MADISON – "Green" activists were taken aback in late 2004 when a pair of strategist-organizers who had worked for 10 years with major environmental groups published a provocative essay, "The Death of Environmentalism."
Its authors claimed that mainstream environmental groups in America had become complacent and ineffective.
Were they right?
William Meadows, who heads one of the nation's leading environmental organizations, will tackle that question in a free public lecture at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 17, in room 180 Science Hall, 550 N. Park St., on the UW-Madison campus.
His topic: "From the Death of Environmentalism to the Art of the Possible."
President of The Wilderness Society since 1996, Meadows has been active in conservation for more than 30 years. He leads a staff of 150 headquartered in Washington, D.C., and nine regional offices, and acts as a key spokesperson and advocate for the society and its conservation work.
Meadows has become a national leader in public land conservation and wilderness preservation, playing an important role in the protection of national forest roadless areas, national parks, wildlife refuges, and national monuments. He has worked diligently on efforts to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Rocky Mountain Front, the Northern Forest, and the Southern Appalachians, and continues to provide leadership on wilderness campaigns in Idaho, Colorado, Alaska, California, and Washington state. More than 3.2 million acres have been added to the National Wilderness Preservation System since Meadows became president of The Wilderness Society.
Meadows is a member of the board of the League of Conservation Voters and chairs its political committee. Other board memberships include the Campaign for America's Wilderness, the American Wilderness Coalition, The Murie Center, Island Press, the National Wildlife Refuge Association, and the Natural Resources Council of America.
Meadows has also been an active leader in the Green Group, chairing the national umbrella organization in 2002 and 2003. He currently co-chairs the Partnership Project, a coalition of 21 of the nation's largest environmental advocacy groups that work collaboratively to bring the full measure of the national environmental community to bear on shared policy concerns.
Meadows credits Earth Day, founded by his Wilderness Society colleague Gaylord Nelson, as the catalyst for his involvement. He first became engaged in environmental issues as a volunteer leader in his home state of Tennessee, working with the Sierra Club, the Tennessee Environmental Council, and the Environmental Action Fund. His professional conservation career began in 1992 when the Sierra Club hired him to direct its Centennial Campaign. Before that, he worked for 24 years in higher education at his alma mater, Vanderbilt University, and at Sweet Briar College.
His UW-Madison talk, part of the Gaylord Nelson Retrospective Lecture Series, honoring the late Wisconsin governor and U.S. senator, is sponsored by the Nelson Institute with support from the Holstrom Environmental Endowment.
For more information about the lecture, contact Tom Sinclair, 263-5599, tksincla@wisc.edu.