Vision
When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.
—John Muir
David Brower, who inherited leadership of Muir's Sierra Club in 1952, loved his predecessor's insight and quoted it as often as he did Thoreau. Brower, the first executive director of the Sierra Club, then founder of Friends of the Earth, League of Conservation Voters, and Earth Island Institute, was a visionary. He was always ahead of the curve. In the middle of the last century, he saw the potential power of mobilized wilderness lovers and he orchestrated America's first successful citizen campaign against a big government project-the grassroots defeat of proposed dams in Dinosaur National Monument. He followed this success with victories against dams in Grand Canyon. He was instrumental in the creation of Pt. Reyes National Seashore and Redwoods and North Cascades national parks.
From the start, Brower grasped the importance of the media in spreading the environmental ethic, and to that end he became an essayist, filmmaker, and publisher. He was among the first to understand that population and environment were inextricably linked, and he published Paul Ehrlich's epochal The Population Bomb. He saw early that nuclear weapons and nuclear energy were environmental issues and made them his own. He formed alliances with labor and the social justice movement, yet he connected, too, with enlightened corporations. He recognized that corporate power prevails; that if business does not adopt the environmental ethic, then all hope is lost. He was one of the first environmental globalists. It is obvious to many now, but he saw it then: the planet makes the ultimate ecosystem; what affects the Niger Delta or the Mississippi Delta or the Siberian steppes or General Motors affects us all. When you try to pick out anything by itself, you find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.
The David Brower Center will incorporate that special vision. It will employ the tools Brower himself brought to the movement-leadership, inspiration, mentorship, and strong conviction about the importance of education, the media, and the cross-fertilization of groups and ideas. It will seek a permanent spot ahead of the curve. The Center will:
INFORM the public about the environmental challenges we face and the bold actions that must be taken if ours is to remain a living planet.
INSPIRE people to recognize their own power and responsibility to act on behalf of Earth.
CONNECT individuals and organizations dedicated to social equity and ecological sustainability.
Mission
Emotionally, people are able to look only two generations back and two generations forward. We need to see farther than that. —David Brower
The Brower Center is a facility designed to inspire and nurture current generations of activists and to build a foundation for future generations.
The Center will provide:
- A hub for environmental education and activism; a source for new strategies in the conservation, preservation, and restoration of ecosystems-a center for planetary CPR.
- A community center where tenants, students, area residents, and activists from around the globe can gather for conferences, workshops, meals, and events.
- A place of inspiration that energizes resident organizations and engages the public with the images and stories of the environmental movement.
- A collaborative workplace for a wide range of nonprofit and progressive for-profit organizations; a place where shared resources, networks, and facilities magnify the work of both resident and non-resident groups.
- A model of green, New Urbanist design that promotes sustainable, mixed-use development; a unique co-location of eco-friendly retail stores, environmental organizations, and affordable workforce housing near public transit.
- A tangible asset that creates stability and builds equity for the progressive community.
