union in Brazil and led demonstrations to warn against deforestation and speak out in defence of forest communities.
Jane Goodall said, “Every day you live, you make an impact. And you get to choose what type of impact you are going to make.” So, ladies, today go out and make yours.
Photos courtesy of The Guardian, National Geographic, Nobel Prize, Good Food World and Goldman Prize
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