Environmentalists have had a big impact on our lives. It?s time to know and appreciate some of the influential scientists, conservationists, ecologists and other rabble-rousing environment leaders everyone should know.

Al Gore

Albert Arnold Gore, is an American environmental activist, author, businessperson, former politician and former journalist. He served as the forty-fifth Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton.

Gore has been involved with environmental issues since 1976, when as a freshman congressman, he held the "first congressional hearings on the climate change, and co-sponsor[ed] hearings on toxic waste and global warming. He continued to speak on the topic throughout the 1980s, and is still prevalent in the environmental community. He was known as one of the Atari Democrats, later called the "Democrats' Greens, politicians who see issues like clean air, clean water and global warming as the key to future victories for their party.

In 1990, Senator Gore presided over a three-day conference with legislators from over 42 countries which sought to create a Global Marshall Plan, "under which industrial nations would help less developed countries grow economically while still protecting the environment." In the late 1990s, Gore strongly pushed for the passage of the Kyoto Protocol, which called for reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. He was opposed by the Senate, which passed unanimously  the Byrd–Hagel Resolution which stated the sense of the Senate was that the United States should not be a signatory to any protocol that did not include binding targets and timetables for developing as well as industrialized nations or "would result in serious harm to the economy of the United States".

Gore has received a number of awards including the Nobel Peace Prize (joint award with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007), a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album (2009) for his book An Inconvenient Truth, a Primetime Emmy Award for Current TV (2007), and a Webby Award (2005). Gore was also the subject of the Academy Award-winning (2007) documentary An Inconvenient Truth in 2006. In 2007, he was named a runner-up for Time's 2007 Person of the Year.

Gore is the founder and current chair of the Alliance for Climate Protection.  He also helped to organize the Live Earth benefit concerts.

John Muir, Naturalist and Writer

John Muir (1838-1914) was born in Scotland and emigrated to Wisconsin as a young boy. His lifelong passion for hiking began as a young man when he hiked to the Gulf of Mexico. Muir spent much of his adult life wandering in and fighting to preserve the wilderness of the western United States, especially California. His tireless efforts led to the creation of Yosemite National Park, Sequoia National Park and millions of other conservation areas. Muir was a profound influence on many leaders of his day, including Theodore Roosevelt. In 1892, Muir and others founded the Sierra Club "to make the mountains glad."

Mahatma Gandhi - An Environmentalist With A Difference

Mahatma Gandhi never used the words environment protection however what he said and did makes him an environmentalist. Although during his time environmental problems were not recognized as such however with his amazing foresight and insight he predicted that things are moving in the wrong direction. As early as in 1909 in his book Hind Swaraj he cautioned mankind against unrestricted industrialism and materialism.

Gandhi fully understood the primordially of man-nature relationship and his theory and philosophy of life, society and politics are in consonance with it. it is this understanding of, and, reverence for, the salience and senility of nature for human existence which makes him an environmentalist par excellence. He is not an environmentalist who will analyses the causes and consequences of depletion in the ozone layer. He is not competent to recommend measures against environmental pollutions and safeguards against all kinds of environmental hazards. He belongs to the school which believes in remedy rather than cure. In Plato's ideal state, there was no place for doctors, for, he advocated the practice of a life style in which nobody would fall ill. Gandhi also subscribed to this line of thinking. He is propounder of a kind of life, culture and society which will never lead to environmental problems.

He did not want India to follow the west in this regard and warned that if India, with its vast population, tried to imitate the West then the resources of the earth will not be enough. He argued even in 1909 that industrialization and machines have an adverse effect on the health of people. Although he was not opposed to machines as such, he definitely opposed the large scale use of machinery. He criticized people for polluting the rivers and other water bodies. He criticized mills and factories for polluting the air with smoke and noise.

What he advocated in place of industrialism and consumerism was a simple life based on physical labour. He implored people to ?live simply so that others may simply live?. For he believed that earth provides ?enough to satisfy every man?s need but not any man?s greed?. So the rich must not only restrict their wants but must also treat their wealth as a ?trust? for the poor and use it for the welfare of the poor. This can be done only if people can distinguish between their real needs and artificial wants and control the later.

To him the real need meant to posses only what is absolutely necessary for the moment. To him this would not only help the unprivileged of today but would help protect the environment for the next generation as to him the earth, the air, the land and the water were not an inheritance from our forefathers but a loan from our children. So we have to hand over to the next generation at least as it was handed over to us.

He also believed that one must ?be the change that one wants to see in the world? and hence he practiced what he preached. His life was his message. So he and his wife gave away all their property. They had nothing beyond the clothes that they wore and a change or two. He used scraps of papers to write brief notes and reversed envelopes for reuse to send letters. Even when he used to bathe with water of the free flowing Sabarmati river he consciously used only the minimum water needed for taking a bath. However he did not equate simple living with abject poverty. In fact he believed that to deny a person the ordinary amenities of life is far worse than starving the body. It is starving the soul – the dweller in the body. To him poverty was the most severe polluter. Hence poverty must be eradicated and that can be done only when everybody is taking their own share and not grabbing others? share by limiting their needs and sharing their resources.

However his concerns were not limited to human beings alone as he had a very strong sense of the unity of all life. He believed that all creatures had the right to live as much as human beings and felt a living bond between humans and the rest of the animate world. He believed that humans should live in harmony with their surroundings.

The real importance of Gandhi as an environmentalist lies not in his vision and his right understanding of man-nature relationship. He made honest efforts to translate his percepts in actual life. Even before he became an internationally known leader and a Mahatma, he patterned his person life and that of a small community on these ideals. His Phoenix and Tolstoy Farms in South Africa testify to it. Subsequently, in India too he established Ashrams on that pattern. He did euologise the village life but he was pained to see the poverty, Illiteracy and unsanitary conditions in Indian Villages. Therefore, throughout his life he kept on telling people and giving demonstration on health, hygiene and sanitation. Hardly any political leader of his stature in the world had ever devoted so much of time and energy on these problems with so much sincerity and dedication. Environmentalist of today give scholarly lectures and write research papers and books on the subject. There are also activist environmentalists no doubt. But we an easily discern in them the motives to be prominent and cash it for political purposes. Gandhi tried to carry the message to the mass through the life he himself led. This is what made him an environmentalist with a difference.

Rachel Carson, Scientist and Author

Rachel Carson(1907-1964) is regarded by many as the founder of the modern environmental movement. Born in rural Pennsylvania, she went on to study biology at Johns Hopkins University and Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory. After working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Carson published The Sea Around Us and other books. Her most famous work, however, was 1962's controversial Silent Spring, in which she described the devastating effect that pesticides were having on the environment. Though pilloried by chemical companies and others, Carson's observations were proven correct and pesticides like DDT were eventually banned.

Leonardo DiCaprio

In 1998, he created the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation to support organizations and initiatives dedicated to securing a sustainable future for our planet. Since that time, Leonardo has built longstanding relationships with some of the great leaders and thinkers on the planet, staying continually engaged and active on the most pressing issues we face – climate change, access to clean water, protecting biodiversity, oceans conservation and disaster relief.

In addition to WWF, Leonardo sits on the board of several organizations dedicated to these issues including the Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC), Global Green USA and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). Over the last 12 years, Leonardo has worked strategically to shift public awareness on key issues.

Through his foundation, Leonardo has produced a number of media projects that communicate the urgency of the issues to the public, including two short web films Water Planet and Global Warning, which have been viewed by people around the world. He dedicated half of his website (www.leonardodicaprio.org) to environmental news and content and is now building his social media channels in an effort to reach the public more directly.

In 2007 (after 4 years of development), he released his first feature length documentary, The 11th Hour, a hard hitting and inspiring film that features over 50 of the world?s leading experts on environmental issues and the exciting solutions that can save our planet and humanity.

Julia Hill, Environmental Activist

Julia "Butterfly" Hill (1974-) is one of the most committed environmentalists alive today. After nearly dying in an auto accident in 1996, she dedicated her life to environmental causes. For almost two years, Hill lived in the branches of an ancient redwood tree (which she named Luna) in northern California to save it from being cut down. Her tree-sit became an international cause célèbre, and Hill remains involved in environmental and social causes.

Theodore Roosevelt, Politician and Conservationist

It might surprise some that a famed big-game hunter would make it onto a list of environmentalists, but Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) was one of the most active champions of wilderness preservation in history. As governor of New York, he outlawed the use of feathers as clothing adornment in order to prevent the slaughter of some birds. While president of the United States (1901-1909), Roosevelt set aside hundreds of millions of wilderness acres, actively pursued soil and water conservation, and created over 200 national forests, national monuments, national parks and wildlife refuges.

Wangari Maathai, Political Activist and Environmentalist

Wangari Maathai (1940-2011) was an environmental and political activist in Kenya. After studying biology in the United States, she returned to Kenya to begin a career that combined environmental and social concerns. Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement in Africa and helped to plant over 30 million trees, providing jobs to the unemployed while also preventing soil erosion and securing firewood. She was appointed Assistant Minister in the Ministry for Environment and Natural Resources, and in 2004 Maathai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, while continuing to fight for the rights of women, the politically oppressed and the natural environment.

Gaylord Nelson, Politician and Environmentalist

No other name is more associated with Earth Day than that of Gaylord Nelson (1916-2005). After returning from World War II, Nelson began a career as a politician and environmental activist that was to last the rest of his life. As governor of Wisconsin, he created an Outdoor Recreation Acquisition Program that saved about one million acres of park land. He was instrumental in the development of a national trails system (including the Appalachian Trail) and help pass the Wilderness Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and other landmark environmental legislation. He is perhaps best known as the founder of Earth Day, which has become an international celebration of all things environmental.

Gaylord Nelson and the First Earth Day

It was during this era that Senator Gaylord Nelson, a conservation-minded Democrat from Wisconsin, first proposed making environmental protection a national priority. Though in 1963 he convinced President Kennedy to go on a national "conservation tour," little came of it politically.

That same year, Nelson introduced legislation to ban DDT: not one single member of Congress joined him.

Nelson, undeterred, noticed that a number of small organizations had achieved some success in promoting environmental issues locally. Inspired by these events, and by the growing number of antiwar protests and "teach-ins" that had sprung up across the country, Nelson decided in 1969 that a single day devoted to an environmental teach-in might be the perfect way to put pollution, deforestation and other green issues at the top of the nation's political agenda.

Speaking at a conference in Seattle in September of 1969, Nelson proposed that in the spring of 1970 there would be a coast-to-coast grassroots demonstration on behalf of environmental concerns and in Nelson's words, "The response was electric. It took off like gangbusters."

People across the country had apparently been looking for an outlet to express their growing environmental consciousness. Nelson also took out a full-page ad in The New York Times in January of 1970, announcing that Earth Day would take place on Wednesday, April 22.

The date was chosen because of its timing with student class schedules, warmer weather and no competing holidays.

References:

GreenBeltMovement.org

https://www.thespruce.com/environmentalists-you-should-know-1709040

http://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-famous-environmentalists/reference

www.worldwildlife.org

http://www.mkgandhi.in/environ/jha.htm