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Something was conspicuously missing from the opening ceremonies March 1 at this year's PIELC. For the first time in 18 years, David Brower's tenor voice did not ring out to ignite the courage of his fellow activists. But the cantankerous spirit of the 20th century's greatest environmental visionary, who died of cancer last November at the age of 88, hung over the EMU Ballroom during a tribute that drew the audience to its feet. "The landscape is capable of paying greater homage to this man than any words I could speak," presenter Jonathon Duncan said, as he showed slides of the wild places Brower devoted his life to protecting -- the North Cascades, Grand Canyon, Olympic National Park, the High Sierra, Cape Cod and the Alaskan arctic. A short film documented Brower's progression from a boy who first ventured into the California wilderness in order to describe the land to his blind mother to the accomplished mountaineer and irreverent powerhouse behind nearly every piece of conservation legislation to come out of the past seven decades. The film also touched on the compromise that would haunt Brower until his death 4 his agreement as director of the Sierra Club to allow the Bureau of Reclamation to flood Arizona's Glen Canyon. In exchange, the bureau promised to protect Dinosaur National Monument, but Brower came to view the deal as "his greatest mistake, greatest sin." He vowed never again to compromise, and fought to remove the dam even as he battled cancer at the age of 87. Brower transformed the Sierra Club from a hiking group of 7,000 to a relentless advocacy organization 77,000 strong, and was ultimately forced to resign by board members who felt he'd radicalized the club. He went on to found Friends of the Earth, the Earth Island Institute, the League of Conservation Voters, the Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment, and Global CPR, and was nominated three times for the Nobel Prize. He continued his crusade until the day before he died, when he cast an absentee ballot from his bed for his friend Ralph Nader. Brower knew that last year's conference might be his last, and he focused his speech on changing our nation's exploitative relationship with poorer nations and reducing the threat of nuclear terrorism. Duncan pointed out that for all his contentious battles, Brower never lost sight of his optimism. "Have a good time saving the world," Brower advised before his death. "Otherwise you're just going to depress yourself." Keynote speaker Julia Butterfly Hill confessed that the tribute left her wiping tears away until the last possible second before she stepped on stage. "I feel David Brower's foot firmly planted on our collective butts," she said. "I can hear him up there saying, 'Don't make me come back down there.'" -- Kristina Johnson Back to Environmental Law Conference Index
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