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squishy
Mountain climber
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Oct 10, 2013 - 01:11pm PT
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Didn't they try to name Middle Pal after this guy but it was shot down?
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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Oct 10, 2013 - 01:13pm PT
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Callie, I'm really surprised you didn't know about him.
He could be called the inheritor of John Muir's mantle as leader of the environmental community, following Muir's passing. He added the element of technical climbing to the Muir legacy.
He was a zealot, as such people seem to be. He did not keep his thoughts private, and some people found him hard to take.
Generally, though, he was beloved within the environmental community.
That is, until his later years. There were fights within the Sierra Club in the few years before his passing---one having to do with overpopulation in the US, and Ca in particular, and the suggestion that the issue of immigration should be looked at in regard to that impact----and the reigning structure of the Sierra Club chose to treat him with great disrespect, as a doddering old fool. I could understand the disagreement with his position, but the attacking of him as a person was beyond disgusting. Brower resigned from the Board of Directors as a result. I think it really damaged his soul.
Particularly, inasmuch as he was it's first Executive Director, and the ED at the time, Carl Pope, was savage in his personal attacks. Brower was also largely responsible for making the SC a national organization. It has previously been mainly Californian.
I remember this controversy well, and was the reason I quite the SC for quite some time.
Brower, in spite of his shortcomings, was a giant of environmentalism, and is deserving of great respect.
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apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
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Oct 10, 2013 - 01:26pm PT
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Brower is an all time hero in my book.
This is a great thread...this is what makes ST a great place.
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Inner City
Trad climber
East Bay
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Oct 10, 2013 - 02:44pm PT
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Crimp,
It seems as though this may be a troll.
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crunch
Social climber
CO
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Oct 10, 2013 - 03:00pm PT
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David was a Berkeley native. He had a younger brother, Joe, born when David was eight. Their mother went blind not long after.
In "For Earth's Sake" he talks about how his experiences helping his blind mother, taking her for walks, describing what he could see, helped deepen his appreciation of the scenery, the environment.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Oct 10, 2013 - 03:26pm PT
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By both his example and spirit, his lifework reminds us that "boldness has
genius, power and magic in it."
David Ross Brower was born in 1912, and grew up in the hills of Berkeley
when the Golden Gate described a water passage between San Francisco and
Marin County, not a world-famous bridge. After dropping out of the
University of California in 1931-he was more proud of this than of his 9
honorary degrees--he became a mountaineer, making 70 first-ever ascents in
Yosemite and the High Sierra. Much as he would do in the world of
environmental politics later in his life, he found 19 new routes on the
sheer granite walls of Yosemite. He was an instructor in the U.S. Mountain
Troops in World War II, served as a combat-intelligence officer in the
Italian Campaigns, and was awarded the Bronze Star.
For over 65 years, Brower worked on a campaign on behalf of the planet,
its wild places and inhabitants. As an editor, filmmaker, and writer for
the Sierra Club, he broadened environmental awareness in the nation as few
others have. While the Club's first executive director (1952-1969), he
helped transform it from a group of hiking enthusiasts into a political
force as its membership grew from 2,000 to 77,000. He led the successful
campaigns to protect Colorado's Dinosaur National Monument, prevent the
Grand Canyon from being dammed, establish the National Wilderness
Preservation System, and helped add nine areas to the National Park
system, from the Point Reyes National Seashore in California to New York's
Fire Island, from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to Alaska. He founded the Sierra
Club Foundation, Friends of the Earth International (on Earth day, 1970),
the Earth Island Institute, and with Marion Edey, the League of
Conservation Voters. Dave created the Exhibit Format books for the Sierra
Club. These were among the first coffee table books, which achieved
beautiful reproduction, revealing a variety of beautiful regions to be
saved and preserved. In topical publishing, Dave Brower brought to
mainstream America the messages of Dr. Paul Ehrlich (The Population
Bomb) and Amory Lovins (Soft Energy Paths). Three times he was nominated
for the Nobel Peace Prize. His incredible circle of friends links William
O. Douglas to Gary Snyder to the Dalai Lama to Julia Butterfly.
Dave had a single-minded defense and pursuit of environmental quality,
however it was threatened. He perceived what many were slow to realize,
that ecological concerns cannot be confined to on region or one
hemisphere. We live on a small, precious planet, where environmental
devastation in one area has an inescapable impact on other areas. His work
with the Sierra Club and subsequently Friends of the Earth and Earth
Island Institute emphasized that point. With his acutely infectious,
uncompromising dedication to his cause, the earth, he pushed and
challenged the norm of what was possible on the political battlefield. As
long as I knew him, he had the passion and energy of someone a fraction of
his age.
--David Kupfer, preface to The Last Interview
http://www.wildnesswithin.com/kupfery.html
Brower's reminiscences which I've read in the past include his description of the 1923 Berkeley Fire, which destroyed something like 600 homes and buildings.
Flames know these things.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Oct 10, 2013 - 06:34pm PT
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John McPhee's Encounters With the Archdruid is a real classic!!!!
(Of course, most of McPhee's books are@!!!!
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Howard71
Trad climber
Belen, New Mexico
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Oct 10, 2013 - 06:59pm PT
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Another good book about David:
The Wilderness Within: Remembering David Brower
Contains a set of "essays" about David constructed from interviews by one of his sons(Kenneth Brower) with Paul Erlich, Steve Roper, David Foreman, Doug Tompkins, and others.
http://www.amazon.com/Wildness-Within-The-Remembering-Brower/dp/1597141860
So far the book reminds me why compromise is not a good way to preserve wilderness. I would have said "manage wilderness" before I started reading it.
Howard
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Oct 10, 2013 - 08:37pm PT
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Yeah- I'm a major history buff so I was sort of surprised that Brower managed to stay totally off my radar as well - until about two years ago. I sort of recalled his name from Grossman's Shiprock history thread but that was about all I knew about him at the time.
There's a chapter about him in Cadillac Desert (a must-read BTW) that finally clued me in to research him and get acquainted with his history both in the climbing world and as a conservationist. Fascinating guy. Not everyone admired him. E started an appreciation thread that sort of got shot down by detractors. Hope this one stays positive.
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FRUMY
Trad climber
Bishop,CA
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Oct 10, 2013 - 08:43pm PT
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^^^^^
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BooDawg
Social climber
Butterfly Town
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Oct 10, 2013 - 10:28pm PT
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So much to say, so little time. Here's a pic of him at teh 1999 C4 reunion:
Google and visit the David Brower Center in Berkeley for more insights...
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Sixty years ago, Brower had an article published in the National Geographic.
The Archdruid on a High Trip.
Brought you in a Nash.Yes, it's Mountain House Freeze-Dried Ice Cream. What else?
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Todd Eastman
climber
Bellingham, WA
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Imagine Brower posting up here!
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Charlie D.
Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
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Wow, Mouse thank you....I had never seen the NG article. I'll retrieve a great piece Brower wrote on backcountry skiing and post it up, hopefully sooner than later. His ski accomplishments were adventurous to say the least, imagine touring from Echo Summit to Donner Pass today let alone in the 1930's. Truly an early force in mountaineering and environmentalism who is a big part of Sierra lore. BTW his son Kenneth wrote, "A Star Ship and a Canoe", a worthy read.
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 4, 2014 - 08:24am PT
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This is such an interesting thread (and it was never a troll posting).
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scooter
climber
fist clamp
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He helped teach the 10th Mtn technical rock climbing skills before they assaulted and captured Riva Ridge. Saved the Grand Canyon and helped defeat Hitler. Pretty solid.
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Bad Climber
climber
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+1 @ SteveW.
Must. Read. The. McPhee!
Also, some good interviews in the video series Cadillac Desert, based on the book of the same name by Marc Reisner, which is an absolute must read for any American, citizen of the planet, but especially those who live in the west.
I had the pleasure of meeting "The Arch Druid" once at a fundraiser in Nor Cal and a beautiful place called Hopkiln Winery.
Damn, so many great books out there.
BA
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