Barry Commoner

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Barry Commoner (born May 28, 1917 in Brooklyn , New York , United States , † September 30, 2012 in Manhattan , New York, United States) was an American biologist and ecologist . Commoner was the author of several influential non-fiction books on environmental protection and is considered one of the leading early exponents of the modern American environmental movement .

Life

Commoner was born the son of Jewish immigrants (a tailor and a seamstress) from Russia . He first studied zoology at Columbia University , where he received his bachelor's degree in 1937 . He moved to the Harvard University and received his doctorate until 1941 for cell biology . During World War II he was a lieutenant in the US Navy .

From 1947 to 1981 , Commoner was Professor of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis . His main topics were plant physiology and the interactions between the environment and society. He founded the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems there in 1966 to promote research on ecosystems . In 1981 he returned to New York and was Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Queens College, City University of New York until his retirement in 1987 .

Commoner died in 2012 at the age of 95.

Political commitment

Barry Commoner is considered to be one of the founders of the American environmental movement. In an obituary, The Nation called him , after Rachel Carson , the most prominent modern environmental activist in the United States.

Nuclear weapons tests

Commoner was committed to public education about the above-ground nuclear weapons tests that were taking place in the USA at the time . In 1959 he founded the Greater St. Louis Citizens' Committee for Nuclear Information with Louise Reiss , among others . The committee wanted to use the so-called " baby tooth survey" to examine the concentration of strontium -90 in baby teeth to determine the extent to which the fallout was absorbed by the human body. The investigation evoked a great response, citizens submitted tens of thousands of milk teeth of their children. The first test results were published in Science in 1961 , they confirmed the fear of increasing strontium concentrations. In 1963, John F. Kennedy signed the Moscow Nuclear Test Ban Agreement . Commoner's ability to make science available to a wider public and to let them participate contributed significantly to the political success of the study.

environment

Barry Commoner saw many developments in science and society as reductionist. A central thought for him was that people do not live in isolation, but embedded in their environment.

Perhaps his best-known contribution in the fight against the reductionist view that he criticized was his much-cited four ecological laws:

  1. "Everything is connected to everything else." (German: "Everything is connected to everything else.")
  2. "Everything must go somewhere." (German: "Everything must stay somewhere.")
  3. "Nature knows best." (German: "Nature knows better.")
  4. "There is no such thing as a free lunch." (German: "There is no such thing as free meals.")

He published the four laws of ecology in perhaps his most important book, The Closing Circle (Eng. "Growth mania and environmental crisis"). Commoner emphasized the importance of externalities , that is, side effects of human activity on society or the environment.

“Many of our new technologies and their resulting industries have been developed without taking into account their cost in damage to the environment or the real value of the essential materials bestowed by environmental life processes. ... While these costs often remain hidden in the past, now they have become blatantly obvious in the smog which blankets our cities and the pollutants which poison our water supplies. If we choose to allow this huge and growing debt to accumulate further, the environment may eventually be damaged beyond its capacity for self-repair. "

“Many of our new technologies and the resulting industries were created without considering their costs in the form of environmental damage or the true value of the necessary substances provided by ecological life processes. ... While in the past these costs were often hidden, they are now blatantly evident in the smog that envelops our cities and the pollutants that poison our water supplies. "

- Commoner : The Closing Circle, p. 13

On the occasion of Earth's first day , Time magazine featured his portrait on the front page, calling him the " Paul Revere of Environmental Protection", alluding to a freedom fighter of the Revolutionary War who is often credited with warning American colonists about British troops through the midnight ride .

Citizens Party

Barry Commoner was the founder of the Citizens Party . In the 1980 presidential election , Commoner ran as a candidate for this party. He received just under 0.3% of the votes cast.

Awards

In 1953 Commoner was awarded the Newcomb Cleveland Prize of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for his work Studies on the Biosynthesis of Tobacco Mosaic Virus (dt. Studies on the biosynthesis of the tobacco mosaic virus ).

In 1970 the International Humanist and Ethical Union bestowed the International Humanist Award on him for his activities to protect the environment .

Fonts (excerpt)

  • 1966: Science and Survival . Viking Press, New York 1966.
  • 1971: The Closing Circle. Nature, Man, and Technology. New York 1971.
  • 1976: Use of energy and economic crisis . 1977, ISBN 3-499-14193-0 (English: The Poverty of Power: Energy and the Economic Crisis . New York 1976.).
  • 1979: Radical energy industry: concrete course change in energy policy . 1980, ISBN 3-922594-04-2 (English: The Politics of Energy . New York 1979.).
  • 1990: Making Peace With the Planet . Pantheon Books, New York 1990, ISBN 0-394-56598-3 .

literature

  • Alan H. McGowan: Remembering Barry Commoner . In: Environment . tape 55 , no. 2 , April 2013, doi : 10.1080 / 00139157.2013.765312 .
  • Michael Egan: Why Barry Commoner Matters . In: Organization & Environment . tape 22 , no. 6 , 2009, doi : 10.1177 / 1086026609333421 .
  • Michael Egan: Barry Commoner and the Science of Survival: The Remaking of American Environmentalism . MIT, Cambridge, MA 2007, ISBN 978-0-262-05086-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rupert Cornwell: Barry Commoner: Scientist who forced environmentalism into the world's consciousness. In: The Independent. October 6, 2012, accessed September 11, 2014 .
  2. ↑ Egan: Why Barry Commoner Matters . 2009, p. 7 .
  3. ↑ In Memoriam - Barry Commoner. Washington University, St. Louis, February 2013, accessed September 11, 2014 .
  4. ↑ see Library of Congress Authorities dataset on Barry Commoner ( LCCN )
  5. ↑ Peter Dreier: Remembering Barry Commoner. In: The Nation. October 1, 2012, accessed September 11, 2014 .
  6. ↑ Egan: Why Barry Commoner Matters . 2009, p. 10-12 .
  7. ↑ Egan: Why Barry Commoner Matters . 2009, p. 14 .
  8. ↑ Michael Egan: The technological turnaround and Barry Commoner's laws of ecology . The Closing Circle reread. In: Nature and Culture . tape 4 , no. 2 , 2003.
  9. ↑ Egan: Why Barry Commoner Matters . 2009, p. 15 .
personal data
SURNAME Commoner, Barry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American biologist and politician
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York
DATE OF DEATH September 30, 2012
Place of death Manhattan , New York