David Ross Brower ( ; July 1, 1912 – November 5, 2000) was a prominent
environmentalist
Environmentalism is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of Green politics, g ...
and the founder of many environmental organizations, including the
John Muir Institute for Environmental Studies (1997),
Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of grassroots environmental organizations in 73 countries. About half of the member groups call themselves "Friends of the Earth" in their own languages; the others use other ...
(1969),
Earth Island Institute
The Earth Island Institute is a non-profit environmental group founded in 1982 by David Brower. Located in Berkeley, California, it supports activism around environmental issues through fiscal sponsorship that provides the administrative and or ...
(1982), North Cascades Conservation Council, and Fate of the Earth Conferences. From 1952 to 1969, he served as the first
Executive Director of the
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...
, and served on its board three times: from 1941–1953; 1983–1988; and 1995–2000 as a petition candidate enlisted by reform-activists known as the John Muir Sierrans. As a younger man, he was a prominent
mountaineer.
Early life
Brower was born in
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...
. He was married to
Anne Hus Brower (1913–2001) whom he met when they were both editors at the
University of California Press
The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...
in Berkeley. Anne was the daughter of Francis L M. Hus and Frances Hus (1876–1952), while Frances was the daughter of
John P. Irish.
Kenneth Brower, David Brower's son, has authored a number of books, most notably ''The Starship and the Canoe'' about
Freeman Dyson
Freeman John Dyson (15 December 1923 – 28 February 2020) was a British-American theoretical physics, theoretical physicist and mathematician known for his works in quantum field theory, astrophysics, random matrix, random matrices, math ...
and his son
George Dyson.
Mountaineering achievements
Beginning his career as a world-class mountaineer with more than 70 first ascents to his credit, Brower came to the environmental movement through his interest in
mountaineering
Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become mounta ...
. In 1933, Brower spent seven weeks in the
High Sierra with George Rockwood. After a close call with a loose rock while climbing in the Palisades, he met
Norman Clyde in the wilderness, who gave him some valuable climbing lessons. On that trip he also met Hervey Voge, who persuaded him to join the
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...
. On May 18, 1934, along with Voge, he began a ten-week climbing trip through the High Sierra, to survey climbing routes and maintain mountaineering records for the club. Previously, they had established several food caches along their planned route, which began at Onion Valley and ended at
Tuolumne Meadows. In all, the pair climbed 63 peaks on this trip, including 32
first ascent
In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in climbing guidebook, guide books), is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-century mountaineers a ...
s. On the first day, they climbed
Mount Tyndall,
Mount Williamson, and
Mount Barnard. From June 23 to 26, the pair made eight first ascents in the
Devils Crags along with Norman Clyde, and also climbed
Mount Agassiz. Clyde called the Devils Crag climbs "one of the most remarkable mountaineering feats ever accomplished in the United States". In the Palisades range, the pair climbed
Thunderbolt Peak, traversed to
North Palisade by way of Starlight Peak, and descended the U-Notch Couloir. In the Sawtooth Range, they climbed The Doodad, the West Tooth, and
Matterhorn Peak.
Following a failed attempt in 1935 to make the first ascent of the remote, icy
Mount Waddington in
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
, with a Sierra Club group, Brower added winter climbing to his expertise and made multiple first winter ascents of peaks in the
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...
.
[ Steve Roper, "David Ross Brower", '' American Alpine Journal'', 2001, p. 455.]

From October 9 to 12, 1939, a Sierra Club climbing team including Brower, along with
Bestor Robinson, Raffi Bedayn, and John Dyer, completed the first ascent of
Shiprock, the erosional remnant of the throat of a volcano with nearly vertical walls on the
Navajo reservation in northwestern New Mexico. This climb, rated
YDS III, 5.7 A2, was the first in the United States to use expansion bolts for protection.
Twelve previous attempts on Shiprock had failed, and it was known as "the last great American climbing problem". The Brower party's success was described as an "outstanding effort" by "probably the only group on the continent capable of making the climb".
Brower made the first ascent of seventy routes in
Yosemite
Yosemite National Park ( ) is a national park of the United States in California. It is bordered on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service ...
and elsewhere in the western
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
.
World War II
In 1942, Brower edited and contributed to the ''Manual of Ski Mountaineering'', published by the
University of California Press
The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...
and
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...
for use in training Allied mountain combat troops during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Techniques described in this book were used by U.S. forces in the battles in the
North Apeninnes and the Lake Garda Alps. The book was published in three later revised editions.
During World War II, he served as a lieutenant in the
10th Mountain Division
The 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) is a light infantry division (military), division in the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York. Formerly designated as a mountain warfare unit, the division was the only one of its size in ...
, training its soldiers in mountaineering and
cross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing whereby skiers traverse snow-covered terrain without use of ski lifts or other assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreational activity; however, some still use it as a m ...
in Vermont and the state of Washington and earning a
Bronze Star
The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone.
Wh ...
in action in
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
.
Brower's role in the 10th Mountain Division is featured in the documentary film ''
Fire on the Mountain''. He served as a major in the Army Reserve for many years after the war ended.
Career with Sierra Club
After the war, Brower returned to his job at the University of California Press, and began editing the ''Sierra Club Bulletin'' in 1946. He managed the Sierra Club annual
High Trips
The High Trips were large annual wilderness excursions organized and led by the Sierra Club, beginning in 1901. The High Trips lasted until the early 1970s, and were replaced by a larger number of smaller trips to wilderness areas worldwide.
Orig ...
from 1947 to 1954. Brower was named the first executive director of the Sierra Club in 1952, and joined the fight against the
Echo Park Dam in Utah's
Dinosaur National Monument
Dinosaur National Monument is an American national monument located on the southeast flank of the Uinta Mountains on the border between Colorado and Utah at the confluence of the Green River (Colorado River tributary), Green and Yampa River, Y ...
. Taking advantage of his background in publishing, Brower rushed ''This is Dinosaur'' – edited by
Wallace Stegner with photographs by
Martin Litton and
Philip Hyde – into press with publisher Alfred Knopf. Conservationists successfully lobbied Congress to delete Echo Park Dam from the
Colorado River Storage Project
The Colorado River Storage Project is a United States Bureau of Reclamation project designed to oversee the development of the upper Colorado drainage basins, basin of the Colorado River. The project provides Hydroelectricity, hydroelectric powe ...
in 1955, and the Sierra Club received much of the credit.
Coffee table books
Brower began
Sierra Club Books' Exhibit Format book series with ''This is the American Earth'' in 1960, followed by the highly successful ''In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World'', with color photographs by
Eliot Porter in 1962. These coffee-table books sold well and introduced the Sierra Club to new members interested in wilderness preservation. Brower published two new titles a year in the series, but they began to lose money for the organization after 1964, though many claim they were the primary cause of the Club's extraordinary growth and rise to national prominence. Financial management began to be a bone of contention between Brower and the Club's board of directors.
Membership rises, revenues drop
Under Brower's leadership from 1952 to 1969, the club's membership expanded tenfold, from 7,000 to 70,000 members, becoming the nation’s leading environmental membership organization. Building on the biennial Wilderness Conferences which the Club launched in 1949 together with
The Wilderness Society, Brower helped the Club win passage of the
Wilderness Act
The Wilderness Act of 1964 () is a federal land management statute meant to protect U.S. Wilderness Area, federal wilderness and to create a formal mechanism for designating wilderness. It was written by Howard Zahniser of The Wilderness Socie ...
in 1964. Brower and the Sierra Club also led a major battle to stop the
Bureau of Reclamation
The Bureau of Reclamation, formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it ...
from building two dams that would flood portions of the
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile ().
The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...
. In 1964, Brower organized a dory river expedition led by
Martin Litton with
Philip Hyde and author Francois Leydet. The trip led to the book ''Time and The River Flowing'' which galvanized public opposition to the dams. In June 1966, the Club placed full-page ads in the ''New York Times'' and the ''Washington Post'' asking: "Should we also flood the
Sistine Chapel
The Sistine Chapel ( ; ; ) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the pope's official residence in Vatican City. Originally known as the ''Cappella Magna'' ('Great Chapel'), it takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who had it built between 1473 and ...
so tourists can get nearer the ceiling?" The campaign brought in many new members. The
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...
announced it was suspending the Club's non-profit
501(c)(3)
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...
charitable organization status. The board had set up the
Sierra Club Foundation as an alternative for tax-deductible contributions, but revenues to the Club dropped, despite victories in blocking the Grand Canyon dams and a considerable increase in membership.
Board conflict and resignation
As annual deficits increased, tension grew between Brower and the Sierra Club board of directors. Another conflict grew over the Club's position on the
Diablo Canyon Power Plant planned for construction by
Pacific Gas and Electric
The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered at Kaiser Center, in Oakland, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 million households in the norther ...
(PG&E) near
San Luis Obispo
; ; ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfway betwee ...
, California. The Club had played a major role in blocking PG&E's plan for a nuclear power plant at
Bodega Bay
Bodega Bay () is a shallow, rocky inlet of the Pacific Ocean on the coast of northern California in the United States. It is approximately across and is located approximately northwest of San Francisco and west of Santa Rosa, California, S ...
in the early 1960s, but that campaign had centered on the earthquake danger from the nearby
San Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault is a continental Fault (geology)#Strike-slip faults, right-lateral strike-slip transform fault that extends roughly through the U.S. state of California. It forms part of the tectonics, tectonic boundary between the Paci ...
, not out of opposition to nuclear power itself. The Club's board of directors had voted to support the Diablo Canyon site for the power plant in exchange for PG&E's moving its initial site from the environmentally sensitive
Nipomo Dunes. In 1967, a membership referendum upheld the board's policy. Brower had come to believe that nuclear power was a dangerous mistake at any location, and he publicly voiced his opposition to Diablo Canyon, in defiance of the Club's official policy.
Sierra Club board elections in the late 1960s produced sharply defined pro- and anti-Brower factions. In 1968, Brower's supporters won a majority, but in 1969, anti-Brower candidates won all five open positions. Brower was charged with financial recklessness and insubordination by two of his former close friends, photographer
Ansel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his Monochrome photography, black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association ...
and board president Richard Leonard. Brower's resignation was accepted by a board vote of ten to five.
Rejoins and resigns from board
Eventually reconciled with the Sierra Club, Brower was elected to the board of directors for a term from 1983 to 1988, and again from 1995 to 2000. Brower was deeply concerned about issues of
overpopulation
Overpopulation or overabundance is a state in which the population of a species is larger than the carrying capacity of its environment. This may be caused by increased birth rates, lowered mortality rates, reduced predation or large scale migr ...
and
immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...
– one of many issues that led to his resignation in protest from the board of directors in 2000.
"Overpopulation is perhaps the biggest problem facing us," he said, "and immigration is part of that problem. It has to be addressed."
His favorite example of how immigration should be addressed was the work of his cousin
Boone Hallberg, a botanist who immigrated to Oaxaca to build a more sustainable agricultural economy in the area that so many of the workers on his family's California farm had been forced to leave.
Founds Friends of the Earth
Brower founded
Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of grassroots environmental organizations in 73 countries. About half of the member groups call themselves "Friends of the Earth" in their own languages; the others use other ...
(FOE) in 1969, soon after resigning as executive director of the Sierra Club. The move came during a burst of public environmental concern generated by the first
Earth Day
Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally through earthday.org (formerly Earth Day Network) includin ...
in April 1970. FOE also benefited from the publicity generated by a series of articles in ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'' by
John McPhee
John Angus McPhee (born March 8, 1931) is an American author. He is considered one of the pioneers of creative nonfiction. He is a four-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the category General Nonfiction, and he won that award on the fourt ...
, later published as ''
Encounters with the Archdruid'', which recounted Brower's confrontations with a geologist and mining engineer, a resort developer, and
Floyd Dominy, the director of the
Bureau of Reclamation
The Bureau of Reclamation, formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it ...
. Brower so enjoyed being called the Archdruid that he later used the term in his
e-mail address An email address identifies an email box to which messages are delivered. While early messaging systems used a variety of formats for addressing, today, email addresses follow a set of specific rules originally standardized by the Internet Engineeri ...
.
FOE set up its headquarters in San Francisco, and opened an office in Washington, D.C. Brower soon spun off two new organizations from the FOE Washington staff: the
League of Conservation Voters
The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) is an American environmental advocacy group. LCV says that it "builds political power for people and the planet." Through its affiliated super PAC, it is a major supporter of the Democratic Party. The org ...
in 1970, founded by
Marion Edey,
and the
Environmental Policy Center in 1971. Brower's international contacts led to the founding of FOE International in 1971, a loose federation of sister organizations in some forty-four countries. Brower also started a publications program at FOE, which had initial success with ''The Environmental Handbook'' in the wake of Earth Day, but then began to lose money.
Widens environmental campaigns
Although Brower's background was in the wilderness preservation wing of the conservation movement, he quickly led FOE to take on many of the issues raised by the new environmentalists. FOE campaigned against the
Alaska pipeline, the
supersonic transport airplane (SST), nuclear power, and the use of the defoliant
Agent Orange
Agent Orange is a chemical herbicide and defoliant, one of the tactical uses of Rainbow Herbicides. It was used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1962 to 1971. T ...
in the Vietnam War. After Ronald Reagan was elected President in 1980, FOE led the opposition to Interior secretary
James G. Watt's efforts to sell and lease public lands in the West and develop land adjacent to the National Parks.
Resigns from board
Brower retired as executive director of FOE on its tenth anniversary in 1979, but continued as chairman of its board of directors. FOE's growing debt and tension between Washington lobbying and grassroots action led to a crisis between Brower and a majority of the board that recalled his conflict with the Sierra Club board. Facing staff cuts in 1984, Brower appealed over the board directly to the membership for emergency contributions. He was removed from the board for insubordination, but was reinstated when he threatened a lawsuit. In 1985 the board voted to close the San Francisco office and move to Washington, D.C.. A referendum of the membership supported the board majority, and Brower resigned in 1986 to work through his
Earth Island Institute
The Earth Island Institute is a non-profit environmental group founded in 1982 by David Brower. Located in Berkeley, California, it supports activism around environmental issues through fiscal sponsorship that provides the administrative and or ...
.
Later years with Earth Island Institute
Brower incorporated
Earth Island Institute
The Earth Island Institute is a non-profit environmental group founded in 1982 by David Brower. Located in Berkeley, California, it supports activism around environmental issues through fiscal sponsorship that provides the administrative and or ...
in 1982. After FOE moved its headquarters to
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, in 1986, Brower developed Earth Island as a loosely structured incubator for innovative projects in ecology and social justice. Although he chaired the board of directors, Brower stayed in the background as co-directors David Philips and John Knox ran the organization. Projects were required to bring in their own funding, and often went their own way once well-established. Groups formed under Earth Island's umbrella include the
Rainforest Action Network, the Environmental Project on Central America (EPOCA), and many others. Freed from administrative worries and budget controversies, Brower was able to continue to travel, speak and work on many of his long-standing concerns. In addition to his returning to the Sierra Club board for two separate terms, he also served on the Board of Directors for
Native Forest Council from 1988 until his death in 2000. A supporter of
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American lawyer and political activist involved in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. He is a Perennial candidate, perennial presidential candidate. His 1965 book '' ...
, Brower flew to Denver in June 2000 for the Green Party convention. The day before he died, Brower cast his absentee ballot for Nader. He died at his home in Berkeley, California, on November 5, 2000.
A monument, ''
Spaceship Earth'', was erected in his honor at
Kennesaw State University. The monument is meant to serve as a reminder to future generations about the precious nature of the planet.
See also
*
David Brower Center
*
Environmental history of the United States
References
Bibliography
* Brower, David, ''For Earth's Sake: The Life and Times of David Brower'' (Salt Lake City: Gibbs-Smith, 1990).
* Brower, David with Steve Chapple, ''Let the Mountains Talk, Let the Rivers Run'' (New York: HarperCollins, 1995).
* Brower, David, & the Sierra Club, eds., ''Wilderness: America's Living Heritage'' (New York Vail-Ballou Press, Gillick Press, 1961).
* Cohen, Michael P., ''The History of the Sierra Club, 1892–1970'' (San Francisco:
Sierra Club Books, 1988).
* Fox, Stephen, ''John Muir and His Legacy: The American Conservation Movement'' (Boston: Little, Brown, 1981).
*
McPhee, John, ''
Encounters with the Archdruid'' (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1971).
* Turner, Tom, ''David Brower: The Making of the Environmental Movement'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2015).
*
* Wyss, Robert. ''The Man Who Built the Sierra Club: A Life of David Brower'' (New York: Columbia University Press, 2016).
Video resources
* ''For Earth's Sake: The Life and Times of David Brower.'' Produced in 1989 by John de Graaf in cooperation with KCTS-Seattle. Distributed by Bullfrog Films, Oley, PA 19547. 58 minutes.
* ''Monumental: David Brower's Fight for Wild America''. Directed by Kelly Duane for Loteria Films, 2004. DVD, 78 min.
External links
David Brower Legacyat
Earth Island Institute
The Earth Island Institute is a non-profit environmental group founded in 1982 by David Brower. Located in Berkeley, California, it supports activism around environmental issues through fiscal sponsorship that provides the administrative and or ...
website.
*Wilderness Connect
“David Brower”“Brower, David Ross (1912 – 2000) American Environmentalist and Conservationist”by Lawrence Biskowski, Encyclopedia.com.
David Brower: Speaks about “What Will it Cost the Earth”at Kelly Hall, Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio (Part A), 1970-04-19, WYSO,
American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC.
Online guide to the David Ross Brower Papers The Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley.
Obituary: David Browerby Christopher Reed, ''The Guardian'', 7 November 2000.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brower, David
Sierra Club executive directors
American conservationists
American anti–nuclear power activists
American mountain climbers
American male ski mountaineers
American nature writers
American non-fiction outdoors writers
American male non-fiction writers
20th-century American memoirists
American book editors
American print editors
United States Army officers
United States Army personnel of World War II
Berkeley High School (Berkeley, California) alumni
Writers from Berkeley, California
1912 births
2000 deaths
Activists from the San Francisco Bay Area
Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area
20th-century American male writers
Military personnel from California
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