Time Magazine Honors Five Environmentalists
12/5/98
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Title: Time Magazine Honors Five Environmentalists
Source: Agence France-Presse
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 12/5/98
WASHINGTON, Dec 5 (AFP) - Time magazine paid tribute to five
environmentalists for their work in preserving forests in its
"Heroes for the Planet" awards Saturday.
The news magazine singled out four Americans and one African for
special note in the second of a two-year series of profiles on key
environmental figures.
Topping the list was Russell Mittermeier, president of
Conservation International (CI), who recently persuaded the
government of the small South American nation of Suriname to set
aside one-tenth of the country as a nature reserve.
The 49-year-old from Washington led CI's efforts to set up a
private trust fund for the four million acre reserve with
contributors from round the world.
Botanist Mark Plotkin, 43 of Arlington, Virginia is cited by the
magazine for his work in bringing the plight of the rainforests to a
broader audience.
Plotkin and his wife, Liliana, head up the nonprofit
Ethnobiology and Conservation Team.
An Eyak Indian from Alaska is also featured on the list,
published in the December issue out Monday. Glenn "Dune" Lankard,
39, from Cordova, near Anchorage was a key figure in the campaign to
win protection for 700,000 acres held by native Alaskans, the
magazine said.
One of two women on the list, Bonnie Phillips, 56, of Everett,
Washington, has battled from her wheelchair to preserve the forest,
the weekly reported.
Kenyan campaigner, Wangari Maathai, was the fifth
environmentalist garlanded by the magazine.
The 58-year-old from Nairobi founded the women's Green Belt
Movement that has planted seven million trees in Kenya, according to
Time.
More than 90 percent of America's forests have been logged at
least once and nearly 60 percent of the world's tropical rain
forests have been lost, the weekly reported.