Dorothy Green (environmentalist)

Dorothy Green (1929-2008)

Dorothy Green (March 16, 1929 – October 13, 2008) was an environmental activist and grassroots organizer extraordinaire, considered an inspiration and visionary to all who knew her. She is perhaps most remembered for being the founding president of the environmental group, Heal the Bay, but throughout her life, she accomplished much more.

"Dorothy Green was simply the most influential water quality activist in California for the last 30 years,"said Mark Gold, her protégé and seceding president of Heal the Bay in the organization’s press release upon her death.[1]

Life

Dorothy Green was born in on March 16, 1929 in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of Polish immigrants. She came to Los Angeles and enrolled at UCLA as a music major, playing cello in the school orchestra. She graduated in 1951, and in that same year, she married Jacob (Jack) Green, and would become mother to three children: Joshua, Avrom, and Herschel. Her husband was at her side as a behind-the-scenes supporter until his death in 2005.

Dorothy Green began her career as a water quality advocate in 1972 by working on a campaign to pass Proposition 20, the ballot initiative that established the California Coastal Commission. In 1980s, she joined the fight against the peripheral canal, was coordinator of Working Alliance to Equalize Rates, and president of the Los Angeles chapter of the League of Conservation Voters.

Her discovery of untreated wastewater spilling out into Santa Monica Bay spurred her to being together concerned citizens in her Westwood living room, an effort that would eventually lead to the founding of the group, Heal the Bay. Under her leadership, the group held beach rallies to gain new members and generate publicity, as well as testified at public hearings, successfully applying public pressure that eventually led to an agreement to stop dumping sewage sludge into the bay and to upgrade the Hyperion sewage treatment facility.

Dorothy Green said the group chose the name because it communicated hope, and her approach of encouraging collaboration among those with contrasting perspectives was the hallmark of her personal style. “Heal the Bay is such a positive organization and Dorothy set the tone of all of us,” said Madelyn Glickfield, former Heal the Bay board member. “I was in a lot of meetings with Dorothy, and it wasn’t about stopping things, but always about starting things.”[2]

Dorothy Green would lead Heal the Bay for seven years before turning it over to Mark Gold. She would go on to help establish the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council and she remained its president emeriti for the rest of her life. Among her many other accomplishments, she served a term as a commissioner on the Board of Water and Power Commissioners, she was board member and founding secretary of the California Water Impact Network (C-WIN), and she chaired the POWER Conference (Public Officials for Water and Environmental Reform), which continues and is now in its 25th year.

She was considered a mentor to many current officials and leaders still active in California water issues today, including Tim Brick, former chairman of the board of Metropolitan Water District and water activist who knew her for 35 years. "She was quite unique in our generation," he said in the LA Times obituary. "She not only was personally a very effective advocate, but she founded a series of organizations that have been very effective in shaping policy on a variety of different issues."

Dorothy Green’s awards were many, including being featured in the 2007 Vanity Fair's Green Issue magazine as one of the Golden State's Eco-warriors, and recipient of the 2007 Presidential Medal of Volunteer Service.

In 2007, her book, "Managing Water--Avoiding Crisis in California" was published. She dedicated it to her husband, ‘best friend, lover, and husband, whose support made all things possible.’

“She was always willing to tell it like it is,” said C-WINs Carolee Krieger. “Something I remember her saying something that I thought at the time was very important (and I have remembered it many times since) is this: “Figure out your plan of action. Tell everyone about it including the other side. And then do it.”[3]

Dorothy Green had been first diagnosed with melanoma decades before her death, but in 2003, the cancer returned and spread. However, she remained committed to her causes up until her death, even writing a commentary for the Los Angeles Times which ran just weeks before her death, pleading for a sensible water policy.

Dorothy Green died on October 13, 2008, at the age of 79.

While Dorothy will certainly be remembered for her warm spirit and countless accomplishments which benefit us all, perhaps the most visual of those is Santa Monica Bay. In the Los Angeles Times obituary, Mark Gold recalled how when the group, Heal the Bay started, there was a 'dead zone' in the middle of Santa Monica Bay, fish with tumors, and 10 million gallon sewage spills on bright summer days.

"None of that occurs anymore," he said. "That's Dorothy's legacy, every time you look out at the bay."[4]

Publications

Managing Water: Avoiding Conflict in California, published by the U.C. Press in 2007. ISBN 978-0-520-25327-8

Awards

The President's Award for Volunteer Service presented by the head of US EPA Steve Johnson, February 2007. Green was also honored in Vanity Fair's May 2007 "Green" issue as one of the Golden State's Eco-Warriors. PCL Carla Bard Award for Volunteer Service at the PCL Annual Symposium, April, 2007 and many, many, more

References

  1. ↑ "Heal the Bay Founder Dorothy Green Passes Away". Heal the Bay. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Heal the Bay Founder Dorothy Green Passes Away". Heal the Bay. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Carolee Krieger Remembers Dorothy Green". C-WIN.
  4. ↑ "Environmentalist Began Heal the Bay". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 24, 2015.

Further reading

External links


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