Barry Commoner dies: Scientist, Candidate and Planet Earth’s Lifeguard

[n2doc]

Source: NYT

By DANIEL LEWIS
Published: October 1, 2012 43 Comments

Barry Commoner, a founder of modern ecology and one of its most provocative thinkers and mobilizers, died Sunday in Manhattan. He was 95 and lived in Brooklyn Heights.

His wife, Lisa Feiner, confirmed his death.

Dr. Commoner was a leader among a generation of scientist-activists who recognized the toxic consequences of America’s post-World War II technology boom, and one of the first to stir the national debate over the public’s right to comprehend the risks and make decisions about them.

Raised in Brooklyn during the Depression and trained as a biologist at Columbia and Harvard, he came armed with a combination of scientific expertise and leftist zeal. His work on the global effects of radioactive fallout, which included documenting concentrations of strontium 90 in the baby teeth of thousands of children, contributed materially to the adoption of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/02/us/barry-commoner-dies-at-95.html?hp

[immoderate]

1. RIP, Barry...

--imm

[bananas]

2. He made a tremendous difference in the world.

Sad to see him go.

[mak3cats]

3. He was the first person I ever voted for for President...

way, way back in 1980.

[NBachers]

11. Yup, I voted for him too, and I had to write in his name to vote for him.

[bklyncowgirl]

12. Yes I voted for him too. Everyone should be allowed one third party vote and he was mine.

For years I blamed myself for Ronald Reagan because of that vote. Of course in New York state it wouldn't have made much of a difference--I think--but at the time I didn't understand the workings of the electoral college.

RIP Barry, you were great!

[Ken Burch]

4. A long life magnificently lived.

If only OUR party were to embrace the values he lived by and fought for.

[KamaAina]

5. The Politics of Energy has been a major influence on my worldview.

He advocated using natural gas as a bridge fuel to methane created from green sources such as biomass.

Aside: My copy of it was most likely lost in Katrina. I had loaned it to a friend in NOLA and never retrieved it. His Mid-City neighborhood was among those flooded out.

[Bossy Monkey]

6. RIP. A great one. n/t

[Vidar]

7. RIP Barry. We need a million more like you.

[Botany]

8. One of the good ones

50 years before his time

[Tansy_Gold]

9. The Closing Circle

was one of the first "political" books I ever read.

A great voice that will be missed, and yet will live on.

RIP

[PDJane]

10. He'll be missed. Very sorry to hear this.

[LiberalEsto]

13. I didn't see this post earlier, though I saw Barry's obituary in the paper

I was a member of the Citizens Party and voted for Barry Commoner when he ran for president. Met him a couple of times too. Once he came to speak out against planned trash incineratorin NJ (where else?)that he said would spew dioxins into the air around it. This was way back before the media and general public had heard of dioxins or their potential hazards.

He was a great and visionary person. May he rest in peace.

[burrowowl]

14. RIP