to remote tropical archipelagos, to the high seas. She speaks publicly and often on ocean issues and conservation, and has addressed learning institutions, industry, governments, and the United Nations. Sarika has served on various boards and committees such as for the David Suzuki Foundation, WWF Canada, Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea, and the BC Reconciliation Award Program, and was a Visiting Scientist at Ocean Networks Canada. She has received multiple honours for her work in ocean conservation and communication, including being named an influential Canadian millennial by Huffington Post Canada, and for her work at The Nature of Things, which include awards for best host, best documentary, and best writing.

how we can have better conversations around the most polarized science of our times. This work has earned him multiple distinctions and awards as well as the role as one of the new co-hosts of The Nature of Things on CBC Television.

her to co-found and lead the youth group Fridays for Future Toronto, which in 2019 mobilized tens of thousands of young people to the streets of Toronto to demand climate action.

in advocacy and policy work on a broad range of other issues, from extreme heat and hydraulic fracturing to sustainable health care and low-carbon  transportation.

A widely published writer, her work has appeared in media including the CBC, Vancouver Sun, Toronto Star, Montreal Gazette, The Narwhal and National Observer. As a climate change panellist on CBC Radio’s Early Edition, in-house medical columnist for CBC TV Vancouver and Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia, one of her major priorities is knowledge translation. She is currently a co-investigator and advisor on two international nature prescription research projects (PANDA and RESONATE) with total funding of $10M+.

Dr. Lem was the inaugural winner of University College’s Young Alumni of Influence Award at the University of Toronto, recipient of a 2024 YWCA Women of Distinction Award and 2022 Adult Nature Inspiration Award from the Canadian Museum of Nature, and sits on the Advisory Committee of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas Health and Well-being Specialist Group.

Leadership from Arizona State University, where she learned to communicate sustainability initiatives to a wide variety of stakeholders.

For the past four years, Karishma has created content about environmental justice and climate policy, collaborating with CBC and CTV. She volunteers for her local paper, covering climate issues, and works with nonprofits to communicate climate issues through captivating content. She also guest lectures on climate communications at institutions such as Western University and Wilfrid Laurier University. In her spare time, Karishma enjoys spending time in her vegetable garden, writing poetry, and swimming at her local pool. In addition to all of her media and content work, Karishma is now at Environmental Defence to continue advocating for both people and the planet.

official, and director for several corporate and non-profit organizations.

Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali is the Executive Vice President of Conservation & Justice for the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), former Interim Chief of Programs at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), Instructor at American University and is the Founder and CEO of Revitalization Strategies. He also serves as a commissioner for The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS). Before joining NWF, Mustafa was the Senior Vice President for the Hip Hop Caucus (HHC), a national nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that connects the Hip Hop community to the civic process. Prior to joining the HHC, Mustafa worked 22 years at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)and 2 years on Capitol Hill working for Congressman John Conyers chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Mustafa began working on Social Justice issues at 16 and joined the EPA as a student, becoming a founding member of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ). He most recently served as Senior Advisor for Environmental Justice and Community Revitalization and Assistant Associate Administrator. He led the Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice (IWG) which brought together 17 Federal Agencies & Departments and various White House offices to strategically leverage resources to uplift vulnerable communities across the country. He has also worked with over 1,000 domestic and international communities to secure environmental, health and economic justice. In 2019 Mustafa co-designed and co-moderated the first Presidential forum on Environmental Justice with Amy Goodman host of Democracy Now. He has interviewed some of America’s most influential leaders in Politics, Hip Hop, Civil Rights, Climate and Social Justice. He currently works with a number of Fortune 500 companies as they journey towards becoming 21st-century organizations, focused on integrating justice and equity into their respective programs, policies and budgeting decisions.   In late 2020 he launched the Clean Economy of Color Coalition (CECC) to better prepare and educate entrepreneurs, frontline organizations and local officials for the new sets of opportunities that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, Inflation Reduction Act, and Chip’s Act provides to build wealth, lower emissions and address the climate crisis. To date thousands of participants have engaged with the CECC and it continues to grow monthly. Mustafa has also worked with a number of Congressional representatives in the design of legislation focused on health care, gun violence, climate, housing, transportation, jobs and environmental justice. He has testified on Capitol Hill numerous times highlighting how stronger legislation can drive more inclusive policies, investments and actions that have a direct effect on our most vulnerable communities. Dr. Ali is frequently seen on television, including appearances on MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, VICE, FUSE, BET, National Geographic, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, and Democracy NOW! Mustafa is also a regular guest on Roland Martin Unfiltered, Black News Channel, The Dean Obeidallah Show, and many others. Mustafa has been featured or cited in over 300 news publications and has been a guest lecturer at over 100 colleges and universities. He currently serves as a commissioner, advisor or board member on Roddenberry Foundation, National Children’s Campaign, Climate Power, TREE, One Million of Us, The Weather Channel (Pattrn), Green Sports Alliance, DC Environmental Film Festival, The NAACP Image Awards & The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS).

 Global Optimism and is the co-author of “The Future We Choose: The Stubborn Optimists’ Guide to the Climate Crisis.

JANINE BENYUS // 2021 International Eco-Hero

CO-FOUNDER, BIOMIMICRY 3.8 AND THE BIOMIMICRY INSTITUTE

Janine Benyus is a biologist, innovation consultant, and author of  six books, including Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. In Biomimicry, she named an emerging discipline that emulates nature’s designs and processes (e.g., solar cells that mimic leaves) to create a healthier, more sustainable planet. Since the book’s 1997 release, Janine has evolved the practice of biomimicry, consulting with businesses about what we can learn from the genius that surrounds us. Her favorite role is Biologist at-the-Design-Table, introducing innovators to 3.8 billion years of brilliant, time-tested solutions. In 1998, Janine co-founded Biomimicry 3.8, the world’s leading nature-inspired innovation and training firm, bringing nature’s sustainable designs to 250+ clients including BNIM Architects, Boeing, Burt’s Bees, ClifBar, Colgate-Palmolive, Covanta, Estee Lauder, General Electric, Green  Mountain Coffee Roasters, Herman Miller, HOK architects, IDEO, Interface, Jaguar Land Rover,  Kohler, Levi’s, Natura, Nike, Procter and Gamble, and General Mills.  B3.8’s mission is the help  change-makers transform the world by emulating nature’s designs and core principles. In 2014, B3.8 established The Biomimicry Center at Arizona State University, a research and education facility  offering the world’s first Master’s Degree in biomimicry. 

In 2006, Janine co-founded The Biomimicry Institute, a non-profit that empowers people to create  nature-inspired solutions for a healthy planet.  The Biomimicry Institute runs annual Design  Challenges, a Global Network of over 9500 members, and AskNature.org, the award-winning bio inspiration site for inventors. 

Over the past 18 years, Janine has personally introduced millions to the meme of biomimicry through  three TED talks, hundreds of conference keynotes, and a dozen documentaries such as 11th Hour,  Harmony, and The Nature of Things with David Suzuki, which aired in 71 countries. She has received  several awards including the 2015 Edward O. Wilson Biodiversity Technology Pioneer Award, the  2013 Gothenburg Award for Sustainable Development, the 2011 Heinz Award, Time Magazine’s Hero  for the Planet Award in 2008, United Nations Environment Programme’s Champion of the Earth for  Science and Technology in 2009, the Rachel Carson Environmental Ethics Award, the Lud Browman 

Award for Science Writing in Society, and the Barrows and Heinz Distinguished Lectureships. Her  work in biomimicry has been featured in Fortune, Forbes, Newsweek, Esquire, The Economist, Time,  Wired, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Nature, and more. In 2010, BusinessWeek named Janine  one of the World’s Most Influential Designers. In 2012, she received the Smithsonian Institution’s  Cooper-Hewitt National Design Mind Award, for visionary work with a “paradigm-shifting effect on  the world of design.”  

An educator at heart, Janine believes that the more people learn from nature’s mentors, the more  they’ll want to protect them. This is why she writes, speaks, and revels in describing the wild  teachers in our midst. 

 

AYANA ELIZABETH JOHNSON, PH.D.

2020 International Eco-Hero

Founder and CEO, Ocean Collectiv & Founder, Urban Ocean Lab

Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist, policy expert, writer, and Brooklyn native. She is founder and CEO of Ocean Collectiv, a strategy consulting firm for conservation solutions grounded in social justice, and founder of Urban Ocean Lab, a think tank for the future of coastal cities. With Dr. Katharine Wilkinson, she co-edited the anthology All We Can Save, and co-founded The All We Can Save Project.

Recently, Ayana co-created the Blue New Deal, a roadmap for including the ocean in climate policy. For three years, she taught a seminar on urban ocean conservation as an adjunct professor at New York University. She curates and hosts the Science & Society series at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn.

Previously, as executive director of the Waitt Institute, Ayana co-founded the Blue Halo Initiative and led the Caribbean’s first successful island-wide ocean zoning effort, resulting in the protection of one-third of Barbuda’s coastal waters. She then led the growth of this initiative, launching it on Curaçao and Montserrat, in partnership with the governments and stakeholders. Prior, Ayana was Director of Science and Solutions at the Waitt Foundation, managing a diverse portfolio of ocean grants. She has also held policy positions in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Her volunteer work focuses on building community. Ayana was co-director of partnerships for the March for Science, creating a coalition of over 300 organizations that inspired over 1 million people around the world to take to the streets to support the role of science in policymaking. She serves on the board of directors for the Billion Oyster Project, GreenWave, and World Surf League’s PURE, on the advisory boards of Environmental Voter Project, Evergreen Action, Scientific American, Science Sandbox, Azul, and Oceanic Global, and as a fellow at The Explorers Club. To develop a local network of ocean professionals, she founded Team Ocean NYC. She is a committed mentor for next generation conservation leaders.

Ayana earned a B.A. from Harvard University in Environmental Science and Public Policy, and a Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in marine biology, with a dissertation on the ecology, socio-economics, and policy of sustainably managing coral reefs. For her research, she was awarded fellowships from the National Science Foundation, Switzer Foundation, and American Association of University Women. The fish trap she invented to reduce bycatch won the first Rare/National Geographic Solution Search. She has been a resident at TED, a scholar at the Aspen Institute, a fellow at Emerson Collective, a science scholar at Pioneer Works, and named to the Grist 50, UCSD 40 Under 40 Alumni, and Elle’s 27 Women Leading on Climate. Outside Magazine called her “the most influential marine biologist of our time.”

She is the proud daughter of a teacher/farmer and an architect/potter. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Outside Magazine, and Nature magazine. Her op-eds have been published in The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, and Huffington Post, and she blogs on Scientific American. She is a passionate advocate for coastal communities, and builds solutions for ocean justice and our climate crisis. Find her @ayanaeliza.

 

Aliya Jasmine Sovani

2020 Canadian Eco-Hero

Aliya Jasmine is an award-winning television host, producer, and environmental journalist (M.A.) You can currently watch her on various platforms for NBC News in Los Angeles. She is also the co-founder of the environmentally focused creative think tank, Lili Media & Design Lab.

She was previously anchor of MTV News in Canada, for over a decade, where she interviewed celebs including Tom Cruise, Kanye West, and Adele. Among the many shows she helped develop at MTV Canada, MTV IMPACT was a show for millennials about social and environmental issues that sent her on assignment around the world, and set the path for her career: from South Sudan after a civil war, to the heart of British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest to see first-hand the potential impacts of a proposed oil pipeline. She returned to the rainforest multiple times for various productions, and became of the World Wildlife Fund’s “Canadians for the Great Bear.” As a field reporter for Discovery Channel she was on the ground in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. Her many assignments for NBC in Los Angeles include a short documentary for NBC’s digital and social platforms about a wildlife corridor (slated to be the biggest in the world) to save the regions almost extinct mountain lion population, and reporting on California’s wildfires, which recently earned her a nomination form the LA Press Club.

“AJ” is bilingual in French & English. She holds a Bachelor of Communications degree from the University of Ottawa, a Social Media & Digital Marketing Certification from Harvard University, and a Master’s Degree in Environmental Journalism from the University of Southern California. In 2019 she joined the Board of Directors for The Nature Conservancy’s Canadian chapter, Nature United.

Melina Laboucan-Massimo

2019 Canadian Eco-Hero

Melina Laboucan-Massimo is Lubicon Cree from Northern Alberta. She has worked on social, environmental and climate justice issues for the past 15 years. Currently a Fellow at the David Suzuki Foundation, Melina’s research is focused on Climate Change, Indigenous Knowledge and Renewable Energy. Melina holds a Masters degree in Indigenous Governance at the University of Victoria with a focus on Renewable Energy in First Nation communities. As a part of her Masters thesis Melina completed a 20.8 kW solar installation in her home community of Little Buffalo in the heart of the tar sands which powers the health centre.

Facing firsthand impacts of the Alberta tar sands in her traditional territory, Melina has been a vocal advocate for Indigenous rights and environmental justice. For over a decade, Melina worked as a Climate and Energy Campaigner with Greenpeace Canada and the Indigenous Environmental Network internationally. She has written for a variety of publications and produced short documentaries on the tar sands, climate change, water issues and Indigenous cultural revitalization. Melina has studied, campaigned and worked in Brazil, Australia, Mexico, Canada and across Europe focusing on resource extraction, climate change impacts, media literacy and Indigenous rights & responsibilities.

Melina also works on the issue of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women in Canada after the suspicious death of her sister Bella whose case still remains unsolved. Melina currently serves on the boards of Seeding Sovereignty and NDN as well as the executive steering committees of the Indigenous Clean Energy Network and Indigenous Climate Action. Melina is the host of a new TV series called Power to the People which documents renewable energy, food security and eco-housing in Indigenous communities across North America.

Louis Psihoyos

2019 International Eco-Hero

Louie Psihoyos is an Academy Award-winning filmmaker and Executive Director of the Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS). He is recognized as one of the top still photographers in the world, having created iconic images for National Geographic for 18 years, and hundreds of covers for other magazines. Believing that film can be the most powerful weapon in the world, Louie founded OPS with Silicon Valley entrepreneur Jim Clark in 2005.

An ardent diver and dive photographer, Psihoyos’ mission is to show the world the decline of the oceans–our planet’s most crucial resource. Circling the globe dozens of times on photographic missions, he collects the imagery and stories underlying the compelling issues that challenge and threaten the natural world while connecting with environmentalists who are working to save the planet.

Psihoyos’ first documentary film, The Cove, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Film of 2009 and over 75 other awards around the world. His second film, Racing Extinction premiered on Discovery in 220 countries and territories on the same day, was nominated for an Emmy (Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking) and an Academy-Award (Best Song), and sparked the #StartWith1Thing movement.

With partner Obscura Digital, Psihoyos was the creative mind behind the unprecedented large-scale video projections of endangered species onto the United Nations Headquarters, Empire State Building, and the Vatican. Psihoyos most recently finished directing The Game Changers, executive produced by James Cameron. The film tells the story of James Wilks — an elite special forces trainer and winner of The Ultimate Fighter — as he travels the world on a quest for the truth behind the world’s most dangerous myth: that meat is necessary for protein, strength and optimal health.

 

AUTUMN PELTIER

2019 Rob Stewart Youth Eco-Hero

Autumn Peltier is Anishinaabe-kwe and a member of the Wikwemikong First Nation and an internationally recognized advocate for clean water. She is a water protector and has been called a “water warrior”. Peltier addressed world leaders at the UN General Assembly on the issue of water protection at the age of thirteen in 2018. Peltier lives on the Unceded Anishinawbe Territory on Manitoulin Island in northern Ontario. She began her advocacy on behalf of water at the age of eight and was inspired by her great aunt, Josephine Mandamin.

Peltier gained national and international notice when at a meeting of the Assembly of First Nations she presented Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with a copper water pot and although she did not have time to deliver her prepared speech she confronted Trudeau on his record on water protection and his support for pipelines. She has attended international events such as the Children’s Climate Conference in Sweden.

In April, 2019 the Anishinabek Nation honoured her and raised her up to be the Chief Water Commissioner in her great aunties role.

ANNE INNIS DAGG

2018 Canadian Eco-Hero

In 1956, four years before Jane Goodall ventured into the world of chimpanzees and seven years before Dian Fossey left to work with mountain gorillas, in fact, before anyone, man or woman had made such a trip, 23-year-old Canadian biologist, Anne Innis Dagg, made an unprecedented solo journey to South Africa to become the first person in the world to study animal behaviour in the wild on that continent. When she returned home a year later armed with ground-breaking research, the insurmountable barriers she faced as a female scientist proved much harder to overcome. In 1972, having published 20 research papers as an assistant professor of zoology at University of Guelph, the Dean of the university, denied her tenure. She couldn’t apply to the University of Waterloo because the Dean there told Anne that he would never give tenure to a married woman. This was the catalyst that transformed Anne into a feminist activist. For three decades, Anne Innis Dagg was absent from the giraffe world until 2010 when she was sought out by giraffologists and not just brought back to into the fold, but finally celebrated for her work.

JOHN FRANCIS

2018 International Eco-Hero

In the early 1970s John Francis gave up using motorized vehicles after witnessing the devastating effects of an oil spill in San Francisco Bay. Soon Afterwards he took an even more radical step: a vow of silence that lasted 17 years, during which he undertook a pilgrimage by foot across America on behalf of the environment and world peace, earning his Ph.D. in environmental studies along the way. Through his silence and walking, he learned to truly listen, both to other people and the world around him.

Since ending his silence in 1990, Francis has served as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Environmental Program, contributed to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Oil Pollution Act of 1990, rewriting transportation regulations in the wake of the Exxon Valdez spill, and founded Planetwalk, a nonprofit environmental education organization. He relates the experience of his quiet protest in his book Planetwalker: 22 Years of Walking. 17 Years of Silence. In March 2011, National Geographic published his second book, The Ragged Edge of Silence: Finding Peace in a Noisy World. Last year he was elected to a four-year term as one of three commissioners of the Borough of West Cape May, NJ, where he lives.

Accompanied by his ever present banjo and his gentle but determined demeanor, Francis communicates a surprisingly pragmatic message of pilgrimage and social change.

Photography by Mark Theissen: John Francis, at the National Geographic Explorers Festival.

 

Rachel Parent

2018 Rob Stewart Youth Eco-Hero

This is not your average teenage girl. She’s not drawn to designer labels. She’s drawn to food labels. At 11 years old, Rachel began researching for a school project and became alarmed by what she learned about GMOs. This gave her the spark to become an activist fighting for our right to know what’s in our food by making GMO labeling a law in Canada. That spark evolved into what’s now known as Kids Right To Know, a not-for-profit organization that she founded to inform the public, especially other children, about food safety.

A Toronto high school student, Rachel has since become a media veteran with dozens of television, radio, magazine and online interviews under her belt. She has been a featured speaker at a variety of events including the Planet in Focus Environmental Film festival, The Green Living Show, Total Health Show, TEDx Toronto, WE Day, the Uplift Festival in Australia, Sonoma Valley Heirloom Expo, Toronto Veg Fest and Vancouver Veg Expo to name a few. She has been acknowledged as an Emerging Leader by the The Clean50 Summit in Toronto, named one of Toronto’s Environmental Heroes by Now Magazine, recognized as one of the Seven Kids Saving the Planet Right Now by ELuxe Magazine, and included in Canada’s  Top 20 Under 20 Change Makers by the National Post.

Throughout this journey, Rachel has been fortunate to meet and work with world leaders in the food safety movement, including Dr. Gilles-Eric Séralini, Dr. Vandana Shiva, Dr. Shiv Chopra, Dr. Thierry Vrain, Dr. Bruce Lipton, Jeffery Smith of the Institute of Responsible Technology, and Dr. Jane Goodall. Collectively, they are raising awareness about the risks of GMOs and motivating millions to ask questions and take action.

Rachel continues to research, educate and motivate others in schools and public events around the world in the name of transparency and choice.

DR. ROBERTA BONDAR

2017 Canadian Eco-Hero

The world’s first neurologist in space, Dr. Roberta Bondar is globally recognized for her pioneering contribution to space medicine research. Aboard the Discovery mission STS- 42, the First International Microgravity Laboratory in 1992, she conducted over 40 investigations from 13 countries.

For more than 12 years at NASA, Dr. Bondar headed an international research team, continuing to find new connections between astronauts recovering from the microgravity of space and neurological illnesses here on Earth. Her techniques have been used in clinical studies at the B. I. Deaconess Medical Center, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and at the University of New Mexico. Dr. Bondar served two terms as Chancellor of Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario.

Dr. Bondar has also earned a reputation as a leading speaker and consultant within the medical and scientific communities, and in the field of corporate social responsibility and care for the Earth’s environment. She co-founded The Roberta Bondar Foundation, a not for profit charitable organization, to reconnect us to the natural environment. The Foundation has school and summer camp programs to help kids connect to and enjoy the natural world around them.

Dr. Bondar holds the following degrees: BSc University of Guelph, MSc University of Western Ontario, PhD University of Toronto, MD McMaster University, Board Certification Neurology, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada with subspecialty in Neuro-ophthalmology, Tuft’s New England Medical Ctr, Boston MA. She is a graduate of and an examiner for The Institute of Corporate Directors.

Among awards and honours, Dr. Bondar has been recognized with the NASA Space Medal, inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame and into the International Women’s Forum Hall of Fame for her pioneering research in space medicine. Roberta has received 28 Honorary Degrees from universities across Canada and is a recipient of the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario. In 2011, Dr. Bondar received her own star on Canada’s Walk of Fame.

www.robertabondar.com

www.therobertabondarfoundation.org

RON FINLEY

2017 International Eco-Hero

Armed with a shovel, some soil and seeds, Ron Finley has come to be known as the “Gangsta Gardener” and his unexpected tactics have made him one of L.A.’s most widely known artivists.

Frustrated by his community’s lack of access to fresh, organic food, Finley inadvertently started a revolution when he turned the parkway in front of his South Central L.A. home into an edible garden in 2010. When the city cited him for his plantings, Finley started a bureaucratic battle, gathering signatures and working with local officials until city ordinances were altered to include edibles.

Ron’s goal was simple; bring healthy food to an area where there was none. Ron decided he did not want to live in a food prison anymore so he began to plant his own food. This simple logic inspired Ron’s mission to turn food prisons into food forests.

With donated tools, saplings and seeds, he organized volunteers and led “dig-ins” citywide, planting edible gardens in resident parkways and yards, schools and homeless shelters. Eventually Finley’s work earned him an invite to the annual TED conference, an event where innovators share their ideas through storytelling. Finley’s TED Talk is a testament to his passion for the work. It has been viewed by nearly three million people to date on YouTube. Countless phone calls, emails and website messages have told Finley that his words and actions have affected people from Kauai to Qatar.

With so much momentum behind him, he began to focus his energy on The Ron Finley Project, an organization which is changing culture from the ground up. Finley now speaks at global conferences and in classrooms regularly, spreading his gardening gospel wherever he’s invited.

JONAH BRYSON

Rob Stewart Youth Eco-Hero Award Recipient

At the early age of 12, Jonah Bryson decided to undertake his first feature documentary. After screening the first cut in Florida, at age 14, Bryson parterened with undersea explorer and producer Fabien Cousteau to complete the documentary. It is set to be released in 2016 and features Dr. Sylvia Earle, the first woman to serve as Chief Scientist of NOAA.

At the age of 14, Bryson also co-produced a short environmental documentary with “Sharkwater” director Rob Stewart.

Bryson always tries to find new ways to bring communities together and help protect the environment, all while leveraging his passion for film, writing, and storytelling.

ALEXANDRA COUSTEAU

International Eco-Hero

A filmmaker, explorer, and globally recognized advocate on water issues, Alexandra Cousteau continues the work of her renowned grandfather Jacques-Yves Cousteau and her father Philippe Cousteau Sr. She has mastered the remarkable storytelling tradition handed down to her and has the unique ability to inspire audiences on the weighty issues of policy, politics, and action. Cousteau is dedicated to advocating the importance of conservation and the sustainable management of water in order to preserve a healthy planet. Her global initiatives seek to inspire and empower individuals to protect not only the ocean and its inhabitants, but also the human communities that rely on freshwater resources.

Before hitting the road in 2010 for Expedition Blue Planet: North America, Cousteau served as the water advisor and spokesperson for the global Live Earth 2010 Run for Water—a project that teams her public advocacy on environmental issues with actress Jessica Biel, musician Pete Wentz, and many more. In early 2009, Cousteau joined the Discovery Channel line-up, co-hosting Blue August with her brother Philippe Jr., and served as a chief correspondent on water issues for Discovery’s Planet Green. In 2008, she was honoured as a National Geographic Emerging Explorer—an elite group of 11 visionary young trailblazers from around the world who push the boundaries of discovery, adventure, and global problem solving.

Named an Earth Trustee by the United Nations and a Principal Voice by CNN International, Cousteau regularly delivers testimony before government agencies on critical policy issues. She serves as a Senior Advisor for Oceana; on the prestigious Forum of Young Global Leaders and Global Agenda Council on Oceans for the World Economic Forum; on the board of directors of the Global Water Challenge and EarthEcho; on the Advisory Council for the Pacific Institute; and on the International Advisory Board of Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Journals/QScience.com. She is also a parent ambassador with Healthy Child Healthy World.

Cousteau’s work regularly earns global recognition, including the University of California – Irvine’s Human Security Award, the South Carolina Aquarium’s Legacy Award, Potomac Riverkeeper’s Protector of the Potomac Award, and the Arava Institute’s Peace Building and Environmental Stewardship Award. She has been featured by the National Press Club, the Royal Ontario Museum, Harvard University, and the Smithsonian Institute. She is also regularly featured in major publications including National Geographic, Town and Country, Scientific American, The Wall Street Journal, Martha Stewart Living, Glamour, and Elle. In 2016, Cousteau received an honorary doctorate degree from Georgetown University, her alma mater.

DAVID SUZUKI

Canadian Eco-Hero

David Suzuki, Co-Founder of the David Suzuki Foundation, is an award-winning scientist, environmentalist and broadcaster. He is renowned for his radio and television programs that explain the complexities of the natural sciences in a compelling, easily understood way.

Dr. Suzuki is a geneticist. He graduated from Amherst College (Massachusetts) in 1958 with an Honours BA in Biology, followed by a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961. He held a research associateship in the Biology Division of Tennessee’s Oak Ridge National Lab (1961-62), was an Assistant Professor in Genetics at the University of Alberta (1962-63), and since then has been a faculty member of the University of British Columbia. He is now Professor Emeritus at UBC.

In 1972, he was awarded the E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship for the outstanding research scientist in Canada under the age of 35 and held it for three years. He has won numerous academic awards and holds over 25 honorary degrees from universities around the world. He was elected to the Royal Society of Canada and is a Companion of the Order of Canada. Dr. Suzuki has written 52 books, including 19 for children. His 1976 textbook An Introduction to Genetic Analysis (with A.J.F. Griffiths) remains the most widely used genetics text book in the U.S. and has been translated into Italian, Spanish, Greek, Indonesian, Arabic, French, and German.

Dr. Suzuki has received consistently high acclaim for his thirty years of award-winning work in broadcasting. In 1974 he developed and hosted the long-running popular science program Quirks and Quarks on CBC Radio for four years. He has since presented two influential documentary CBC Radio series on the environment, It’s a Matter of Survival and From Naked Ape to Superspecies. His national television career began with CBC in 1971 when he wrote and hosted Suzuki on Science. He was host of Science Magazine (1974-79) and in 1979 became the host of the award-winning series, The Nature of Things with David Suzuki. He has won four Gemini Awards as best host of different Canadian television series. His eight-part television series, A Planet for the Taking, won an award from the United Nations. His eight-part BBC/PBS series, The Secret of Life, was praised internationally, as was his five-part series The Brain for the Discovery Channel. In 2002, he received the John Drainie Award for broadcasting excellence.

Dr. Suzuki is also recognized as a world leader in sustainable ecology. He is the recipient of UNESCO’s Kalinga Prize for Science, the United Nations Environment Program Medal, UNEP’s Global 500, and the Right Livelihood Award – considered the Alternative Nobel Prize.

2015 International Eco-Hero

Vandana Shiva

Dr. Vandana Shiva trained as a Physicist at the University of Punjab, and completed her Ph.D. on the ‘Hidden Variables and Non-locality in Quantum Theory’ from the University of Western Ontario, Canada. She later shifted to inter-disciplinary research in science, technology and environmental policy, which she carried out at the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, India.

In 1982, she founded an independent institute – the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology in Dehra Dun – dedicated to high quality and independent research to address the most significant ecological and social issues of our times, working in close partnership with local communities and social movements. In 1991 she founded Navdanya, a national movement to protect the diversity and integrity of living resources – especially native seed – and to promote organic farming and fair trade. For last two decades, Navdanya has worked with local communities and organisations, serving more than 500,000 men and women farmers. Navdanya’s efforts have resulted in the conservation of more than 3000 rice varieties from across India, and the organisation has established 60 seed banks in 16 states across the country. In 2004, Dr. Shiva started Bija Vidyapeeth, an international college for sustainable living in Doon Valley in collaboration with Schumacher College, U.K.

Dr. Shiva combines sharp intellectual enquiry with courageous activism, and her work spans teaching at universities worldwide to working with peasants in rural India. Time Magazine identified Dr. Shiva as an environmental ‘hero’ in 2003, and Asia Week has called her one of the five most powerful communicators in Asia. In November 2010, Forbes Magazine identified Dr. Shiva as one of the Seven Most Powerful Women on the Globe.

Dr. Shiva has contributed in fundamental ways to changing the practice and paradigms of agriculture and food. Her books The Violence of the Green Revolution and Monocultures of the Mind pose essential challenges to the dominant paradigm of non-sustainable, industrial agriculture. Through her books Biopiracy, Stolen Harvest and Water Wars, Dr. Shiva has made visible the social, economic and ecological costs of corporate-led globalisation. Dr. Shiva chairs the Commission on the Future of Food set up by the Region of Tuscany in Italy, she is a Board member of the International Forum on Globalisation (IGF), and a member of the Steering Committee of the Indian People’s Campaign Against the WTO.

Dr. Shiva has made significant contributions to the areas of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and biodiversity. Through her leadership and commitments, Dr. Shiva and her team at the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology successfully challenged the biopiracy of Neem, Basmati and Wheat. Besides her activism, she has also served on expert groups of the government on Biodiversity and IPR legislation.

Dr. Shiva has campaigned internationally on issues surrounding biotechnology and genetic engineering. She has helped movements in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Ireland, Switzerland and Austria with their campaigns against genetic engineering. In 2003, when the US initiated a dispute against the EU to remove the bans and moratoria on genetically modified crops and foods, Dr. Shiva launched a global citizens campaign on GMOs in the WTO.

Dr. Shiva’s contributions to gender issues are nationally and internationally recognised. Her book Staying Alive dramatically shifts popular perceptions of Third World women. She founded the gender unit at the International Centre for Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Kathmandu, and was a founding Board Member of the Women Environment and Development Organization (WEDO). Dr. Shiva has also initiated Diverse Women for Diversity, an international movement of women working for food and agriculture. The movement was launched formally in Bratislava, Slovakia, in May 1998.

Dr. Shiva is on the National Board of Organic Standards of India. Dr Shiva was appointed to the advisory board of the National Controller General of Accounts from 2013 to 2015. She also works with the state governments of Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttaranchal for the promotion of organic farming. She has been invited by the Planning Commission to be a member of the expert group on environment, the expert group on nutrition, and the expert group on the voluntary sector.

Internationally, Dr. Shiva serves on Prince Charles’s expert group on Sustainable Agriculture and she is a member of President Zapatero’s Scientific Committee in Spain. Dr. Shiva advises governments worldwide, and is currently working with the Government of Bhutan to make Bhutan 100% organic. She is also working with the Governments of Tuscany and Rome to create a hopeful and livable future for young people in these times of crises.

Amy Millan is a natural instigator who works from the heart in everything she does, and has a deep-seeded commitment to equity and social justice. Amy grew up in Cabbagetown in Toronto.  She attended Jarvis Collegiate high school, and later the Etobicoke School of the Arts where she studied drama alongside future Broken Social Scene bandmates Kevin Drew and Emily Haines. She later joined this band in concert and on several albums.

Amy caught the social justice bug while in high school and started a youth group with the Canadian Peace Alliance. She was instrumental in motivating her high school to walk out to show protest against the first Gulf War. After high school she traveled to El Salvador and raised funds to build a library in a small town.

While at Concordia University, Amy deepened her song writing skills, performing in Montreal coffee clubs in a burgeoning international music scene. Back in Toronto, she formed the roots-rock band 16 Tons and wrote many of the songs with which she would launch her solo career several years later. A move to Los Angeles was short lived. She missed a city where walking was encouraged over driving and returned home to Toronto.

Amy joined the Canadian indie pop band Stars in 1999 which gained wide acclaim and success with their 2004 album, Set Yourself on Fire. Since then Amy has also produced three solo albums.

It has always been important for Amy to use her place on stage in a way that aligns with her core values. While touring extensively in North America, Japan and Europe, Amy has worked diligently to bring environmental awareness to the tour, including eradicating plastic water bottles on the bus and on stage. She began working with PLUS ONE to add a dollar of every Stars ticket to NGOS during each tour. And she got behind Toronto’s summer fundraiser, the NEW FARM project, to help make healthy, sustainable foods available in homeless shelters. 

Watching the political and environmental developments around seed, in 2014 Amy decided to do something to address the importance of seeds in healthy food systems. Working with friends at USC Canada, she was an instigator and leader of the I Am A Seed Saver campaign to promote awareness of biodiversity, farmers’ rights and ecological agriculture. Amy helped develop the campaign, recruit the creative team that executed it, and was the spark that brought Sam Roberts, Jim Cuddy and Leslie Feist to join in and speak about why seeds are important to them.

Amy will tell you that she is no expert about seeds… but don’t be convinced. She has become a wonderful spokesperson, bringing people into the issue with her enthusiasm, authentic engagement, humility, humour, and her wisdom.

For more on I Am A Seed Saver, visit www.iamaseedsaver.org.

2014 International Eco-Hero

Rob Stewart

Rob Stewart’s SHARKWATER (2007) is one of the rare environmental films that reaches the consciousness of audiences world-wide and in response, a change in behavior occurs. The importance of sharks to the health of the oceans has been overshadowed by the overwhelming sense of danger and fear that surrounds the species. As a filmmaker and environmentalist, Stewart has revealed that sharks are a species  under attack with approximately 100 million being killed every year. As an activist, Stewart has managed to shift the public’s perspective to demonstrate that the oceans need sharks to maintain ecological balance. Stewart has captured the imagination of the world with images of him swimming with sharks and presented the horrors of the shark fin trade. Through his film and the power of social media, Stewart has created a movement which has banned the killing of sharks and consumption of shark fin soup in cities and countries everywhere.

2014 Canadian Eco-Hero

Tzeporah Berman

Tzeporah Berman’s THIS CRAZY TIME: LIVING OUR ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE, details the struggles/ challenges she has faced in the environmental movement over the past two decades. As an author, Berman shares her experiences and inspires new generations to stand up to injustice. In 1992, Berman fell in love with and decide to protect Canada’s only rainforest, composed trees of up to 800 years old.  A  unique and precious piece of our land, the rainforests were being cut down and turned into paper products for household use. Inspired by Martin Luther King and Gandhi, Berman educated herself in the traditions of non-violence, and launch a campaign to say NO to corporate logging. Since then she has worked as  a strategic adviser for dozens of environmental organizations, First Nations and philanthropic advisers on clean energy, oilsands and pipelines and is the former co-director of Greenpeace International’s Global Climate & Energy Program. She was an expert in Leonardo Di Caprio’s 11th HOUR. Here in Canada, her name is synonymous with Clayquot Sound where she has demonstrated how the actions of one woman, can continue to have an impact decades later.

2013 International Eco-Hero

Col. Chris Hadfield

Former Commander of the International Space Station,Col. Hadfield’s scientific and technical accomplishments in outer space focused world attention on the importance of the space program, but it is his artistic abilities that have allowed him to put our ‘Planet in Focus’. As he journeyed through space, Col. Hadfield used his talents as a writer, photographer and musician to reflect on the beauty and fragility of our planet and equally, on our own humanity. His visually evocative photographs of Earth were taken during his tenure as Commander of the International Space Station. Through his photography, he has provided visual proof of the destructive impact we have had on our planet. This is a gift, as it shows that if we shift our actions, we can prevent and reverse our devastating impact.

2013 Canadian Eco-Hero

 Zacharias Kunuk

Zacharias Kunuk’s internationally acclaimed films that include; Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, The Journals of Knud Ramussen, and Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change, give voice to the Inuit People’s perspective on a spectrum of issues including climate change. Planet in Focus is pleased to recognize Kunuk’s work of documenting and collecting first hand accounts from Inuit elders about the impact of climate change on Inuit culture and on the northern environment. Their current challenges may become a road map for the rest of the world as we all cope with the negative impact of climate change.

2012 International Eco-Hero

James Balog

Founder & Director, Extreme Ice Survey / Founder, Earth Vision Trust For three decades, James Balog has been a leader in photographing and interpreting the natural environment. An avid mountaineer with a graduate degree in geography and geomorphology, James is equally at home on a Himalayan peak or a whitewater river, the African savannah or polar icecaps. To reveal the impact of climate change, James founded the Extreme Ice Survey (EIS), the most wide-ranging, ground-based, photographic study of glaciers ever conducted. The project is featured in the highly acclaimed documentary, Chasing Ice, which won the award for Excellence in Cinematography at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, as well as dozens of awards at film festivals worldwide. Chasing Ice was shortlisted for the 2013 Academy Awards. It has been screened at The White House, the U.S. Congress, the U.K. House of Commons and the United Nations. It has been the subject of features on the NBCEvening News, ABC Nightline, The Late Show with David Letterman, PBS’s Moyers & Company, and Real Time with Bill Maher. James has been honored with many awards, including, in recent years, the Heinz Award, the Missouri School of Journalism’s Honor Medal for Distinguished Service, the Aspen Institute’s Visual Arts & Design Award, and the North American Nature Photography Association’s “Outstanding Photographer of the Year” award. He recently received an Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from the University of Alberta and the American Geophysical Union Presidential Citation for Science and Society.

2012 Canadian Eco-Hero

Jennifer Baichwal

Jennifer was born in Montréal and grew up in Victoria, British Columbia. She studied philosophy and theology at McGill University and received an M.A. in 1994, supported by a McGill Major Fellowship and a 2 year FCAR Master’s Scholarship. She has been directing and producing documentaries for 15 years. Her first film, Looking You In The Back of the Head, an enquiry into the problem of personal identity, asked thirteen women to try to describe themselves and was first broadcast, to critical acclaim, on TVOntario’s From the Heart. It subsequently sold for broadcast across Canada. Let it Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles, her first feature documentary, won a 1999 International Emmy for Best Arts Documentary. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1998 and was nominated that year for a Best Feature Documentary Genie Award. It won Best Biography at Hot Docs in 1999 and was picked up for theatrical release by Mongrel Media in Canada, Zeitgeist Films in the U.S., and Uplink in Japan. The film has been sold for broadcast all over the world, and has been selected for a number of international film and television festivals, including Jerusalem, Buenos Aires, FIPA, Banff (where it received a Rockie nomination), Istanbul and Edinburgh. In 2011 Baichwal completed Payback, a documentary adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth, with the National Film Board of Canada and Ravida Din (Executive Producer, Quebec Production Centre). The film premiered in World Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2012 and was released in Canada (Mongrel Media) in March, 2012 and the U.S. in April, 2012.

Watermark is a feature documentary film about human interaction with water around the world and marks Baichwal and de Pencier’s second collaboration with Edward Burtynsky. The documentary is co-directed by Burtynsky, produced and filmed by de Pencier. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2013 and was released in Canada that fall by Mongrel Media. The film won the Toronto Film Critic’s Association prize for Best Canadian Film 2014 and the Canadian Media Awards prize for Best Documentary 2014. It is currently in release in the U.S. with eOne.

2011 International Eco-Hero

Ric O’Barry Campaign Director

Planet in Focus is proud to announce our 2011 International Eco Hero, Richard O’Barry for his work protecting dolphins and marine animals worldwide. In the 1960s, Ric O’Barry was hired to train the dolphins that played the role of Flipper on the popular television show. When one of the dolphins died in his arms, O’Barry was moved – and spent the next 40 years fighting for their protection. He is featured in the Academy Award® winning documentary The Cove and is also a force behind the television show Blood Dolphin$ on Animal Planet.

2011 Canadian Eco-Hero
Kevin McMahon

Kevin McMahon began his career as a newspaper journalist at the St. Catharines Standard before shifting his focus to documentary film in the mid-1980s. His films have been described as “visually stunning and brilliantly conceived” (The Globe and Mail); “poetic and ironic, they deal with important topics and never shirk the difficulties inherent in complex issues” (Take One Magazine). Kevin is currently producing Canadian Made, a 14-part television series exploring the national psyche through innovation. He is also at work directing Planet Zero, an interactive web-based documentary about nuclear weapons. Other projects in development include Powering Spaceship Earth, a collaboration with Japan’s NHK, and Borealis, a feature documentary about the Boreal forest.

Recent films Kevin has directed include Standing Wave, part of Primitive’s National Parks Project, a  26-part television, music and film series, and Waterlife, an exploration of the Great Lakes which produced a feature documentary (Earth Prize, Tokyo Film Festival 2010; Hot Docs Award 2010). Feature documentaries that Kevin has written and directed include: The Face of Victory, Stolen Spirits of Haida Gwaii, An Idea of Canada, McLuhan’s Wake, In The Reign of Twilight and The Falls. Kevin’s documentaries for television include Yo-Yo Ma: Inspired by Bach: The Music Garden, Lifting The Shadow, Truth Merchants and the three-part series Cod: The Fish That Changed The World, a collaboration with comedian Mary Walsh. As a producer, Kevin oversaw the 50-episode series Things That Move, about the history and science of motion, and Working Over Time, a four-hour history of Canada, as seen through manual labour. Kevin is theauthor of Arctic Twilight, about the impact of the Cold War on the Inuit, and a contributor to POV Magazine, The Toronto Star and CBC Radio’s Ideas.Kevin’s work has garnered a variety of awards, including several Geminis, a top prize from the Canadian Centre for Investigative Journalism, a nomination for a Governor General’s Award in public service journalism and honors from film festivals around the world. The Canadian Film Institute and Hot Docs have both held retrospectives of Kevin’s work. Kevin is also a frequent mentor to younger filmmakers; in 2006 he served as the first Official Mentor at the Hot Docs festival.Kevin holds degrees from Brock and Carleton universities and the University of Bristol in England. He is a partner in Primitive Entertainment, a Toronto production company specializing in high quality documentary. Kevin lives in Toronto with his three teenaged children.

2010 International Eco Hero

Robert Bateman

Robert has been a keen artist and naturalist from his early days. He has always painted wildlife and nature, beginning with a representational style, moving through impressionism and cubism to abstract expressionism. In his early 30’s he moved back to realism as a more suitable way to express the particularity of the planet. It is this style that has made him one of the foremost artists in his genre. In the ’70s and early ’80s, Bateman’s work began to receive critical acclaim and to attract an enormous following. His work is in many public and private collections, and several art museums, including the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, WY. His honours, awards and honorary doctorates are numerous: he was made Officer of the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian award in 1984. He has also been given the Rachel Carson Award (1996), the Golden Plate from the American Academy of Achievement (1998) and the Order of British Columbia (2001), and Human Rights Defender Award from Amnesty International (2007); he was named one of the 20th Century’s Champions of Conservation by the U.S. National Audubon Society (1998).
Through his long association with Mill Pond Press, thousands of wildlife lovers the world over have been able to enjoy Bateman prints. Born in Toronto, with a degree in geography from the University of Toronto, Bateman taught high school for 20 years, including two years in Nigeria. He travelled around the world in a Land Rover in 1957/58, increasing his appreciation of cultural and natural heritage. Since leaving teaching in 1976 to paint full-time, he has travelled widely with his artist/conservationist wife Birgit to many remote natural areas. Bateman’s art reflects his commitment to ecology and preservation. Since the early 1960’s, he has been an active member of naturalist and conservation organizations, now on a global scale. He has become a spokesman for many environmental and preservation issues and has used his artwork and limited edition prints in fund-raising efforts that have provided millions of dollars for these worthy causes.He says, “I can’t conceive of anything being more varied and rich and handsome than the planet Earth. And its crowning beauty is the natural world. I want to soak it up, to understand it as well as I can, and to absorb it . . . and then I’d like to put it together and express it in my painting. This is the way I want to dedicate my life.”

2010 Canadian Eco-Hero

Margaret Atwood

A varied and prolific writer, Margaret Atwood is one of Canada’s major contemporary authors. Atwood’s writing is noted for its careful craftsmanship and precision of language, which give a sense of inevitability and a resonance to her words. In her fiction Atwood has explored the issues of our time, capturing them in the satirical, self-reflexive mode of the contemporary novel. She has written to date a staggering 14 novels, nine short-story collections, 16 books of poetry, and ten volumes of non-fiction that have collectively garnered two Governor General’s Awards, a Giller Prize, a Man Booker Prize and numerous other awards and accolades. A Companion of the Order of Canada, Margaret Atwood is among the most prolific and celebrated writers in Canadian history. Margaret Atwood studied English, with minors in philosophy and French, at the University of Toronto from 1957 to 1961. She obtained an MA at Radcliffe College, Harvard in 1962. The influence of professors Jay MacPherson and Northrop Frye directed her early poetry toward myth and archetype in her first book, Double Persephone (1961). Atwood’s reputation as a poet was established when her second book, The Circle Game (1966), was awarded the Governor General’s Award. In 1969 Atwood published The Edible Woman, a novel in which themes of women’s alienation echo those in her poetry. In Procedures for Underground (1970) and The Journals of Susanna Moodie (1970), her next books of poetry, personae have difficulty accepting the irrational. The inadequacy of language to come to terms with experience is extended in Power Politics (1971), where words are a refuge for weak women against male force. Early on, Atwood also had a distinguished teaching career. She held positions at the University of British Columbia (1964-65), Sir George Williams University, now Concordia University (1967-68), and York University (1971-72). Atwood’s writing, in all her chosen genres, has always been clearly connected to global and personal politics; it particularly focuses on themes of environmental degradation, women’s roles in society, and the power dynamics of social organization. Her non-fictional Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth (2008), originally delivered as the 2008 Massey Lectures, extends this concern with the social world to a study of the idea of debt throughout history — and, frequently, in literature. Margaret Atwood has received numerous honorary degrees, including ones from Concordia University, University of Toronto, Université de Montréal, Harvard University, and The Royal Military College of Canada. In addition to being a Companion of the Order of Canada, in 2012 she was the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, Canada.

2010 Canadian Eco-Hero

Graeme Gibson

Educated at the University of Western Ontario, Graeme Gibson taught at the Ryerson Institute of Technology, later Ryerson University, from 1961-69. He later served as writer-in-residence at the University of Waterloo and the University of Ottawa (1985). Gibson has made considerable contributions to Canadian letters through his publications and his involvement in organizational initiatives. Graeme Gibson’s first novel, Five Legs (1969), is a complex, intertextual modernist work that exhibits Gibson’s thematic concerns with mortality and writing as it surveys the cultural malaise of its time. A sequel, Communion, continuing the story of one of Five Legs‘ characters, was released in 1971. Gibson’s next novel, Perpetual Motion (1982), is widely regarded as his finest work. A critique of humanity’s drive to dominate and exploit the natural environment, set in 19th century Ontario, the novel traces protagonist Robert Fraser’s attempt to build a perpetual motion machine by harnessing natural energy. 1993’s Gentleman Death is an ambitious, successful novel searching for the meaning in contemporary life. It is as much about writing, the occupation of the central character, also named Robert Fraser, as it is about ever-present death. Gibson has also produced a short story, “Pancho Villa’s Head,” and has written for film, radio and television as well as penning many travel articles. He released a book of interviews, Eleven Canadian Novelists, in 1973. A committed bird watcher and naturalist, Gibson led birdwatching tours to Cuba for years and was instrumental in founding the Pelee Island Bird Observatory, which he also serves as chairman. In 2005 Gibson published the bestselling, widely acclaimed The Bedside Book of Birds, a collection of representations of the avian world in poetry, prose and art throughout human history. Birds, reflects Gibson, “are imagination and longing and spirit.” A companion volume, The Bedside Book of Beasts (2009), surveys the relationships between predators and their prey. The volumes speak not only to the beauty and wonder but also the fragility of the planet’s creatures and ecosystems. Graeme Gibson’s literary achievements have been recognized with the Toronto Arts Award (1990) and the Harbourfront Festival Prize (1993). He became a Member of the Order of Canada in 1992, and an honorary Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in 2007. Gibson lives in Toronto with author Margaret Atwood.

2009 International Eco-Hero

Maude Barlow

Maude is the National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians and chairs the board of Washington-based Food and Water Watch. She is a board member of the San Francisco–based International Forum on Globalization and a Councillor with the Hamburg-based World Future Council. Maude is the recipient of eleven honorary doctorates as well as many awards, including the 2005 Right Livelihood Award (known as the “Alternative Nobel”), the 2005 Lannan Foundation Cultural Freedom Fellowship Award, the Citation of Lifetime Achievement at the 2008 Canadian Environment Awards, the 2009 Earth Day Canada Outstanding Environmental Achievement Award, the 2009 Planet in Focus Eco Hero Award, and the 2011 EarthCare Award, the highest international honour of the Sierra Club (US). In 2008/2009, she served as Senior Advisor on Water to the 63rd President of the United Nations General Assembly and was a leader in the campaign to have water recognized as a human right by the UN. She is also the author of dozens of reports, as well as 17 books, including her latest, Blue Future: Protecting Water For People And The Planet Forever. “Do not listen to those who say there is nothing you can do to the very real and large social and environmental issues of our time. There are serious problems that beset our world. I’m not now talking about a false sense of optimism based on ignoring the very real crises we face, but there is so much room for hope. And such a need to bring joy and excitement to our commitment to a different future. I swear to you this is true. The life of an activist is a good life because you get up in the morning caring about more than just yourself or how to make money. A life of activism gives hope, which is a moral imperative in this work and in this world. It gives us energy and it gives us direction. You meet the nicest people, you help transform ideas and systems and you commit to leaving the earth in at least as whole a condition as you inherited it.” —Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, June 2009, addressing Trent University after receiving an honorary Doctor of Laws.

2009 Canadian Eco Hero

Ian Clifford

Ian Clifford is the founder and CEO of ZENN Motor Company, a Toronto-based manufacturer of fully electric vehicles. He began his career as a photographer. Mentored by Ansel Adams, he quickly became one of Canada’s leading corporate photographers.

In 1995, Ian co-founded digIT Interactive, a full-service Internet marketing company. After selling digIT Interactive in 2000, he sought a more meaningful endeavor and in 2001 founded Feel Good Cars, an electric car company that is now known as ZENN Motor Company. The ZENN or the Zero Emission No Noise electric car was introduced in 2006. It has since won the Gold medal for Best Urban Vehicle at the Michelin Bibendum Challenge in Paris and is recognized as the world’s leading Neighborhood Electric Vehicle.

2009 Industry Media Eco Hero

The Nature of Things with David Suzuki 

Award-winning geneticist and broadcaster David Suzuki is the Foundation’s co-founder with Tara Cullis. He is familiar to audiences around the world as host of CBC TV’s long-running series, The Nature of Things. From 1969 to 2001 he was a faculty member at the University of British Columbia, and is currently professor emeritus. He has authored over 40 books, and is widely recognized as a world leader in sustainable ecology. Dr. Suzuki has received numerous awards for his work, including a UNESCO prize for science, a United Nations Environment Program medal, and is a Companion of the Order of Canada. He has 22 honorary doctorates from universities in the USA, Canada, and Australia. For his support of Canada’s First Nations people, Dr. Suzuki has been honoured with six names and formal adoption by two tribes.

As “The Nature of Things” heads towards its 50th anniversary in the fall of this year, it’s timely to remember that the series has always sought to inform and entertain, but also to educate. This time, we explore and celebrate the life and diversity of the ocean, and document a growing threat to a world we know so little about.

Michael Allder is the Executive Producer of CBC’s Science & Natural History Unit and its flagship programme, the multi-award-winning series “The Nature of Things with David Suzuki”, which is broadcast across Canada and many countries around the world. It explores issues, discoveries and events in the worlds of science, medicine, technology, wildlife and the environment.

Mr. Allder has had extensive experience as a producer and director of both television and cinematic productions in both the public and private sectors. He previously worked with the National Film Board of Canada, where he produced feature documentaries including the cult hit “Project Grizzly”, “Drowning in Dreams” and “The Lucky Ones”, which he also directed. All three films enjoyed various festival and limited theatrical runs, as did the acclaimed feature-length documentary “Cyberman”, which was produced for the CBC and revealed the alternative universe of a self-professed cyborg.

Mr. Allder was also the Series and Executive Producer of the limited series “Race for the Future”, “The Adventurers”, “The Science of the Senses”, “Passion and Fury: The Emotional Brain”, as well as the 5-part HD series “Geologic Journey”, which explored the geologic history of North America. Current projects include the follow-up series “Geologic Journey – World”, now in production, and “The Nano Revolution”, which takes a look at the world of the infinitesimally small, and the revolutionary technologies that promise to transform our world.

2008 International Eco Hero

Carlo Petrini

This award is given to an individual who has demonstrated outstanding leadership and made a lasting contribution to environmental awareness, action and change on the international stage.

Carlo Petrini has profoundly articulated and re-shaped our contemporary understanding of food, its production, its inter-relationship with the environment and our wellbeing. He has shepherded a worldwide movement that is re-examining and re-evaluating methods developed in agriculture, food production, distribution, preparation and consumption of food since the industrial age and have mobilized a global following through the Slow Food Movement. This movement has catalyzed and embraced the creation and valuation of sustainable food systems, social justice and regenerative cultural benefits stemming from a richer understanding and appreciation of the wisdom of age old slow food practices, well established around the world. Clearly he has ensured that “…food and its production regain the central place they deserve among human activities,” to quote from his own writings. For this, we wish to recognize his great achievement.

Born in Bra, Italy, in 1949, Carlo Petrini studied sociology at Trento University and then became involved in local politics and association. In the early 1980s when Petrini witnessed the speed of the industrialization of food and the standardizing of taste he concluded that it would lead to the disappearance of thousands of food varieties. He sought to demonstrate to people that they had more choice than what had become supermarket homogenization it led to the foundations for Arcigola, an association which eventually developed into the Slow Food movement in 1989. He is the founder of the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo and Colorno and Terra Madre is also his brainchild. He is the author of Slow Food Nation: Why Our Food Should Be Good, Clean, And Fair and of Buono, pulito e giusto. Principi di nuova gastronomia (Good, Clean and Fair: Principles of a New Gastronomy) was published in Italy by Einaudi in 2005 and translated into French, Spanish, English, German and Polish. In 2004 he was named a ‘European Hero’ by Time magazine, and in January 2008 The Guardian named him as the sole Italian to appear in the list of ‘50 People Who Could Save the World’.

2008 Canadian Eco Hero

Wayne Roberts

Roberts is a pioneer and trailblazer, as a leader of the Toronto Food Policy Council since 1999, he has steered the development of such landmark documents as Toronto’s Food Charter, the Food and Hunger Action Plan and, more recently, Food Connects Us All. In addition, his writings as a journalist consistently provide a voice of conscience and reason in his analysis of environmental and social issues. He has worked tirelessly over the past three decades as an advocate for a healthier and more mature relationship with our fragile environment (in particular within the urban setting), having woven this understanding into the fabric of municipal public policy. It is for this and so much more, that we wish to recognize and celebrate his achievements.

Before working for the Food Policy Council, Roberts finished a Ph D and seven books, including the bestsellers Get A Life!, a manual on green economics, and Real Food For A Change, which promoted a food system based on four ingredients: health, joy, justice and nature.

Roberts also chaired the influential Coalition for a Green Economy for 15 years. He is on the Board of the U.S.-based Community Food Security Coalition and Food Secure Canada. He’s invited to speak around the world on strategies that combine food security, community empowerment, environmental improvement, social equity and job creation.

Toronto’s NOW Magazine named him one of Toronto’s leading visionaries of the past 20 years, and in 2002, he received the Canadian Environmental Award for his contributions to sustainable living.

2008 Industry Media Eco Hero

Edward Burtynsky

This award is given to an artist who has made an outstanding and lasting contribution in environmental artistic expression in their collected body of work.

In his remarkable career as Canada’s preeminent artist in the medium of photography, he has framed literally and metaphorically environmental conditions and contexts humans have shaped and altered in the service of industry and he has laid bare the contradictions inherent within. At Planet in Focus we too have defined the environment as contested terrain and his body of work is clearly emblematic of this expression. Upon viewing his photographic work of monumental constructions and transformations of nature, one cannot escape our paradoxical relationship to the planet upon which we depend for our sustenance and from which we so wantonly take.

In 1985, Burtynsky also founded Toronto Image Works, a darkroom rental facility, custom photo laboratory, digital imaging and new media computer-training centre catering to all levels of Toronto’s art community. He sits on the board of directors for Toronto’s international photography festival, Contact. His exhibitions include Manufactured Landscapes at the National Gallery of Canada (2003) and Before the Flood (2003), which were showcased in San Francisco, Toronto, Montreal and London in 2004, and the Brooklyn Museum of Art in 2005. His works have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions across Canada, in the United States, Europe and Asia. An active lecturer on photographic art, his speaking engagements include the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., George Eastman House in Rochester, NY, The Canadian Center for Architecture in Montreal, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the TED conference, Idea City, and Princeton University, New Jersey. His images have appeared in numerous periodicals: Art in America, The Smithsonian, Harper’s Magazine, Flash Art, Blind Spot, Art Forum, Saturday Night, Canadian Art, Playboy, GQ, the National Geographic Society and the New York Times. He has been honoured with distinctions by the Canadian Geographic Canadian Environment Award, TED Prize, The Outreach award at the Rencontres d’Arles, The Flying Elephant Fellowship, Applied Arts Magazine book award(s), and the Roloff Beny Book award. In 2007 he was awarded the title Officer of the Order of Canada and his honourary degrees include: Doctor of Laws, from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Doctor of Fine Arts in Photography, Ryerson University, Toronto and Doctor or Fine Arts from Monserrat College of Art, Beverly, Massachusetts.

2007  International Eco Hero 

Robert Redford 

Renowned as a screen based artist – an Oscar award winning actor, director, producer and champion of independent cinema – but it is our pleasure to honour   Mr. Redford as an environmental steward and trailblazer.

Redford won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Directors Guild of America Award, for his feature film directorial debut on the emotionally shattering family drama Ordinary People. He directed and produced The Milagro Beanfield War; A River Runs Through It,” for which he garnered a Best Director Golden Globe nomination; Quiz Show, earning dual Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Director and another Golden Globe nomination for Best Director; and, most recently, The Horse Whisperer, which brought him his fourth Golden Globe nod for Best Director. Also honoured for his acting work, Redford received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his performance in The Sting (1973).

Born in Santa Monica, California Robert Redford’s interest in the transformative power of nature began at the age of 11 following a successful battle with a mild bout of polio. He was awarded with a visit to Yosemite National where he worked as a teenager before coming back in the late ’80s to produce and narrate Yosemite: The Fate of Heaven, an award-winning documentary about potential environmental damage due to three million annual visitors.

In 1969 he bought the snow laden slopes of Mount Timpanogos in Utah with its Timphaven ski resort and thus began Sundance, named after his character in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Here, he developed a centre and village devoted to environmental conservation and artistic experimentation. In 1981 he opened the Sundance Institute, a non-profit organization which fosters and develops independent film and theatre artists, as well as aspiring filmmakers. The Institute spawned the annual Sundance Film Festival in nearby Park City, Utah and eventually the Sundance Channel 1996.

Earlier this year, Robert Redford launched, The Green, on the Sundance Channel, A three-hour prime-time programming block focused on sustainability and the environment. Some of the programs have already been screened in past Planet in Focus festivals.

Mr. Redford has been on the board of the Natural Resource Defense Council for 30 years. He created the Institute for Resource Management (IRM), which sponsors conferences on environmental issues, and the North Fork Preservation Alliance (NFPA), a non-profit organization dedicated to conserving open spaces and wildlands in Provo’s North Fork Canyon. In 1998, the Redford Family Nature and Wildlife Preserve, an 860-acre parcel of Sundance, was donated to Utah Open Lands to protect it from development.

Mr. Redford has been an extraordinary role model as an environmentalist and is most deserving of the 2007 International Eco Hero Award.