Linnemann Lectures
The Linnemann Lecture
The Timothy Linnemann Memorial Lecture on the Environment was established by Tim's family in 1991 following his death in an automobile accident in the summer of 1990. Tim, a member of the class of 1991, was committed to the environment and heightening awareness of others to the necessity of working toward its betterment. The first lecture was given on April 22, 1991 by David Phillips '78, Executive Director of Earth Island Institute.
Tim Linnemann grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. He came to Colorado College as a first-year student in 1987. He was a biology major and a musician, and an active member of EnAct. Following his death, his friends and members of the class of 1991 designed, built, and dedicated a memorial garden, a quiet study area/outdoor classroom between Shove Chapel and Olin Hall, to perpetuate and represent his love for the environment and the outdoors.
EARTH WEEK 1996
CATHRINE SNEED: "Building Community: the Garden Project"
While recovering from a life-threatening illness in 1983, Sneed read The Grapes of Wrath and realized the importance of being connected to the earth for healing. A counselor for the San Francisco Sheriffs Department at the time, she proposed a gardening project for prisoners. In a seven-acre field on the jail's facility, Sneed put prisoners to work cultivating and harvesting organic produce. The garden's produce goes to feed the homeless and those ill with AIDS. Today, there is a huge waiting list to work in the garden. In 1990 she expanded her work to include a post-release program, the Garden Project . The program turned an abandoned garbage dump into a half-acre garden in the Hunter's Point Community of San Francisco where former prisoners can make the transition back into society. The organic produce is sold to local restaurants. After training, students can join the Tree Corps, which has planted and maintained over 3500 trees in San Francisco's low-income neighborhoods. Sneed's work has been honored by the California State Legislature, two San Francisco mayors, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and many businesses and professional organizations.
EARTH WEEK 1995
Dr. Philip M. Fearnside, '69: "Fatal 5: Lessons of the World Bank's Most Notorious Debacles in Brazil, Indonesia, Botswana, China, and India"
Dr. Fearnside has long worked on estimation of human carrying capacity of tropical agroecosystems, which has led to studies of rates, causes, and impact of deforestation. He has lived two years in India and nineteen years in Brazil, and also maintains interests in China, Indonesia, and Botswana. In 1986, a consortium of 14 environmental groups launched a campaign to press for reform of the World Bank, targeting five projects around the world as examples of inadequate concern for environmental and social impacts. The projects were Polonoreste in Brazil, Transmigration in Indonesia, Livestock III in Botswana, the Narmada Dam in India, and the Gorges Dam in China. By coincidence, Dr. Fearnside had worked extensively on Polonoreste. He has since visited and analyzed all of the "Fatal Five" projects and has often been a source of solid information in the controversies that surround them. The World Bank has undertaken a variety of reforms, partly in response to international concern of the "Fatal Five" projects. However, many lessons of these projects have yet to be learned.
EARTH WEEK 1994
Dr. Helen Caldicott: "Environmentalism, Global Harmony and Citizen Action"
Dr. Caldicott is an internationally acclaimed Australian physician and anti-nuclear activist. She was co-founder of the Nobel Prize-winning International Physicians for Social Responsibility, founder of Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament, and International Physicians to Save the Environment. Dr. Caldicott first appeared on the international scene as an outspoken, inspiring physician who led massive public campaigns against the nuclear power industry and weapons manufacturers. Today she addresses the burning issues of the 1990's, and points out that there are no single issues that are most pressing. Overpopulation of one species (homo sapiens), extinction of thirty million other species, deforestation, ozone depletion, greenhouse warming, chemical pollution, and radioactive pollution all come together. In light of these issues, she states, "We have enough science, medical knowledge, and money now to save the planet in ten years. All we have to do is make a political decision." Dr. Caldicott is the author of Missile Envy , Nuclear Madness and If You Love This Planet .
More on Helen Caldicott
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
EARTH DAY 1993
Randy Hayes: "Lessons from the Rainforest"
Hayes is an action-oriented conservationist. He is founder and director of the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) , an organization committed to protecting the world's tropical rainforests. As director, he is a leader in the effort to halt destruction of rainforests and fight for the rights of indigenous peoples. Hayes points out that the rainforest issue is one of the most important global ecological issues today. He explains how American overconsumption of rainforest imports, ill-spent foreign aid, and irresponsible multi-national corporations are destroying rainforests at an alarming rate. More importantly, Hayes stresses what we can do to stop this madness, citing RAN's successful boycott against Burger King which forced company officials to stop purchasing beef from rainforest regions. Prior to his work with RAN, Hayes co-produced the Academy Award winning film "The Four Corners--A National Sacrifice Area" which documented the effects of coal and uranium mining on Hopi and Navajo lands in the Southwest.
EARTH DAY 1992
Winona LaDuke: "A Native American Perspective: Challenging the Effects of Colonialism and Industrial Thinking"
LaDuke is president of the Indigenous Women's Network (IWN), a continental group of Native women and organizations who are actively involved in their communities working on issues of social change, the environment, treaty and land rights, and women's concerns. She is a leader in the fight to overcome the environmental, social, and economic plight of the vast majority of Native Americans. LaDuke lives between James Bay, northern Canada and the White Earth reservation in Minnesota. With a degree in Native Economic Development from Harvard and a Masters from MIT, she is published extensively on issues of Native economic development, environmental issues, and legal issues related to Native affairs. She is also director of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, coordinating development of an overall land acquisition, negotiations and consolidation program for the White Earth Band of Chippewa. She has represented indigenous peoples at a variety of UN international forums and was the winner of the 1988 Reebok Human Rights Award.
EARTH DAY 1991
David C. Phillips, '78
During his tenure at Colorado College, Phillips spent six months working for the EPA in Washington, DC on air pollution control issues. In 1978 he began work in San Francisco with the conservation organization Friends of the Earth, where he was Wildlife Programs Director for six years. During that time he specialized in endangered species protection. Phillips has served as a non-governmental representative to several meetings of the International Whaling Commission. While at Friends of the Earth, he collaborated with David Brower on the publications Progress As If Survival Mattered and The Condor Question , and contributed frequently to environmental publications such as Sierra and Not Man Apart . In 1985, Phillips was appointed Executive Director of Earth Island Institute . Among its active projects, Earth Island works for the conservation of rainforests, sea turtles, dolphins, ancient forests, and sustainable use of resources. Phillips also directs the International Marine Mammal Project at Earth Island. In 1989, his directon of Earth Island was acknowledged by the UN Environment Programme, which granted their Leadership Award in honor of efforts to protect dolphins from the tuna industry and end the use of drift nets. The Dolphin Project's success in persuading the three largest tuna companies in the world to adopt a fully dolphin-safe standard was recognized by Time Magazine as one of the two most significant environmental victories of 1990